Two GeForce GTX 750 Ti Questions

[MrCaffeineX]

I am considering getting a 750 Ti for a PC that I will likely use as an HTPC/light gaming PC on my 1080p TV. The very low requirements (I would prefer to avoid running a 6-pin power connector if possible), plus the stellar performance/watt has me very interested. Future upgrade potential (adding a second for SLI for example) and reusability (low-profile/single-slot cards fit in a lot of builds) are minor concerns though.

The first question that I have is regarding the lack of SLI for these cards. Is it simply missing from the architecture or will companies possibly make an SLI-capable version down the line? I am asking mostly out of curiosity, as I thought that the previous 550 Ti and 650 Ti models, which the 750 Ti should be the logical successor to, had this capability. I suppose the 128-bit memory bus could be a limiting factor, but I thought it was a strange move, especially since they include 2GB of video memory on the 750 Ti, which I would think the card is too slow to utilize effectively by itself.

The second question is regarding the lack of low-profile and/or single-slot versions. I read a review on another site for the Galaxy GeForce GTX750 Ti GC Slim 2GB, which seems awesome. Also, Tom's built their own single-slot version of the 750 Ti. Given the recent turmoil with Galaxy, the general lack of retail/e-tail availability, and the fact that they are not available even through Galaxy directly right now, I am probably going to avoid their version of the 750 Ti. So what does that leave in the realm of possibility from other manufacturers on the low-profile/single-slot front, or is it more of a wait-and-see scenario right now?

 

[Liger88]

It's just how they designed the reference board. Doubt you'll ever see any 750 [Ti's] come with SLI. It just isn't apart of the spec so you're SOL if that's your intent. They've now since started using SLI and how many cards you can join as a method of up-selling people in a way. They did it with the 660. That card would have been probably the best triple SLI ever had it been possible.

The memory size is kind of held back by the bus, but with everyone gaming @ 1080p these days it's kind of the norm. About 2-3GB is pretty much the max that's really needed for 1080p gaming. The bus definitely holds it back from its potential when scaling resolutions although that card isn't meant for gaming at much higher resolutions anyways.

Don't understand why they didn't make the card single-slot. If any card could do it that would be it. Unfortunately it seems we live in a dual-slot only market nowadays. It's very much wait and see. The way I see it if heat/power are your concern: GTX 750 Ti. If you plan to do any modern gaming then look elsewhere, unless you don't mind having to lower the graphics to get the frame rates you want.

 

[Unknown-One]

It's just how they designed the reference board. Doubt you'll ever see any 750 [Ti's] come with SLI. It just isn't apart of the spec so you're SOL if that's your intent.

I'd be curious if a "GTX 750 Ti x2" is possible. Wouldn't be the first time an OEM had designed a custom dual-GPU card.

Don't understand why they didn't make the card single-slot. If any card could do it that would be it.

Yeah, agreed...

There were plenty of single-slot GeForce 6, 7, 8, and 9 cards. Any of them share mount-points with the 750 Ti? Might be possible to do a transplant.

 

[DraginDime]

When the 650Ti was released it did not offer SLI either. SLI came along a while after (I think only on the BOOST version). Will we later on see a 750Ti Boost.....that's anybody's guess. For now there is no upgrading to SLI later, so that kills any upgradability.

As for a single slot 750Ti, you may be waiting a bit for one of those. I'd like to think some of the manufacturers are already working on a single slot design. There seems to be a lot of people around the net asking for them. I think you can get the non-Ti version in a single slot design.

I have an EVGA SC 750Ti in my htpc, and it's a pretty decent little card. I only do some light gaming on it, but it seems to handle games pretty well. Since I don't use my htpc often I mainly wanted a rig that had a low power footprint. At 60ish watts, the 750Ti was the only way to go.

 

[jbltecnicspro]

I'd be curious if a "GTX 750 Ti x2" is possible. Wouldn't be the first time an OEM had designed a custom dual-GPU card.


Yeah, agreed...

There were plenty of single-slot GeForce 6, 7, 8, and 9 cards. Any of them share mount-points with the 750 Ti? Might be possible to do a transplant.

Worth a look. I transplanted a GeForce 7300 GS fan onto a passively-cooled GeForce 6600. Only issue is that the fan spins at 100% since the card doesn't seem to be able to control it. Minor annoyance though.

 

[MrCaffeineX]

I actually have 8800 and 9800 single-slot coolers from dead cards, but the fans were rather noisy back then, so even if they fit, it might not be a good match.

The primary intention was to get a low power usage card (preferrably no PCIe power connector) that can occasionally game at up to 1080p, which the 750 Ti certainly seems to be. I imagine the performance can't be any worse than Skyrim on the PS3. That feels like I'm back in the original XBox days...

The timeframe for my upgrade is within the next month or so and I imagine I'm just going to grab whatever is the best value 750 Ti at the time. I would hold out if there were definite plans to release a better version, but that doesn't seem worthwhile at this point.

Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[Galaxy]

The second question is regarding the lack of low-profile and/or single-slot versions. I read a review on another site for the Galaxy GeForce GTX750 Ti GC Slim 2GB, which seems awesome. Also, Tom's built their own single-slot version of the 750 Ti. Given the recent turmoil with Galaxy, the general lack of retail/e-tail availability, and the fact that they are not available even through Galaxy directly right now, I am probably going to avoid their version of the 750 Ti. So what does that leave in the realm of possibility from other manufacturers on the low-profile/single-slot front, or is it more of a wait-and-see scenario right now?

Demand has been epic on these cards with stock selling out within just a day or two of each shipment, though this isn't surprising given it's currently the only half-height GTX 700 series card available. However, more shipments are coming in regularly and you can now click to add yourself to a waiting list if you'd like get a notification and have one set aside for you when new stock arrives.

http://store.galaxytechus.com/product.asp?itemid=90

 

[PGHammer]

It's just how they designed the reference board. Doubt you'll ever see any 750 [Ti's] come with SLI. It just isn't apart of the spec so you're SOL if that's your intent. They've now since started using SLI and how many cards you can join as a method of up-selling people in a way. They did it with the 660. That card would have been probably the best triple SLI ever had it been possible.

The memory size is kind of held back by the bus, but with everyone gaming @ 1080p these days it's kind of the norm. About 2-3GB is pretty much the max that's really needed for 1080p gaming. The bus definitely holds it back from its potential when scaling resolutions although that card isn't meant for gaming at much higher resolutions anyways.

Don't understand why they didn't make the card single-slot. If any card could do it that would be it. Unfortunately it seems we live in a dual-slot only market nowadays. It's very much wait and see. The way I see it if heat/power are your concern: GTX 750 Ti. If you plan to do any modern gaming then look elsewhere, unless you don't mind having to lower the graphics to get the frame rates you want.

Actually, a single-slot version (from ASUS) is out now.

The big driver of dual-slot GPUs has been cooling - look at the TDP of merely the GTX650Ti (non-BOOST) - which this GPU directly replaces.

If you are looking merely at 1080p gaming, than the GTX750Ti is plenty - it's if you need to go above that that you should start looking elsewhere.

For me, going above 1080p capability is pointless, because my DISPLAY is the bottleneck - it is not capable of resolutions above 1920x1080. Odds of my getting a larger display or additional displays - none (not enough desk space).

 

[melk]

My PC is plugged into my 50" TV so I do all my gaming at 1080. Everything runs great at High-Ultra quality. Love this card.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Demand has been epic on these cards with stock selling out within just a day or two of each shipment, though this isn't surprising given it's currently the only half-height GTX 700 series card available. However, more shipments are coming in regularly and you can now click to add yourself to a waiting list if you'd like get a notification and have one set aside for you when new stock arrives.

http://store.galaxytechus.com/product.asp?itemid=90

Out of curiosity, what's the fan type on that card (and the GC model) is it a PWM controllable fan? Or a fixed speed 2 pin design like some other cards? Finding this info is a bit difficult since it's not something that's standard listed and there aren't many pictures without the cover so you can see the PCB and fan pin layout.

 

[Galaxy]

Out of curiosity, what's the fan type on that card (and the GC model) is it a PWM controllable fan? Or a fixed speed 2 pin design like some other cards? Finding this info is a bit difficult since it's not something that's standard listed and there aren't many pictures without the cover so you can see the PCB and fan pin layout.

Both the dual fan and slim editions are 2-pin with fan speeds controlled by circuitry on the PCB.

 

[Unknown-One]

Both the dual fan and slim editions are 2-pin with fan speeds controlled by circuitry on the PCB.

Heh, 2 pin means no RPM sense.

I guess they vary the voltage going to the fan and assume it's responding as expected?

 

[Galaxy]

Heh, 2 pin means no RPM sense.

I guess they vary the voltage going to the fan and assume it's responding as expected?

I asked about this, and according to the engineers the only limitation vs. 4-pin PWM is that it reports only fan % and not RPM, just as you say. It still does a fine a job at regulating fan speed vs. temp in actual practice, and you can still take manual control or set a custom fan curve. I would assume this method is less precise than PWM, but even so no amount of overclocking seems to cause the slightest strain in terms of temps or fan noise on these cards.

ABT reviewed the slim version recently, and even after they hacked it to remove the TDP limitation and really max the card out, they still didn't see temps above 75C or fan speeds over 55%. It's a great article, btw. I was amazed to see our overclocked 750 Ti actually match the R9 270X in some games, especially being the slim version which has lower factory clocks and a lighter power system vs. the dual fan card.

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/overclocking-galaxys-low-profile-gtx-750-ti-without-limits/4/

 

[sfsuphysics]

Hmmm that seems reasonable though, if the onboard temperature sensors control how fast the fans spin, if they're not spinning as fast as they're supposed to the temperature will rise, if the temperature rises the onboard sensor detects the rise in temp and gives more power to the fans to keep them cool.

Now if I could just get a coupon for free-shipping I'd buy one in a heart beat Seriously though, lots of choices in that price range $160 + $12 shipping vs another brand that might be $169 but with free shipping. Improvement gains are similar across the board with the "OC'd" versions its the quiet I want, and unfortunately there aren't too many reviews on different brands. I don't even care about the "slim" version, I have plenty of room to cram a fat one in my rig.

 

[melk]

Nice link! from the BIOS mod they linked to:

"Nvidia is advertising their new GeForce GTX 750 Ti GPUs based on the new more power efficient Maxwell architecture as being with 60W TDP, but in truth they seem to be much more power efficient than that.

The interesting thing here however is that the default TDP limit for GTX 750 Ti is actually set to 38.5W inside the BIOS"



I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

 

[melk]

....and GPUZ 0.7.7 will not the save BIOS from my EVGA FTW card

"BIOS reading not supported on this device."

Booooo

 

[PGHammer]

Nice link! from the BIOS mod they linked to:

"Nvidia is advertising their new GeForce GTX 750 Ti GPUs based on the new more power efficient Maxwell architecture as being with 60W TDP, but in truth they seem to be much more power efficient than that.

The interesting thing here however is that the default TDP limit for GTX 750 Ti is actually set to 38.5W inside the BIOS"



I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

38.5 watts?

Exact number of discrete AMD GPUs with a TDP that low - none.

I've owned two low-end discrete AMD GPUs (HD3850 and HD5450) - neither had a TDP that low, and only the former was fan-driven (the latter was entirely passive-cooled).

This is - literally - notebook GPU turf. (In every sense - HD5450 is a Mobility part in desktop clothes.)

Eeek is a good word for it.