In the past few years, the line between the classes of gaming devices has been erased more and more on the market of computer components. For example, a new product from Nvidia, a video card based on the GTX 750 Ti, which is positioned as a representative of the initial class of game adapters, claims to be a niche for more expensive devices. This trend will definitely lead to the fact that most of the intermediate solutions will soon disappear from the component market, as has already happened with mobile processors.
In this article, the reader will see an overview of relevant devices in the market of discrete video adapters that have great potential for modern games, and get acquainted with their characteristics. The feedback from the owners of video cards will help a potential buyer to choose a device among various offers from leading manufacturers.
Nvidia manufacturer's vision
If we turn to the original source, we can see that initially the Nvidia GTX 750 Ti graphics card was positioned by the manufacturer as an entry-level gaming device for ordinary users. First of all, this is indicated by its architecture, technical specifications and form factor. The reference version is a printed circuit board with a length of 150 mm (for the length of the PCIe slot), which occupies only one unit in the body of a personal computer.
The lack of additional power on the video adapter board indicates a low power dissipation of the GPU, and the lack of an SLI connector hints to the owner that he is facing an ordinary budget employee, without any future potential. Accordingly, the entire system has a regular cooler that can easily cope with power dissipation of 60 watts. It is not clear why the manufacturer "awarded" its product with huge overclocking potential, because this step was the root cause that led to the crowding out of more expensive video cards on the market with entry-level devices.
Basic features and modifications
The novelty is built on the graphics core GM107, codenamed Maxwell. The manufacturing process uses 28 nanometers, and the crystal contains 1870 million transistors. I am glad that the manufacturer did not start to breed a “zoo” of video adapters, but introduced only two modifications to the market - the Nvidia GTX 750 Ti and its lightweight version of the GTX 750. The difference between the models is insignificant:
- the number of stream processors in the expensive version is 640 (versus 512 for the GTX 750);
- 2 GB of memory (two times more than the GTX 750);
- memory operating frequency of 5400 MHz (versus 5000 MHz);
- reduced power consumption to 55 watts (GTX 750i 60 watts);
- the bandwidth of an inexpensive modification of 80 GB / s (versus 86.4 GB / s).
The remaining indicators are identical:
- 128 bit bus width
- memory type GDDR5,
- core frequency 1025 MHz,
- DirectX 11.2 support,
- 16 conveyors for raster operations.
Comparing the GTX 750 vs GTX 750 Ti in the factory, the user will not see the difference in performance. This can not be said about the overclocking potential, which is very high for the Ti modification. In general, it seems that the GTX 750 is a rejection in the production of the older model.
Hard move
Other than gaming all-in actions of the Taiwanese manufacturer Gigabyte can not be called. Not every player is ready to take a budget video card, hard-disperse it and present it at a very affordable price in the market for advanced devices. This is exactly what happened with the Gigabyte GTX 750 Ti video adapter, which today is considered the most productive device out of the box based on the Maxwell chip. We are talking about the factory version, otherwise the power of video adapters can be argued ad infinitum, remembering the liquid nitrogen cooling of GTX 460-based devices that are still in demand on the Russian market.
Manufacturer Gigabyte through factory overclocking increased the frequency of the graphics core, stopping it at around 1215 MHz. In Boost effective frequency mode, the limit for the adapter is 1294 MHz. The performance increase was 23%, respectively, the GTX 750 Ti graphics card is able to compete in the market with gaming-class devices such as the GeForce GTX 660 and Radeon R7 265, the cost of which is still too high for many buyers.
Gigabyte proprietary technology and device reviews
The reader has already guessed that the secret technology that allowed improving the performance of the Gigabyte GTX 750 Ti graphics card is a powerful cooling system. Then the manufacturer deviated from the way Nvidia in creating a small device for budget system units. The video card has at its disposal a powerful cooling system WindForce 2X, the analogues of which are installed on gaming video adapters of a professional level.
The system has two powerful coolers that completely blow the aluminum radiator. The eight-millimeter copper tube is made in the form of the letter S, and, penetrating the radiators at the fan level, it passes through the platform, which directly touches the graphics accelerator during installation. As planned by the engineers, such a system normalizes the temperature of the radiator during heating, not allowing the chips on the board to overheat. The lack of any heatsinks on the back of the video card is embarrassing, because the crystal unambiguously removes heat to the printed circuit board. However, judging by the reviews of many owners of this device, this is superfluous, since the GTX 750 Ti cooling system copes with the task 100%.
Silent Accelerator
The potential for overclocking the Nvidia GTX 750 Ti chip was also noticed in the laboratory of the well-known company MSI. However, instead of supporting the performance race, the developers took a slightly different direction. A new TWIN FROZR 4 Advanced cooler was installed on the video adapter, which guarantees silent operation even in peak loads. And this is not a manufacturer’s marketing move at all. The media has a lot of reviews on the operation of the cooling system from MSI. Judging by the reviews, at first many owners even had doubts after installing the video card in the system - the lack of a hum of fans led to the idea that the coolers were not working.
In the production of the MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti, the factory replaced all the capacitors installed by Nvidia with solid-state analogs. More reliable ferrite chokes were also provided. Not without balancing the temperature of the radiator with copper tubes, which, passing through the aluminum grilles, are fed to the area of contact with the graphic crystal. The build quality, as noted by users, is very high, and many devices from competitors clearly lack such a solution.
A curious device for enthusiasts
The noiselessness of coolers is the right step to a potential buyer, but, logically, in search of a quiet video card, he may prefer instances with passive cooling. Therefore, the developers of the MSI GTX 750 Ti should have thought about the performance of the device. The frequency of the graphic core at the factory was increased to 1085 MHz, which did not affect the performance much. But the stability of the work was confirmed by a five-year guarantee from MSI, and this is a very serious argument for many buyers, judging by their reviews.
There is no need to rush to conclusions on the performance of the video card in question. As the saying goes, "in the pool ...". The manufacturer’s proprietary cooling system as a result of testing showed excellent overclocking potential, and the noise level in peak loads did not exceed 46 dB. So enthusiasts managed to increase the nominal frequency of the memory bus from 5400 to 6000 MHz, and, as it turned out, this is not the limit for stable operation. The graphics core showed its limit at 1291 MHz. These are excellent results for an inexpensive solution on the market, only overclocking is recorded in the BIOS of the video card, and, accordingly, automatically deprives the owner of a five-year warranty.
Associations with an airplane
And if the MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti is considered the most silent video card on the market from the entire line of similar devices, then the product under the well-known Palit brand has broken all records in terms of noise level simultaneously in several lines from Nvidia. In the factory version, the video card shows 72 dB, and before the airplane rumble when taking off nearby, as many users note. It is not at all clear what the developers motivated this in the race for productivity. When testing the product, technologists couldn’t notice the problem.
The marketing company for the presentation of the video card has collected a lot of negative from the owners, who unknowingly acquired this miracle. A proprietary cooling system called Storm Dual does not cope with the task at all. However, the manufacturer quickly corrected the situation by presenting the world with an updated video card with passive cooling Palit GTX 750 Ti KalmX. Judging by the reviews, the attitude towards it is twofold. On the one hand, there is potential for overclocking (1377 MHz on the core and 6564 MHz on the memory bus). On the other hand, there is a clear overheating, because at peak load the temperature reaches 100 degrees Celsius.
Golden mean
Many potential buyers are attracted to devices based on the GeForce GTX 750 Ti chip, the price of which corresponds to the quality (8000-9000 rubles). Not chasing high performance, many prefer a well-known brand that provides an inexpensive solution. These products include graphics cards under the brand name ASUS. A plain-looking package, poor equipment and a simple cooling system clearly hint to the user that he is faced with an ordinary budget device.
At this stage, all owners of the Asus GTX 750 Ti video adapter will receive a pleasant surprise. A simple-looking cooling system, which does not have copper tubes in its design, perfectly copes with the task assigned to it. Even at peak loads, the hum of the fans does not exceed 66 dB, and in idle mode, the noise meters show its value within 35 dB. The graphics processor in normal mode runs at 1072 MHz, which in Boost mode can increase to 1150 MHz. The overclocking potential of the video card is decent - the crystal in the test mode can be overclocked to 1222 MHz, but the increase in speed affects the stability of the work.
Favorite Overlocker Brand
Among gaming devices, it could not do without the currently popular Zotac brand. The video card GeForce GTX 750 Ti, presented by the manufacturer in the market of computer components, stands out among competitors with its proprietary cooling system and unique color scheme. Judging by the reviews of the owners, the delivery package for a budget device is very poor: a video card, installation instructions, driver disks and two adapters - DVI to VGA and 2Molex to 6pin.
Compared with competitors, the device looks quite compact, the manufacturer did not increase the size of the video adapter by installing a huge cooling system, but limited it to a budget cooler. This solution is suitable for all users who have small system units - the video card is perfectly mounted on the motherboard and does not block access to hard magnetic drives.
The developers did not pursue performance, setting the nominal frequency of the graphics core at around 1033 MHz (in Boost mode 1111 MHz), however, many owners note that the video adapter perfectly accelerates up to 1200 MHz without significant heating. This once again emphasizes that the proprietary cooling system GTX 750 Ti copes with the task.
Triple punch
EVGA also distinguished itself in the market by introducing two new products to the world at the same time: the GTX 750 Ti graphics card and its younger model GTX 750. Outwardly, it is rather difficult to distinguish both devices. The branded cooling system of black color with one huge fan with only a small inscription on the case gives the manufacturer and makes it clear which video adapter is hidden under the radiator cover. A few months later, EVGA hastily introduced another product based on the Maxwell chipset with a huge cooling system consisting of two branded coolers.
Judging by the positive reviews, it was these three devices that were immediately tested, because users have long been eager to see a comparison of GTX 750 vs GTX 750 Ti products from some well-known brand. As expected, the reduced number of processor units and the reduced memory frequency do not allow the GTX 750 product to escape from the budget class, and any overclocking leads to unstable operation of the system (this is a rejection of the older model). But for models with the Ti marking, thanks to the proprietary cooling system, EVGA specialists managed to achieve excellent performance.
Gold Series
The Gainward GeForce GTX 750 Ti video card, whose price is clearly not related to the entry-level gaming video devices (9500-11000 rubles), attracts buyers' attention. However, its technical characteristics are not much different from competing products. The frequency of the GPU is only 1085 MHz, and the nominal memory frequency is set at 5600 MHz. In addition, a video adapter is available in two versions: with one cooler in a standard size and with two in a bulky case.
The lightweight version is positioned as an affordable device for installation in a small system unit, and the advanced version with a super-cooling system - as a video adapter for enthusiasts. Included with the device is a proprietary utility Expert Tool, familiar to all fans of high-quality overclocking video cards. Judging by the reviews of the owners, the cost of the video adapter is not overpriced at all, the Gainward designers created an excellent cooling system that can compete even with the MSI GTX 750 Ti product. Overclocking is colossal: 1320 MHz in the core and 6455 MHz in memory. The noise of coolers in peak loads does not exceed 66 dB. A pretty good alternative for fans of the gold series of video cards from a famous brand.
Finally
As can be seen from the review, an inexpensive solution based on the new Maxwell chip will be an acceptable purchase for many users who, having at their disposal a modest budget, want to play today's games. However, you still have to make a choice among manufacturers, because, as it turned out, there is no ideal solution that you can safely point to with your finger. You need the cheapest device - EVGA products will save money (within 8 thousand rubles). The golden mean with the criterion of "price-quality" is Asus GTX 750 Ti or Zotac (8-9 thousand rubles). And if you want maximum performance, then there is more choice, but also devices are more expensive (from 9000 rubles and higher): MSI, Gigabyte, Gainward.
The main thing is that a potential buyer, before acquiring a video adapter, must understand that overclocking is a prospect for the future when performance will be noticeably lacking in some games. Otherwise, you should turn your eyes to the more expensive video cards on the market, whose capacity is enough to enjoy your favorite toy.