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Low power/wattage GPU for 'modern' games

Scottland

Scottland

Scottland

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
15,713
Location
North Wales
Hi,

I've been out of touch with GPU hardware for quite a while, I'm looking for a GPU that's capable of playing modern-ish games @ 1080P (on a Core i3 Haswell) and will be able to be powered by a measly 430w PSU.

I'm trying to keep the system as low wattage as possible, and if possible be able to passive cool it.

At the moment the best I've seen is the GTX 750Ti which is about 60w I think. Any advances? Budget is upto £150.


Thanks
 
Probably need details of the rest of the hardware, but I'd think a 970 would be ok. 150W tdp.

Edit: just noticed budget! Given that, the 760 @ 170W might make it.
 
Maxwell is more efficient than anything else out by a margin. So, in terms of performance per watt, you won't beat the 750/750ti. You have to step up the power use a big chunk to match it, let alone beat it.

Are you looking for the best you can fit into 430W or the lowest power to reduce power bills, or the quietest?

Bear in mind that while there are passive 750s with large heatsinks, these depend on there being some airflow in your case. If you combine a passive PSU with a passive gpu etc, you end up with no airflow and need a fan etc.
 
Thanks the reply - I'm actually looking at the passive Palit 750Ti which is around £120. My PSU isn't passive, and neither will the CPU be and there will be 2 * 120mm fans for intake/exhaust so there should be sufficient airflow.

The low power requirement is both in terms of heat output (which could require extra fans etc) and in terms of the PSU. There does seem to be a decent performance advantage between the 750Ti and 760 - and the price difference is minimal, it just seems a big jump in power requirements. Hmm...
 
You looking for around 110W GPU for up to £150. Well it either passive Palit 750Ti or wait for Nvidia to launch 110W TDP GTX 960 with semi passive coolers like my MSI GTX 970 for £150 that will be twice the performance of GTX 760.

What is your PSU brand and model?
 
Maxwell is supremely efficient. As you say it's a big wattage jump but comes with a correspondingly big performance jump. This Toms graph is pretty illustrative:

http://media.bestofmicro.com/4/R/422667/original/FPS-Per-Watt.png *No hotlinking*

We ideally need to know your system specs (especially the brand of PSU) but as a rule of thumb (<70% peak load) of a 430w PSU you'll want to keep it under 300w. So take your peak CPU TPD and chosen GPU TDP and add say 50w; if that's under 300w your system will be fine.
 
Ah, thanks - the 960 might be what I'm after. Release looks pencilled in for ~Jan, so I might be able to wit for it.

PSU is a beQuiet 430w coupled with a 4360T Haswell (35w) and 3 7200rpm drives.
 
Your PSU is 396W on 12v, with a T haswell using only 35W, three 7200RPM drives are going to be 30W total.

Give yourself another 35W for fans, RAM, etc.

Still leaves you with 296W for a GPU. You might want to keep it lower for quietness, but you are hardly going to run out of power here.

To put it in perspective, I have an AX1500i and the software reports input and output power. Sat at the windows desktop right now, using two 980s in SLI, an overclocked 4790k, 4 DIMMs, 2 HDDs 7200rpm and 2 SSDs, my system is consuming 95W. That's with both GPUs running at 1240mhz because my monitor is set to 144hz. The monitors consume far more power than the PC.

If I close chrome and turn my display down to 120hz, the GPUs go to idle mode and then the whole system uses ~54W.

My point is just that you have the power capacity for a more powerful GPU, and when idle (i.e. not gaming) it's going to barely sip power and won't make much difference to you. Just because a GPU is rated for 170W doesn't mean it uses it all the time it is idle.

At the kind of idle wattages you are going to be talking, your CFL lightbulb using 13W is probably going to make more difference to the power use and heat than the difference in idle power between a 750 and, say, a 770.
 
I have a more power hungry graphics card (270) than the 750ti and likewise with the cpu - 95w thuban. And that runs fine on a 300W superflower amazon. If it's a good PSU, you should be able to do better than a 750ti. Could get a 280 for £150.
 
Scottland said:
Ah, thanks - the 960 might be what I'm after. Release looks pencilled in for ~Jan, so I might be able to wit for it.

PSU is a beQuiet 430w coupled with a 4360T Haswell (35w) and 3 7200rpm drives.
Click to expand...

Is it the L8 modular Be Quiet! 430w? If so it is overspecced and can pull 512w under full load. I'd have no worries if it is powering a 970 on it alongside that low wattage i3.
 
His issue with a 970 is more the price, also those cards will get a tad (only a tad) CPU limited. The 960 sounds like it should hit all the spots more accurately.
 
Just had a nice surprise of a cheque for £210 in the post - so I might treat myself to a 970 after all. What's the noise like on these? Any to avoid?
 
Scottland said:
Just had a nice surprise of a cheque for £210 in the post - so I might treat myself to a 970 after all. What's the noise like on these? Any to avoid?
Click to expand...

I think the custom cooled versions (Gigabyte G1, MSI Gaming and Asus Strix etc) will all be pretty much silent at stock.

Ref 970 blower is a bit noisy apparently.
 
Yeah I'm just reading up, and most reviews seem to state that, plus the Asus and MSI (not sure about the GB yet) will enter passive mode too. The 960 would probably be a better fit for me, but it would be rude for me not to blow the money now :p
 
Scottland said:
Yeah I'm just reading up, and most reviews seem to state that, plus the Asus and MSI (not sure about the GB yet) will enter passive mode too. The 960 would probably be a better fit for me, but it would be rude for me not to blow the money now :p
Click to expand...

Surprised you got a cheque of £210. Must be Edna Birch from Emmerdale who gave cash away to people. lol

MSI launched MSI GTX 970 Lite with same cooler cost £20 less than OC Edition, seem no retailers had it listed GTX 970 GAMING 4G LE on pre-order yet. Only MSI, ASUS and now EVGA with ACX 2.0 cards coolers after VBIOS update capable to enter passive mode at idle.
 
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