GTX 750 Power Requirements

DECEiFER

Hi folks,

I normally don't post here for help, as I'm usually good to go it alone, but on this occasion I'd just like a few opinions on something.

I have bought a cheep n' cheerful GTX 750 (GV-N750OC-1GI) from CeX. Due to their lack of specifications, I had not accounted for the fact that the card would come with a 6-pin PCI-E socket on-board. This is an upgrade for a Dell OptiPlex 3020 (Core i3 4150) that we use in a community radio station for playout - manual and automation, and browsing by the hosts of the various shows. We have a sophisticated playout system that uses Audio over IP going through a Blade, which is also connected to the digital mixer console, via a Cisco switch. I find that when the CPU usage spikes, there is a chance that the audio will stutter for a second as the buffer likely gets starved. It could be caused by Facebook browsing, for example, as it's image-intensive. So I want to offload the graphics workload to a dedicated GPU. The GTX 750 is surplus to requirements, I know, but it was going cheap and I figured it wouldn't require additional power.

TL;DR
The computer has a 290W PSU - with no PCI-E power connectors - which has an 8-pin ATX connector, so without an adapter I can't just throw in any ol' PSU to replace it. Because the card has a 6-pin PCI-E socket on-board, I'm just wondering if it would run okay without connecting additional power to it. The card has a TDP of 55W, so in theory it should run fine because the slot should provide a maximum of 75W, and I'd even be okay with underclocking it via Afterburner, so long as it can boot into Windows. Any thoughts?


Thanks in advance.

TerrorFirmer

Some cards with low power demands to begin with will work without the 6-pin connected, but others will not even display an imagine without it connected.

Worst case, you will have to get a molex or sata to pci-e adaptor for a couple of euro. Absolutely stupid to have a GTX750 with an additional power connector though. You just got unlucky as 90% of 750 and 750Ti's do not require additional power.

For your actual usage though, an upgrade to an i5 for €80 would've probably been more beneficial

ED E

DECEiFER wrote: »

This is an upgrade for a Dell OptiPlex 3020 (Core i3 4150)

It could be caused by Facebook browsing, for example, as it's image-intensive. So I want to offload the graphics workload to a dedicated GPU.

The iGPU and a discrete will provide the same acceleration to whatever browser is being used. Just because there are images on screen doesnt mean its a graphical task.

A CPU upgrade or efforts to curtail on critical applications makes more sense.

DECEiFER

Thanks, folks. I'm heading over there after work and was going to try it regardless. I was just impatient and wanted folks to weigh in. I got the card from CeX (never bothered with them before) as it was a meager 50 bucks - but they provided no specs beyond that it was a GTX 750, so I took a gamble.

Way ahead of you on a processor upgrade. I'll be building an i5 4670K system but we're a bit strapped right now (being a non-profit and all that - I bought the 750 out of my own pocket) and are missing a few bits and pieces, but we do have the processor sitting idle right now. I'd also rather not put the i5 into the Dell and instead keep it for the custom rig.

Up until a month or so ago, we were using 2 x 1024x768 monitors on the system and when we upgraded to 2 x 1920x1080 monitors thereafter, the problem got a tad worse. I've done everything I can to optimize the system and even increased the audio buffer size in the playout program, reduced the sample rate to 44.1KHz in the Blade and PC devices, etc., etc. AoIP system we use is Wheatstone - a very big broadcast equipment provider from the U.S. and at cost, set us back 12k (when we had a grant to spend back in 2015).

We also use Skype screen sharing when we have co-hosts on the air from other locations and that spikes the CPU usage right up. It's a Windows 7 system using Skype desktop. I was thinking of giving Discord a try on my show this week, however.

guil

Where are you located? I have a 2x molex to 6 pin adapter that you can have if you like?

DECEiFER

guil wrote: »

Where are you located? I have a 2x molex to 6 pin adapter that you can have if you like?

Hi guil, thanks for the offer. I'm in Limerick but we're sorted now. The card did indeed need the external power connected, so the Dell was out without getting a new PSU, and I don't think it even has two spare molexes, just to make it worse.

So that previously-unbuilt i5 4670K PC is up and running as of tonight, albeit with an unmounted non-modular PSU (that I intend on replacing and mounting). It's some state right now, though.



The bonus was that I didn't even need (bother) to reinstall the OS. The drive from the i3 Dell worked fine, booting Windows 7 in UEFI mode, and I removed any obsolete drivers, installed all the necessary new ones, and it's doing great.

Here is a video I took earlier this evening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2DAiZXxRu0