PRODUCT INFO
MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X / Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming OC
April 2019
Type Graphics Card
Price $149.99 US / $154.99 US
NVIDIA introduced their Turing GPU architecture last year, making a complete departure from traditional GPU designs and creating a hybrid architecture that would include a range of new technologies to power the next-generation immersive gaming experiences.
While initially announced with Quadro lineup under the new Quadro RTX brand, we all knew that the Turing architecture was coming to the GeForce lineup. It arrived in the GeForce lineup a few months later under the new GeForce RTX branding. NVIDIA’s first big naming departure for two decades of GeForce GTX.
The GeForce RTX 20 series was the enablement of real-time raytracing which is the holy grail of graphics and something NVIDIA spent 10 years to perfect. In addition to raytracing, NVIDIA also aims to place bets on AI which will play a key role in powering features such as DLSS or Deep Learning Super Sampling, a unique way of offering the same quality as the more taxing MSAA AA techniques at twice the performance.
NVIDIA has announced for cards under the GeForce RTX 20 series family, the flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, the Enthusiast GeForce RTX 2080, the high-performance GeForce RTX 2070 and the main-stream GeForce RTX 2060. Now, NVIDIA is looking to offer Turing for more reasonable prices and as such, going back to the good old GeForce GTX branding and for good reasons. While GeForce RTX and GeForce GTX will exist alongside each other in this generation, the GeForce GTX lineup as the name suggests would be aiming for raw performance over the graphics intensive RTX features which only the RTX cards support.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 – The Pricing and Where It Stands In The Turing Family
We have already tested the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and GeForce GTX 1660 earlier. Today, we will be taking a look at the newly launched GeForce GTX 1650 which was introduced yesterday. The card has a price point of $149 US, making it the cheapest entry into the Turing based family. While the card is said to offer competitive performance, NVIDIA didn’t provide drivers to the press until the launch which is why the majority still haven’t posted their reviews even though we had the cards in our hands for some time now.
The GeForce GTX 1650 goes up against the Radeon RX 570 4 GB which is up for sale at under $149 US on various retail outlets. The GTX 1650’s strong points can be its Turing architecture which has been tuned for power efficiency but that is something we have to conform ourselves in this review.
When it comes to pricing, the GeForce RTX 20 series are some of the most costly cards NVIDIA has offered to consumers. The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and GeForce GTX 1660, on the other hand, try to keep budget and more mainstream audiences in mind by offering a price closer to the GeForce GTX 1060 which became a popular gaming card on Steam due to its $249 price point. Following is the current per segment price structure of the entire NVIDIA Turing lineup compared to its predecessors.
NVIDIA GeForce GPU Segment/Tier Prices
| Graphics Segment | 2014-2015 | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titan Tier | Titan X (Maxwell) | Titan X (Pascal) | Titan Xp (Pascal) | Titan V (Volta) | Titan RTX (Turing) |
| Price | $999 US | $1199 US | $1199 US | $2999 US | $2499 US |
| Ultra Enthusiast Tier | GeForce GTX 980 Ti | GeForce GTX 980 Ti | GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | GeForce RTX 2080 Ti |
| Price | $649 US | $649 US | $699 US | $999 US | $999 US |
| Enthusiast Tier | GeForce GTX 980 | GeForce GTX 1080 | GeForce GTX 1080 | GeForce RTX 2080 | GeForce RTX 2080 |
| Price | $549 US | $549 US | $549 US | $699 US | $699 US |
| High-End Tier | GeForce GTX 970 | GeForce GTX 1070 | GeForce GTX 1070 | GeForce RTX 2070 | GeForce RTX 2070 |
| Price | $329 US | $379 US | $379 US | $499 US | $499 US |
| Mainstream Tier | GeForce GTX 960 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce RTX 2060 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GeForce GTX 1660 |
| Price | $199 US | $249 US | $249 US | $249 US | $349 US $279 US $219 US |
| Entry Tier | GTX 750 Ti GTX 750 |
GTX 950 | GTX 1050 Ti GTX 1050 |
GTX 1050 Ti GTX 1050 |
GTX 1650 |
| Price | $149 US $119 US |
$149 US | $139 US $109 US |
$139 US $109 US |
$149 US |
For this review, I will be taking a look at two custom models, the GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X from MSI and the GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming OC from Gigabyte. Both cards are based on a complete custom design and feature high-end cooling system to keep the GPU running cool. In terms of the price model, both cards are said to feature a price close to $149 US.
With just a few bucks of asking price over the reference models, the custom variants offer a range of features such as triple fan coolers, bulky heatsinks, and custom PCBs allowing for better heat dissipation, higher air flow and more overclocking performance and clock stability at their respective boost clocks which will be higher compared to the reference variants. The main barrier with overclocking on Turing GPUs is by far the power limit and those that offer the highest power limits out of the box are generally the ones with the best overclocking potential and performance output.
In case you want to read our full NVIDIA Turing GPU architecture and RTX/DLSS features deep dive, head over to this link.