Pondering a GTX 750 Ti, questions

[mikeymikec]

I have a few questions:

1 - Does anyone have a recommendation for what brand I should go for? I'm interested in quality but also in the fan noise level. My Gigabyte 5770 is a bit of a joke on this front on the default settings, but with MSI AfterBurner it is perfectly quiet. I'd prefer not to bother with third party software if I didn't feel like I had to.

2 - I have a Ph2 X4 960T (tested with 6 cores fine but I decided to leave the last two locked for now), DDR3 RAM, a Corsair VX450W, an SSD and a WD Black. I occasionally buy a new game for it (probably one every couple of years). I'm regularly playing StarCraft 2 HotS on mostly max'd out settings at 1080p and I'm 90% happy with the results. I don't typically play with AA/AF. I played Batman AC on DX9 (not smooth gameplay with DX11), no AA/AF and was pretty happy with the results, though I imagine that DX11 will make it look better. If I wanted to play (current) newer games, will the 750Ti yield a benefit?

I could make do with my 5770 and wait for a new game I want to play that it can't handle (which probably would be more sensible), but I'm pretty sure that the 750Ti would be quieter during gameplay (not a big deal but would be nice) and consume less power. The cost of electricity in the UK isn't cheap and is going up. This purchase (if it happens at all in the foreseeable future) would be planned within say the next 2 months.

 

[TeknoBug]

Yes good choice considering you have a 450W PSU, my Zotac 750Ti has no 6pin connector so it gets power off the PCI-E slot. Runs just about any game right now fine but with lowered settings. One thing I noticed is that I had to set a fan profile manually since even when it hits over 60C the fan still spins 40%, so if you get the Zotac download the Zotac Firestorm app.

 

[SlickR12345]

I'd go for AMD's R7 265 as its quite faster and of course has Mantle which is an additional bonus, with anywhere from 5% to 20% improvement in performance.

Both cards are $150-170 so why not get the faster card that has the option through mantle to be even faster.

 

[96Firebird]

I'd say wait. But if you want to scratch the upgrade itch, the 750Ti would be a great choice.

 

[Dave_O]

I chose the MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti Gaming OC 2GB for the following:

1. UEFI compatible BIOS for the ASUS Z87-Pro
2. Low power usage, and no additional power cable needed.
3. Very, very quiet, and runs very cool.

 

[mikeymikec]

ASUS seem to do two versions of the 750Ti, a dual fan one and a single fan one. I think the dual fan one is overclocked which makes me prefer the single fan one by default, unless the dual fan one is quieter (maybe because the fans are run at very low speeds)?

 

[Qwertilot]

Hard to tell That MSI one above seems to manage to run rather quiet because of using a big cooler and not overclocking much (not needing the extra power from the back) but in practice it could be anything.

Find some reviews if possible.

The stuff from the recent show about the new high end/(sort of!) quieter Strix cards from Asus did mention a pending strix version of the 750ti in the stuff from the show, which sounds like it might well run passive most of the time. Goodness knows when that'll turn up though.

 

[Madpacket]

I picked up an eVGA 750 TI as it has a displayport adapter which is needed for G-Sync. I'm happy with it as it's small and very quiet and overclocks a good 20%. Having upgraded from a 5770 I can tell you it's night and day faster at 1080P resolutions.

 

[Hundo]

Haven't had problems with the 4 EVGA cards I've used over the years.

 

[billclutterman]

The EVGA 750 ti for the win edition is an excellent choice. Mine scores 4000 in the passmark benchmark (OC'd), doesn't get hot since it uses very little power, and is quiet and reliable.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

750 Ti's are nice cards, if I were to buy one I'd make sure to get one with displayport. It's strange it's not a standard feature.

 

[ocre]

My vote is also the 750ti. It is extremely quit and very powerful when you consider the power it sips. I think you would notice a big difference all the way around.

If you do decide to go with it, give an update on how it turns out. I would be interested for sure. Particularity because of your specs. I know a person with a very similar system who is talking about upgrading soon

 

[mikeymikec]

displayport is only really needed for 4k resolution isn't it? Considering that my 1080p monitor is fairly new, I doubt I'll need 4k at any point soon

 

[Madpacket]

Displayport is needed for G-Sync as well. If you haven't any interest in that you'll have an easier time picking out a 750 TI.

 

[mikeymikec]

Yeah, from what I've seen it seems that only EVGA do cards with displayport.

<looks up g-sync>

 

[mikeymikec]

I went for it (the Asus not-overclocked, single fan model).

The computer is quieter when idle as well as under graphics load (the latter isn't difficult as my 5770 would crank the fan up to 100%, 5000RPM), system power usage has dropped to 67W from 85-90W when idle, and under graphics load it's dropped to about 175W, down from just over 200W.


The 750 Ti can handle tessellation (DX11) without a significant frame rate drop which is nice. I've changed Tomb Raider's settings from DX9 with no AA and 1x AF to the ultimate setting, then tuned it down to 1xAA and 1x AF (which is fine with me, I couldn't honestly tell the difference between 16xAA and 1xAA!).

It was a bit of a self-indulgent upgrade decision but it's turned out as well as I hoped.

I'm going to tune StarCraft 2's settings as I think the CPU-intensive settings are slowing my frame rate a bit.