Best GFX card that does not need external power?

[JoeRodge]

Budget (including currency): $200-300

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Hopefully modern games at 1080/1440p

Other details: So I'm trying to find the best card, performance and sustainable performance that does not require external power (like a 6 or 8 pin connector.

 

I have a 400w power supply. Currently using an: EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SSC Gaming ACX 3.0, 4GB GDDR5, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) Graphics Card 04G-P4-6255-KR

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated. If I can achieve a 15-20%+ increase in some areas I would find that useful.

 

I've searched a lot of sights and they say it won't require it, I click the link and I see a 6-8 pin slot.

 

 

 

[CT854]

The GTX 1650 has variants that are bus-powered, but those might be hard to come by.

 

The RX 6400 is also bus-powered and trades blows with the GTX 1650 (I think?) but it's also been thrashed as a terrible value proposition for what it is. Caveat emptor.

[NF-A12x25]

Probably the RX 6400

[An0maly_76]

By default, the GTX1650 is completely bus-powered. It's the OC and Super variants that require PCIe 6-pin.

[CT854]

4 minutes ago, An0maly_76 said:

By default, the GTX1650 is completely bus-powered. It's the OC and Super variants that require PCIe 6-pin.

GDDR6 variants I think also require a 6-pin. But some base variants from certain AIBs are 6-pin powered. I just looked on TPU and most if not all of ASUS's GTX 1650 models are bus-powered, but all of EVGA's models require a 6-pin.

 

Basically, make sure the particular model you're looking at is indeed bus-powered and you'll be fine.

[RONOTHAN##]

If you're on something PCIe Gen 4 based, get the RX 6400. If you're on something Gen 3 based, get the 1650.

 

The 6400 is pretty bandwidth limited, it only has 4 PCIe lanes available to it, so while it usually trades blows with the 1650 but is easier to find for cheaper, it gets beaten when you're running a Gen 3 system. 

[OU812]

Yea, the 1650 or the 6400 is gonna be about as far as you can go. Id get the 1650 if you can find it just because its not gimped by only having 4 lanes.

[An0maly_76]

1 minute ago, CT854 said:

GDDR6 variants I think also require a 6-pin. But some base variants from certain AIBs are 6-pin powered. I just looked on TPU and most if not all of ASUS's GTX 1650 models are bus-powered, but all of EVGA's models require a 6-pin.

 

Basically, make sure the particular model you're looking at is indeed bus-powered and you'll be fine.

Yeah, but I highly doubt most, if any base 1650s are going to get GDDR6. I don't see them being fast enough to need it. I just bought an Asus Phoenix 1650 OC (1710 Mhz) that is waiting to go into a 3600X build (long story, was a test bed for my RTX3060ti and DIMMs while the board was being RMA'd, now it's looking to turn into a flip build with everything new but the CPU and case). It has no 6-pin power port. So that's one you can score as bus-powered. $202 on Amazon right now.

[Bitter]

Grab a used 1650 off eBay for like $130-140 shipped, but anything bus powered won't be a huge leap over the 1050ti. Might really be worth your money to wait for the next gen of cards to see what they're offering for bus powered options as they should be a good deal better in terms of performance as long as they have adequate PCIe lanes for older 3.0 systems!

[Middcore]

1 minute ago, Bitter said:

Grab a used 1650 off eBay for like $130-140 shipped, but anything bus powered won't be a huge leap over the 1050ti. Might really be worth your money to wait for the next gen of cards to see what they're offering for bus powered options as they should be a good deal better in terms of performance as long as they have adequate PCIe lanes for older 3.0 systems!

 

You will be waiting a while though, because the top-of-range cards in each GPU generation always come out first, followed by the mid and entry-level ones months later. Because AMD and Nvidia want people to get impatient and spend more money on power they don't need. 

[Bitter]

25 minutes ago, Middcore said:

 

You will be waiting a while though, because the top-of-range cards in each GPU generation always come out first, followed by the mid and entry-level ones months later. Because AMD and Nvidia want people to get impatient and spend more money on power they don't need. 

Oh I'm fully aware of this but it's a better value proposition than getting a 1650 that's like 30-40% better than the 1050ti instead of waiting 12-18 months and either having a larger budget to upgrade the PSU and GPU or getting a $200 GPU that's more like a 80-100% improvement. 4GB VRAM is becoming a liability especially if you're going to hang onto the card for as long as he's hung onto the 1050ti, the new lower end standard is going to be 6GB cards with 8 being mainstream mid tier and 10+ being mainstream upper end.