The GTX 750 Ti arrives as Energy-efficient 28nm Maxwell

Conclusion

This has been quite an enjoyable, if far too short, exploration for us in evaluating our new first generation Maxwell architecture GTX 750 Ti. It did extraordinarily well performance-wise and regarding power consumption, comparing it to this generation’s GTX 650 Ti where the new Maxwell entry-level GPU brings good performance value. We are totally impressed with this cool-running mainstream just above “entry level”, GTX 750 Ti gaming card. It totally runs away from the regular GTX 650 Ti editions that it replaces and it gives a good hint to its overclocking prowess and excellent scaling, even without any external PCIe connector.

We see good overclockability with reasonable quietness at stock voltage and fan profile even when the GTX 750 Ti is overclocked and it scales well in performance. It is a quiet card indeed and it runs cool even at maximum load and with overvoltage.

The GTX 750 Ti has the same great features as the more expensive GTXes including the GeForce Experience and ShadowPlay, and Maxwell even sports an improved video decoder over Kepler.  Boost works as advertised and the GTX 750 Ti just sips power compared to the GTX 480 which it is able to match performance when it is overclocked.  Impressive indeed.

For its $149 price, it gives more than 80% of the performance of the GTX 660 which is priced at $200. Although the GTX 750 Ti is generally outclassed by the GTX 660, it is also priced about fifty dollars less.   The GTX 750 Ti is easily able to handle overclocked HD 7770 and HD 7790 and by extension, R7 260 and 260X.  And it doubtful that the upcoming R7 265 will be able to even maintain its suggested price of $149 as it is a good miner for crypto-currency, much as the popular R9 270 and the HD 7850 are.  Above all else, the incredibly low 60W TDP of the Maxwell GTX 750 Ti makes it a great candidate for HTPC, something the 150W R9 265 is unlikely to be used for.

Pros

• The GTX 750 Ti provides excellent performance for a $149 card.  It follows the traditional pricing of the successful GTS 450, GTX 550 Ti and GTX 650 Ti launches.
• Overclockability is good and scaling is excellent.  We are mostly overclock limited by the software tools like PrecisionX and Afterburner.  Partner cards may feature a 6-pin PCIe connector for higher overclocking.
• The cooling design is quiet and efficient.
• Upgrading from the GTX 650 Ti to the GTX 750 Ti brings a solid improvement in gaming while using significantly less power.  The GTX 750 Ti when overclocked almost matches the GTX 480’s performance at one-quarter of the power usage!
• The GeForce Experience ShadowPlay features a better and more efficient Maxwell video decoder than Kepler’s.
• 60W is an incredibly low TDP and Maxwell has excellent performance per watt, doubling each time compared to Kepler and to Fermi before it; what is most impressive is that the most recent doubling is on the same 28nm process node!

Cons

• None.  Market pricing will adjust pricing eventually.  The new Maxwell entry-level GPU offers a completely unique value for those looking for excellent performance per watt.

The Verdict:

• If you are buying a $149 entry level gaming video card right now that is perfect for 1920×1080 as well as being great bang for buck, the GTX 750 Ti is a great choice especially considering that many OEM PCs can handle a 60W TDP video card without having to upgrade the PSU.  It is also ideal for HTPC builds.

The GTX 750 Ti is highly deserving of ABT’s Innovation Award for its extreme efficiency on 28nm Maxwell architecture.

We do not know what the future will bring, but the Nvidia’s GTX 750 Ti brings good value and a great performer to the first member of the 28nm first generation GeForce Maxwell family. With an unbelievably low 60W TDP and no external power connector needed, the GTX 750 Ti is well-suited for SFF PCs and for HTPC gaming PCs in particular.

With great features like PhysX and the GeForce Experience including Shadowplay, you can be assured of immersive gaming by picking this card for 1920×1080 resolution.  You can even crank up the details in most modern games.

The competition is hot and AMD offers their own set of features including Eyefinity 2.0 and the faster and recently lower-priced R7 260X 2GB and R7 265 editions. We hope to be able to bring you a head to head comparison of the 260X/265 including the 2GB GTX 750 non-Ti.

The GeForce GTX TITAN Black

As a final note and from the other end of the pricing spectrum, the new TITAN Black is available today for $1000.  Actually, it is quite a good value for a very specific market – the gamers who must have 6GB of vRAM to power 3 high resolution displays; and for the CUDA programmers who need Double Precision without requiring the memory to be EEC.  Here are its specifications:

Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at ABT. This upcoming week, you can expect the long-awaited Kingston HyperX Predator 2800MHz DDR3 evaluation.  There is a noticeable difference in gaming over 1600MHz with Haswell, more so than we noticed in stepping up over 1300MHz to 2133MHz on Ivy Bridge.

We are also making plans to attend Nvidia’s GTC (GPU Technology Conference) next month for a deep dive into Maxwell architecture and we will share our experiences live with ABT readers.  And don’t forget to check our forums. ABT forum tech discussions are among the best to be found anywhere!

Mark Poppin

ABT Senior Editor