- GEForce 8400 GS with 520 MHz core clock
- PCI Express 2.0
- 512MB 32-bit DDR3 memory
- 600 MHz memory clock and 1230 MHz shader clock
- Dual-Link HDCP Capable
Buy EVGA GeForce 8400 GS 512 MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI/HDMI/VGA Graphics Card, 512-P3-1300-LR Now
Nice card. Noticeably improves video performance and the price is right. Pros: HDMI, DMI and VGA ports, great phone tech support (24x7 free!). Cons: no documentation in the box and no dedicated audio out at all (not even an analog audio out). Not much product-specific info on the website.I wanted to use this card for video only, and continue using my existing audio setup. But when I installed this the sound on my HP a1640n stopped working. I tried every fix I could think of -re-installing drivers, disabling them, etc. I thought the geForce card' software had overwritten or corrupted my motherboard's audio drivers. After reading many online posts I decided I had to re-install windows and start all over. I spent a weekend backing up files and re-installing. It still didn't work. Eventually I went back to the EVGA site and found a tech support number (blame myself for not doing this *much* earlier).
EVGA has 24/7 free tech support! After registering the card on the website (required) my call was answered immediately at 10 pm on Sunday night by a knowledgeable person who wasn't just reading a script. (I think I talked to Doug? Best tech support call I've had in years). Problem solved in about 90 seconds (I had to re-boot, go into the BIOS, and set the on-board audio to "on" (options are off, auto and on).
Had I found the tech support number earlier I would have saved myself a lot of grief.
Bottom line, if you aren't reasonably comfortable mucking around with PC/Windows settings and/or prepared to take a risk, don't try to upgrade a PC with on-board graphics and audio (most mainline consumer PCs fall into this category). If you are reasonably comfortable, go for it -but call the company's tech support line if you have any problems.This card i bought to upgrade my hp from the integrated geforce 6150se. When i got it and installed it i did notice a change in gaming it got better then before and its a very good product for people on a budget or people who want a starter upgrade. I can watch hd videos and ncaa games on line with no lag or jumping its a great thing. If you have a budget or want to start with a card this would be your starter card.
Update 3/1/12: I sold this card and upgraded to the GTX 550ti but this card was amazing when I had it. It upgraded my HP PC from not being able to play Portal 2 to actually be able to play it finally!. ***VERY IMPORTANT: For people who own or have bought this card, be sure to update the card with the latest drivers as this will take many problems away that you are experiencing.*** Product rating still: AI purchased this product as an upgrade from a GeForce 6100 nForce 405 integrated solution for an older system. There were two things I had in mind with this upgrade: 1080p HD video acceleration (which my board could not handle) and playing MMOs. I'm happy to say that HD video plays beautifully with GPU acceleration, though be advised some popular video programs like VLC media player will require you to check an option for GPU acceleration.
As for gaming, I am thoroughly impressed with the improvement. To say that it's a big leap from an integrated solution is a bit obvious, but considering the price of the card the leap is fairly overwhelming. Not only can this card handle popular MMOs like City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and Final Fantasy XI smoothly at recommended or higher settings, but it's capable of playing Fallout 3, Oblivion, The Sims 3 and several other PS3-era games as well (and even at the lowest settings, these games look fantastic). Granted, I'm not a stickler for particle effects or realistic shadows, the important thing for me is that a game runs smoothly, has a decent draw distance and discernible textures, and to that end this card will more than suffice.
Those who say this card "isn't for gaming" are assuming you're looking for a card capable of running games like Crysis or Final Fantasy XIV, but you wouldn't expect to be able to do that for $35. Overclocking won't get you far with this card, as the hardware architecture doesn't allow for much more graphical detail than the GPU produces at stock speeds. The most inexpensive GPU Nvidia recommends for middle-end gaming is the EVGA nVidia GeForce 9500GT 1 GB 2DVI PCI-Express Video Card, 01G-P3-N959-TR, which is twice the cost of this card and still won't run a lot of recent releases (FFXIV requires at least the 9600 GT). If gaming is your thing, you'll probably upgrade eventually, so consider the long-term costs when debating this purchase.
For fun, I tried out the Street Fighter IV benchmark and got an average FPS of 17 with this card and a single-core AMD 3800 2.4Ghz processor. I'll have to try it again once I've installed a dual-core processor, but I still find it fairly impressive for such an inexpensive card to pull off.
I have a fairly noisy PSU, so I can't really comment on the fan except to say that it's quieter than the PSU or the HDDs at full load. Installation was painless and drivers are included on the disc (though you'll want to download the latest directly from nVidia).
I would recommend this card to casual gamers interested in MMOs, puzzle or adventure games, mid-core gamers looking primarily to play older games, or anyone interested in an HD video solution if their board isn't able to handle 1080p. It is an exceptional deal.
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I origionally installed this card in an XP 32 bitmachine and got fuzzy text with the latest
nvidia driver no matter what resolution I tried.
I thought this might be caused because I had
windows XP but after I upgraded my machine to
Window 7, I get exactly the same results.
Search the web for 8400 GS fuzzy and you will
see, I am not the only one with this issue.
After hours of fiddling with the card, drivers,
and cables, I gave up and went back to
my low end card that displays text clearly.
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