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 : Miscellaneous Factors
In this section, we cover some miscellaneous HTPC aspects that are too short to warrant a separate section. These include a discussion of various display refresh rates supported, a short look at the hardware encoder (NVENC) in action and a summary of our thoughts on the GT 750Ti as a HTPC GPU.
Refresh Rate Accuracy:
NVIDIA provides an easy way to customize refresh rates. The process remains the same as what we explained in our review of the GT 640. The 23 Hz setting gives us a refresh rate of 23.971 Hz. With Intel providing rock-solid 23.976 Hz support in Haswell, it is time NVIDIA got the out-of-the-box refresh rate support correct.
NVIDIA also allows setting of refresh rates not reported as available by the display's EDID. On the Sony KDL46EX720, it allowed driving of 1080p50 without any issues. The flexibility is definitely appreciated, though it would be nice to have better accuracy without all the tweaking.
Hardware Encoder: NVENC
We used CyberLink MediaEspresso v6.7 to evaluate the hardware encoder block. Our test clip was a 3-minute long 1080p24 H.264 stream at 36 Mbps and the target was a 720p24 H.264 stream at 6 Mbps. The time taken for conversion and the power consumption at the wall during the conversion process are provided in the table below.
| GPU Video Encoding Performance | ||||||
| Conversion Time | Power | |||||
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti | 2:54 | 88.97W | ||||
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 | 0:36 | 108.18W | ||||
| AMD Radeon HD 7750 (VCE) | 1:06 | 76.84W | ||||
| Intel HD 4000 QuickSync (Better Quality/Fast Conversion) | 0:24 | 63.91W | ||||
It appears as if the 750Ti is using the CUDA path rather than NVENC, while the 640 seems to use NVENC fine. We had readied ourselves for some quality comparison using objective metrics for the new NVENC. It looks like we have to wait for this issue to be resolved before proceeding down that path. [Update: NVIDIA got back to us indicating that this is a Maxwell-related driver issue. We are waiting for new drivers]
HTPC Verdict - Wait and Watch
We have taken a look at the HTPC credentials of the 750Ti and compared it with the GT 640 and the HD 7750. In terms of power efficiency, it is hard not to recommend the 750Ti. With a 60W TDP, it is amenable to passive cooling also. However, it comes to the market at a time when the HEVC standard has just been ratified (preventing it from having a full-blown hardware accelerated decoder) and HDMI 2.0 with 4Kp60 support being right around the corner. The perfect HTPC GPU would include support for both, but the 750Ti, unfortunately, is a bit early to the game. More troublesome is the fact that CyberLink's MediaEspresso seems unable to take advantage of the new NVENC and the fact that some of our 1080p60 H.264 clips are showing decoding artifacts (considering they play perfectly using the GT 640).
We would suggest HTPC enthusiasts to adopt a wait-and-watch approach to the GT 750Ti, particularly with respect to driver bugs specific to the 750Ti and also the extent of HEVC decode support that will be available. Depending on the requirements, it might also be prudent to wait for a Maxwell GPU with HDMI 2.0 support.
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rish95 - Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - link
Yes. You can run PCIe 3.0 cards on 2.0 slots.rish95 - Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - link
This card is quite literally jesus for me. I've been waiting for something like this for a few years now.Currently I'm running an Athlon II X4 with a GT 240 on an OEM 250W PSU. I know it sounds like that may be a bit much for the PSU, but it's been working fine for years.
There haven't been any cards without external power connectors released since the GT 240 that have been significantly faster. I know I could have jumped to an HD 7750, but it's still not that much of an improvement. Now I can get a massive 3-4X performance boost without upgrading my PSU.
I hope this was worth the wait. I've had a copy of Crysis 3 for some time that I couldn't use because the 240 doesn't support DX11.
cbrownx88 - Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - link
Good for you man! This does sound like quite the fit! Hope your power supply keeps hangin in there!Antronman - Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - link
These cards will barely be able to run Crysis 3.rish95 - Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - link
Did you even read the review? It seems to manage 36 FPS at high settings at 1080p.I don't need Very High and I don't need 60 FPS. I just need it to look pretty good and run at a playable frame rate at native res.
This does seem to fit the bill.
Qwertilot - Thursday, February 20, 2014 - link
The only worry in some ways is that the 20nm version of this is inevitably going to be non trivially better at the same sort of power draw. I guess it isn't at all certain if they'll do a roughly equivalent one now though. Obviously not terribly soon. Might end up skipping to 16nm or something.HighTech4US - Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - link
Quote: NVIDIA is making a major effort to target GTX 550 Ti and GTS 450 owners as those cards turn 3-4 years old, with the GTX 750 series able to easily double their performance while reducing power consumption.And they have gotten me to upgrade my HTPC GPU that was on an EVGA GTS 450 to a brand new EVGA 02G-P4-3753-KR GeForce GTX 750 Ti Superclocked 2GB which I just purchased on Newegg for $160.38.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
This card is factory overclocked at Core Clock: 1176MHz Boost Clock: 1255MHz has a DisplayPort connector and a better copper heat assisted heat sink and fan shroud that exits some of the heat out the back bracket.
I will be selling my old EVGA GTS 450 on eBay and should clear $60 so I will have a very nice card for the next 3-4 years for an upgrade price of around $100. Not bad at all.
pierrot - Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - link
Awesome this ITX friendly size is the standard, just need power nowninjaquick - Thursday, February 20, 2014 - link
As neat as this is, it only proves that Maxwell scales within its TDP. It is consistent where it is at.devdollers@gmail.com - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
wow..............