GeForce GTX 750 Ti Review: Maxwell Adds Performance Using Less Power

Temperatures And Acoustics

Temperatures

Our thermal measurements come from a long loop of the Metro: Last Light benchmark. By the end of the chart, you should be looking at the highest temperatures you'd see in a real gaming environment. Of course, depending on the title, you could certainly be looking at lower readings.

Two of our labs ran tests in closed mid-tower cases, finding the various GeForce GTX 750 Ti cards to vary by one to two degrees. Even though these cards dissipate heat internally, rather than through their rear I/O slots, the fact that they use so little power means heat is hardly an issue. 

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Model:IdleGaming Load
GeForce GTX 750 Ti Reference28 °C65 °C
Gigabyte GTX 750 Windforce OC25 °C45 °C
MSI GTX 750 Ti Gaming OC26 °C54 °C
Zotac GTX 750 Ti OC27 °C63 °C

The following chart demonstrates that each card's temperature curve is affected by the heat sink, fans, and BIOS-based fan profile.

Gigabyte cools its card very aggressively, and could have pulled back on fan speed to bring noise down even more (even though the card is hardly audible as it sits).

Noise

We record noise measurements for each card using a studio microphone calibrated for our PC audio tests. The mic is oriented perpendicularly to the graphics card's center, 50 cm away.

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Model:IdleGaming Load
GeForce GTX 750 Ti Reference31.5 dB(A)34.1 dB(A)
Gigabyte GTX 750 Windforce OC31.9 dB(A)33.2 dB(A)
MSI GTX 750 Ti Gaming OC30.0 dB(A)31.9 dB(A)
Zotac GTX 750 Ti OC31.1 dB(A)33.0 dB(A)

It really worked out well that we received so many GeForce GTX 750 Ti cards for our launch coverage, since we're able to take measurements from products with big, beefy coolers and others (like the reference board) with tiny orb-style heat sinks.

Nvidia's own design proves that it doesn't take much to keep GM107 cool. A small sink and fan are all you need, really. And in a closed chassis, you aren't going to hear any of these four samples.

With that in mind, MSI's GTX 750 Ti Gaming OC appears to offer the best compromise between quiet operation and high performance. It's just too bad that the MSI and Gigabyte boards employ such big, bulky coolers. The whole point of Maxwell is efficiency; we'd like to see vendors start introducing thermal solutions to match.

Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
  • meluvcookies
    on performance, I'll take the extra frames of the 265, but damn, for 60w, I'm totally impressed by this card. both the 750Ti and the R7 265 would be decent upgrades from my aging GTX460.
    Reply
  • s3anister
    But without the big cooler, GTX 750 Ti is daintier than a lot of sound cards we've tested.

    I'm pretty sure you meant to type "video cards" on page one there. Cheers.
    Reply
  • Bloob
    Ah, I just love some healthy competition.
    Reply
  • Bloob
    Also
    It’s difficult to make this story all about frame rates when we’re comparing a 60 W GPU to a 150 W processor
    Is a bit confusing.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    But without the big cooler, GTX 750 Ti is daintier than a lot of sound cards we've tested.
    I'm pretty sure you meant to type "video cards" on page one there. Cheers.
    Actually meant sound card :) It's definitely smaller than a small video card, but I even have sound cards here that are larger.
    Reply
  • Sangeet Khatri
    Well.. there is not a lot of performance in it, but I love it for a reason that it is a 60W card. I mean for 60W Nvidia has seriously nailed it. The only competition is way behind, the 7750 performs a lot less for similar wattage.Let's see how AMD replies to this because after the launch of 750Ti, the 7750 is no longer the best card for upgrading for people who have a 350W PSU.I don't generally say this, but Nvidia well done! Take a bow.
    Reply
  • houldendub
    Nice little card, awesome! I feel like this would be an absolutely awesome test bed for a dual chip version, great performance with minimal power usage.
    Reply
  • Randy David
    Anybody else notice the lesser shaders and TMUs on the Zotac card in GPU-Z?
    Reply
  • thdarkshadow
    The whole time I was reading the review I was like it isn't beating the 650ti boost... :( but then I remembered it uses less than half the power lol. I am impressed nvidia. While I make purchases more on performance than power consumption I can still appreciate what nvidia is doing
    Reply
  • houldendub
    12707408 said:
    Anybody else notice the lesser shaders and TMUs on the Zotac card in GPU-Z?

    Don't take this as fact, but the drivers look newer for the Zotac card than the others, possibly just a bug with the older drivers? The cards are advertised as having 640 shaders anyway.

    Also weird, the GPU-Z screenshot is taken with Windows 8, whereas the Gigabyte and MSI cards are on Windows 7. The mystery continues...
    Reply