I. Introduction: A domestically produced graphics card priced at only 399 CNY
For users who support domestic products, spending 1499 CNY on a graphics card like the Moore Thread MTT S80, which can only play DX11 games, may seem a bit difficult to justify.
However, if there's a domestically produced graphics card priced at 399 CNY, capable of supporting 4K encoding/decoding, with extremely low power consumption, capable of smoothly running "League of Legends," and equipped with 4GB of dedicated memory, there should be a desire to make a purchase.
In June 2023, Moore Thread introduced the MTT S80/70, the first domestically produced graphics card capable of smoothly playing DX11 games.
Now, Moore Thread has launched the entry-level graphics card MTT S30, priced at 399 CNY.
The specifications of the MTT S30 are roughly equivalent to one-fourth of the MTT S80. It comes with 1024 MUSA architecture cores (stream processors), a GPU frequency of 1.3GHz, and FP32 single-precision floating-point performance of 2.7 TFOPS. Additionally, it features 4GB of LPDDR4 memory with a 128-bit bus width, operating at 4266MHz, providing a bandwidth of 68GB/s, all while consuming 40W of power.
In terms of gaming support, the MTT S30 can handle most mainstream DX11 games. However, considering that even the MTT S80 struggles with smooth gameplay, the target users for the MTT S30 are not primarily gamers.
Where the MTT S30 truly shines is its MUSA Intelligent Multimedia Engine 2.0, supporting H.264/H.265/AV1 encoding and decoding. Coupled with its low power consumption and support for X86, ARM, and LoongArch architectures, it's an excellent choice for office productivity and entertainment purposes.
P.S. Prior to Intel's 6th generation Core processors, integrated graphics did not support H.265/AV1 encoding and decoding. Thus, the MTT S30 also suits users looking for a cost-effective upgrade in such scenarios.
Graphically, it features a half-height blade card design and a 1+1 phase power supply configuration.
The graphics card features a half-height blade-shaped design, incredibly compact at dimensions of 145x69x16mm.
You can see that half of the PCIe interface is blank, meaning it only supports PCIe 3.0x8.
Graphics card backplate.
Close-up of a fan.
One HDMI 2.0 port and one VGA port.
It's easy to dismantle the radiator; there's only single-phase power supply for the core and single-phase power supply for the memory. However, each phase is equipped with an ample number of Dr. MOS and solid capacitors to handle a 40W TBP with ease.
CPU and GPU memory.
GPU core code SD104B1-BA-150, with a total of 1024 stream processors, operating at a frequency of 1350MHz.
Samsung LPDDR4 memory, with the model number K4F8E3S4HD-MGCL, operates at a frequency of 4266MHz. Each chip has a capacity of 1GB and a 32-bit bus width. With a total of four chips, the total capacity is 4GB with a 128-bit bus width.
Gaming performance testing: Inferior to UHD 770 integrated graphics.
The test platform is as follows:
During the DX11 era, 3DMark 11 stood out as a highly professional graphics card performance testing tool, making it perfect for evaluating the performance of the MTT S30 by Moore Threads.
Lu Master
FF XIV Online Benchmark
Unigine Valley Benchmark
League of Legends
7. Far Cry 5
Street Fighter IV
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG)
Test data summary is as follows:
Overall, the performance of the MTT S30 is about 40% weaker than the Intel UHD 770, and it can only smoothly run games like "League of Legends."
IV. Online Video Experience: Supports 8K AV1 hardware decoding
Resolution: 7680x4320
Hardware Decoding: AV1
Frame Rate: 30 FPS
Bitrate: 19394 Kbps
Frames Played: 10083
Frames Dropped: 13
CPU Usage: 1%
GPU Usage: 47%With 13 frames dropped out of 10083 played, it can be understood as experiencing a frame rate drop to 29 FPS for 1 second every 30 seconds of video playback, while the remaining 29 seconds maintain a smooth 30 FPS, thus not significantly impacting the viewing experience.
We conducted a 70-minute stress test using Furmark, and the temperature of the MTT S30 peaked at only 67 degrees Celsius, with virtually no noise throughout the entire process.
Additionally, the latest version of GPU-Z can now identify some information about the graphics card.
In summary: a 399 CNY domestic graphics card suitable for office and entertainment purposes.
Let's briefly summarize the contents of this test!
Currently, the gaming performance of the MTT S30 is inferior to the Intel UHD 770, with a difference of about 40%. Compared to the MTT S80, it's roughly a quarter of the latter's performance.
At present, the only mainstream games that can run smoothly on this graphics card are "League of Legends" and "Dota 2", with frame rates of around 10 FPS for other DX11 AAA titles.
Regarding comparison with the GT 740, since we don't have this new card currently, but considering its
A year ago, when we tested the MTT S80, it couldn't run Furmark. Now, with the new drivers, it supports this stress testing application well.
We conducted a 70-minute stress test using FurMark, and the temperature of the MTT S30 peaked at only 67 degrees Celsius, with virtually no noise throughout the entire process.
3. 4K Decoding
The MTT S30 boasts comprehensive decoding capabilities, supporting hardware decoding for H.264/H.265/AV1.
In our tests, hardware decoding of high-bitrate videos from Bilibili at both 1080P and 4K resolutions resulted in almost zero dropped frames, with negligible CPU usage.
We also conducted decoding tests for 8K ultra-high-definition videos, with a dropped frame rate of about 1‰, which essentially does not affect the viewing experience.
This graphics card is suitable for users who don't have gaming requirements or only play games like "League of Legends" and "Dota 2", as well as scenarios where a bright machine card is needed, provided that you are willing to support domestic graphics cards.
Additionally, for those considering purchasing the GT740, it's important to note that this card doesn't even support AV1 and 4K HEVC decoding, while the MTT S30 offers more comprehensive decoding capabilities, including support for 8K AV1 decoding.
Considering its performance as an entry-level domestic graphics card, it's quite satisfying.
