Low power GPU for a 240W PSU

[tarmiricmi]

Hi all,
I have a Lenovo Thinkcentre M92p, i5 3550 with 240W PSU. I don't want to change PSU, so I'm looking for a best possible performance-per-watt card. Tried GTX750ti, works very well. Is there a new generation/successor of this card? Or anything that is better in those terms to this one (I haven't still bought the 750 ti but will if that is the best option given those terms). NVIDIA announces for over a year a successor of the Maxwell, but as far as I know, there is nothing better in low-power market than 750.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Low Profile Gamer]

You could check the RX 460, most variants don't need a 6-pin power connector. Although, there was a recent leak about the GTX 1050 specs. It's supposedly a 75w GPU that shouldn't need a 6-pin power connector as well, and is expected to be more powerful than the RX 460

Edit: I don't think the GTX 1050 will be coming anytime soon. I would suggest getting a 2nd hand GTX 750 Ti for a while. You could find them for around $50

 

[Slumy__57]

There is currently the gtx 950, which has a power draw of 90 watts, that would be a little more than the 750ti, but I believe the 750ti outperforms the 950 anyways, so not really an option.

It hasn't been released yet, but there is speculation on the release of the 1050, which would be the next version. It's up to you whether or not you wanna wait around for the release, but here is an article with a little info on what to expect from the 1050.

http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-specs-look-like-an-upgraded-gtx-950/#

Edit: Yeah, forgot to mention the 460, that would be a viable option too

 

[tarmiricmi]

1050 would be a card to go. 460 is good but still power hungrier than 750ti (20w in my case means a lot)

 

[spdragoo]

There is currently the gtx 950, which has a power draw of 90 watts, that would be a little more than the 750ti, but I believe the 750ti outperforms the 950 anyways, so not really an option.

It hasn't been released yet, but there is speculation on the release of the 1050, which would be the next version. It's up to you whether or not you wanna wait around for the release, but here is an article with a little info on what to expect from the 1050.

http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-specs-look-like-an-upgraded-gtx-950/#

Edit: Yeah, forgot to mention the 460, that would be a viable option too

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1662?vs=1670

More of the reverse, the 950 outperforms the 750Ti (understandable, given that the 950 is a generation newer).

At this point, I would take any claims about the supposed GTX 1050 with a grain of salt, especially since a) there's been no mention from nVidia about it, & b) predicting performance before benchmarks have been tested is useless anyway.

If you can, try to find a GTX 950 that doesn't require PCIe power connectors, as that will provide the best performance for you. If you can't, you can either settle for the GTX 750 Ti, or maybe see if something else gets released a few months down the road.

 

[tarmiricmi]

There is currently the gtx 950, which has a power draw of 90 watts, that would be a little more than the 750ti, but I believe the 750ti outperforms the 950 anyways, so not really an option.

It hasn't been released yet, but there is speculation on the release of the 1050, which would be the next version. It's up to you whether or not you wanna wait around for the release, but here is an article with a little info on what to expect from the 1050.

http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-specs-look-like-an-upgraded-gtx-950/#

Edit: Yeah, forgot to mention the 460, that would be a viable option too

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1662?vs=1670

More of the reverse, the 950 outperforms the 750Ti (understandable, given that the 950 is a generation newer).

At this point, I would take any claims about the supposed GTX 1050 with a grain of salt, especially since a) there's been no mention from nVidia about it, & b) predicting performance before benchmarks have been tested is useless anyway.

If you can, try to find a GTX 950 that doesn't require PCIe power connectors, as that will provide the best performance for you. If you can't, you can either settle for the GTX 750 Ti, or maybe see if something else gets released a few months down the road.

Yes 950 is somewhat better but at a cost of 30-40% higher TDP
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-950-vs-GeForce-GTX-750-Ti

Is there a low-powered 950 version?

 

[rcald2000]

+tarmiricmi Personally I wouldn't go any higher than a 750 Ti. In my humble opinion, you're fortunate that your 240 watt PSU can run even that. Your i5-3550 alone has a 77 watt TDP. In addition it has to power the motherboard, RAM, HDD, fans, etc. Not to mention that the vast majority of these pre-builts come with cheap quality power supplies that could never sustain DC current at their max rated wattage. Since your PSU is 240 watts, then I presume that you have the SSF (Small Form Factor) version of the Thinkcentre M92p ( http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops/thinkcentre/m-series-towers/m92p/#tab-tech_specs )

Tower: 92% 450W Single Output PSU
Tower: 85% 280W Single Output PSU
SFF: 92% 240W Single Output PSU
SFF: 85% 240W Single Output PSU

Your best options are:

(1) Install a GTX 750 Ti / keep current power supply. When you "tried" the 750 Ti, was it in this specific computer? I'd be surprised if anything but a single slot variant physically fit inside this computer, according to the PCIe x16 specs I see:

MSI GTX 750 Ti (model # N750 Ti-2GD5TLP)
$119.99 ($109.99 after $10.00 rebate card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127836&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=750_ti-_-14-127-836-_-Product

* I'm not 100% sure even this card will fit in your computer because it's technically 1.5 slots wide, due to the air cooler. If you decide to purchase, you should make sure to buy it from a website with a no-hassle return policy (e.g. Amazon, NewEgg, etc).

"1 low profile PCI Express x16 (164 pins/8GB per direction or 16GB duplex/12v) (SFF)"

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops/thinkcentre/m-series-towers/m92p/#tab-tech_specs

(2) Replace the power supply and buy a more powerful graphics card. ! I have serious doubt that this is even possible. I did a search for a OEM power supply on Ebay and located model Liteon 54Y8849. From the picture it does not appear to be standard ATX dimensions, but I could be mistaken. If it's possible to upgrade the power supply then I would buy a Seasonic S12II 520 and purchase a dual slot GTX 1060. This would require that the case be modded. I've never done such a mod on this case, and this is definitely not a path that I would go down.

 

[tarmiricmi]

+tarmiricmi Personally I wouldn't go any higher than a 750 Ti. In my humble opinion, you're fortunate that your 240 watt PSU can run even that. Your i5-3550 alone has a 77 watt TDP. In addition it has to power the motherboard, RAM, HDD, fans, etc. Not to mention that the vast majority of these pre-builts come with cheap quality power supplies that could never sustain DC current at their max rated wattage. Since your PSU is 240 watts, then I presume that you have the SSF (Small Form Factor) version of the Thinkcentre M92p ( http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops/thinkcentre/m-series-towers/m92p/#tab-tech_specs )

Tower: 92% 450W Single Output PSU
Tower: 85% 280W Single Output PSU
SFF: 92% 240W Single Output PSU
SFF: 85% 240W Single Output PSU

Your best options are:

(1) Install a GTX 750 Ti / keep current power supply. When you "tried" the 750 Ti, was it in this specific computer? I'd be surprised if anything but a single slot variant physically fit inside this computer, according to the PCIe x16 specs I see:

MSI GTX 750 Ti (model # N750 Ti-2GD5TLP)
$119.99 ($109.99 after $10.00 rebate card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127836&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=750_ti-_-14-127-836-_-Product

* I'm not 100% sure even this card will fit in your computer because it's technically 1.5 slots wide, due to the air cooler. If you decide to purchase, you should make sure to buy it from a website with a no-hassle return policy (e.g. Amazon, NewEgg, etc).

"1 low profile PCI Express x16 (164 pins/8GB per direction or 16GB duplex/12v) (SFF)"

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops/thinkcentre/m-series-towers/m92p/#tab-tech_specs

(2) Replace the power supply and buy a more powerful graphics card. ! I have serious doubt that this is even possible. I did a search for a OEM power supply on Ebay and located model Liteon 54Y8849. From the picture it does not appear to be standard ATX dimensions, but I could be mistaken. If it's possible to upgrade the power supply then I would buy a Seasonic S12II 520 and purchase a dual slot GTX 1060. This would require that the case be modded. I've never done such a mod on this case, and this is definitely not a path that I would go down.

Hi, thanks for the insights. Actually I've tried this one, comes with the low-profile bracket (fits as long as one don't use PC Express x1 slot, no problem with the CPU fan):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125680

I want to stay low-powered, in a slim OEM case, don't want the 500W+ PSUs, as I am only occassional gamer (btw. there are deals on a third-party slim PSUs but don't want to invest in that). A year ago I've had a Core2Quad Q9650 with Radeon 7770 and it suited me great (albeit I've had 350W brand-name PSU). So in relation to that, third-generation I5 coupled with the 750ti (or something even better, newer and more efficient) would be a real deal to me.

Using this calculator: http://outervision.com/b/JiLYCQ , load wattage at 90% TDP is 195W. Games that I play run smooth on the machine (=lower load wattage=lower power consumption), so it is not unreasonable that this system supports 750ti. However if the near future brings more power efficient GPUs as well, it would be a nice thing.

 

[spdragoo]

There is currently the gtx 950, which has a power draw of 90 watts, that would be a little more than the 750ti, but I believe the 750ti outperforms the 950 anyways, so not really an option.

It hasn't been released yet, but there is speculation on the release of the 1050, which would be the next version. It's up to you whether or not you wanna wait around for the release, but here is an article with a little info on what to expect from the 1050.

http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-specs-look-like-an-upgraded-gtx-950/#

Edit: Yeah, forgot to mention the 460, that would be a viable option too

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1662?vs=1670

More of the reverse, the 950 outperforms the 750Ti (understandable, given that the 950 is a generation newer).

At this point, I would take any claims about the supposed GTX 1050 with a grain of salt, especially since a) there's been no mention from nVidia about it, & b) predicting performance before benchmarks have been tested is useless anyway.

If you can, try to find a GTX 950 that doesn't require PCIe power connectors, as that will provide the best performance for you. If you can't, you can either settle for the GTX 750 Ti, or maybe see if something else gets released a few months down the road.

Yes 950 is somewhat better but at a cost of 30-40% higher TDP
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-950-vs-GeForce-GTX-750-Ti

Is there a low-powered 950 version?

There's supposed to be some from EVGA (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/low-power-evga-geforce-gtx-950,31556.html) from earlier this year: 4 models with a 6-pin PCIe, & 4 models with no PCIe.

They have 3 listed on their website (http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=0&family=GeForce+900+Series+Family&chipset=GTX+950+LP). The only issue I see is that, while they don't use PCIe connectors & list a 75W TDP, their recommended PSU size is higher than the OPs (300W for 1 model, 350W for the other 2 models).

 

[tarmiricmi]

There is currently the gtx 950, which has a power draw of 90 watts, that would be a little more than the 750ti, but I believe the 750ti outperforms the 950 anyways, so not really an option.

It hasn't been released yet, but there is speculation on the release of the 1050, which would be the next version. It's up to you whether or not you wanna wait around for the release, but here is an article with a little info on what to expect from the 1050.

http://www.pcgamer.com/leaked-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-specs-look-like-an-upgraded-gtx-950/#

Edit: Yeah, forgot to mention the 460, that would be a viable option too

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1662?vs=1670

More of the reverse, the 950 outperforms the 750Ti (understandable, given that the 950 is a generation newer).

At this point, I would take any claims about the supposed GTX 1050 with a grain of salt, especially since a) there's been no mention from nVidia about it, & b) predicting performance before benchmarks have been tested is useless anyway.

If you can, try to find a GTX 950 that doesn't require PCIe power connectors, as that will provide the best performance for you. If you can't, you can either settle for the GTX 750 Ti, or maybe see if something else gets released a few months down the road.

Yes 950 is somewhat better but at a cost of 30-40% higher TDP
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-950-vs-GeForce-GTX-750-Ti

Is there a low-powered 950 version?

There's supposed to be some from EVGA (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/low-power-evga-geforce-gtx-950,31556.html) from earlier this year: 4 models with a 6-pin PCIe, & 4 models with no PCIe.

They have 3 listed on their website (http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=0&family=GeForce+900+Series+Family&chipset=GTX+950+LP). The only issue I see is that, while they don't use PCIe connectors & list a 75W TDP, their recommended PSU size is higher than the OPs (300W for 1 model, 350W for the other 2 models).

Unfortunately these cards wouldn't fit in my case as they are not low-profile