GeForce GTX 750 Ti Review: Maxwell Adds Performance Using Less Power

[Novuake]

I keep an XP machine around for very old software.

I have not needed XP in a while. Think the last time was when I had the urge to play the first Witcher game and it downright refused to work on W7 64 even though it SHOULD have worked after some fixes.

 

[smeezekitty]

I keep an XP machine around for very old software.

I have not needed XP in a while. Think the last time was when I had the urge to play the first Witcher game and it downright refused to work on W7 64 even though it SHOULD have worked after some fixes.

I play a lot vintage stuff though. And for the REALLY old stuff I use my 486 machine 😉

 

[Novuake]

I play a lot vintage stuff though. And for the REALLY old stuff I use my 486 machine 😉

See now THAT makes sense. Most games that can run on XP can be made to work on Win7.

 

[knowom]

I'm curious as to what you prefer about XP over 7. I don't see an issue, unless you're dealing with seriously legacy programs.

GDI is fully hardware accelerated in XP
legacy software
smaller memory foot print and storage foot print
better in terms of latency less sound drop outs
midi playback in sound control panel and easier to manage and navigate sound control panel itself
less aggravation in order to install or deleting programs
a clean better more well organized system itself that's easier to navigate
seems to be more customizable from a installation point and usage point
multiple monitors work better on XP I hear as well

Their are things that are improvements in 7, but it doesn't go without it's share of compromises and drawbacks as well.

I'm more of a minimalism performance person and I really just don't feel windows 7 is a improvement over XP64 and is more a step in the opposite direction though not as badly as Vista or windows 8 are.

 

[Novuake]

I'm curious as to what you prefer about XP over 7. I don't see an issue, unless you're dealing with seriously legacy programs.

GDI is fully hardware accelerated in XP
legacy software
smaller memory foot print and storage foot print
better in terms of latency less sound drop outs
midi playback in sound control panel and easier to manage and navigate sound control panel itself
less aggravation in order to install or deleting programs
a clean better more well organized system itself that's easier to navigate
seems to be more customizable from a installation point and usage point
multiple monitors work better on XP I hear as well

Their are things that are improvements in 7, but it doesn't go without it's share of compromises and drawbacks as well.

I'm more of a minimalism performance person and I really just don't feel windows 7 is a improvement over XP64 and is more a step in the opposite direction though not as badly as Vista or windows 8 are.

XP64? You GOT to be kidding me.

Since most of your points made are purely preference and others irrelevant due to advancements in hardware performance and drops in storage cost. I will just say this :

PROGRESS is good. Even if it backwards in some places and forwards in others.

Hell if EVERYONE was minimalist like you we would still have no Java or even Flash on the Internet.

Software drives hardware development and hardware drives software. So live it.

EDIT : I am NOT being hostile.

 

[knowom]

I keep an XP machine around for very old software. But 7 is quite good. Even Vista is tolerable with decent hardware

Really no reason to keep a main machine on XP at this point. It is over 12 years old.
About like using Win 95 in 2007!

I'm curious as to what you prefer about XP over 7. I don't see an issue, unless you're dealing with seriously legacy programs.

GDI is fully hardware accelerated in XP
legacy software
smaller memory foot print and storage foot print
better in terms of latency less sound drop outs
midi playback in sound control panel and easier to manage and navigate sound control panel itself
less aggravation in order to install or deleting programs
a clean better more well organized system itself that's easier to navigate
seems to be more customizable from a installation point and usage point
multiple monitors work better on XP I hear as well

Their are things that are improvements in 7, but it doesn't go without it's share of compromises and drawbacks as well.

I'm more of a minimalism performance person and I really just don't feel windows 7 is a improvement over XP64 and is more a step in the opposite direction though not as badly as Vista or windows 8 are.

XP64? You GOT to be kidding me.

Since most of your points made are purely preference and others irrelevant due to advancements in hardware performance and drops in storage cost. I will just say this :

PROGRESS is good. Even if it backwards in some places and forwards in others.

Hell if EVERYONE was minimalist like you we would still have no Java or even Flash on the Internet.

Software drives hardware development and hardware drives software. So live it.

EDIT : I am NOT being hostile.

I don't see how Java or Flash has anything to do with minimalism, but nice examples to use lol great choices I could stand do with either of them being replaced.

I'm all for progress, but my idea of progress is like Maxwell doing more with less making efficient use out of it. I can do without all the enhanced eye candy and reduced or less efficient ease of use and functionality. I also wouldn't mind a OS that is easier and quicker and easier to install/reinstall and not drastically bigger in terms of storage requirements.

 

[smeezekitty]

GDI is fully hardware accelerated in XP

I tend to think it is hardware accel in 7 too

legacy software

I have dedicated boxes for that

smaller memory foot print and storage foot print

Not a big deal on modern HW.
On an old machine, XP is fine. But on a 4-8GB machine 7 is more suitable

better in terms of latency less sound drop outs

I don't get sound dropouts on vista or 7 unless the CPU is old old

midi playback in sound control panel and easier to manage and navigate sound control panel itself

The volume mixer in XP was nice, but the ability to change the volume by program
in Vista+ is also nice

less aggravation in order to install or deleting programs

I have UAC off and have no aggravation with program install/uninstall

a clean better more well organized system itself that's easier to navigate

debatable

multiple monitors work better on XP I hear as well

Vista/7 works fine on multi-mon

Their are things that are improvements in 7, but it doesn't go without it's share of compromises and drawbacks as well.

I'm more of a minimalism performance person and I really just don't feel windows 7 is a improvement over XP64 and is more a step in the opposite direction though not as badly as Vista or windows 8 are.

Better security, newer technology, DX11, better compatibility with new software
Windows 8 sucks and most people agree. But 7 is pretty good

PROGRESS is good. Even if it backwards in some places and forwards in others.

As long as it is more forward than backward

Hell if EVERYONE was minimalist like you we would still have no Java or even Flash on the Internet.

That would be awesome! Flash is a huge performance hog and is actually dieing. There are
good alternatives to both flash and java.

but nice examples to use lol great choices I could stand do with either of them being replaced.

LOL couldn't agree more

I'm all for progress, but my idea of progress is like Maxwell doing more with less making efficient use out of it. I can do without all the enhanced eye candy and reduced or less efficient ease of use and functionality. I also wouldn't mind a OS that is easier and quicker and easier to install/reinstall and not drastically bigger in terms of storage requirements.

AMD already drops XP from their drivers. Eventually NVidia will do the same.
Something to mull over

Using XP for a secondary box is fine, but for a primary you should really move to something ,ore modern (thats not 8 LOL)

 

[de5_Roy]

as someone who stuck with xp sp3 for the better part of the decade, i understand why one won't want to let it go. but the problems pile up if you start to outgrow the o.s. e.g. start needing more than 4GB memory, bigger disk partitions, latest games and other softwares, better/latest driver support for your new-ish hardware etc. so here goes my rant...

there are bits and pieces of windows 7 makes me sorely miss xp. for example, on smaller display (laptops, old monitors) (well, any display, really.) you lose over an inch of vertical space in windows explorer thanks to the utterly useless ribbon interface. you can disable actually useful menu bar or details pane or even the navigation pane but not the ribbon itself (well.. i can't. tried.). you always have to hover (and wait) your mouse pointer on the "back" button after you click open the start menu for the "all programs" list. al-!@#$ing-ways. and if you accidentally click on the "back" button, you're back to the "sticky" list. !@#$. would it hurt to make it a dual pane menu? gone are the days when you could simply select a file or hundred and just click "copy to" or "move to". it's not on the !@#$ing ribbon! it's inside the edit menu and you can't put those buttons on the win 7 menu bars. i've seen windows 8 and i am not gonna touch that !@#$, geddit? xp is also useful (not in a good way, more like a"stuck" way) for legacy software, especially for work purposes.

there's much more but now is not the time...
/rant

 

[Someone Somewhere]

The top bar on 7 actually looks smaller than XP, according to me. There's no ribbon in Explorer till you get to Win8. XP has very big Back/Forward buttons below the entry bar, while on 7 they're to the side.

Go to Organize>Layout>Tick 'Menu' to get Edit menu with the Copy To + Move To buttons back.

You do realise that you can also click on the All Programs + back buttons? I didn't actually realise hover did anything until now - I don't tend to wait that long.

Still, this is being posted from my quite customised Kubuntu installation, so I can't really talk.

 

[smeezekitty]

You do realise that you can also click on the All Programs + back buttons? I didn't actually realise hover did anything until now - I don't tend to wait that long.

Hey I just tried it. I didn't know hovering would do that either.

 

[de5_Roy]

The top bar on 7 actually looks smaller than XP, according to me. There's no ribbon in Explorer till you get to Win8. XP has very big Back/Forward buttons below the entry bar, while on 7 they're to the side.

it's not ribbon? you're right, the bar is narrower in win 7, but windows 7 doesn't allow to customize/merging the bars (menu bar, address/navigation bar (with back button and address bar)), the "ribbon" (with "organize" menu and some context-sensitive buttons) into a single bar. in xp, iirc, i could merge the menu bar, address bar, and other buttons into a single bar leaving just the title bar and the customized "all in one" bar at the top and the status bar at the bottom. in windows 7, the bars and buttons cannot be merged. T_T
edit: you have to un-lock the toolbar buttons beforehand.

Go to Organize>Layout>Tick 'Menu' to get Edit menu with the Copy To + Move To buttons back.

yes. but those are inside the edit menu, cannot be placed on a bar as a clickable button. p.i.t.a. when i'm doing repetitive select-and-copy/move from explorer. i've moved on to using teracopy.

You do realise that you can also click on the All Programs + back buttons? I didn't actually realise hover did anything until now - I don't tend to wait that long.

that's the problem. if you click before hovering triggers, you're good. but more often than not, the mouse clock doesn't register or delays, hover triggers first and then the mouse click. ;-;

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Mouse doesn't register or delays? Sounds like you need a new mouse.

I don't think I have an XP disc to install, so I can't test it easily.

I tend to use side-by-side windows rather than copy to, most of the time.

 

[knowom]

I really need to try out !# Crunchbang Linux in VirtualBox sometime regardless of if XP goes to hell in a hand basket or not it might be a good improvement.

 

[Trave]

If/when a single-slot, low-profile version of this card becomes available, I'll be looking to buy it for my mini-ITX box. Until then, the HD7750 it has remains the most powerful card that will fit.
Considering the plethora of games available on Steam that aren't all that demanding, that lowly HD7750 is sufficient for great settings even at 1920x1080. The most demanding game I play is Guild Wars 2, and it looks quite nice on that card; the GTX750Ti would just make it a lot smoother, and maybe let me increase view distance.

If/when a single-slot, low-profile version of this card becomes available, I'll be looking to buy it for my mini-ITX box. Until then, the HD7750 it has remains the most powerful card that will fit.
Considering the plethora of games available on Steam that aren't all that demanding, that lowly HD7750 is sufficient for great settings even at 1920x1080. The most demanding game I play is Guild Wars 2, and it looks quite nice on that card; the GTX750Ti would just make it a lot smoother, and maybe let me increase view distance.

I am assuming you are not on Aurora Glade?

Well there seems a single slot gtx 750 card by ASUS.

 

[Onus]

Smeezekitty, I agree with every one of your points, except I don't turn off UAC (it doesn't bother me). Oh, and I knew about hovering...

Trave, I need low-profile as well as single-slot. Gypsy is built in an InWin BL655.300.

 

[Trave]

Smeezekitty, I agree with every one of your points, except I don't turn off UAC (it doesn't bother me). Oh, and I knew about hovering...

Trave, I need low-profile as well as single-slot. Gypsy is built in an InWin BL655.300.

Well this is the smallest 750 that I can find
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121854
http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/GTX750PHOC1GD5/

Gonna buy 1 soon enough for my Dinosaur rig(Optiplex 780 MT)

 

[Isaiah4110]

Wow, so much hate for Win8!

I work for an enterprise organization (government agency actually) and we are right now in the middle of rolling out new systems with a customized Windows 8.1 image. I am actually part of the team conducting training classes to demo the new systems for our Users so they don't freak out when they come in Monday morning to a new look system. I can't tell you how many people have been completely apprehensive and against Win8 walking into a training course and walk out saying "oh, that not all that different from our Windows 7 systems, and it isn't anything like the pain in the butt Win8 laptop I bought X months ago". We have not installed or used any third party "make Win8 look like Win7" software. We have simply customized the Windows installation by modifying various settings.

Yes Win8 looks different from (flatter than) Win7, but really the biggest change is that the start menu has been replaced by the start screen. I actually find it easier to use the start screen as I don't have to navigate the programs list to find the program I want to open. Simply bring up the start screen and start typing the name of the program I want and voila!



Look at it this way: Where would we be today if people had completely rejected Windows 95/98 because it completely changed the way things were in Windows 3.1? That change was WAY bigger than the switch from XP/Vista/7 to Windows 8.1.

 

[logainofhades]

I despise metro

 

[Onus]

Isaiah, there is a very good point perhaps hidden in your post. As released to consumers, Windows 8 is horrible. With proper preparation however (available in enterprise environments), it need not be so bad.
As a consumer, I don't want it, and will avoid it if at all possible. Why hand over my money for something I don't need or want?

 

[logainofhades]

I am probably going to get it for my laptop, only to get to know it better. I work on other people's systems on the side for extra cash now and then. Starting to run into more win 8 based machines lately, so I need to get better with it.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Isaiah, there is a very good point perhaps hidden in your post. As released to consumers, Windows 8 is horrible. With proper preparation however (available in enterprise environments), it need not be so bad.
As a consumer, I don't want it, and will avoid it if at all possible. Why hand over my money for something I don't need or want?

Absolutely agreed. I would NEVER purchase a prebuilt system with Windows 8. In an enterprise environment (or a build-it-yourself) you can make the necessary customizations to it isn't bad.

The other improtant thing to note is that we are using Windows 8.1, NOT Windows 8. Windows 8.1 made some very necessary (and helpful) roll backs to the OS that make it a heck of a lot more desktop friendly.

 

[Onus]

That too. The changes in Windows 8.1 at least made me raise an eyebrow. Still, at least for now, it is a "solution" in search of a problem.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I know one person rolling out Win[strike]3.1[/strike]8.1 in an enterprise area, and says it's hopeless. Not sure if that's due to the corporate culture or the software, but I suspect both.

 

[Isaiah4110]

Our rollouts have been going great. We have over 800 users, have upgraded about half of them over the last 3 weeks, and have not had any major issues or even complaints for that matter.

 

[youssef 2010]

Although I don't like Nvidia's philosophy when it comes to PhysX and some other things. I have to say I'm impressed with Maxwell's power efficiency. It seems the AMD's GPU division will end up similar to the CPU division, using much more power to get the job done.