The GTX 1050 Ti is considered a low-end budget card, but if you are looking to play only a handful of games and build a budget computer then this might be your only choice.
Even though it is an older card it is still important to know how much power it uses and compare it to other modern-day graphics cards.
How Many Watts Does The GTX 1050 Ti Use?
The GTX 1050 Ti has a TGP or Total Graphics Power of 75 Watts, which is the typical wattage it produces. When gaming you should expect to see an average of around 54-74 watts. However, when idle The GTX 1050 Ti only uses 5 Watts of Power.
As you can see the GTX 1050 Ti has a very low power draw producing less than 100 watts of power when gaming. Most modern-day cards produce close to or even over 200 watts of power, so you really don’t need a powerful PSU to power this GPU.
When idle the GTX 1050 Ti only uses 5 watts of power which is not much at all. Even when you add a second monitor to the mix it still uses 5 watts. This means that there is no increase in wattage with a second monitor which is also very uncommon as most GPUs will be around double the wattage when you add a second monitor to your computer.
When you are looking and comparing a GPUs power consumption, you want to look at the GPU TGP or Total Graphics Power, which shows the base power draw you will get when using your GPU for things such as gaming
When talking about power consumption, you might hear the phrase “TDP” used interchangeably with the phrase “TGP”. Essentially TGP and TDP are the same things, but TDP is the total power consumption of a component and TGP is the total power consumption of a GPU specifically.
You should also note that the TGP of a GPU isn’t the true maximum power draw of the specific graphics card, and the power consumption can be increased when computing graphically intensive tasks and while overclocking.
Under some intense overclocking, it is possible to get the GTX 1050 Ti to around 80 watts, but this is extremely rare and you would need to do some extreme overclocking in this scenario.
GTX 1050 Ti Power Consumption Compared To Other GPUs
The GPUs power consumption is compared using TGP. It is essential to know and compare your graphics cards to other similar models because it will help you get a grasp on the amount of power your system is going to use.
Here is a comparison of a few graphics cards that are around the performance range of the GTX 1050 Ti.
There are few cards to compare to the GTX 1050 Ti too because Nvidia doesn’t really make these low-end GPUs anymore.
Although in their 30-series GPUs, they did end up making an RTX 3050 that has a TGP of 130 Watts.
Even the GTX 1060 uses 120 watts, which just shows that the GTX 1050 Ti doesn’t need that much power at all.
Check out: “What Does Ti Mean in a GPU?”
The only card that has less than 100 watts in this comparison is the GTX 1050 which is basically the same card just slightly downgraded.
If you want to compare more graphics cards on their power consumption and TGP I have provided a database where you can look at dozens of different GPUs and their power consumption, that way you don’t have to do the research yourself.
Check out the Database.
I have also provided the average power consumption when gaming, as well as the average power consumption when idle, that way you can get a better understanding.
What Power Supply Do I Need For My GTX 1050 Ti?
With the GTX 1050 Ti, the minimum recommended power supply wattage is 300 watts, but from my experience, you should always look for a bigger power supply than what is recommended on the market.
The reason for this is that you never know what you might encounter with power spikes, upgrades, and overclocking.
I would recommend that you get a power supply that is at least 350 watts. That way you have room for upgrades in the future, and if you are planning on overclocking this will provide you with the proper wattage to do so.
Although there are many power supply brands and different qualifications out there I would recommend you go for something that is at least 80 Plus certified that comes from a trusted brand such as EVGA, or Corsair.
This will provide you with power supply hardware that is very reliable and can save you on your energy bill as well.
However, it is pretty difficult to find an 80 Plus Certified power supply that is 300-350 watts of power. So, if you are really concerned about getting an 80 Plus Certified PSU, then getting a 500-600 watt power supply might be a good decision for you.
Spending the extra money to make sure you have a qualified power supply unit will actually save you money in the long run because it will use less electricity when plugged in and you are guaranteed that your hardware won’t be damaged as long as you take proper care of it yourself.
The reason for this is that a power supply unit that is not certified can take a significant amount of electricity out of your wall that doesn’t do anything. Not only that, but power supplies from a brand that isn’t trusted can damage other parts of your computer, or have underlying issues that you will experience sooner or later.
