The Reference Card – Short and Stubby
For our review today NVIDIA sent along a reference card of the GeForce GTX 650 Ti and we quickly took note of its short size and stature at the PC Perspective offices, dubbing it "Stubby." With a small form factor and modest cooler, the GTX 650 Ti definitely packs more performance than its looks give it credit for.
The card PCB extends only to the length of the x16 PCI Express slot and my thought is that NVIDIA could have made it smaller if they wanted to release a x8 graphics card. The reference cooler doesn't surround the PCB this time either exposing the board and you get the feeling that we are indeed looking at a less expensive product.
For outputs the reference model will ship with a pair of DL DVI connections and a mini-HDMI port. NVIDIA did explain that the GPU supports four display outputs like the rest of the Kepler line up but they are leaving it to board partners to release models that do that.
Even though it is short, with a TDP of 110 watts, the GTX 650 Ti does require a single 6-pin PCIe power connection. You can also see in this angle that though the back plane is only a single slot, even the reference cooler will require two slots of internal space.
Just another angle showing some of the component layout.
The 1GB of memory is completely housed under the cooler on the front of the card leaving the back pretty blank.
A preview of our performance testing on the following pages, here you see the reference GTX 650 Ti surrounded by an XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB (left) and an AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB (right). The difference in size and cooler selection is substantial.
Nice write up, makes me
Nice write up, makes me wonder how much cutting gpu boost really saved them. I couldn’t imagine boost making that much of a difference anyway. Still, as you said, why throw away that tech altogether?
Overall decent price as long as those AC3 keys last, although seen a xfx 7850 being bundled with 5 free games for £136 a few days ago.
Awesome write up, Ryan. Very
Awesome write up, Ryan. Very informative.
I’m in the market for a new gfx card, and I’ve been waiting for the reviews to come out about this one. I think I’ve made my decision now :).
My main computer has an
My main computer has an i7-920 processor but came with a GTX 260 with 1.8 gig of ram which has to be pretty lame but it does drive my dell 30 inch monitor with no issues for normal use. I would modestly like a better video card and the price seems okay but your review leaves me wondering how much that card would like this much resolution.
If you are trying to game on
If you are trying to game on a 30-in 2560×1600 display, you'll need a GTX 660 Ti or better for the best experience.
wouldn’t a 7950 (32ROPs,
wouldn’t a 7950 (32ROPs, 384bit memory) be more suited to 1600p?
as for the 650 Ti, it’s decent enough I guess, but I agree that the price should be lower…
also, gotta love the “variable” specs…
Between removing gpu boost
Between removing gpu boost and sli on this card, and also not allowing voltage control on the higher end versions, nvidia is really digging themselves a hole. At least for me.
I was wanting to switch to green, but im sticking to red, And if i wamt physx ill go hybrid If i want it that bad.
I know a lot of people that
I know a lot of people that are thinking this same thing…
Dont get me wrong I like
Dont get me wrong I like thier cards, but the last gen series of these cards often had those features. Minus boost of course, but after reading and hearing from several places that board manufacturers like evga, ended up removing evbot because nvidia told them no voltage control was allowed, And msi got burned as well. And if they did allow it, nvidia would allocate less kepler chips to sell to them, which pretty much blackmail. Amd lets board partners run wild….
I was thinking about getting
I was thinking about getting this card in my bedroom pc build. It’s going to be my DVR, blueray player, and a gaming computer. I don’t need huge graphic performance. The tv it’s going on is a 32in 1080p tv. Will this card be my best choice? Im looking to spend 120-160 on my video card.
The price is really
The price is really out-of-bounds for what this “stubby” or as I call them “elfin-petite”. With nothing more than extruded aluminum cooler and 128-bit, it’s offering compensatory construction and components of 7750’s and those already have hit $80.
Egg’s had that XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 after code and $20 rebate for $142 and Two Worlds II game coupon, while that nice VaporX 1100Mhz OC Sapphire 7770 has been $135 –AR$15 with Nexuiz game coupon. AC3 is a top notch new game, but it’s still the card and there’s not any value given it’s de-contented manufacturing. At most a mild OC GTS650Ti should’ve started at $140!
Hello Ryan, My Girl Friend
Hello Ryan, My Girl Friend name kate have that Nvidia GeForce GTX card but there fan is not working properly? We have no idea that what we do now? Maybe dust have entered in it and We have no knowledge that How we remove that?
I got a MSI GTX 650ti from
I got a MSI GTX 650ti from Newegg for 114$ plus 25$ dollar rebate. And yes you can adjust the voltage on it. That was one thing I was surprised to see actually. It runs a 28c leaving lots of oc room. (Thats more than likely why there are different OC versions) But I would say its cheaper just to use afterburner. I see good improvements in games over my old 5850.