The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti and GTX 750 Review: Maxwell Makes Its Move
by Ryan Smith & Ganesh T S on February 18, 2014 9:00 AM ESTHTPC Aspects : Network Streaming Performance
Windows 7-based HTPCs need hardware acceleration in both Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight for optimal streaming performance with YouTube and Netflix. The move to Windows 8.1 has made Silverlight unnecessary. The Netflix app on Windows 8.x brings a HTPC's capability on par with dedicated streaming consoles, with support for Super HD (6 Mbps) streams as well as Dolby Digital Plus bitstreaming support. The latest app also renders the video in such a way as to make taking screenshots an exercise in frustration.
As the above photograph shows, the Netflix app can be set to bitstream Dolby Digital Plus to the AV receiver and the 750Ti supports it. The video and audio streams are at 5.8 Mbps and 192 kbps respectively. It is not immediately evident as to whether GPU acceleration is being utilized. However, tracking the GPU / VPU loading and PC power consumption numbers make it obvious that it is not software decode at work in the Netflix app.
Unlike Silverlight, Adobe Flash continues to maintain some relevance right now. YouTube continues to use Adobe Flash to serve FLV (at SD resolutions) and MP4 (at both SD and HD resolutions) streams. YouTube's debug OSD indicates whether hardware acceleration is being used or not.
Similar to our Netflix streaming test, we recorded GPU / VPU loading as well as power consumption at the wall when streaming the 1080p version of the sample YouTube clip. The table below presents the relevant numbers for various configurations and streaming services.
| Streaming Video Performance | ||||||
| Netflix | YouTube | |||||
| GPU/VPU Load | Power | GPU/VPU Load | Power | |||
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti | 11.95/12.65% | 56.44 W | 16.26/15.74% | 55.45 W | ||
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 | 5.99/25.80% | 58.89 W | 15.57/25.72% | 58.93 W | ||
| AMD Radeon HD 7750 | 0.72% | 66.79 W | 3.57% | 67.11 W | ||
NVIDIA has been touting Maxwell's low power nature, and it proves to be the best of the three candidates in terms of power efficiency when it comes to GPU support for streaming services.
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jukkie - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
I see the GTX 750 Ti as a direct competitor to the HD 7770, so why was AMD's card left out of the list?Hmmm...
Novaguy - Saturday, February 22, 2014 - link
I thought AMD's plan is to put the 7850/r7 265 up against the 750 Ti, not the 7770. The HD 7770 really isn't the direct competitor to the 750 Ti; it's usually had around $110. I would guess that if there's anything the HD 7770 competes against, it would be the upcoming 750.th3parasit3 - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
I'm still running a GTX460 768MB with an E8500 at stock (built in 2010), mind you my display is only 1650x1050. To me, Maxwell is a huge advancement -- not because of its ability to deliver great FPS at 1080p, but because of its power requirements, or lack thereof.AMD burned me on a faulty 5770, so I have much love for NVIDIAs driver support and performance boosts. Looks like after a four year holding pattern, 2014-15 is the year I upgrade my GPU and rebuild. Sign me up for a 750ti and a 860/870.
Grandal - Saturday, February 22, 2014 - link
These seem to be ready made Steam Box drop-ins to me. Will hit the thermal requirements at the perfect time to win the "reference" Steam Box GPU battle.Novaguy - Saturday, February 22, 2014 - link
Hmm, beyond using this to upgrade my oem boxes from radeon 7750's, I'll love to see this turned into a mid-range mobile card. 750 Ti downclocked for mobile (maybe this is the 850M/860M) would be a nice upgrade over 750M/755M and even possibly even the 760M/765M. It's already below the 75 W TDP those 760M/765M MXM cards call for....Novaguy - Saturday, March 1, 2014 - link
Just broke down and bought a 750 ti to upgrade from a 7750. Really nice, runs really cool. Definitely worth it for those of you who want to upgrade oem boxes without dealing with the psu, especially if you flip the 7750 at the usual places.dr_sn0w - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
So, gurus, please tell me if the GTX 750 ti OC will support 4k resolution or not. Thanks.av30 - Friday, March 7, 2014 - link
I really would have liked to see how the vanilla 750 performed in the HTPC environment in relation to the GT 640. Any chance of updating that section of the review?kamlesh - Wednesday, March 12, 2014 - link
I m realy curious about Tegra K1 and its succsessor... Leave K1 beside for a moment and see if gtx 750 having 512 cuda cores n draws 55W and gtx 750ti having 640 drws 60W then if u calculate maxwell's each cuda (veriably) draw 0.039W(if clocked at 1ghz or abov). Means if next Tegra uses 2smx of maxwell (256 cores) it might use only 4W (CONSIDERING 20NM AND ~600MHZ CLOCK GPU) and and max 5W with entire SoC.Gadgety - Saturday, March 22, 2014 - link
Yep me too. Specially the K1 successor, even though the K1 itself is barely out. GPU per watt likely to yield amazing mobile graphics.