Overclocking Galaxy’s GTX 750 Ti GC Slim without Limits

Conclusion

This has been quite an enjoyable, if far too short, three-day exploration for us in evaluating our new Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim. It did extraordinarily well performance-wise comparing it to the reference GTX 750 Ti. We are totally impressed with this cool-running entry-level GM107 card which is generally faster than it’s competitors in a similar price range.  The only card that may challenge it performance-wise is the still missing-in-action R7 265, but the Maxwell architecture card sips 60W of power from a single PCIe slot, while the Radeon uses 150W from the PCIe slot and two PCIe cables.  And it will be interesting to see if the R7 265 and the GTX 750 Ti can hold their suggested $150 pricing if they become desirable for mining.

We see good overclockability with excellent quietness at stock voltage and fan profile even when the Galaxy GTX 750 Ti is overclocked beyond Galaxy’s factory overclock and it scales well in performance. Removing the artificial +135MHz clock speed cap and TDP allowed us to get every last bit of performance from this card using only the PCIe slot to draw its power.  The Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim is quieter than the reference GTX 750 Ti, a very quiet card indeed and yet it is perfectly suited for playing demanding games at maxed out settings at 1920×1080.

For its $159 price, the Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim gives more than 80% of the performance of the R7 270X which is priced at $200-250 and it also runs away from the highly overclocked HD 7770s and HD 7790s including the R7 260 series. From our results, we can expect the Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim will also generally be a bit faster than the fastest R7 260Xes. And at $159, it is priced to match them. For ten dollars more than the reference GTX 750 Ti costs, it makes sense to pick the Galaxy card, while giving the gamer Galaxy’s excellent support and a 3-year warranty.

If you are looking for a low-profile “slim” card in the $160 price range, there is really only one choice, the Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim.

Pros

• The Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim provides excellent performance for a $159 card and soundly beats the Radeons in performance per Watt.
• Overclockability is excellent – once the artificial limitations on the clockspeeds (and TDP) were removed – GPU Boost works as advertised and the memory overclock also helps performance.
• The cooling design is quiet and efficient
• Surround can now be driven off of a single Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim.
• You get a 3 year warranty backed by 24/7 tech support.

Cons

• No SLI

The Verdict:

• If you are buying the fastest factory overclocked low-profile high-efficiency card for a slim or HTPC, the Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim is an easy choice for ten dollars more than the reference design. We feel it deserves ABT’s Editor’s Choice award since it absolutely destroys competing cards in its class and price range.

We do not know what the future will bring, but the GTX 750 Ti GC Slim brings good value and a great performer to the first 28nm entry-level member of the GeForce Maxwell family. With great features like PhysX and the second generation of 3D Vision, you can be assured of immersive gaming by picking this card for 1920×1080 resolution.

If you currently game on an older generation video card, you will do yourself a big favor by upgrading. The move to a Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim will give you much higher performance and it is also excellent for use as a dedicated PhysX card.

The competition is hot and AMD offers their own set of features including Eyefinity 2.0, and if the R9 265 turns up in the market at its suggested price, it might be a good performance alternative.

Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at ABT including a performance evaluation of the latest 335 GeForce drivers.  And don’t forget to check our forums. ABT forum tech discussions are among the best to be found anywhere!