Do you know what's slower than a GeForce GT 1010? A GeForce GT 1010 with DDR4 memory. As reported by VideoCardz, Colorful has quietly launched one, which may perform equally or even worse than modern integrated graphics.
The GeForce GT 1010 is one of the graphics cards that almost nobody knows about. Nvidia released the GeForce GT 1010 last year using a five-year-old GP108 (Pascal) die. Nvidia also uses the GP108 inside the "faster" GeForce GT 1030 and the chipmaker's mobile GeForce MX-series, such as the GeForce MX330 or MX250. While the GP108 silicon houses up to 384 CUDA cores, the GeForce GT 1010 only has access to 256 of them. Nvidia reserves the full-fledged GP108 die for GeForce GT 1030.
There are two versions of the GeForce GT 1010. Both retain the same 256 CUDA cores, 2GB of memory, and 64-bit memory interface. However, they feature different memory chips. One variant leverages GDDR5 memory clocked at 6 Gbps for a memory bandwidth up to 48 GBps, whereas the other variant uses DDR4 at 2.1 Gbps for just 16 GBps.
As with any entry-level graphics card, Colorful's offering sticks to a single-slot design with a feeble heatsink that barely covers half of its PCB. A slight cooling fan is in charge of active cooling. The Colorful GeForce GT 1010 has a 1,151 MHz base clock and a 1,379 MHz boost clock with a TDP rating of just 20W. Even the GeForce MX230, which has the same amount of CUDA cores, boasts higher clock speeds. Unfortunately, the GeForce GT 1010 DDR4 utilizes recycled dies that didn't make the cut for a mobile graphics card that's already three years old.
We don't expect anyone to pick up a GeForce GT 1010 for gaming. However, the Pascal-powered graphics card is a potential substitute for the lack of integrated graphics or a temporary replacement for a graphics card that suddenly gone bad. Or, if you need more video outputs for your system, the GeForce GT 1010 does provide two extra HDMI ports.
