Gigabyte GTX 650 OC 2GB GPU Review

Verdict and Conclusion

The mid-low range of GPUs is a very tight market, half a dozen models from two manufacturers are squeezed into a $40 range of GPUs. This Geforce GTX 650 OC Edition 2GB card is one of the better equipped GTX650s and hence one of the most expensive at $140. It stomps the 7750 into the ground but can’t quite match the 7770 in most benchmarks. This is unfortunate, as the 7770 is the direct competitor in the $140 price bracket. The big difference is that the 7770 at this price range is a 1GB card and this GTX650 is a 2GB card. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to have the processing power to make that extra ram help it much, so it just raises the price without being useful.

The above said, the price point on this card is too high in my opinion, I would prefer to see it at $120, where it would be competing with (and beating) the 7750.

The cooler is wonderful, it does an excellent job and is very, very quiet.

Performance wise this is a decent card for gaming at resolutions below 1080p and/or with reduced detail settings, or for older games. For modern games at full details and 1080p it can’t quite manage it.

The card looks quite nice, that’s a plus.

Sadly SLI is no longer an option once you drop below the GTX660 line, you don’t get a connector and the drivers do not even display the option for it. This is disappointing.

It has all the ports most people will ever need, VGA, HDMI and two DVI-D ports. That’s excellent, especially as it is a full sized HDMI port.

Power consumption wise the card is quite good as well, it uses very little power.

The card overclocks quite a bit, this is a plus in my book. 10-20% more performance at the cost of 5.5% more power draw is a win for me!

All told there are pros:

• Low power consumption.
• Looks great.
• Excellent cooler.
• Lots of ports.
• 2GB of ram might be nice for someone.
• Good enough for gaming at lower than 1080p.

There are cons too though:

• Priced only $10 lower than a GTX650 Ti, which eats it for lunch.
• Priced higher than most 7770s, which beat it.
• Voltage is very limited for OCing. Marketing claims of full voltage control are false.
• Not powerful enough for full details at 1080p.
• SLI is not possible by any means I could find.

The cons center around the price point of this card, which is its major problem. At $120 (like the 1GB flavor) this would be a good value. At $140, it is quite overpriced unless you have a very specific need for 2GB of ram. Generally the use for >1GB of GPU ram is high resolutions and detailed textures, which the card isn’t powerful enough to do, or it’s for SLI use, which this card cannot do. This forces the overall rating down to a 7.5/10. The card does what it says it can do (the software not so much), but the performance just isn’t quite worth the price.

SCORE

7.5/10