Understanding Video Card Performance in Newer Vs Older Video Cards

[mrg_50_68]

I am now on my 3rd video card.   I have not been doing a lot of homework on them, but have primarily been going on word of mouth.

I am on my 2nd GTX 1050 - the first one was a knock-off that did not have modern architecture.    The newer one, is an OC edition, but only features 3GB of total memory.    It is a 96-bit card.     The performance seems ok, but in tests like passmark, it did not perform as well as I hoped.   Part of the reason may be that this particular GTX 1050 does not have a direct power plug-in requirement (other than the slot itself), so it must have made some compromises due to lower power requirements.

I have heard a lot of good things about the FirePro S9000 6GB card, which is 384-bit.    I know the card is readily available and does require an 8-pin connection - which you see on many newer cards.    But of course, the technology side of me says this is an older card, but at the time was one of the best available, as well as being rather expensive.  Would it perform better than my current OC GTX 1050?   I really don't know.

I don't want to get a card that has a power requirement for 2 8-pin connectors, because my current power supply might not be able to handle the power draw for 2 of them, as I only have 1 6-pin connector currently (8-pin adapter is on its way).    I have not purchased the S9000, but am giving it strong consideration.

I know a lot of people swear by the GTX 1050, but in my machine it only performs about average.

I know there is a lot of discussion on this board about video cards pros/cons of specific models, but I am looking for more general advice about what factors i should be looking for in shooting for decent, better than average performance.    I only know more about the trouble-shooting side of video cards, less so about the specs.

Any advice would be appreciated.    

PS I am not a "heavy" gamer, but do look for rock-solid performance in any computer that i use.