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After a series of announcements of NVIDIA video cards of the senior and middle class, the turn has come to the budget segment. The other day the company introduced an affordable model based on the Turing architecture – the GeForce GTX 1650. It is clear from the number that this is a replacement for the GeForce GTX 1050 series, but traditionally with a higher level of performance. Let’s get acquainted with the novelty on the example of the MSI GTX 1650 Ventus XS 4G OC video card. Let’s compare it with the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and more powerful video cards from NVIDIA and AMD, check the overclocking potential.
The official announcement of the GeForce GTX 1650 turned out to be somewhat stingy with technical details. We have the full specs of the new TU117 GPU, which formed the basis of the novelty, but the block diagram of the chip is not presented. It is known that the GPU received two GPG clusters, 7 TPCs and 14 SMs. What is strange about this combination? There must be an even number of TPCs, i.e. we have a truncated processor. For the GeForce GTX 1650, 896 CUDA stream cores, 56 texture units and 32 ROP units are announced. It can be assumed that in the full version TU117 has 8 TPCs, 16 SMs and 1024 stream processors.
Even in a configuration with 896 stream processors, we have a clear advantage over the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 768 stream cores. The base frequency of the GPU is 1485 MHz with an average Boost Clock of 1665 MHz. The memory bus is 128 bits, the memory size is 4 GB. GDDR5 chips are used with an effective frequency of 8000 MHz (the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti had 7000 MHz). Thanks to the 12nm process technology, power consumption has been reduced. GeForce GTX 1650 does not require an additional power connector, and the declared TDP is limited to 75 watts.
You can compare the characteristics of the GeForce GTX 1650 and GeForce GTX 1050 Ti according to the table.
| Video adapter | GeForce GTX 1650 | GeForce GTX 1050 Ti |
|---|---|---|
| Core | TU117 | GP107 |
| Number of transistors, million pieces | 4700 | 3300 |
| Process technology, nm | 12 | 14 |
| Core area, sq. mm | n/a | 132 |
| Number of stream processors | 896 | 768 |
| Number of texture blocks | 56 | 48 |
| Number of render units | 32 | 32 |
| Core frequency, MHz | 1485–1665 | 1290–1392 |
| Memory bus, bit | 128 | 128 |
| Memory type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
| Memory frequency, MHz | 8000 | 7012 |
| Memory size, MB | 4096 | 4096 |
| Supported version of DirectX | 12 | 12 |
| Interface | PCI-E 3.0 | PCI-E 3.0 |
| Power, W | 75 | 75 |
In addition to increasing functional units and frequencies, the advantages of the GeForce GTX 1650 include the new Turing architecture with its major improvements. These are a unified cache and a large L2 volume of 1 MB, accelerated and simultaneous processing of various types of INT and Float calculations, plus Adaptive Shading technology.
NVIDIA does not provide specific data on the benefits of the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. But when comparing the GeForce GTX 1650 with the direct numbered predecessor of the GeForce GTX 1050 without the Ti index, the difference is from 30% to 70%.
The reference version is not presented, so NVIDIA partners immediately launched many models of different designs and with different cooling on the market. Most of them are typical budget-level solutions with the simplest possible cooler. But there are also more solid versions with two fans cooling.
We will get acquainted with the solution of the middle level. The MSI GTX 1650 Ventus XS 4G OC boasts a dual-fan cooler and factory overclock, but it’s not MSI’s top-of-the-line version. However, we will also get acquainted with the top ones, but in other reviews.
MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Ventus XS 4G OC
The video card comes in a small box.
In design, there is continuity with more powerful models of the Ventus line. The casing combines black and silver colors. Two fans are used.
The total length of the MSI is only 18 cm, and the board is shorter by another centimeter. There are no additional power sockets.
Even with an external examination, you can see a simple radiator and the absence of heat pipes.
Rear three connectors for image output: HDMI, DisplayPort and DVI
The video card is blown by a pair of fans with a blade diameter of 75 mm. Under them is a solid aluminum radiator.
Simple ribbed design. No copper inserts or tubes. There are slots for airflow to blow over the board. The heatsink base removes heat from the GPU and memory chips.
Having an additional VRM heatsink is a plus. Budget video cards with a similar TDP are often devoid of such an element.
The printed circuit board is simple. The power system has three phases.
Full marking of the processor TU117-300-A1. Soldered four Micron 8NB77 D9VVR memory chips.
The prefix OC in the name of the video adapter hints at factory overclocking. With the standard base value of 1485 MHz, the Boost Clock is increased to 1740 MHz. The memory operates at the standard data rate, which is equivalent to an effective value of 8 GHz.
Testing was carried out on an open stand at a temperature of 22 °C in the room. Under such conditions, the GPU only warmed up to 52 °C. Boost frequencies varied over a wide range. The most serious drawdowns were in the Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition benchmark, where the main operating range was 1875-1905 MHz. The frequencies in The Division 2 benchmark were at the same level. In some games, the frequencies did not fall below 1900 MHz. The peak level of Boost reached 1995 MHz.
This behavior of Boost is very reminiscent of the budget versions of the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and GeForce GTX 1050, where everything depends on severe power limits. There is a similar situation here, and even the corresponding limit is blocked for increase, which will limit the potential during overclocking.
The fans worked at 39-40% of the maximum, the specific speed is not clear due to the lack of a tachometer. But the noise is low, everything is within a comfortable framework. But with an increase in speed at least up to 50%, the noise is already very serious. However, even when overclocked, we did not have to additionally speed up the fans.
As for the overclocking itself, after a series of tests, we settled on a base value of 1600 MHz with a peak Boost of up to 2100 MHz. The memory was able to work at 9542 MHz – an excellent result for GDDR5.
The spread of Boost frequencies during overclocking turned out to be quite high. In the heaviest games (Final Fantasy XV) there were drawdowns up to 1920-1935 MHz. In rare applications, frequencies were closer to 2000-2025 MHz.
When the fans were fixed at 40%, the heating remained at the same level. Inside a cramped case, the video card will be hotter, but even if it comes out 10 degrees higher, this is still very little.
For our first test of the GeForce GTX 1650, we are interested in finding out what the performance level of the simplest and cheapest models in this series is. To do this, MSI reduced the base frequency by 80 MHz. In heavy applications, this lowered the minimum Boost bar to 1800-1815 MHz.
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