Both GT 740 and GTX 1050 are old graphics card, and it may raise your concern whether it's still good or not for the gaming. Moreover both products are discontinued hence only used or refurbished products are available to get.
Nvidia GT 740
Let's start with GT 740 released precisely ten years ago, which was one of the best for entry level and was the most recommended in this class.
Back then GT 740 would go head to head with Radeon HD 7750, and basically the have similar raw power for gaming. This GT video card also has similar performance with Radeon Vega 8, the integrated GPU from AMD processor.
It could be ideal choice though, depending on the games to play. Most games from 2010s are ideal to play with GT 740 to power your computer.
The better and the cheapest graphics card option which is better than GT 740 is obviously GT 1030 and you know how awful its performance to play latest AAA games in current gen. And in fact GT 1030 (DDR5) is slightly faster than GT 740.
GTX 1050
This card could be considered one of the weakest GPU from GTX series, and must be avoided for 1080p. Moreover, Nvidia also provided the Ti variant for this GTX 1050, yet it's not good enough for 1080p either.
One of the bad this about this product is the low Vram memory, 2 GB size which is not enough for modern gaming. Its core clock and memory clock looks fast enough, as well as bandwidth, but once again, it's not fast enough for today.
When it was launched in 2016, with the price 109 dollars, it could justify its performance. Surely with the full specification it brings, many games could be played well, like Battlefield 3 or Tomb Raider that were released prior. Of course the games at the same year released with the card, could be played good enough.
Conclusion
When talking about performance, by judging the specs, GTX 1050 can defeat the GT 740 easily. But both product may not relevant to use, unless for 720p, and of course you must also avoid certain games especially latest AAA games with great visual like Alan Wake 2, or ported PS4 or PS5 games like Uncharted 4 and God of War.
That said, by excluding few games or higher resolution, GTX 1050 is still sensible option since many games that are especially released below 2020 that you can play, and you can enjoy the best settings if you are fine with 720p or 768p.
