GPU shortages are so bad that the GeForce GT 730 has made a comeback
A blast from the past
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Times are pretty bleak right now for anyone trying to get ahold of some of thebest graphics cardson the market, such as theNvidia GeForce RTX 3080and theAMD Radeon 6800 XT. In fact, you’d be pretty pressed to findanyhalfway decent GPU for a fair price, which has led toMSIresurrecting a relic from 2014, the GeForce GT 730.If you’ve been trying tobuild a gaming PCor upgrade an existing rig over the last few months, chances are you’ve been unsuccessful due to the ongoing shortage of components likeAMD Ryzen processorsand the latest generation ofAMD ‘Big Navi’ RadeonandNvidia RTX 3000 seriesgraphics cards.
This is due to a combination of problems such as supply issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, scalpers buying up stock toresell for an insane markup, andcryptocurrenciesincreasing in value, resulting in more demand for crypto mining farms that use up what little hardware is available.
What year is it?
Let’s be real, the GT 730 is considerably past its heyday which doesn’t make it the most attractive alternative for anyone hunting for even a budget card but it might work if you’re desperate (or a fan of older, less demanding titles from the same era). This is the Keplar version of the GPU, which means it packs a whopping 384 CUDA cores and features a 902 MHz boost clock and 2GB of DDR3 VRAM at 1,600 MHz. It also only used 23W of power, but MSI suggests that you play it safe and use a 300W power supply.You won’t be playing any new AAA games on this ‘beast’, but a few old benchmarks provided byQuora user Swapnil Gorereveal you could expect around 40 FPS inGrand Theft Auto5 and 50 FPS on Tomb Raider 2013 on Medium/High settings.It’s important to note that Nvidia has announced that all driver support for Keplar graphics cards will be terminated on the next GeForce driver update, so if you wanted to actually buy one then proceed at your own risk. It also isn’t clear if this model will actually be sold outside of Japan as a price was provided as 4,565 yen (around $40 / £30 / AU$50).Regardless of how likely this is to sell, it paints a grim picture of the current GPU market. With theRTX 3070 Tiexpected to hit the shelves later today, we anticipate it will sell out just as quickly as the previous Nvidia releases, only to be found available through resellers for a considerable sum. We can only hope that something will give eventually so PC gaming doesn’t become even pricier than it already was.
ViaTom’s Hardware
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
Jess is a former TechRadar Computing writer, where she covered all aspects of Mac and PC hardware, including PC gaming and peripherals. She has been interviewed as an industry expert for the BBC, and while her educational background was in prosthetics and model-making, her true love is in tech and she has built numerous desktop computers over the last 10 years for gaming and content creation. Jess is now a journalist at The Verge.
Intel Battlemage rumored for December – could new budget GPUs win over gamers neglected by Nvidia and save the Arc brand?
Nvidia RTX 5090 Ti suddenly pops up – and RTX 6000 GPUs are mentioned in trademark filings too – but don’t get excited
Smeg Combi Steam Oven review: a multi-functional countertop oven that looks stunning and cooks well
