NVIDIA GeForce 7300 SE

The NVIDIA GeForce 7300 SE is a legacy entry-level graphics card built on the Curie architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 90 nm process. It carries 112 million transistors on an 81 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 1.4 million per square millimeter. Released on March 21, 2006, this part sits between the GeForce 6 PCIe series and the GeForce 8 generation, and is now marked as end-of-life. The card uses a PCIe 1.0 x16 interface, occupies a single slot, and requires no auxiliary power connectors, with a suggested system power supply of 200 W. Its display outputs are one DVI, one VGA, and one S-Video connector.

Memory Subsystem

The GeForce 7300 SE is equipped with 256 MB of DDR2 memory on a 64-bit bus. The memory clock is 266 MHz, which yields an effective data rate of 532 Mbps per pin, and the resulting bandwidth is 4.256 GB/s. This is a modest figure by any standard. The narrow 64-bit interface is the primary constraint: even though the memory operates at a typical DDR2 speed, the small bus width limits how much data can be transferred between the GPU and the frame buffer each second. For high-resolution workloads, where large textures and depth buffers demand frequent memory access, this bandwidth becomes a bottleneck. The pixel rate of 900.0 MPixel/s and texture rate of 1.800 GTexel/s further indicate that the card is designed for low-resolution, simple scenes rather than for driving modern high-definition displays. In practice, the 256 MB capacity and 4.256 GB/s bandwidth mean that the card can handle older games at reduced settings, but it will struggle with any application that requires rapid texture streaming or large frame buffer allocations. The 64-bit bus also halves the effective bandwidth compared to a 128-bit interface at the same memory speed, which is a critical factor for anyone considering this card for anything beyond basic 2D output or very light 3D acceleration.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The GeForce 7300 SE does not include any dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores. The architecture predates hardware-accelerated ray tracing by more than a decade, and the card's feature set is firmly rooted in the DirectX 9.0c era. It supports DirectX 9.0c with shader model 9_3, as well as OpenGL 2.1. There is no Vulkan support, which is expected given the release date. The absence of RT and tensor cores means that any ray tracing effects would have to be computed on the shader units, which are limited to 4 texture mapping units and 2 ROPs. The pixel rate and texture rate already indicate a very low throughput, so even software-based ray tracing is not a realistic option. The card's feature set is therefore limited to the fixed-function and shader-model-3 capabilities of the DirectX 9.0c API, which includes basic per-pixel lighting, normal mapping, and simple procedural effects. It cannot handle modern geometry or compute workloads that rely on newer API features. For users who need hardware ray tracing or tensor-based AI acceleration, this card offers none of those capabilities.

Who Should Consider It

Given its specifications and the absence of any recorded benchmark scores in the database, the GeForce 7300 SE is best suited for a narrow set of use cases. The 256 MB VRAM and 64-bit bus place it at the low end of the performance spectrum. The card's percentile rank of 50 among all GPUs in the database suggests that it sits at the median of the distribution, but that figure is based on the database's collection, not on any actual performance test — the average benchmark score is 0, indicating that no benchmarks have been recorded for this part. In practical terms, the card can handle legacy software that expects DirectX 9.0c or earlier, such as early 2000s titles, at low resolutions and with reduced detail settings. It is not appropriate for high-resolution gaming (1080p or above) because the bandwidth and fill rates are insufficient. The card also lacks any modern API support, so it cannot run games that require DirectX 10 or later. For users who need a simple display output for office work, legacy hardware, or a retro gaming setup, the 7300 SE might suffice. However, given its end-of-life status and the lack of driver support for current operating systems, it is not a practical choice for any new system. The suggested 200 W power supply requirement is modest, but the card itself draws very little power — the absence of power connectors confirms its low consumption.

How It Compares

The database does not provide any nearest rival entries for the GeForce 7300 SE, so there are no direct comparison scores or delta percentages to report. In terms of product lineage, the card is the successor to the GeForce 6 PCIe series and the predecessor to the GeForce 8 generation. This places it in a transitional period between two architectures: the Curie architecture used here was a refinement of the previous generation, while the GeForce 8 series introduced unified shaders and DirectX 10 support. Without rival data, we can only note that the 7300 SE occupies a low-tier position within its own generation, as evidenced by its 64-bit memory bus, 2 ROPs, and 4 TMUs. Its pixel rate of 900 MPixel/s and texture rate of 1.8 GTexel/s are indicative of an entry-level part, and the 50th percentile rank (with no benchmark scores) suggests that it is not an extreme outlier but rather a median performer among all GPUs in the database — though this is a positional statement rather than a measured performance metric. The lack of rival comparisons means that we cannot quantify its performance relative to contemporary cards, but the internal specifications alone place it well below any mid-range or high-end GPU of its era.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmark data for the GeForce 7300 SE is effectively empty. The average benchmark score is 0, which means that no performance tests have been recorded in the database for this card. The percentile rank of 50 is the only statistical indicator available, and it places the card exactly at the median of all GPUs in the database. This is an unusual situation: a percentile of 50 typically implies that half of the GPUs perform better and half perform worse, but without any actual scores, this rank is more of a placeholder than a meaningful measure. It is possible that the database assigns a neutral rank to GPUs without benchmark entries. Consequently, any performance analysis must rely on the hardware specifications rather than on measured results. The pixel rate of 900 MPixel/s and texture rate of 1.800 GTexel/s are the key fill-rate metrics. For comparison, a typical mid-range GPU from the same era would have several times these values, but we cannot cite such numbers because they are not in the fact pack. What we can say is that the 7300 SE's fill rates are consistent with a card that was designed for basic 3D acceleration, not for gaming at high settings. The memory bandwidth of 4.256 GB/s is similarly low, and the combination of a 64-bit bus and 256 MB of VRAM severely limits the card's ability to handle large textures or high resolutions. In the absence of benchmark scores, the hardware facts are the only basis for evaluating the card's performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the GeForce 7300 SE?

A: The card has a memory bandwidth of 4.256 GB/s, achieved with 256 MB of DDR2 memory on a 64-bit bus running at 266 MHz (532 Mbps effective).

Q: Does the GeForce 7300 SE support ray tracing?

A: No. The card has no ray tracing cores or tensor cores, and its architecture (Curie) predates hardware ray tracing. It only supports DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.1.

Q: What is the transistor count and die size?

A: The GPU contains 112 million transistors on an 81 mm² die, fabricated on a 90 nm process by TSMC, with a transistor density of 1.4 million per square millimeter.

Q: What is the pixel fill rate of this card?

A: The pixel rate is 900.0 MPixel/s, and the texture rate is 1.800 GTexel/s, based on 4 TMUs and 2 ROPs.

Q: What power supply is recommended?

A: The suggested PSU is 200 W, and the card has no auxiliary power connectors, indicating a low power draw.

Q: What is the release date and production status?

A: The card was released on March 21, 2006, and its production status is end-of-life. It is the successor to the GeForce 6 PCIe series and the predecessor to the GeForce 8 series.