MSI is something of the leader in terms of graphics card technology. Its products are cutting edge, utilise the best components and more often than not include some extra feature or two that benefits the customer and keeps the competition on their toes.
The MSI GT 730 is certainly no exception. This is a relatively modern card, being released early last year and built on the 28nm process. It's based on the Nvidia GK208 graphics processor, with a core clock speed of 700MHz, 2GB of DDR2 memory at 1800MHz, 384 shading units, 16 texture mapping units and a TDP of 49W. So you could essentially get away with a lower-end 300W PSU if needed, although we'd recommend one with a little more power to factor in the other components.
This is a dual slot, PCIe 2.0 card with a large heatsink and MSI embossed fan. The HDMI, VGA and DVI ports offer a maximum resolution of up to 4096 x 2160, with support for DirectX 12 games.
The benefits of this MSI version over other makes available are the all solid capacitors, the Afterburner overclocking utility and the MSI Predator video capture tool. Although they may not sound overly exciting to some users, these extra features all combine to make up a more complete package and one that has been subjected to a higher level of scrutiny and attention to detail.
The 3DMark GPU score was 1550 - far a more satisfying compared to the previous two cards we ran the test with. This of course means you'll be able to enjoy some of the more recent games without too much of an issue, and you may even be able to get away with the likes of Elite: Dangerous or Dying Light on medium settings.
Naturally, standard desktop duties were handled without any hint of a problem, while video and photo editing went at a far quicker pace than anything we'd tested to this point. You could even ramp up the video editing to include more complex and longer edits with more features, and we're pretty sure the GT 730 would cope well enough.
As you would expect, watching HD video was perfectly fine. The only problem you might have is the dual slots taken up by the card and the slightly elevated noise levels. If you're fitting this into a smaller case, then it's worth checking the dimensions and power requirements beforehand.
All in all, we were quite pleased with the MSI GT 730. It performs very well indeed, it's reasonably compact enough for a decent-sized case without getting in the way of any elaborate cooling of other components, and it's a good price too. At around £55, depending on where you shop, the MSI GT 730 is certainly a better value card then the previous two examples. You get significantly more for your money, and it'll make more of a positive impact on your system.