Conclusions
So, is the GeForce 9300 the best integrated graphics chipset around? On paper, it should be. In practice, I think it could be. But it's not quite there yet.

The GeForce 9300 certainly has a lot going for it, especially if you want to run an Intel processor. In that realm, its only real competition is the G45 Express, whose anemic gaming performance looks all the more inadequate next to the 9300's potent graphics core. The GeForce all but guarantees broader game compatibility and fewer headaches with newer titles, too—issues that continue to dog Intel's integrated graphics chipsets.

The only integrated graphics chipset to give the GeForce 9300 a run for its money in games is AMD's 790GX, but it was slower in three of the games we tested and only barely faster in the fourth. The 790GX is really more of a bizarro hybrid CrossFire platform than a traditional integrated graphics chipset, so I'm not convinced it directly competes with the GeForce 9300. The latest batch of 780G boards are much more appropriate rivals, and even when equipped with SidePort memory as our 780G board was today, they simply don't have the grunt to keep up with the GeForce in games.

Nvidia has the best integrated graphics core for gaming, then. It also has a competent PureVideo HD decode engine that brings creamy smoothness to 1080p Blu-ray playback. And let's not forget that the GeForce 9300 fared very well in our peripheral performance tests, exhibiting excellent SATA throughput and the quickest USB controller of the lot. Even the GeForce 9300's power consumption—a notorious weakness of Nvidia chipsets—is reasonable.

So if the GeForce 9300 has all this going for it, why isn't it the best integrated graphics chipset on the market? Because it doesn't feel finished yet. Nvidia has yet to get CAS 4 memory timings working with motherboards, and while that probably won't affect the vast majority of prospective users, it gives me the impression that this chipset was rushed out the door. Also, Nvidia has admitted that an Advance Path feature that should lower memory access latencies isn't even enabled in the current drivers. The GeForce 9300 needs a little polish.

Fortunately for Nvidia, the GeForce 9300's hardware foundation appears to be solid. Assuming that Advance Path can be made to work properly, all that's needed is a round of BIOS and driver updates to tie up the platform's loose ends. With those issues resolved, I'd heartily recommend the GeForce 9300 for home theater PCs and consumer desktops alike.