GeForce GTX 1050 or GTX 1050 Ti?
Although Nvidia rates the GeForce GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti for 75W, you might imagine that the 1050 would be better-suited to passive cooling. However, the 1050 Ti's performance advantage, helped in part by twice as much on-board memory, compels us to pick the higher-end model. A maximum of 2GB just isn't enough these days.
MSI's fairly simple GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC stands in as our test subject. It has no separate power connector and features some extra mounting holes that we'll discuss shortly. Using a power target of 80%, the hardware never exceeds an average of 52W, and it often draws significantly less. If you're truly worried about heat, you can dial the power target back even further to 60%. The performance loss imposed by a more conservative ceiling isn't as bad as the percentage suggests.
Power Target | Metro Last Light, 1080p | FurMark Full-Screen |
---|---|---|
100 Percent | 66W | 70W |
90 Percent | 59W | 62W |
80 Percent | 52W | 54W |
70 Percent | 45W | 47W |
60 Percent | 39W | 41W |
50 Percent | 34W | 36W |
To recap so far:
SummaryThe GTX 1050’s 2GB of on-board memory is not especially future-proof.The card's power draw can be tuned easily through the power target setting.The simplest 1050 Ti will suffice for this project, and it requires no overclock.