Computer Shopper - UK (2020-01)

GRAPHICSCARDS

ISSUE383|COMPUTER SHO |J 75

GRAPHICSCARDS

IT’SBEENALMOSTayear since Nvidia firssst
announced its GeForce RTX20-series cards,,,
but we finally have areplacement forthe
entry-level GTX 1050 as well. The GTX 1650 is
aworld away from the monster frame ratesss
and real-time ray-tracing of itsRTX cousins,,,
joining the GTX 1660 Ti (overleaf) and GTX
1660 in the more affordable 16-series, but
it’s still an interesting position, especially
when it’s in the tiny form factor of this
Zotac GeForce GTX 1650 OC model.
The GPU within is the cheapest of Nvidiaaa’s
current crop,and without aGTX 1650 Ti to
competewith, is theonly truly ‘budget’ GPU
of the entire generation as well. To help
shoulder this responsibility,ithas 4GBof
GDDR5 memory –twice that of the GTX
1050 –aswellasanincreased CUDAcore
count of 896.

SHORTAND SWEET
GTX 1650 processors have astock boost
clock of 1,665MHz,but Zotachas overclocked
this ever so slightly to 1,695MHz. Its design
comprises asimple,single-fan cooler,with the
bare minimum of video outputs on the rear:
one HDMI port, one DisplayPort and one
DVI-D connector.There’s no VirtualLink
USB Type-C port forVRheadsets, as you’d
get on certain RTX20-series cards.
This simplicity has its benefits, however.
At only 151mm long it’s about as miniscule as
GTX cards come,and there are no 6-pin or
8-pin PSU power connectors because it
doesn’t need any.The GeForce GTX 1650 OC
can be powered entirely through its PCI-E x16
slot on the motherboard, which when
combined with its small stature,makes it
potentially perfect forcompact PC builds
where the case might not allow forlonger
cards or have adequateca
It’s no surprise that th
outpaces the GTX 1050 o
performance,but in most
it’s markedly faster than t
GTX 1050 Ti as well. This
most dramatically visible
Dirt Showdown, where at
1,920x1,080 with Ultra
settings enabled, the
newest GPU averaged
101fps –far more than th
GTX 1050, which manage
74fps, and the GTX 1060
at 81fps. It’s also ahighly
favourable matchup

NVIDIA GeForce

GTX1650

★★★★★

£143•From http://www.ebuyer.com

VERDICT

The GTX 1650 is Nvidia’s most powerful
budget GPU yet, but it facesastrong
challenge from the RX 570

against AMD’s Radeon RX 560, another

budget GPU, which scored 75fps.

The GTX 1650 has improved ability at

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smooth in Dirt, producing 76fps with Ultra

settings still in place.

DEMANDAND CONQUER

More graphically demanding games will push

the GTX 1650 to its limits. Metro: Last Light

Redux averaged abarely acceptable 31fps at

1,920x1,080 with the Very High preset, and

going up to 2,560x1,440 dropped this to a

spluttering 17fps. Nonetheless, at least it

actually reaches the 30fps mark at 1080p,

where the GTX 1050, GTX 1050 Ti and RX 560

all fall short. 1440p isn’t entirely out of the

question, either.Turn off SSAA and 17fps

jumps to 34fps, which is enough to get by on.

Tomb Raider runs well, too, with its

integrated benchmark ending at 77fps at

1,920x1,080 and 48fps at 2,560x1,440, both

with the Ultimatequality setting and FXAA

smoothing out edges. Once again, that’s

atotal victory forthe GTX 1650 over its

budget rivals, as at 1080p,the GTX 1050

produced 55fps, the GTX 1050 Ti 62fps and

the RX 560 amere 49fps.

Finally,although we wouldn’t call this an

ideal graphics card forVR, it can handle most

current games at medium settings. That’s

Performance-wise,thGTX 1650 leaaaads

ttthhheeewwwaaayyyooonnnwwwhhhaaatttyyyooouuucccaaannneeexxxpppeeeccctttfffrrrooommmaaaaannn

overtly low-end GPU. Of the other three,the

only one that’s still worth buying is the GTX

1050, and that’s only if you absolutely can’t

spend more than £100.

However,it’s not just budget cards that

the GTX 1650 has to contend with. As we’ve

already seen, the AMD Radeon RX 570 has

plummeted in price from the mid-£200 range

to just £130, putting this mid-ranger right

next to the GTX 1650. The Asus ROG Strix

RX 570 model confirms it’s afar better deal:

at 1080p it scored 118fps in Dirt, 45fps in

Metro and 92fps in Tomb Raider.

That’s aheavy blow to the GTX 1650 as

an actual purchase proposition, but it’s not

necessarily afatal one.Its petitedimensions

allowittofitintoMini-ITX cases that even

smaller partner variants of the RX 570

cannot, and it’s alot more efficient, too.

We recorded Asus’s RX 570 using up to

155W under load, but according to GPU-Z,

the GTX 1650 only ever peaked at 90% of its

75WTDP,about 68W.

NIP INTHEAIR

Despitethe single fan, it also runs quietly

and very cool. An ideal temperature of 30°C is

0’s load temperature of

cellent, and it only

smuchchillier than the

lly ran around 72°C.

nreason to buy a

erformance,and on

ne the RX 570 is

nquestionably the better

buy.For the niche appeal

of its size and efficiency,

he GTX 1650 scrapes a

urth star,although a

ecommendation only

applies if you specifically

need asmaller,more

iscreteGPU.

PPER|JANUARY 2020

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according to the SteamVR Performance Test,

which gave it amedium-tier score of 5.4.

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