MSI GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X / Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming OC
April 2019Type
Graphics CardPrice
$149.99 US / $154.99 USNVIDIA 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 the 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 took 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 confirm 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 | 2023-2024 | 2022-2023 | 2021-2022 | 2020-2021 | 2019-2020 | 2018-2019 | 2017-2018 | 2016-2017 | 2014-2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titan Tier | GeForce RTX 4090 | GeForce RTX 4090 | GeForce RTX 3090 Ti GeForce RTX 3090 | GeForce RTX 3090 | Titan RTX (Turing) | Titan V (Volta) | Titan Xp (Pascal) | Titan X (Pascal) | Titan X (Maxwell) |
| Price | $1599 US | $1599 US | $1999 US $1499 US | $1499 US | $2499 US | $2999 US | $1199 US | $1199 US | $999 US |
| Ultra Enthusiast Tier | GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER | GeForce RTX 4080 | GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | GeForce GTX 1080 Ti | GeForce GTX 980 Ti | GeForce GTX 980 Ti |
| Price | $999 US | $1199 US | $1199 US | $1199 US | $999 US | $999 US | $699 US | $649 US | $649 US |
| Enthusiast Tier | GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER | GeForce RTX 4070 Ti | GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB | GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB | GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER | GeForce RTX 2080 | GeForce GTX 1080 | GeForce GTX 1080 | GeForce GTX 980 |
| Price | $799 US | $799 US | $799 US | $699 US | $699 US | $699 US | $549 US | $549 US | $549 US |
| High-End Tier | GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER GeForce RTX 4070 | GeForce RTX 4070 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB | GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GeForce RTX 3070 | GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GeForce RTX 3070 | GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER | GeForce RTX 2070 | GeForce GTX 1070 | GeForce GTX 1070 | GeForce GTX 970 |
| Price | $599 $549 | $599 US $499 US | $599 $499 | $599 $499 | $499 US | $499 US | $379 US | $379 US | $329 US |
| Mainstream Tier | GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GeForce RTX 4060 | GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GeForce RTX 4060 | GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB | GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB | GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER GeForce RTX 2060 GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER GeForce GTX 1660 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce GTX 1060 | GeForce GTX 960 |
| Price | $449 $299 | $399 US $299 US | $399 US $329 US | $399 US $329 US | $399 US $349 US $279 US $229 US $219 US | $249 US | $249 US | $249 US | $199 US |
| Entry Tier | RTX 3050 8 GB RTX 3050 6 GB | RTX 3050 | RTX 3050 | GTX 1650 SUPER GTX 1650 | GTX 1650 SUPER GTX 1650 | GTX 1050 Ti GTX 1050 | GTX 1050 Ti GTX 1050 | GTX 950 | GTX 750 Ti GTX 750 |
| Price | $229 $179 | $249 US | $249 US | $159 US $149 US | $159 US $149 US | $139 US $109 US | $139 US $109 US | $149 US | $149 US $119 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.
Contents
MSI went all out with their GeForce GTX 1650 Gaming X which retails at the MSRP price of $149 US, offering a stunning 1860 MHz overclock out of the box, their iconic Twin Frozr VII cooler with Mystic RGB Lighting and idle fan stop technology for the card to run quieter under non-gaming loads. The MSI GTX 1650 Gaming X is the perfect model you should aim for when considering to buy the GTX 1650.
- Turing's Best-in-class Efficiency at $149 US
- Good performance improvement over GTX 1050
- Decent upgrade from GTX 1050 / GTX 950
- Decent gaming performance at 1080p resolution
- Great performance for eSports Gaming Titles
- Great thermals with MSI Twin Frozr VII cooler
- Good Noise levels with MSI Twin Frozr VII cooler
- Features Idle Fan Stop Technology
- Power efficiency has increased drastically
- Support NVIDIA Adaptive Shading Technology
- Good driver support for GeForce products, compatibility with DX11, DX12, Vulkan, OpenGL titles
- Good Display Connectivity, support for VESA Adaptive-Sync and G-Sync Compatible Monitors
Pros
- Much slower than the Radeon RX 570
- RX 570 4 GB can be bought for $20 US less
- No Turing NVENC support, only Volta tier
- No backplate on MSI Gaming X model
