***Official Reviews Thread: Nvidia GTX650Ti***

[Termie]

Anandtech (Gigabyte, Zotac, EVGA): http://www.anandtech.com/show/6359/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-review
Tom's (Zotac, Gigabyte): http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-650-ti-benchmark-gk106,3318.html
TechSpot (Gigabyte): http://www.techspot.com/review/583-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti/
TechReport (Zotac): http://techreport.com/review/23690/review-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-graphics-card
HardwareCanucks (EVGA): http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...149-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-1gb-review.html
ComputerBase in German (Asus, Zotac): http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti/
Guru3d (reference): http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_650_ti_review_reference,1.html
Guru3d (MSI): http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_650_ti_power_edition_review,1.html
BitTech (EVGA, Zotac): http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2012/10/09/nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-review/1
TechPowerUp (MSI): http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_650_Ti_Power_Edition/
TechPowerUp (Asus): http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_650_Ti_Direct_Cu_II/
TechPowerUp (Zotac): http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_650_Ti_Amp_Edition/

Retail availability at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...GTX%20650%20Ti

 

[Borealis7]

it about equals my OCed 5850, so even at it's low price it's no good to me. bring on da 8XXXs plz.

 

[exar333]

To sum-up:

Not a bad card, but would be better for about $20 less. If you really like the AC series, then getting AC3 free would make this a very good buy.

7770<650Ti<7850

Unless you absolutely cannot spend more than $150, the 7850 will OC better and perform better out of the box. Also, the 7850 will be able to handle better IQ without taking the same type of performance hit the 650Ti will.

 

[RussianSensation]

Computerbase
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti/

This card should have been priced at $129. HD7850 is 30-34% faster and with overclocking comes in at 7870 speeds which is 50-60% faster than a GTX650Ti. AC3 is not enough by itself to compensate for such huge performance deficiency. Also, at higher AA modes, the 650Ti performs even worse signalling that it will be very poor moving forward for next generation titles against the 7850.

 

[wand3r3r]

Computerbase
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti/

Those charts are awesome where you can just hover over a card and it shows the other cards performance.

On topic, the price sucks. On the egg the 7850 can be had for $5 more AR or $10 more without a rebate. ($155 vs. $160/$165)

 

[Meekers]

Interesting, looks like most reviews ignored AMD price cuts.

Techreport used a MSRP of $140 for the 7700 which has not been true since early July.
Tomshardware used a MSRP of $180 for the 7850 1GB which as far as I can tell it never had that price.
HardwareCanucks also used the mysterious $180 MSRP.

 

[notty22]

7850 1gb @newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...+1GB&amp;x=18&amp;y=12
high to low

189.00 no free shippping
180.00 another 10rebate free shipping
180.00 another 20 off rebate free shipping
175.00 free shipping
165.00 free shipping

180.00 MSRP is not a mystery.

 

[tviceman]

As is, it should be $10-15 cheaper. But as a product, disregarding price for a moment, power draw and perf/watt is really, really excellent. Nvidia may not be hitting homeruns with introductory prices since GK104's initial two products, but the perf/watt improvement over Fermi has been absolutely tremendous. Prices will come down when supply outstrips demand.

 

[RussianSensation]

TechReport's review conclusion is shockingly bad this time. 7850 won every benchmark than GTX650Ti in their testing and by a lot sometimes and they still couldn't find a way to recommend it. They talked about choppiness with 1GB for Skyrim with high resolution textures which is expected from a 1GB card but ignored massive deficiencies of GTX650Ti in other games?

Here are more reviews:

Guru3D Review , Bit-Tech.net

As is, it should be $10-15 cheaper. But as a product, disregarding price for a moment, power draw and perf/watt is really, really excellent. Nvidia may not be hitting homeruns with introductory prices since GK104's initial two products, but the perf/watt improvement over Fermi has been absolutely tremendous. Prices will come down when supply outstrips demand.

Ya, but HD7850 is 30-32% faster and uses 30W more power. At the end of the day we buy graphics cards to play games. Wii U uses 75W power brick. At some point the power consumption argument doesn't work anymore because you are talking about 25-30W of power difference but you give up 30%+ performance.

If a person cares about 143 vs. 170W of power enough to give up 30% GPU performance, why are they gaming on a desktop PC? They should get a laptop or a console. I think this whole craze for every extra 20-30W of power consumption differences is going overboard. For example, GTX670 legitimately uses less power consumption than a HD7970. When a card very close in performance and uses less power, the argument makes sense. GTX650Ti's lower power consumption advantage is not some magic sauce but because it's so much slower than the 7850. Think about it, HD7850 overclocks to 7870/GTX660 speeds. That's incredible value for the $. GTX650Ti offers good performance/watt only because it's in an entirely different class when it comes to stock performance. It's much closer to 7770 than it is to 7850.

 

[Meekers]

7850 1gb @newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...+1GB&amp;x=18&amp;y=12
high to low

189.00 no free shippping
180.00 another 10rebate free shipping
180.00 another 20 off rebate free shipping
175.00 free shipping
165.00 free shipping

180.00 MSRP is not a mystery.

The MSRP was $199 and is now $169. Cards are in the process of dropping down to their new levels. The HIS model is already available at $165 with free shipping and does not require a rebate. With rebates there is a $160 card with free shipping.

The 650ti has a MSRP of $150 but the cheapest cards is $155 and most are even more expensive. Yet they still used $150 as the price for value comparisons.

 

[RussianSensation]

I can't see how anyone is defending this card's price. The performance for $150 is really, really bad. I mean in some games the minimum framerates of HD7850 are nearly as high as average for 650Ti.

For example, Crysis 2, Skyrim and Witcher 2 are horrendous on the 650Ti.

At some point you have to ask yourself why you are gaming on a PC and not a console? GTX650Ti is too expensive for this level of performance at $150 when the $180 7850 2GB card offers such gargantuan performance increases in so many games.

 

[96Firebird]

At some point you have to ask yourself why you are gaming on a PC and not a console?

A lot of game types are better played with a keyboard and mouse...

 

[tviceman]

Ya, but HD7850 is 30-32% faster and uses 30W more power. At the end of the day we buy graphics cards to play games. Wii U uses 75W power brick. At some point the power consumption argument doesn't work anymore because you are talking about 25-30W of power difference but you give up 30%+ performance.

If a person cares about 143 vs. 170W of power enough to give up 30% GPU performance, why are they gaming on a desktop PC? They should get a laptop or a console. I think this whole craze for every extra 20-30W of power consumption differences is going overboard. For example, GTX670 legitimately uses less power consumption than a HD7970. When a card very close in performance and uses less power, the argument makes sense. GTX650Ti's lower power consumption advantage is not some magic sauce but because it's so much slower than the 7850. Think about it, HD7850 overclocks to 7870/GTX660 speeds. That's incredible value for the $. GTX650Ti offers good performance/watt only because it's in an entirely different class when it comes to stock performance. It's much closer to 7770 than it is to 7850.

Russian who are you arguing with? Me? Because I said the card needs to be cheaper. I was comparing Kepler to Fermi with power consumption. I did not recommend anyone buy the card. I made a comparison, that is all. And you came out with 5 different tangents. Seriously. Quit preaching. I can't make a general, observational statement without you or someone else coming in and smothering it as if I was parading an agenda.

If it's not meant at me, then do not quote and reply to me.

 

[tviceman]

And while you're at it and cherry picking power draw situations, Anandtech's power draw shows a larger gap than what techreport shows, and techpowerup shows the gtx650ti being the more efficient card than both the hd7770 and hd7850. But again, you brought it all up responding to my Kepler vs. Fermi power draw comparison, along with the fact that I said the gtx650ti NEEDS TO BE CHEAPER.

Me: Hey guys, lets compare Fermi nuances to Kepler.

You: HD7850 OVERCLOCKING POWER DRAW PRICES RELEASE DATES GAME BUNDLES HD7770 AMD NVIDIA INTEL VOLTAGE CONTROL COMPUTE BITCOIN EVERYTHING ELSE.

Sigh. I digress.

 

[blastingcap]

Would make a good low-wattage physX card

 

[exar333]

Computerbase
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti/

This card should have been priced at $129. HD7850 is 30-34% faster and with overclocking comes in at 7870 speeds which is 50-60% faster than a GTX650Ti. AC3 is not enough by itself to compensate for such huge performance deficiency. Also, at higher AA modes, the 650Ti performs even worse signalling that it will be very poor moving forward for next generation titles against the 7850.

Why not? It's a $40-50 game. If $129 is 'reasonable' then getting this for $150 including a $40-50 game is a great deal. If you don't plan to get AC3, then this isn't a good buy. The game bundle is a very good deal for those who need a $150 card and the game. Too bad you can't SLI these guys...

 

[RussianSensation]

The problem is after you beat the AC game, you still end up with a card that's in another league against the 7850 in performance. No one buys a GPU for just 1 game. Right now the cheapest 2GB GTX650Ti on Newegg is $170.

Is Assassin's Creed 3 worth giving up 30-34% performance and 7850's overclocking headroom for another $20? I think AT's review summed it nicely when Ryan said that sometimes in the sub-$200 space, a little bit extra goes a long way and in this instance it does.

But again, you brought it all up responding to my Kepler vs. Fermi power draw comparison, along with the fact that I said the gtx650ti NEEDS TO BE CHEAPER.

If your comment was only in relation to Fermi vs. Kepler, then I apologize. Not sure how it's a surprise to you though that a 28nm GPU that's slower than a 40nm GTX560Ti would use substantially less power. Also, not sure what you are referring to as 650ti used about 27W less power than 7850 did at TPU which is right in line with the 143 vs. 170/171 graph I linked. The average power consumption is even less at 23W difference.

Fermi was a power hungry generation in general and it was a combination of large die, hot clocks for shaders, wider memory buses and 40nm node. It wasn't hard to improve on that.

HD7850 uses 114W less at peak than GTX570 did and 570 is 12% faster at 1080P than 7850 is (139% vs. 124%).
GTX650Ti uses 90W less at peak than GTX560Ti did and 560Ti is 13% faster at 1080P than 650Ti TOP is. (113% vs. 100%).

In reality GTX650Ti didn't improve as much as 7850 did over Fermi, despite GTX650Ti having higher performance/watt over 7850. This is why I am wondering why you brought up Fermi vs. Kepler but didn't talk about GCN vs. Fermi in the same thread that compares 7850 vs. 650Ti? I think I just put it into perspective.

I expect this card will drop close to $120-130 like GTS450/550Ti did, and then closer to $100-110 by the time HD8000/GTX700 series launch.

 

[Silverforce11]

We certainly cant recommend it in light of the competition.. but it will still sell great because its an NV product. Inferior products for higher prices, the way its meant to be!

 

[SirPauly]

If the market doesn't like the price, there may be price adjustments! There really are never bad products but questionable price-points. Have no clue how the market will accept this sku with AC 3.

 

[Maximilian]

it about equals my OCed 5850, so even at it's low price it's no good to me. bring on da 8XXXs plz.

Long live the 5850!

Mines at 850/1175 and i plan to hang on to it for a while yet

 

[AnonymouseUser]

We certainly cant recommend it in light of the competition.. but it will still sell great because its an NV product. Inferior products for higher prices, the way its meant to be!

One thing I've taken from these reviews is just how ridiculously overpriced the 560 TI is as it's 20% slower than the HD 7850. The 560 TI should be a $149 card, 650 TI a $129 card, and the 550 TI should be discontinued entirely. AMD is definitely the best bang for the buck these days.

 

[AnandThenMan]

This will become the best selling Kepler card. Most Nvidia users don't care about performance they care about the name.

 

[blastingcap]

We certainly cant recommend it in light of the competition.. but it will still sell great because its an NV product. Inferior products for higher prices, the way its meant to be!

This will become the best selling Kepler card. Most Nvidia users don't care about performance they care about the name.

Think of it as karmic punishment for releasing iffy drivers for so many years that they got a bad reputation. In recent years AMD drivers for single-GPU have improved, but AMD is still living down its bad rep.

Moral of the story: never skimp on today's quality for the sake of today's profits. Your reputation is worth a LOT, and if you develop a good or bad rep, it will reward or haunt you for years to come.

 

[AnandThenMan]

Moral of the story: never skimp on today's quality for the sake of today's profits. Your reputation is worth a LOT, and if you develop a good or bad rep, it will reward or haunt you for years to come.

Bumpgate, burnt cards from bad drivers, loud and incredibly hot/power hungy products, perpetually late to market, inflated pricing. None of those things matter to many, they still buy Nvidia exclusively.

 

[96Firebird]

Another Nvidia review thread ruined by AMD fanboys. No wonder people avoid this place...