KFA2 GT 520 Passive 1GB Graphics Card Review

Final Thoughts

This card is one of those that doesn’t interest us to much, and we have to be honest on that front. If you are looking for a HTPC based graphics card, we’d much rather look at AMD and their Fusion range of Brazos boards or even the new Lynx platform that we’ve been tinkering with lately. We honestly feel that the market for a card like this isn’t huge, but that’s not to say that their isn’t one.

For users with a slightly older motherboard, on a budget, this card may be right up your street as it immerses you into the world of full HD content and more importantly DirectX11. It does all of this by using fairly low power outputs and works efficiently in terms of power.

It was never going to be a card for gaming, though that’s not to say that it can’t game. It’s the type of product that will be perfect for upgrading your machine and a bit of light gaming is achieveable if you don’t mind not having the very best quality and image settings as it simply won’t cut it.

The design of the card is nice and being made by KFA2, it certainly is unique, at least to the KFA2/Galaxy brand and having the ability to transform it into a lower-profile version is always a nice feature. Display outputs are plentiful for the market it’s aimed at and should be suitable for the segment this card appeals to, which is more HTPC than anything else.

At £42.62 from Scan and $59.99 from Newegg.com it’s a little bit more than what we’d want to spend, especially in comparison with the likes of the AMD HD 6450 and 6570, but this does include the passive design as opposed to having a noisy fan, so it’s really a personal choice that comes down to you; the consumer.

The bottom line is that the card isn’t going to be a show-stopper and was never manufactured to be, but for what it was made for, it does perfectly. You will be able to watch full HD content whilst dabbling in a bit of light gaming for very little money and in complete silence and with any HTPC based system, silence is the main key issue which this card solves 100%

Pros:

• Silent
• Includes CUDA
• Has PhsyX technology
• Unique design
• Perfect for a HTPC

Cons:

• Don’t expect to do any mass amounts of gaming

• Better cards can be had for the price