MINI GPU Card Help

Billy86

Hi guys,

Just to cut this one short as I'm in work, a friend of mine was home from abroad for the holidays and was seriously impressed with the gaming PC I got help building on here (thanks again!!). He had been leaning towards buying a console but had a change of heart after seeing it - like me a few months back he hasn't really played much of anything on PC or console this decade so bits of the Witcher graphics on Ultra blew him away to the point he had switched focus entirely to a PC. He is also looking to basically be able to play on good quality and will be using a 1080p TV I believe, though 'ultra everything' isn't a big issue, I reckon he'd be perfectly happy with medium/high settings.

Now he's very fortunate in that his workplace in Canada have grown immensely and are basically throwing stuff at people, so he got given an 'old' PC of theirs which after checking, fits about all of the specs except for the GPU: Intel i7 4790... 8GB RAM... PCI 3.0 Express input for a GPU on the motherboard... and a proper PSU (not sure which). Yes, they literally just gave it to him for nothing and said they were just going to be throwing it out otherwise. He's one of those b*****ds who just has this kind of thing fall into his lap on occasion.

Only one downside - the GPU. It actually has a dedicated one, but it's a GT 620 (which is according to wiki a GT 530 - so useless at this stage). But him being the naturally lucky fecker he is, it turns out they've brought out a range of 10__ series cards in mini form only in the last month or so. So basically, I'm trying to figure out which would work best for him:

GTX 1050 Mini - $165 (€125) - told him it's not a runner, a bit too 'budget' with only 2GB VRAM, it would surely age very quickly?

GTX 1050 TI Mini - $195 (€150) - 4GB VRAM - http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/zotac_geforce_gtx_1050_ti_mini_review,1.html

GTX 1060 Mini - $270 (€205) - 3GB RAM - someone please let me know if I'm wrong on this, but due to the VRAM number I'd worry for him that this might age too quickly, kind of like buying a faster car (than the 1050 TI) with a lower lifespan, while the opposite would suit him better - https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_1060_Mini_3_GB/

GTX 1060 MINI - $330 (€250) - 6GB RAM - it's a noticeable price bump, but is it worth it for the extra strength and lifespan? He makes decent money and was looking at nVidia Shield units for $290 which is where we got onto this convo initially, plus we thought he would need a new case which now doesn't seem to be the case (we only found out he had a dedicated GPU last night), so can afford it if needs be - http://pcgamingbuilds.com/zotac-gtx-1060-mini-review

Couldn't find one for the minis, but here is a standard 1050 TI vs 1060 comparison: http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-1060-vs-GeForce-GTX-1050-Ti

So what he's looking for is good performance but doesn't need to be incredible, really a focus on quality and lifespan and the best price point for it. I could be completely wrong, but the best bang-for-buck options there seem to be the 1050 TI or 1060 6GB depending on how little or much he wants to stretch the budget, just curious if someone can spell out the pros and cons of the units as there are not many reviews/benchmarks tests on these mini units I could find given that they are quite new and a little niche compared to the big boy units?

TerrorFirmer

The 6GB GTX1060 is worth it if longevity is important, it's almost twice as fast as the GTX1050Ti so well worth the extra investment and will play pretty much everything at 1080p ultra. Even the GTX1050 is a grand card though for 1080p medium-high settings, but typically budget cards like that need replacing more often. 2GB of vram isn't a massive issue with a budget card, no, it's more of an issue for the higher end cards like the GTX1060 like you've mentioned.

Also - make sure the PSU has the appropriate power connectors for some of these cards (six pin pci-e). Many OEM power supplies will not have these connectors, and in many newer units, they don't have the molex connectors required for adaptors anymore, either - they're all sata.

extra-ordinary_

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

...Also - make sure the PSU has the appropriate power connectors for some of these cards (six pin pci-e). Many OEM power supplies will not have these connectors, and in many newer units, they don't have the molex connectors required for adaptors anymore, either - they're all sata.

Check out one of these

Billy86

Cheers for the help on that one lads, I will get him to look into it when he's up - but just to check, if it is SATA would that mean needing to get a SATA-to-Molex adapter, and then putting that into a Molex-to-PCIE adapter, and if so would it be safe to say a new PSU might just be the better option?

Billy86

Just saw this on an Amazon review for the 1050 TI mini, having been unable to find anything for '6 pin' in it's specs anywhere.

If you know how to open your system's case and plug a card into a slot on the motherboard, you can do this - so long as your system meets the specs of the card; which most newer systems will). There is no need for an additional power source - the card is powered by the motherboard (which was a huge selling point for me since my new system didn't come with a PCIe 6-pin power adapter).

And another...

Okay now for the good new. This card does not need a psu 6 pin plug. This card runs off the mobo power. I've played all kinds of games on this card the past few days and here the list.

Doom high 60 fps
Dying light max 60 fps
Skyrim se max 60 fps
Shugon total war med setting with huge army 40-60 fps ( the battle were nuts)
Overwatch ultra 60 fps drop here and there.
Metal gear the phantom pain max 60 fps.
Rome 2 empire med setting large army 60 fps. Drop only when battle have more then a army on the battle field.
Gta5 max 60 fps.
Planetary annaltion med 60 fps. Keep in mind this is on 4 planet system with 4 ai.
Metro last light redux max 50 fps
Metro redux max 50 fps.

So even if he has no six pin on is PSU, by the looks of it he'll still be OK with a 1050 TI.

TerrorFirmer

Yes, but the GTX1060 definitely needs one and you have to remember the GTX1050Ti is only around 50/60% of the performance. It's not a great card for the money (The AMD RX470 is a similar price and destroys it, but also needs a six-pin and not sure if there's a mini variant)

K.O.Kiki

MSI RX470 4Gb for CA$227 ($212 after rebate) with free Hitman game.

If it fits, would be the best deal.

Billy86

Also a good point, I'll lay both out to him in that case. If he's on Molex, the adapter could be an easy fix but while he might be able to get help from one of the IT lads where he works, I get the feeling he might find it a bit overwhelming to have to look into a new PSU, as well as disconnecting and reconnecting everything from it - plus it would likely bump up the cost to be closer to $400 (CAD) or thereabouts compared to $190.

If he's got six pin or at least molex though, will definitely push him for the 1060 6GB.

Billy86

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

MSI RX470 4Gb for CA$227 ($212 after rebate) with free Hitman game.

If it fits, would be the best deal.

Cheers for the suggestion but sadly it wouldn't - I've a Sugo SG13B which just barely fits a GTX 970 into it (which is apparently 10.5 inches compared to that which is 9.7) and just looking at the card through the mesh he instantly could tell me there wasn't a hope it would fit in his.

I was actually surprised they got the card in there into it at all, though it's dimensions are identical to the GTX minis (just 2cm slimmer due to no fan on the GPU, which I've asked him to check if there is space for) - he's really looking for something as plug-and-play as possible and while ultra type setting would be nice it's not a huge concern for him, which is why I reckon he'd be more inclined to go with the 1050 TI at $200CA with no messing about with wires, over the 1060 a new PSU at $400CA.