Planning upgrade, but #'s don't make sense!

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rwhipple08

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I've been meaning to build a quieter, smaller PC for a while. Primary purpose is gaming, but I'm willing to sacrifice some performance for a smaller and quieter rig. This article inspired me to actually start looking at some individual components and getting my plan together:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/05/08/build-a-compact-nvidia-powered-mini-itx-gaming-pc-for-650-benchmarks-included/

My problem is with video cards. I have never understood the naming scheme of video cards, and the comparison articles I find don't make sense either, making it hard for me to make a good choice.

The system linked above uses a PNY GTX 750 Ti, and got benchmark scores of 576 in Heaven and 4320 in Fire Strike. I currently have a Sapphire HD 6870 and my scores are 385/2881. So the 750 Ti is about a 50% upgrade.

However, when I compare the specs on the two cards, I have no idea where this performance comes from! According to these reviews of the 750 Ti and the 6870, the 6870 has 30% more texture units, twice the ROPs, twice the memory bus, and runs at 90% of the 750 Ti's clock speed. Yet the 750 manages to outperform my card while drawing less power, and being both cooler and quieter!?

The article at top suggests the 750 Ti, and it does appear to be an upgrade in performance, silence, and heat. However, before I make the upgrade I want to understand all my options and potentially spend a little bit more if it means I get more value for the money, especially since the 750 Ti seems to be a niche, ultra-low-power card. The problem is that, like I explained, I really can't make sense out of the specifications of these cards and how they relate to performance.

Any advice, either on understanding the naming/specs/performance correlation, or opinions on cool, quiet cards comparable to the 750 Ti?


 
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anthony8989

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As far as naming scheme goes for nVidia - the first numeral indicates the generation of the graphics card. The second numeral indicates the level of performance of the graphics card relative to its generation. So GTX 750< 750 Ti< 760 < 770 < 780 etc. The third numeral is usually left as a zero, but it sometimes is supplanted by a 5 for OEM use to indicate a card whose performance is between two level of cards. For example : GTX 550 < GTX 555 < GTX 560.

Ti is the elemental symbol for Titanium and nVidia suffixes this to a GPU to indicate a stronger performing card relative to one with the same numeral designation.

Radeon has usually had better looking cards on paper. Higher numbers in specifications is only better if your software team can produce efficient drivers to fully utilize the hardware's potential.

Let me know if anything was unclear or if I didn't fully answer any of your questions.
 
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rwhipple08

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Anthony: Thanks, that makes some sense. My confusion with Radeon #'s comes with how the high end of one generation out-performs the low end of the next generation. I guess at that point it comes down to price of the high-end old card and the low-end new card?

6R1M10R3: Good to know about the efficiency. I guess I knew that *had* to be the answer, but I felt like I was just making it up to assume that the new cards must just be more efficient.

I think I am leaning toward the R9 270x; it has better performance yet still seems to maintain some decent temps at decent volumes. Any recommendations on the best OEM/cooling solution for it? I have read that blower-type coolers are best for an ITX case, but it doesn't look like many are available for sale with that style of cooler.
 
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anthony8989

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Radeon like GeForce will always have GPU's for every price segment in every generation. Just because a new generation comes out doesn't mean that the lowest 'new' generation card will outperform the highest ' old' generation card. There should always be an increase in performance from one generation to the next in the same price segment, though.

Don't get the R9 270x. The R9 270 ( no 'X' ) is the exact same card, but with lower clock frequencies out of the box. You can easily overclock it to the stock 270x's level and even beyond.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Good explain by anthony8989.
AMD use a similar scheme, higher numbers equals higher performance but as with Nvidia, the first digit denotes generation and it's not possible to compare cards of different generations just on paper specs.
Nvidia and AMD have different views on what a shader actually IS for example and the designs are constantly evolving to become more efficient while improvements in how the chips are actually made allows them to be smaller and more energy efficient.
All you can do is compare benchmarks, try to do it on paper and you'll go mad...Mad I tell you...MAD!!!!!!
Basically the GTX750Ti is better because it's a lot newer.
 
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rwhipple08

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Thanks guys. Good info all around. I'm going to look a bit closer at some R9 270s and ensure the size/heat/volume parameters are going to work for me and probably end up going with that!

Edit: Reviews seem to indicate MSI's "Twin Frozr" cooler is one of the quietest around, but there are a lot of negative reviews too Looking at this card from MSI:

Edit 2: Sapphire's card is cheaper with more uniformly positive reviews. This is a strong plus, since I'm pretty happy with the quality of the Sapphire card I already have...
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Coolers of that type dump most of their heat into the case, it's not too much of a problem, just make sure the case has good, strong intake fans/s in the front to supply the system with plenty of fresh, cool air.
Don't worry too much about where it's going TO, just make sure there's plenty coming IN.
 
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