75W LOW PROFILE GPU OPTIONS

[Hardcore Games]

I was looking at various GPU offerings but I need a card that can make do with slot power. The useless 20W GT 720 lacks DisplayPort etc.

 

[DaemonForce]

If you're looking for a cheap compute, the Tesla P4 is the way to go and a well kept secret to everyone. The T4 model is finally coming down in price lately but it's still up there.

Unfortunately that's where the options get cut way too quickly. There just aren't many options for lowpro when it comes to anything modern. Aside from picking some random 2GB Quadro, you might be able to score a WX3100 or WX3200 at a good price. I really wouldn't go after the RX6400 in this situation but there may be one or two specific features that pull people in that direction as a last resort. A VERY last resort.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Here you go:

• GTX 1650 (with GDDR6): decent performance regardless of PCI-e version and ReBAR state.
• RX 6400: extremely low power consumption, usually below 50 W, yet it's only performing great with ReBAR enabled running on PCI-e 4.0 interface. Faster in DX12 games that aren't as VRAM bandwidth sensitive.
• Arc A380: beats both of them in DX12 performance, kinda loses to GTX 1650 in older games. Extremely hindered if you don't have ReBAR turned on. Not ideal in some games due to drivers being alpha/beta staged. Don't work on older motherboards (Coffee Lake and older than that), without tinkering with BIOS at least.

They're also about to launch (or already launched) an RTX 3050 with 6 GB VRAM and approximately 75 W TDP. Will probably be the best option amongst these three because of DLSS support which is crucial at this level of performance.

No idea about workstation GPUs, yet they still could prove being a tremendous purchase.

 

[Assimilator]

Without telling us what you want to use it for, it's really difficult to recommend anything. Are you just looking to drive extra monitors? Are you looking to play games? Help us help you.

 

[Hardcore Games]

Mostly the goal is video editing so support various codecs is a plus
Some casual gaming is a plus
Some suggested cards have PCIe requirements which exceeds the goal

 

[wNotyarD]

Mostly the goal is video editing so support various codecs is a plus
Some casual gaming is a plus
Some suggested cards have PCIe requirements which exceeds the goal

You could try and look out for an Arc A380 LP, then. EXTREMELY ReBar dependant, though. On what motherboard will you run it on?

Asrock has a model which looks just like what you want.

ASRock Intel Arc A380 Low Profile 6GB

<b>Clock: GPU / Memory</b>, GPU Clock: 2000 MHz, Memory Clock: 15.5 Gbps<br /><b>Key Specification</b>, Intel® Arc™ A380 Graphics, 6GB 96-bit GDDR6, DirectX® 12 Ultimate, PCI® Express4.0 Support, 1 x DisplayPort™ 2.0 with DSC / 1 x HDMI™ 2.0b<br /><b>Key Features</b>, Low Profile Design, Dual...

www.asrock.com

 

[Ruined Mind]

If you want to play old games that use OpenGL, ignore cards from AMD and Intel. Nvidia has far better support of OpenGL, so the AMD Radeon RX 6400 and Arc A380 are not for you.

The RX 6400 doesn't have encoding support.

The 1650 and 3050 have almost the same encoding support. The 3050 added "HEVC B Frame Support", as shown here:
https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-and-decode-gpu-support-matrix-new

That same page shows that the 3050 added support for decoding of 8-bit and 10-bit videos that use the "AV1" codec (probably only the "4:2:0" format, but the chart doesn't clarify that). The RX 6400 can decode the common H264 and H265 (HEVC) videos, like the other cards, but not AV1 videos. (As far as I'm aware, cards that support decoding of the "4:2:2" and "4:4:4" formats of AV1 currently don't exist.)

The 1650 has 16 PCIe lanes, and supports speeds up to generation 3.0. The 3050 has 8 PCIe lanes, and supports speeds up to generation 4.0. If your computer's PCIe version is at least 3.0, the 3050 will be fine, but if you have a PCIe 2.0 slot, your 3050 may be limited in some games (some games are less dependent on the PCIe speed than others).

The RX 6400 has 4 PCIe lanes, and supports speeds up to generation 4.0. If you have a PCIe 3.0 slot, four lanes may limit the performance of some games, but if your PCIe slot uses version 2.0, you shouldn't even consider this card. Four lanes of PCIe 2.0 won't be enough.

All cards will work in all PCIe slots that could fit them. They don't need to have the same version as the slot. The speed will be different, but the card will still work.

You may not be able to find a new 1650 card. A used product won't have a warranty, and driver support of the 1650 will end sooner than the support of the 3050. The rumored price of the 3050 6 GB is $179.99 USD, and its rumored release month is February.

RX 6400: 53 watts, and 4 GB VRAM, Low Profile versions available, power usage cannot be changed, and this card cannot be underclocked and cannot be overclocked
GTX 1650: 75 watts, and 4 GB VRAM, Low Profile versions available, can be reduced to 58.5 watts with a tool called "MSI Afterburner"
RTX 3050: 70 watts, and 6 GB VRAM, probably will have Low Profile versions available, probably can be reduced to 54.6 watts with a tool called "MSI Afterburner"

Reducing the power consumption with MSI Afterburner will cause some of the performance to be lost, probably around 8 to 10 percent.

 

[Hardcore Games]

seem that prices are still way above MSRP which tells me mining is at it again

 

[wNotyarD]

seem that prices are still way above MSRP which tells me mining is at it again

What card models are you talking about? And for information, what prices and where?

 

[A Computer Guy]

seem that prices are still way above MSRP which tells me mining is at it again

I thought it was because low profile GPU's are rather niche.

 

[Assimilator]

Mostly the goal is video editing so support various codecs is a plus
Some casual gaming is a plus
Some suggested cards have PCIe requirements which exceeds the goal

A used RTX A2000 is probably your best bet - while it's limited only to 70W consumption the performance is within 10% of the RTX 3050, thanks to a beefier core and 50% more memory bandwidth. About the only downside is that it uses mini-DisplayPort connectors, but adapters are a couple of bucks.

 

[A Computer Guy]

If you can get a PSU for your setup with 1 PCIe 8pin power then 4060LP might be an option.

 

[Hardcore Games]

If you can get a PSU for your setup with 1 PCIe 8pin power then 4060LP might be an option.

SFF class machines often have poor PSU options so the goal was to identify options

some video cards cost as much as a cheap gaming laptop with RTX 4050 graphics which is how I compare cost/benefit

 

[67Elco]

GTX 1050 Ti 4GB...ran Fortnite perfectly in a old Hp SFF. They are stupid expensive on ebay though. After taking these pic's and realizing how nasty this card was I was forced to take it apart, clean it and re-pasted.

 

[Hardcore Games]

lots of overpriced hardware on fleabay
old workstation cards seem to be less overpriced
not sure why prices for 5 year old cards are above MSRP

 

[Hardcore Games]

Put a SSD in and old Radeon based laptop and evidently this antique graphics chip does support AV1 and H.265 which makes this machine useful for video encoding

 

[sLowEnd]

Put a SSD in and old Radeon based laptop and evidently this antique graphics chip does support AV1 and H.265 which makes this machine useful for video encoding

Radeons didn't support AV1 decode until RDNA2, and AV1 encode was introduced with RDNA3. How old is "old"?

 

[Chrispy_]

Everyone here has covered the obvious candidates except the GT 1030

• 1030 - fine, terrible for gaming but newer connectivity and drivers than a 720. Typically 1xHDMI, 1xDP
• 1050Ti - probably your best bet on a budget, but look on AliExpress for "new" rather than fleabay which seems to be going through a 1050Ti scalping period
• Arc380 - issues with anything that's not Vulkan or DX12, useless without ReBAR, power hungry, but decent encode/video performance
• 1650/1630 - overpriced, underwhelming
• 6400 - overpriced, underwhelming, useless on PCIe 3.0 and poor without ReBAR
• 3050 - overpriced, but capable for gaming
• A2000 - overpriced, needs adapters for most outputs
• 4060LP - overpriced, over 75W

What's the PC it's going into? What's the clearance (ie, single slot, dual-slot but no breathing room, dual-slot and plenty of breathing room), what's the PSU, are there any Molex cables going unused?

 

[dgianstefani]

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB Review - The Fastest Slot-Powered GPU

Priced at $180, the GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB offers an accessible entry point into PC gaming. Operating solely on PCIe slot power, it's compatible with all PCs, including older OEM models, eliminating the need for power connectors. While noise levels are impressive, the price-to-performance ratio...

www.techpowerup.com

3050 or A2000 allow you to use DLSS which helps a lot with weak GPUs to achieve close to native IQ at normal resolutions such as 1440p medium or 1080p high.

Wouldn't really consider any of the alternatives as anything but a basic display output, none of them are suitable for 2024 gaming.

 

[AusWolf]

Mostly the goal is video editing so support various codecs is a plus
Some casual gaming is a plus
Some suggested cards have PCIe requirements which exceeds the goal

I suppose you need hardware encoding for video editing, so the RX 6400 is out of the game.

Your only other options are the GTX 1630, 1650, RTX 3050 6 GB or Intel Arc A380.

The 1630 is extremely weak, so I wouldn't suggest it. The A380 is fine if your PC supports ReBar.

Without knowing what PC you're using, I'd say the RTX 3050 6 GB is your best bet.

 

[Hardcore Games]

Intel said ReBar is part of PCIe generally so most vendors gimmick machines to prevent it from working in order to force sales, which is compulsory tied selling and a violation of law

 

[Solid State Soul ( SSS )]

Mostly the goal is video editing so support various codecs is a plus
Some casual gaming is a plus
Some suggested cards have PCIe requirements which exceeds the goal

Rtx 3050 6gb version

 

[Hardcore Games]

I found a very cheap R7 450 which is GCN so at least it has 8 CU to work with. This card has some encoding support but Intel CPUs also have support. The real advantage is dual DisplayPort which will allow better 4K60 support.

 

[overclockedamd]

MSI G3050LP6C

 

[redeye]

use a riser cable… most definitely cheaper, (card +pcie3 riser cable ) than getting a half height or low profile Gpu… (i think)…

pcie3 riser cables are cheap. pcie4 are expensive…