ZOTAC GeForce GT 640 ZONE Edition Pro Reviews

The Zotac GeForce GT 640 Zone Edition makes no noise, but you have to pay more to get this passive video card!

Silence, they say, is golden. Personally I'm more concerned with gaming frame rates, but when something comes around offering zero dB sound levels and decent gaming speed, I'm going to sit up and take notice. And Zotac's GT 640 Zone is certainly making me take notice. Now, I'm not saying that this is a proper gaming card on par with the likes of the HD 7770 or HD 6850, but considering its stealth credentials and bargain sticker price, it's certainly worth a look in specific circumstances.

The GT 640 is a great card as long as you understand its intention. This card is not made for any high level of gaming whatsoever; this card is strictly made for content creation or HTPC use. Being passively cooled makes it a great candidate for HTPC users but for most of us who game this card just will not cut it. Make sure you understand that every product has a target market and this card does as well: it can play movies, HD and even 4K really well, and that is its strong point. Looking around e-tailers we cannot find a single passive version of the 640 anywhere, and priced at only 10 dollars more than a standard actively cooled card makes it a really good option for its intended usage. The ability to decode 4K is huge as it is in a way future-proofing, but it does give users that heads up so to speak on the future ability and it means your HTPC can now just run along for years to come. 4K is a great format, and this card is ready for it even if the market is not there yet.