Best Single Slot GPUs That Take Less Space [2022]

Graphics cards are very important for various types of work nowadays, especially for gaming. Most high-range and middle-range graphics card usually have a dual-slot design. Though everything comes with some Pros and Cons,  these dual-slot graphics card occupy two slots on your motherboard and computer case. It usually happens because those graphics card are more powerful and generate more heat. So, obviously, they need bigger heat sinks to cool down their temperature and keep the GPU in work with efficiency.

The dual-slot graphics card occupy two or more slots on your motherboard. If you have a small motherboard, such as microATX, you will have to face problems with a dual-slot graphics card as it will prevent you from fitting the expansion card in the adjacent and vacant PCI-E slot, your graphics card would already take that place. Even if you have a powerful motherboard, dual-slot cards can prevent you from doing many other things.

Previously, every powerful graphics card had a double slot. Only a few entry-level graphics card had single slots, which were not efficient or good enough for gaming or other works. But, as technology has become more advanced these days, you can also find some single-shot graphics card that are also powerful enough to do your work or provide you with a good gaming experience. If you are looking for a powerful single-shot graphics card that you can use on your system, you can continue going through this article to know more about that.

What are the advantages of a single shot graphics card?

Single short graphics card come with some really impressive benefits, such as:

• It takes only one slot in your computer case
• It can help to keep your PC case well ventilated
• Compared to two dual-slot graphics card, single-slot graphics card consume less power.

What do you need to get a single graphics card?

There are a few points that you should know before going for a single slot classic card.

Though a single slot graphics card has a slim heat sink and only one fan, it has limited cooling capability. So, there is a chance that your graphics card can get overheated, especially if you try to overclock it.

You need to have good airflow and good ventilation in your PC case for better cooling. You can also have additional cooling fans for your PC case to avoid thermal throttle.

Things to consider while choosing a GPU for your system:

Before you go through the list of the best single slot GPUs, here are some points that you should go through. Here are few things to consider before choosing a perfect GPU for your system.

Compatibility

Before choosing a graphics card for your computer, you have to do your homework and know about the compatibility. First, check the physical space you have on your system to input a graphics card and also take care of the power supply. Know how many amps can it supply on the 12v rails? Also, how many watts, and how many six- and eight-pin PCIe connectors does it have?

After getting all the answers, compare them to the graphics card you want to buy. If the graphics card requires more power than what you have, you need to have a power upgrade. Also, you have to check whether the monitor has a display port, HDMI port, or DVI port. Now, go through the information of the graphics card and cross-check each and everything. You may have to buy an extension port if your graphics card has a different port from your computer.

Know about your system well

You have to know the limitations of your system. For instance, if you have an older dual-core CPU, it will not allow you to use high-end graphics card. So, if you know your system’s limitations, you can save money.

This applies to single slot graphics cards as they also have many variations nowadays. You have to check whether your computer system limitations can interrupt working with the graphics card.

Memory and Bandwidth

Not all high-end graphics card have a high memory by default. You have to understand your preferences, such as which kind of game you are going to play on that graphics card or for which work you are having that. Understand how much memory space you need for that. The gaming data ready to be processed by the graphics card is usually stored on the card’s dedicated memory GDDR3, GDDR5, or (more recently) GDDR6. While choosing your memory card, be careful about bandwidth.

CUDA Cores (Nvidia) or Stream Processors (AMD)

You have to pay attention to CUDA Cores ( Nvidia) and Stream Processors ( AMD).

The number of CUDA cores or Stream Processors on your graphics card simultaneously increases with the quality of visuals. It is a very important component for a good gaming experience. If you want to enjoy every intense detail of the game you love to play, you have to take care of this.

TDP Values

Like any other device, GPU also produces heat for their work. Single-slot graphics card don’t have a good cooling system by default as they have a slimmer heat sink and only one cooler to balance the temperature. But, even after this, you have to choose the single slot GPUs with a comparatively low TDP value.

The best single shot GPUs that occupy less memory:

There are many single slot graphics card nowadays that can offer a good performance and gaming experience.

Let’s have a look at some of them.

Our Recommendations of The Best Single Slot GPUs That Take Less Space [2022]:

1. EVGA GeForce GT 730 4GB DDR3

Specifications

• Memory – 4 GB DDR3
• Cuda cores – 96

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Brief review

It can be your option if you are looking for a single slot graphics card that can deliver a seamless and efficient performance for a good gaming experience on a budget. Though EVGA also has other GT 730 models in GDDR5 & DDR3, it is the only one that has a single slot. Though you can play older games on medium settings and some modern games on low settings, it does not mean that you can play extreme games on it. It is a powerful GPU that can be used for soft gaming experiences and other lightweight work. If you are searching for the ultimate gaming experience, it is not what you are looking for. If you want to watch HD movies, do video editing, photo editing or run basic to medium graphics software on your system without occupying two slots of your motherboard, it can be a perfect choice for you. This low-power card includes dual DVI and an HDMI port for connectivity. This is a very affordable option that can easily fit your budget.

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2. EVGA GeForce GT 740 4GB DDR3 Superclocked

Specifications

• Memory – 4 GB DDR3
• Cuda cores – 387

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Brief review

Comparing EVGA GeForce GT 730 4GB DDR3 with EVGA GeForce GT 740 4GB DD3 Superclocked, it is more powerful than the previous one. Though they have many similarities with each other, some specifications make this graphics card more powerful and efficient for several works. EVGA GeForce GT 740 SC Single Slot Graphics Card comes with 384 CUDA Cores. Now you can understand how better of a visual quality it can offer the user. Though it comes with a comparatively bigger heat tank, the cooling fan is a bit smaller. Though it is an efficient single slot graphics card, it does not mean that you can play modern high-performance games with an amazing experience on this graphics card. You can use a decent amount of gaming on this graphics card, especially when playing older games in a high setting. This is efficient enough to play games such as CSGO on max settings and some of the modern games at low or medium settings with a quite good resolution. But, if you are in professional gaming and earn from that, it is not an option for you. The card has two DVI ports and one mini-HDMI port for connectivity. One best part is that this graphics card does not require external connectors. This is an affordable card that can easily fit in your budget.

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3. EVGA GeForce GT 1030 SC Single Slot

• Memory – 2 GB GDDR5
• Cuda Core – 384

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Brief review

EVGA GeForce GT 1030 is an entry-level graphics card of the GeForce 10 series. It is an efficient graphics card for doing lightweight jobs or playing lightweight games with a pretty good experience. This card is built on the Pascal GPU architecture and also has 384 CUDA Cores for better visual quality. EVGA GeForce GT 1030 SC single slot is the single slot version of EVGA GeForce GT 1030. It can deliver you an efficient experience of eSports gaming and various other older and less demanding games, along with good graphic settings at 900p or 1080p. Though it is not a perfect graphics card for high-powered and modern games with high resolutions, it can support various others. If you want to play modern games using your graphics card, you would be happy to know that it also supports some modern games at low-medium graphics settings at 720p or 900p resolutions. Compared to a stock GT 1030, it can provide you with a better experience. The best part of using this graphics card is that it is a low power consuming ( 30 Watts) and does not require any extra power connector. This card has two single-link DVI-D ports for connectivity purposes. If you compare this card with an integrated graphics solution such as Intel core i5, EVGA GeForce GT 1030 is 2 times faster than it. Depending on the price of this graphics card, we can say that it can be a good option if you are willing to purchase one for light gaming purposes and other lightweight works.

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4. XFX RADEON RX 460 4GB GDDR5 SLIM

  Specifications

• Stream processor – 896
• Memory – 4 GB DDR5

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Brief review

If you want a single slot gaming card, especially for gaming purposes, this is the best option that you can purchase for your PC as it not only provides you with an efficient experience of gaming but also can fit in your budget easily. It is a high power single slot GPU that comes with 896 Stream Processors and 4GB GDDR5 Video memory. So, you can understand how much better it is compared to other singles slots graphics cards. AMD’s latest Polaris GPU architecture is used in this GPU which is very proficient and fast to deliver quite good outcomes. GeForce GTX 750 is a very good mid-range graphics card by NVidia, but if you compare that with XFX RADEON RX 460, you will find out that this one is faster than the one offered by NVidia. The gaming performance of this graphics card can easily match the performance of GeForce GTX 1050.

When it comes to RX 460, it is the only design that comes with a single slot as all of the others have double slot settings. Using this graphics card, you can play modern games at medium settings at 1080p with good frame rates. It also has some amazing and unique features, including DirectX 12, Vulkan, FreeSync, CrossFire, AMD LiquidVR technology, and VSR. It is an amazing graphics card and a perfect solution if you want a GPU for an efficient gaming experience without occupying two of your slots on your motherboard. Also, you do not need any PCI-E power connector to use that. You just need to have a 400 WATT power supply to work with this amazing GPU. We’re not finished yet. This single-slot beast also comes with several connectivity options such as DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. It is a budget-friendly and versatile GPU that you can purchase for your computer.

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5. XFX Radeon RX 550 4GB Slim Single Slot

Specifications

• Memory – 4 GB DDR5
• Stream processor – 512

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Brief review

It is a single slot graphics card of the Radeon RX 500 card graphics series. It is an affordable graphics card that can fit your budget and provide you with an efficient experience. If you wish to play eSports and older games on your budget PC, it can be the perfect choice for you. This graphics card is pretty good for older games and lightweight works. Though you can’t play modern high-resolution games by using this graphics card, there are many more things that you can do by using this, such as video editing, watching HD quality movies Etc. This single-slot graphics card supports all the latest graphic APIs, including DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5, Vulkan, etc. This single-slot graphics card has 4GB GDDR5 memory along with a 128-bit interface. When it comes to architecture, this one is based on the Polaris GPU architecture, which is one of the finest when it comes to GPU technology.

On the other hand, it comes with DVI, HDMI, and DP ports so that you don’t have any difficulties while finding the perfect port for your computer. If you are a casual gamer and more into video editing and other graphic-related works and want to purchase a GPU that wouldn’t occupy two slots on your motherboard, you can go for this one. To access this card, you won’t need an additional PSU connector as it requires very less power ( TDP 50 WT) to work so that you can do your work without any obstacles. It has several display connectivity options, including DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort.

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6. GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 KATANA

Specification

• Memory – 8 GB DDR5
• Cuda Cores – 1920

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Brief review

Are you looking for a single slot graphics card for a high-end gaming experience and professional graphic-related works? It may sound impossible, but the GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 is a graphics card like that. You can use this amazing graphics card for professional graphic-related works, and also it can provide you with an amazing high-end gaming experience. This amazing single slot beast is based on the Pascal GPU architecture, one of the most powerful architectures in GPU technology. This GPU comes with 1920 CUDA Cores and 8GB GDDR5 memory, along with a 256-bit memory interface. Even though it is bit costly than previously mentioned graphics cards, it is worth it. With most single slot graphics cards, you can play only older games or very few modern games, but with this one, you can play the latest games at very high/ultra graphics settings at 1440p resolution with 60+ FPS.

Where the heat sink is a problem with single slot graphics cards, it comes with an all copper heatsink, which helps to dissipate heat more quickly. Not only that, but the brackets also come with special holes that help to remove the generated heat to cool down the card. This copper cooling and advanced air chamber made sure to balance the heat of your card. The fan of this graphics card is also something different as it is something like a blower that blows air sideways on the heatsink. An interesting fact about this card is that it supports SLI technology which means you can use two of these cards for a multi-GPU setup on your computer and enhance your gaming performance. In this VR-ready card, you can seamlessly run Virtual Reality applications and games. As the maximum power consumption of this card is 150W, it requires an 8-pin PCI-E power connector. An efficient 500W PSU is needed to run it on your system. It has several connectivity options, including DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort.

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7. INNO3D GeForce GTX 1650 SINGLE SLOT

 Specifications

• Memory – 4 GB DDR5
• Cuda cores – 896

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Brief review

If you are looking for a powerful single-slot graphics card for gaming on your PC, this can be an option for you. Based on the Turing GPU architecture, it is the single slot version of INNO3D GE-Force GTX 1650. With 896 CUDA Cores and 4GB GDDR5 memory, this can be a perfect fit for your PC and provide you with an amazing gaming experience, no matter whether you are willing to play older games or the latest games. Compared to the GeForce GTX 1050, this graphics card is more or less 30% faster. This amazing single slot graphics card lets you play all of the latest AAA games on medium to high graphics settings. You can play your favorite games at 1080p with decent frame rates. For cooling, a metal shroud with a single fan (located at the end) is used that helps the graphics card to get cooled efficiently. As it does not require a huge amount of power, it can seamlessly draw it’s power from a PCIe x16 slot, and there is no requirement of PCIe connectors from PSU. You only need to have a power supply of 300 WT to work with this graphics card. It includes two DisplayPort and one HDMI port for displaying connectivity options.

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8. Inno3D GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (1-Slot Edition)

Specifications

• Memory – 4 GB DDR5
• Cuda Cores – 768

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Brief review

The single-slot version of GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the powerful mid-range graphics card based on the Pascal GPU architecture. If you are looking for a graphics card that can provide you with an efficient and quite impressive gaming experience along with good efficiency in other graphic-related works and video editing without occupying two slots on your motherboard, you can go for it. It is an affordable graphics card that can easily fulfill your requirements and fit your budget. When it comes to performance, GeForce GTX 1050 is quite similar to Radeon RX 560. The GPU and Memory frequencies of this single slot graphics card are the same as GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. For using this graphics card on your computer, you don’t need to use external power from the PSU. To use this on your computer and have a decent gaming experience, you just need to have a decent 400 power supply. This graphics card also comes with some exciting and amazing features such as Nvidia G-Sync,  Nvidia Ansel, Vulkan API support, and Nvidia GPU Boost. It also has various options such as DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort when it comes to display connectivity.

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Summary for The Best Single Slot GPUs That Take Less Space [2022]:

Conclusion

Single-slot graphics cards have their own pros and cons. Thanks to the amazing advancement of technology, we can have single slot versions of many mid-range graphics cards that can deliver amazing gaming performance and other graphic-related works. There are different options available to select from. If you are keen to buy the best single slot GPUs and have a pretty good budget, you can go for GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 KATANA. But if you are looking for a single slot graphics card for lightweight works and playing older games just out of a hobby or avoiding procrastination, you can go for EVGA GeForce GT 730 4GB DDR3. It all depends on preferences and compatibility. Before buying a GPU, you have to be sure about your preferences and cross-check that graphics card’s compatibility with your computer system so that you can choose the right one at once and avoid wasting your hard earned money.

Frequently asked questions 

Which is better, GTX or RTX?

If you ever used an older NVidia graphics card, you would know that they did not have the extra AI and ray-tracing silicon, such as the RTX level cards. The older GTX prefix nowadays is used to denote those older NVidia cards. On the other hand, Nvidia has introduced this with their RTX 20 series released 3 years ago when it comes to RTX prefix. This prefix includes both Tensor Cores and RT Cores. Both are equally necessary for real-time ray tracing and deep learning supersampling. So, in that case, we can say that RTX is better than GTX as it can provide users with a better and more advanced experience.

Which graphics card is better, AMD or Nvidia?

When people first started to use graphics cards, from that period, it was a question that is passed through generation to generation among game lovers. As a whole, when comparing these two graphics cards, we can say that Nvidia graphics cards are most preferable when you are willing to play games with high resolution, especially at 1440p or above. On the other hand, AMD cards only have a few differences from the cards offered by NVidia, and at the same time, AMD graphics cards are more affordable.

On the other hand, AMD has Fidelity FX Super Resolution, like DLSS. But without the AI smart or inbuilt anti-aliasing, the result is not even close to DLSS. There is another point that can be mentioned here that is, FSR works on GeForce GPUs as well but, DLSS works on Nvidia only. So, we can say that both of them are good. If you want the best ever performance, you can go for NVidia, and if you want just a little bit less than the absolute best at an affordable price, you can go for AMD.

G-Sync or FreeSync, which is better?

It is better if you have a monitor that supports either G-Sync or FreeSync as it will help you synchronize the display with the GPU and eventually reduce the screen tear and input lag.

Talking about comparison, FreeSync is a technology of AMD, whereas G-Sync is a Nvidia tech. We can say it is smarter to go for FreeSync as it is not only affordable, but the FreeSync monitors are also compatible with G-Sync. If you get a monitor that supports G-Sync, you can never switch to Free-Sync. But, if you go for the monitor that supports Free-Sync, that means in future you can go for AMD or Nvidia cards according to your preferences.

What is GPU Shortage and when will it end ?

There is a shortage of graphics cards in the market that has affected people worldwide since 2020. As in the pandemic era, people had to work from their homes, which eventually increased the demand for graphics cards suddenly in the market. Because of this abrupt increase in demands, the markets couldn’t be able to fulfill that. This situation is not over yet, and it is still difficult to get a graphics card as the shortage is still continuing.

Can I play high-end games with a single slot GPU?

Yes. You can play a high-end game by using a single slot GPU as there are some single slot versions of amazing mid-range graphics cards that allow users to play the latest and high-end games on a single slot graphics card. For instance, the GALAX GeForce GTX 1070 KATANA is a graphics card that you can use to play the latest games. Though options are available, it is advised to use dual-slot graphics cards if you are a professional player and play for continuous long hours.

Why choose a single slot graphics card?

Where a dual-slot graphics card occupies two slots on the motherboard of your computer case, a single slot graphics card only occupies one so that you can use the other slot for another purpose. It also consumes low energy compared to a dual-slot GPU.

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