Nvidia Launches Inexpensive GPU Dedicated to Esports Gaming; GeForce GT 1030 Price & Key Features

Gaming setups are almost always expensive. Fortunately, you no longer have to break the bank or risk buying second hand PC components if you are trying to build a decent gaming rig. Nvidia has just joined forces with AMD to offer a low-powered alternative for a reasonable price.

Nvidia has just rolled out its GeForce GT 1030 graphics card, which it launched with partners Gigabyte and MSI. This new and inexpensive GPU starts at $70. It offers decent specs that most consumers would not be disappointed with for a fraction of the price of its high end variant, the GeForce GTX 1080Ti. This new GPU comes with 2GB GDDR5 video memories, 16 PCI-E lanes, and 384 CUDA cores. It also has a core clock of 1,265 MHz that can go up to 1,518 MHz. It also has one HDMI port and one Display Port.

Venture Beat reported that the 1030 is built with the growing eSports environment in consideration. Newer games are more graphically intensive and most of them will struggle to run when resolution settings are set on high on this GPU. However, competition-focused games such as "DoTA 2," "League of Legends," "Overwatch" and "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" can run without giving players headaches.

PC World says that it is also about time that AMD and Nvidia returned to the low-end budget side of the gaming spectrum. They have ignored this segment for years and have concentrated on building on their high-end products. The launch of this new product will give Nvidia a product on the market that directly competes with AMD's Radeon RX 550. This is good news especially for those gamers who are looking to build a gaming setup on a budget.

While this new card is built for eSports gaming, it is also ideal for replacing integrated graphics in home theater PCs. It can also work for machines that are mainly used for productivity, considering it has multi-monitor support. However, it lacks premium GeForce features such as Ansel, G-Sycn, and GameStream.

Building a gaming PC is not always cheap. For those who have been resourceful, they would have turned to the grey market of eBay and Craigslist for second-hand or imported options. While it is true that one can build a decent setup from used parts, the risk is high that those components could fail and cost a user more in the long run. These new options for the budget-friendly side might not be as powerful as their high end counterparts, but at least they are fresh and come with warranties.