{"id":40971,"date":"2014-02-18T14:00:49","date_gmt":"2014-02-18T14:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=40971"},"modified":"2014-02-18T14:18:07","modified_gmt":"2014-02-18T14:18:07","slug":"maxwell-arrives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/maxwell-arrives\/","title":{"rendered":"The GTX 750 Ti arrives as Energy-efficient 28nm Maxwell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"left\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[                                                                                       google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ < ![CDATA[\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Last week, AMD paper-launched the $149 R7 265 video card to increase the performance in their lineup between the $109 to $129 overclocked HD 7770s\/7790\/R7 260 models and the $199 and up R7 270X models. Today, Nvidia is releasing its own &#8220;sweet-spot&#8221; $149 GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB based on its own entry-level &#8220;GM107&#8221; 28nm (first generation) Maxwell DX11 architecture.<a href=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-40946\" alt=\"750ti-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-1-300x220.jpg?resize=300%2C220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-1-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-1-150x110.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-1.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> Immediately, Nvidia&#8217;s partners will also begin shipping overclocked and reference GTX 750 Ti&#8217;s as well as a $139 1GB GeForce GTX 750 Ti version.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Nvidia is also releasing a more basic $119 1GB GTX 750 to compete on price directly with the entry-level AMD cards that will no doubt be popular with OEMs as its TDP is below 60W. There is also a third Nvidia GTX released today, the new Kepler 2880 CUDA core TITAN Black which is basically a GTX 780 Ti with Double Precision (DP) and 6GB of vRAM to replace the original GTX TITAN for $1000.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Maxwell Architecture and Power Efficiency<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We are going to give our full attention today to the new Maxwell architecture and to dissecting the performance of the 60W TDP $149 2GB GTX 750 Ti using 21 modern games at 1920&#215;1080 and even at 2560&#215;1600.\u00a0 After we saw Nvidia&#8217;s suggestion that the new card is somewhat comparable to a GTX 480, we are going to compare the GTX 750 Ti&#8217;s stock and overclocked performance at 60W TDP with the 240W TDP GTX 480.\u00a0 The GTX 480 is Nvidia&#8217;s Fermi flagship of less than 4 years ago.\u00a0 We are also going to look at price to performance as we compare the (at launch) $149 GTX 650 Ti which the GTX 750 Ti replaces, and also against competing AMD cards.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/keplervMaxwell.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-40973\" alt=\"keplervMaxwell\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/keplervMaxwell-300x140.jpg?resize=300%2C140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/keplervMaxwell-300x140.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/keplervMaxwell-150x70.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/keplervMaxwell-520x245.jpg 520w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/keplervMaxwell.jpg 795w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Look to the next page for a more detailed look at Maxwell architecture and its refinements over Kepler. What is important to realize is that the GM107 GTX 750 Ti is a more powerful GPU than the $149 GK106 GTX 650 Ti that it replaces, but it only requires about half the power and a little more than 25% more die area on the same 28nm process.\u00a0 A GTX 750 Ti does not require more power than what a standard 75W PCIe rail can provide &#8211; no external power cable is needed!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The main point to consider is that AMD has already refreshed their low end and there is very little power savings while Nvidia has just positioned new architecture that uses nearly half the power to provide similar performance. This also means that many OEM PCs that use a 300W PSU can now be easily upgraded with a decent video card to play at 1920&#215;1080. An overclocked GTX 750 Ti can now fit inside the power envelope of a much weaker GT 640 or a HD 7750.\u00a0 And it is worlds better performance-wise than any integrated graphics for playing modern games.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Pricing and Product stack<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Projected-Fall-Linep1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-40969 alignright\" alt=\"Projected Fall Linep\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Projected-Fall-Linep1.jpg?resize=415%2C197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Projected-Fall-Linep1.jpg 692w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Projected-Fall-Linep1-150x71.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Projected-Fall-Linep1-300x142.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Projected-Fall-Linep1-520x245.jpg 520w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Projected-Fall-Linep1-720x340.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Things have been adjusted since AMD&#8217;s release of the 260X and the 265. The topmost spots have been filled by the TITAN Black and the GTX 780 Ti, and there have been changes to the bottom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The GTX 650 Ti (GK106) which launched at $149 has today been replaced by the (GM107) $139\/$149 1GB\/2GB GTX 750 Ti to go against the newly repriced $129 R7 260X.\u00a0 The soon-to-be-released to market, $149 R7 265 will either be positioned against the GTX 750 Ti if it can hold its price, or against the GTX 660 if it becomes popular for Altcoin crypto-currency mining.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The GTX 650 (GK107) will continue to hold the low end against the HD 7770\/7790\/R7 260\/250.<\/p>\n<p>Nvidia&#8217;s product stack has been adjusted beginning today at the low end, and both reference and overclocked GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB boards will be available for sale also beginning today. <a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/updated-sku.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-40963 alignright\" alt=\"updated-sku\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/updated-sku.jpg?resize=471%2C317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/updated-sku.jpg 589w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/updated-sku-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/updated-sku-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 471px) 100vw, 471px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;DEPA=0&amp;Order=BESTMATCH&amp;Description=gtx+650&amp;N=-1&amp;isNodeId=1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;DEPA=0&amp;Order=BESTMATCH&amp;Description=gtx+650&amp;N=-1&amp;isNodeId=1', '$109-129']);\" >$109-129<\/a> &#8211; GeForce GTX 650 (positioned vs. HD 7770\/250)<\/li>\n<li>$139 &#8211; GeForce GTX 750 Ti 1GB(positioned vs. HD 7770 GHz OC editions and HD 7790\/R7 260)<\/li>\n<li><strong>$149 &#8211; GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB<\/strong> (positioned vs. R7 260X and R7 265)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;N=-1&amp;IsNodeId=1&amp;Description=gtx%20660&amp;bop=And&amp;Order=PRICE&amp;PageSize=20\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;N=-1&amp;IsNodeId=1&amp;Description=gtx%20660&amp;bop=And&amp;Order=PRICE&amp;PageSize=20', '$179']);\" >$179<\/a>-$199 &#8211; GeForce GTX 660 (positioned vs. overclocked HD 7850\/R7 265 &amp; R7 270)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;N=-1&amp;IsNodeId=1&amp;Description=gtx%20760&amp;bop=And&amp;Order=PRICE&amp;PageSize=20\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;N=-1&amp;IsNodeId=1&amp;Description=gtx%20760&amp;bop=And&amp;Order=PRICE&amp;PageSize=20', '$249']);\" >$249<\/a> &#8211; GeForce GTX 760 (positioned vs. HD 7870\/R7 270X now)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>AMD Pricing and Crypto-currency mining<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">It is possible that there may be issues with AMD&#8217;s being able to hold pricing on the R7 265 at $149 since it is basically either a faster Pitcarin HD 7850-2GB or a cut down R9 270 which already commands a premium and sells for up to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;IsNodeId=1&amp;Description=hd%207850&amp;bop=And&amp;Order=PRICE&amp;PageSize=20\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;IsNodeId=1&amp;Description=hd%207850&amp;bop=And&amp;Order=PRICE&amp;PageSize=20', '$200']);\" >$200<\/a> at US etailers due to its ability to mine alternate crypto-currency like LiteCoin.\u00a0 The R7 265 also has a board power of 150W, well above the 60W of the GTX 750 Ti so only price and performance may be considered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The R7 260X is not a desired mining card in about the same performance class as an overclocked HD 7790, and it has already had its price adjusted downward to around <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;N=-1&amp;IsNodeId=1&amp;Description=260x&amp;bop=And&amp;Order=PRICE&amp;PageSize=20\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;N=-1&amp;IsNodeId=1&amp;Description=260x&amp;bop=And&amp;Order=PRICE&amp;PageSize=20', '$129 at Newegg']);\" >$129 at Newegg<\/a> while the overclocked HD 7770s and HD 7790s still sit in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;DEPA=0&amp;Order=BESTMATCH&amp;Description=hd+7770&amp;N=-1&amp;isNodeId=1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;DEPA=0&amp;Order=BESTMATCH&amp;Description=hd+7770&amp;N=-1&amp;isNodeId=1', '$110-120 range']);\" >$110-120 range<\/a> along with the 260-nonX\u00a0 We recommended the PowerColor <a href=\"alienbabeltech.com\/main\/powercolor-270x-pcs-review\/\">R9 270X<\/a> which launched originally at $199 as a good value, while now it easily commands a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;DEPA=0&amp;Order=BESTMATCH&amp;Description=r9+270x&amp;N=-1&amp;isNodeId=1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;DEPA=0&amp;Order=BESTMATCH&amp;Description=r9+270x&amp;N=-1&amp;isNodeId=1', '$40-100 price premium']);\" >$40-100 price premium<\/a> due to its popularity as a miner and due to the demand for mining cards.\u00a0 Because of mining demands, the R9 270X is in the same $250 price range as the faster GTX 760.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We haven&#8217;t yet tested Maxwell architecture for crypto-mining, but SiSoft&#8217;s latest Sandra &#8220;GPGPU Crypto&#8221; benchmark indicates that Maxwell scores far higher than Kepler, perhaps due to more registers per SM.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>The GTX 750 Ti Under NDA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We received a reference GTX 750 Ti video card from Nvidia under NDA, and for the past week, we have been comparing it to the Sapphire factory overclocked Vapor-X HD 7770, as well as to Nvidia&#8217;s last generation, the GTX 650 Ti which it replaces, and to AMD&#8217;s faster and more expensive ($200 plus) R7 270X. We will also compare the new GTX 750 Ti to the GTX 480 to get an overall idea of the new GTX 750 Ti performance stock and overclocked compared with the Fermi flagship of less than 4 years ago.\u00a0 And of course, we will try to give ABT&#8217;s &#8220;Big Picture&#8221; which will place the GTX 750 Ti into a performance hierarchy all the way up to the R9 290X and the GTX 780 Ti.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We will use our Core i7-4770K at 4.0GHz which equalizes very well to our previous Ivy Bridge benches with Core i7-3770K at 4.5GHz.\u00a0 We use 4x2GB of super-fast Kingston HyperX &#8220;Predator&#8221; DDR3 at 2800MHz in an ECS flagship Z87 &#8220;Golden&#8221; motherboard.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let&#8217;s look at the architecture of Maxwell in greater detail before we run the benches:<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Introducing the gtx 750 Ti--><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Maxwell Architecture and Features--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Maxwell Architecture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This new GTx 750\/Ti chip uses Nvidia&#8217;s brand-new Maxwell architecture on the same 28nm process as Kepler architecture. However, this time Maxwell is designed as &#8216;mobile first&#8217;, which means that mobile configurations and power considerations are primary. To introduce Maxwell first, the most entry-level (&#8220;cut-down&#8221;) designation for Nvidia&#8217;s GPU architecture is codenamed &#8220;GM107&#8221; (&#8220;M&#8221; for Maxwell) and it was primarily designed for limited-power applications like notebooks and small form factor (SFF) PCs which include the Steam Machine initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Maxwell is a brand new architecture that continues to build on Kepler and Fermi with a new Streaming Multiprocessor (SM) that improves performance per watt and performance per die size. Maxwell improvements over Kepler include, control logic partitioning, workload balancing, clock gating granularity, compiler-based scheduling, and IPC (instructions issued per clock cycle) improvements, allow the Maxwell SMM to exceed Kepler SMX efficiency.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750Ti_Block_Diagram.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-40947\" alt=\"750Ti_Block_Diagram\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750Ti_Block_Diagram.jpg?resize=480%2C367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750Ti_Block_Diagram.jpg 800w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750Ti_Block_Diagram-150x114.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750Ti_Block_Diagram-300x229.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The GM107 GPU contains one Graphics Processing Cluster (GPC) , five Maxwell Streaming Multiprocessors (SMM), and two 64-bit memory controllers (128-bit total). Just as with Kepler, Maxwell also implements multiple SM units within a GPC, and each SM includes a Polymorph Engine and Texture Units, while each GPC includes a Raster Engine.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">ROPs are still aligned with L2 cache slices and Memory Controllers. Internally, all the units and crossbar structures have been redesigned, data flows optimized, and power management significantly improved.\u00a0 <em> <\/em> The SM scheduler architecture and algorithms have been rewritten to be more intelligent and to avoid unnecessary stalls, while further reducing the energy per instruction required for scheduling.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750_Ti_SM_Diagram.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-40945 alignright\" alt=\"750_Ti_SM_Diagram\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750_Ti_SM_Diagram.jpg?resize=377%2C708\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750_Ti_SM_Diagram.jpg 698w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750_Ti_SM_Diagram-159x300.jpg 159w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>This is the full implementation of the chip in the form of the GeForce GTX 750 Ti. Nvidia has increased the number of Maxwell SMs (GTX 750 Ti) to five in GM107, compared to two SMs in GK107 (GTX 650) with a very modest 25% increase in die size.<\/p>\n<p>The organization of the SM has also changed. Each SM is now partitioned into four separate processing blocks, each with its own instruction buffer, scheduler and 32 CUDA cores. The Kepler approach of having a non-power-of-two number of CUDA cores, with some that are shared, has been eliminated. This partitioning simplifies the design and scheduling logic, saving area and power, and reduces computation latency.<\/p>\n<p>Pairs of processing blocks share four texture filtering units and a texture cache. The compute L1 cache function has now also been combined with the texture cache function, and shared memory is a separate unit, that is shared across all four blocks.<\/p>\n<p>With this new Maxwell design, each SM is significantly smaller while delivering about 90% of the performance of a Kepler SM. Comparing GK107 versus GM107 total SM related metrics, GM107 has five versus two SMs, 25% more peak texture performance, 1.7 times more CUDA cores, and about 2.3 times more delivered shader performance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><strong>Memory System<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>GM107 internal memory system bandwidth was increased along with improvements in efficiency of the design. In addition, the larger Maxwell GM107 2048KB L2 cache versus 256KB in GK107 allows performance to be increased as fewer requests to the vRAM are needed and overall board power is reduced. This means that a GM107 GTX 750 Ti is expected to deliver two times the performance per watt of Kepler&#8217;s GK107 (GTX 650, non Ti).<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, we do not have a GTX 650, but will use the more powerful GTX 650 Ti (GK106) which launched at GTX 750 Ti&#8217;s (GM107) same $149 pricing. Interestingly, Nvidia is now able to use their most basic chip to fill the $149 price point.<a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/gm107vgk107.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40950\" alt=\"gm107vgk107\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/gm107vgk107.jpg?resize=533%2C334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/gm107vgk107.jpg 533w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/gm107vgk107-150x93.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/gm107vgk107-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong> Detailed Architecture and Power savings means 60W TDP for the GTX 750 Ti (!!) versus 110W for the GTX 650 Ti (GK106) and vs. 150W for the R7 265<\/strong><em><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Although the GK107 in the form of the GTX 650 Ti is able to manage with 64W TDP, the GTX 750 Ti is a much stronger GPU that can manage with less than 60W TDP.\u00a0\u00a0 And looking back, the GTX 550 Ti gives 1\/2 the performance per watt that the GTX 650 Ti gives which in turn is 1\/2 the performance per watt of the GTX 750 Ti.\u00a0 Amazingly, the performance doubled on the same 28nm process from Kepler to Maxwell, unlike with doubling from the 40nm to 28nm transition that happened from Fermi to Kepler.<\/p>\n<p><strong>New Video Capabilities and Shadowplay recording with Maxwell<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Just one optimize button customizes the settings for a \u201cbest playable experience\u201d with the GeForce Experience.<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/optimizze.jpg\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/optimizze.jpg', '']);\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-35318\" alt=\"optimizze\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/optimizze.jpg?resize=540%2C338\" width=\"540\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/optimizze.jpg 600w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/optimizze-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a>ShadowPlay is a better alternative to Fraps when it comes to recording video. The compression is much better and the overhead from recording ones own game is much lower.<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shadowplay.jpg\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shadowplay.jpg', '']);\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-35319 aligncenter\" title=\"shadowplay chart\" alt=\"shadowplay chart\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shadowplay.jpg?resize=531%2C222\" width=\"531\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shadowplay.jpg 820w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shadowplay-300x125.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 531px) 100vw, 531px\" \/><\/a>Shadowplay is available to Kepler and now Maxwell owners and we will bring you our experiences with it compared to AMD\u2019s Gaming Evolved app in an upcoming evaluation.\u00a0 Nvidia also offers <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/gsync-first-impressions\/\">\u201cG-SYNC\u201d<\/a> which promises to revolutionize gaming by syncing the display to a Nvidia GPU.<\/p>\n<p>One of Kepler\u2019s key innovations over prior GeForce GPUs was its hardware-based H.264 video encoder, NVENC. By integrating dedicated hardware circuitry for video encoding\/decoding (rather than using the GeForce GPU\u2019s CUDA Cores) NVENC provids a significant performance speedup for H.264 encoding while consuming less power.<\/p>\n<p>Nvidia used Kepler\u2019s NVENC encoder to introduce ShadowPlay to GeForce GTX 600 series and GTX 700 series last Autumn, allowing them to record their favorite gaming moments. Since launching ShadowPlay, over 3 million videos have been captured, with gamers posting them to YouTube or even streaming their gameplay footage live over Twitch.<\/p>\n<p>To improve video performance, Maxwell features an improved NVENC block that provides faster encode (6-8X real-time for H.264 vs. 4x real-time for Kepler) and 8-10X faster decode, and thanks to a new local decoder cache, higher memory efficiency per stream for video decoding, resulting in lower power for video decode.<\/p>\n<p>Maxwell architecture also features a new GC5 power state designed to reduce the GPU\u2019s power consumption specifically for light workload cases like video playback. GC5 is a low power sleep state that provides considerable power savings over prior Nvidia GPUs for low-power uses.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SFF (Small Form Factor) PCs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gamers with home theater and other small form factor PCs no longer have to compromise to get a good gaming experience at 1080p since the GeForce GTX 750 Ti fits into a wider range of basic and OEM PCs without the need for upgrading the power supply. Because the GeForce GTX 750 Ti consumes so little power, it runs extremely quiet and generates very little heat, making it ideal for use in a home theater PC.\u00a0 Nvidia is claiming the GTX 750 Ti as the world\u2019s fastest graphics card that doesn\u2019t require a power connector.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GTX 750 Ti\/750\/650 Ti Specifications compared<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-specs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40960\" alt=\"750ti-specs\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-specs.jpg?resize=554%2C586\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-specs.jpg 554w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-specs-141x150.jpg 141w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750ti-specs-283x300.jpg 283w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 554px) 100vw, 554px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The base clock speed of the GeForce GTX 750 Ti is guaranteed to be a minimum of 1020MHz. The typical Boost Clock speed is 1085MHz. The Boost Clock speed is based on the average GeForce GTX 750 Ti card running a wide variety of games and applications. Note that the actual Boost clock will vary from game-to-game depending on actual system conditions. Our own sample of the GTX 750 Ti reached a maximum boost of 1284MHz!<em><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The GTX 750 saves 5W of TDP down from the Ti&#8217;s 60W to 55W by being slightly cut down; from 640 to 512 CUDA cores, but the base and boost clocks are the same.\u00a0 We did not receive a GTX 750 from Nvidia.<a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750-specs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40959\" alt=\"750-specs\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750-specs.jpg?resize=570%2C587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750-specs.jpg 570w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750-specs-145x150.jpg 145w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750-specs-291x300.jpg 291w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/750-specs-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As a comparison, here are the specifications for the GK106 GTX 650 Ti which also launched at $149:<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-32131\" title=\"650ti-SPECS\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/650ti-SPECS.jpg?resize=506%2C580\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/650ti-SPECS.jpg 562w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/650ti-SPECS-261x300.jpg 261w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>From comparing the specifications of the new GTX 750 Ti to the GTX 650 Ti, it is quite apparent that the new GPU is on new power-efficient Maxwell architecture. It has the same number of ROPs, the same 128-bit memory interface and 2GB of GDDR5 vRAM at 5400MHz versus 1GB for the 650 Ti. Yet the GTX 750 Ti requires no external power connector, can boost far higher with significantly better performance, all the while using only 60W to the GTX 650 Ti&#8217;s 110W!\u00a0 The card is also physically small at 5.7&#8243; long and will fit into most motherboards and cases.<\/p>\n<p>The GTX 650 Ti and Ti BOOST were Nvidia&#8217;s replacement for the <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=25002\">GTX 550 Ti <\/a>which launched April, 2011 at $149. The regular GTX 750 Ti and the GTX 650 Ti before it, follows the pricing tradition of the GTX 450 which also debuted at $149.\u00a0 1080p has become the most popular gaming resolution due to low LCD prices and Nvidia built the GeForce GTX 750 Ti to deliver best-in-class performance for this HD resolution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The GTX 750 Ti&#8217;s Performance Competition &#8211; the R7 260X and the R7 265<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As with the GTX 650 Ti and GTX 650 Ti BOOST, Nvidia is aiming for slightly less than GTX 660 performance with a GTX 750\/750 Ti with a slightly better than &#8220;entry-level&#8221; video card to directly compete with AMD&#8217;s just above entry level gaming cards, the R7 260 and 260X.\u00a0\u00a0 The R7 260 is Bonaire&#8217;s repackaged and slightly slower HD 7790 while the $129 260X is a slightly faster 7790.\u00a0 The R7 265 is a cut-down Pitcarin R9 270 (or faster HD 7850) which is supposed to retail for $149, but may become a pricing victim of the crypto-currency mining fad.\u00a0 From just looking at the specifications, we can expect the GTX 750 Ti to easily outperform the R7 260X.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/bracket-io.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-40948\" alt=\"bracket-io\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/bracket-io-300x64.jpg?resize=300%2C64\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/bracket-io-300x64.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/bracket-io-150x32.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/bracket-io.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The GTX 750 Ti&#8217;s display outputs include two dual-link DVIs and one mini-HDMI.\u00a0 Three displays may be driven simultaneously from the reference design.\u00a0 No <span style=\"font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;\">PCIe power connector is required for the 750 Ti&#8217;s operation although some partner designs may include it for overclocking.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">How does the $149 GTX 750 Ti compare with the GTX 650 Ti it replaces?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This evaluation attempts to analyze and compare performance of the GTX 750 Ti, the GTX 650 Ti, and the GTX 480. We also include factory overclocked Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7770 performance as well as R9 270x although it is in a much higher price range, $199 when it was introduced, although in the USA now it sits at $250 GTX 760 pricing because of mining. We want to see what this new Nvidia Maxwell entry-level gaming GPU brings to the table for about one hundred and forty-nine dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Since we do not want any chance of our CPU &#8220;bottlenecking&#8221; our graphics, we are testing all of our graphics cards by using our Haswell Intel <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/haswell-v-ivy-gaming\/\">Core i7-4770K<\/a> at 4.0GHz, 8 GB Kingston PC2800 DDR3 and ECS&#8217;s Z87 golden motherboard. We have also equalized performance between Haswell and Ivy Bridge, so we can confidently bring you our Bigger Picture, including adding more video cards right up to the R9 290X and the GTX 780 Ti<\/p>\n<p>Before we do performance testing, let&#8217;s take a look at our test configuration as well as Power Draw, temperatures and overclocking.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Test Configuration, Power Draw, Noise &amp; Overclocking--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>\n<h3>Test Configuration<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Test Configuration \u2013 Hardware <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Intel Core <em>i7-4770K<\/em> (reference 3.5GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 3.7GHz; <strong>overclocked to 4.0GHz<\/strong>; DX11 CPU graphics), supplied by Intel.<\/li>\n<li>Intel Core <em>i7-3770K<\/em> (reference 3.5GHz, HyperThreading and Turbo boost is on to 3.7GHz; also <strong>overclocked to 4.5GHz<\/strong>; DX11 CPU graphics), supplied by Intel.<\/li>\n<li>ECS GANK Domination Z87H3-A2X motherboard (Intel Z87 chipset, latest BIOS, PCOe 3.0 specification, CrossFire\/SLI 8x+8x) supplied by ECS<\/li>\n<li>EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard (Intel Z77 chipset, latest beta 03-12-13 BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire\/SLI 16x+16x using Plex chip), supplied by EVGA.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Kingston 8 GB HyperX Predator DDR3 PC2800 RAM (2\u00d74 GB, dual-channel at 2400MHz for Ivy Bridge and 2800MHz for Haswell, supplied by Kingston)<\/li>\n<li>GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 2GB reference clocks and also further overclocked, supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>Nvidia GTX 650 Ti, 1 GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>GTX 480, 1.5GB (reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>GeForce GTX 780 Ti, 3GB (reference clocks), supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>Bigger Picture includes GTX Titan 6GB\/780 3GB\/770 2GB\/760 2GB, all at reference speeds, supplied by Nvidia on Ivy Bridge platform (4.5GHz to equal Haswell&#8217;s 4.0GHz)<\/li>\n<li>Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7770 1050\/1400MHz factory overclocked and supplied by Sapphire<\/li>\n<li>PowerColor R9 270X PCS+, 2GB stock speeds, supplied by PowerColor<\/li>\n<li>VisionTek R9 280X, 3GB stock speeds, supplied by VisionTek<\/li>\n<li>PowerColor R9 290X PCS+ at Uber speeds.<\/li>\n<li>Two 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 hard drives for Ivy Platform<\/li>\n<li>Two 240 GB Kingston HyperX SSDs, supplied by Kingston<\/li>\n<li>Two 2TB Toshiba 7200 rpm HDDs for Haswell platform<\/li>\n<li>Cooler Master Platinum Pro 1000W PSU, supplied by Cooler Master and used for Ivy Bridge platform<\/li>\n<li>Thermaltake ToughPower 775W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake and used for Haswell platform<\/li>\n<li>Cooler Master Seidon 240 CPU watercooler, supplied by Cooler Master, used for Ivy Bridge<\/li>\n<li>Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro watercooler, supplied by Thermaltake, used for Haswell platform<\/li>\n<li>Onboard Realtek Audio<\/li>\n<li>Genius SP-D150 speakers, supplied by Genius<\/li>\n<li>Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake for Haswell platform<\/li>\n<li>Thermaltake Chaser MK II, full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake for Ivy Bridge platform<\/li>\n<li>Philips DVD SATA writer<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: small;\">HP LP3065 2560\u00d71600 thirty inch LCD<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium; color: #000000;\"><strong>Test Configuration &#8211; Software<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Nvidia GeForce 334.69 launch drivers for the GTX 750 Ti\/GTX 650 Ti\/GTX 480\/GTX 780 Ti; and GeForce 331 family of drivers for all other Nvidia cards. High Quality, prefer maximum performance, single display.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">AMD 13.12 WHQL Catalyst drivers; latest CAPs. High Quality &#8211; optimizations off; use application settings for HD 7770\/R9 270X and for R9 290x.\u00a0 Catalyst 13.11 used for all other Radeons.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Latest DirectX<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">All games are patched to their latest versions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">VSync is off in the control panel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">AA enabled as noted in games<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for <em>Crysis.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Windows 7 64, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths; DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The Benchmarks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Synthetic<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>3DMark 11<\/li>\n<li>Firestrike &#8211; Basic &amp; Extreme<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Heaven 4.0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><strong>DX9 <\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Witcher 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Borderlands 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Aliens: Colonial Marines<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><strong>DX10<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Crysis<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><strong>DX11<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>STALKER, Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Civilization V<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Max Payne 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>the Secret World<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sleeping Dogs<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sniper Elite V2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Hitman: Absolution<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Far Cry 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Tomb Raider: 2013<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Crysis 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>BioShock: Infinite<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Metro: Last Light<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>GRID 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Splinter Cell: Blacklist <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Total War: Rome II<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Batman: Arkham Origins<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Assassin\u2019s Creed IV: Black Flag<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Before we get to the GTX 750 Ti&#8217;s performance charts, let&#8217;s look at overclocking, power draw and temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overclocking, Power Draw, Noise and Temperatures<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Heaven-100fan-V.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-40985\" alt=\"Heaven-100fan-V\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Heaven-100fan-V-250x300.jpg?resize=250%2C300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Heaven-100fan-V-250x300.jpg 250w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Heaven-100fan-V-125x150.jpg 125w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Heaven-100fan-V.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Overclocking the GTX 750 Ti is just as easy as overclocking the GTX 600 and 700 series. We were able to add an additional +135MHz over the base clocks that Nvidia set for the reference GTX 750 Ti. On top of that, we were able to add +550MHz on the memory; overall, a very good overclock.\u00a0 What is interesting is that we did not run out of headroom, we ran into issues with PrecisionX and other overclocking tools being limited to +135MHz maximum offset.\u00a0 It did not matter if we added overvoltage, we saw a fixed boost of up to 1284MHz.<\/p>\n<p>We did not adjust the GTX 750 Ti&#8217;s voltage nor fan profile. Temperatures were never an issue and the fan profile remained at stock which meant that the GTX 750 Ti is also extraordinarily quiet at maximum load &#8211; the fan profile never went over 52% and the temperatures remained under 71C under the most stressful conditions and highest load in gaming.\u00a0 It made little difference to the noise level whether it was at 50% or even at maximum rpm &#8211; the GTX 750 Ti is a very quiet card.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s head to the performance charts to see how the GTX 750 Ti &#8211; stock and overclocked &#8211; compares with the non-Boost regular GTX 650 Ti and the GTX 480 as well as competing AMD cards and see how it fits into the &#8220;Big Picture&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Performance Summary Charts--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Performance summary charts &amp; graphs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Here are the summary charts of 21 modern PC games and 4 synthetic tests. The highest playable settings are generally chosen and it is DX11 when there is a choice; DX10 is picked above DX9, and the settings are generally maxed unless specified on the chart. Specific settings including AA are listed on the Main Performance chart. The benches are run at 1920&#215;1080 and 2560&#215;1600.\u00a0 2500&#215;1600 is ridiculously stressful for a entry-level card and we specifically picked this resolution to stress the new Maxwell architecture to the absolute limit so as to look for any weakness, especially compared to the GTX 480, the Fermi flagship introduced less than 4 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>First we want to consider the &#8220;Big Picture&#8221; which brings all of our video cards into a hierarchy.\u00a0 Please note that the GTX 750 Ti, the GTX 650 Ti, the GTX 480 and the GTX 780 Ti were all benched with GeForce 334.69 versus the HD 7770, R7 270X and the R9 290x with Catalyst 13.12 on Haswell platform at 4.0GHz, and equalized to the 4.5GHz results on Ivy.\u00a0 All of the cards are at stock speeds except for the +135MHz core\/+550MHz memory offset for the GTX 750 Ti, the Vapor-X HD 7770 at 1100MHz\/1300MHz, and the R9 290x at the Uber setting.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Main Overall Summary chart<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Big-Pic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-40991\" alt=\"Big-Pic\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Big-Pic.jpg?resize=720%2C511\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Big-Pic.jpg 1495w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Big-Pic-150x106.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Big-Pic-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Big-Pic-1024x727.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 897px) 100vw, 897px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This chart is huge.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s break it into smaller parts.\u00a0 First of all, the GTX 480 artifacted badly in Firestrike although it was able to deliver a final score. Secondly, video cards with less than 2GB of vRAM are unable to run Max Payne 3 at the maximum settings that we chose.\u00a0 Also, with Assassin&#8217;s Creed IV, there was no setting for PhysX for Radeons nor for the GTX 750 Ti although the GTX 650 Ti and other GeForce cards have the option.<\/p>\n<p>We did a lot of extreme testing of the new Maxwell architecture by placing unreasonable loads on it with extreme AA or SuperSampling, high resolutions and extreme or ultra settings.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let&#8217;s first compare the GTX 750 Ti at stock and overclocked speeds to the GTX 480 and to the GTX 650 Ti it replaces;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForce.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40992\" alt=\"chart-GeForce\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForce.jpg?resize=659%2C1062\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForce.jpg 659w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForce-93x150.jpg 93w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForce-186x300.jpg 186w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForce-635x1024.jpg 635w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 659px) 100vw, 659px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The results are very clear.\u00a0 The GM107 entry-level Maxwell GTX 750 Ti completely outclasses the GK106 Kepler GTX 650 Ti.\u00a0 When extreme settings or high resolution is used, the older GPU generally falls flat.\u00a0 In a similar manner, the GTX 480 is stronger at extreme settings and\/or the highest resolutions although the GTX 750 Ti does extremely well at the 1920&#215;1080 resolution it was designed for &#8211; even at maxed out and extreme settings.\u00a0 It is also very game engine dependent &#8211; in GRID 2, for example, the GTX 750 Ti is stronger than the GTX 480, and extreme settings in Tomb Raider cripple the GTX 480 frame rates.\u00a0 In other games, the GTX 480 is stronger although the power consumption is 4 times higher than with the 60W TDP GTX 750 Ti.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s now look at the two Radeons that we are able to compare with the GTX 750 Ti &#8211; the slower HD 7770 overclocked card that can stand in for R7 260 and HD 7790, and the much more expensive R9 270x which as a upgraded HD 7870 is significantly faster than the R7 265.<a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForcevRad.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40993\" alt=\"chart-GeForcevRad\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForcevRad.jpg?resize=720%2C1052\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForcevRad.jpg 727w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForcevRad-102x150.jpg 102w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForcevRad-205x300.jpg 205w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/chart-GeForcevRad-700x1024.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>The $149 GTX 750 Ti blasts past the overclocked $110 HD 7770 and should have no problem beating the $120 HD 7790\/R7 260 easily also.\u00a0 By extension, we can see it will beat the $129 R7 260X also although it runs into a wall with the $50-$100 more expensive R9 270X (originally launched at $199 and premium priced in the USA due to being good at Crypto-currency mining).<\/p>\n<p>The GTX 750 Ti is quite a strong performer and overclocked it nearly matches the stock GTX 660 and demolishes the GTX 650 Ti that it replaces. It also runs completely away from the HD 7770 overclocked class of card and by extension, the Bonaire HD 7790\/R7 260X Pitcarin cards.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s head for our conclusion.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: The Conclusion--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">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&#8217;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 &#8220;entry level&#8221;, 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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-40951\" alt=\"GTX_750-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-1-300x240.jpg?resize=300%2C240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-1-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-1-150x120.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-1.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Impressive indeed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">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.\u00a0\u00a0 The GTX 750 Ti is easily able to handle overclocked HD 7770 and HD 7790 and by extension, R7 260 and 260X.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">Pros<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The GTX 750 Ti provides excellent performance for a $149 card.\u00a0 It follows the traditional pricing of the successful GTS 450, GTX 550 Ti and GTX 650 Ti launches.<\/li>\n<li>Overclockability is good and scaling is excellent.\u00a0 We are mostly overclock limited by the software tools like PrecisionX and Afterburner.\u00a0 Partner cards may feature a 6-pin PCIe connector for higher overclocking.<\/li>\n<li>The cooling design is quiet and efficient.<\/li>\n<li>Upgrading from the GTX 650 Ti to the GTX 750 Ti brings a solid improvement in gaming while using significantly less power.\u00a0 The GTX 750 Ti when overclocked almost matches the GTX 480&#8217;s performance at one-quarter of the power usage!<\/li>\n<li>The GeForce Experience ShadowPlay features a better and more efficient Maxwell video decoder than Kepler&#8217;s.<\/li>\n<li>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!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Cons<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>None.\u00a0 Market pricing will adjust pricing eventually.\u00a0 The new Maxwell entry-level GPU offers a completely unique value for those looking for excellent performance per watt.<a href=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Innovation.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-40999\" alt=\"Innovation\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Innovation.jpg?resize=150%2C251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Innovation.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Innovation-89x150.jpg 89w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The Verdict:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>If you are buying a $149 entry level gaming video card right now that is perfect for 1920&#215;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.\u00a0 It is also ideal for HTPC builds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The GTX 750 Ti is highly deserving of ABT&#8217;s Innovation Award for its extreme efficiency on 28nm Maxwell architecture.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-40987\" alt=\"GTX_750-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-11-300x240.jpg?resize=300%2C240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-11-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-11-150x120.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/GTX_750-11.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>We do not know what the future will bring, but the Nvidia&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>With great features like PhysX and the GeForce Experience including Shadowplay, you can be assured of immersive gaming by picking this card for 1920&#215;1080 resolution.\u00a0 You can even crank up the details in most modern games.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The GeForce GTX TITAN Black<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As a final note and from the other end of the pricing spectrum, the new TITAN Black is available today for $1000.\u00a0 Actually, it is quite a good value for a very specific market &#8211; 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.\u00a0 Here are its specifications:<a href=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/titan-black.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-40986\" alt=\"titan-black\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/titan-black-300x166.jpg?resize=300%2C166\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/titan-black-300x166.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/titan-black-150x83.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/titan-black.jpg 653w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n<p>We are also making plans to attend Nvidia&#8217;s GTC (GPU Technology Conference) next month for a deep dive into Maxwell architecture and we will share our experiences live with ABT readers.\u00a0 And don&#8217;t forget to check our forums. <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/\">ABT forum<\/a> tech discussions are among the best to be found anywhere!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 60px;\">Mark Poppin<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 60px;\">ABT Senior Editor<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Last week, AMD paper-launched the $149 R7 265 video card to increase the performance in their lineup between the $109 to $129 overclocked HD 7770s\/7790\/R7 260 models and the $199 and up&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":40946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7814,3330,7],"tags":[72,7399,7400,7401,121,4753,87],"class_list":["post-40971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-featured-content","category-technology","tag-amd","tag-gtx-750","tag-gtx-750-ti","tag-maxwell-architecture","tag-nvidia","tag-performance-evaluation","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}