Final words and conclusion
Final words and conclusion
So there you have it, the Sparkle GeForce GTX 650 Ti, the Dragon Series. Should you look for this precise model, it carries SKU code SX650TIC1024KM. So yeah admittedly the GeForce GTX 650 Ti is thew more affordable 150 EUR entry-level to mainstream gaming card. Based upon Kepler architecture this Sparkle product will offer you all the benefits and features this architecture has to offer. Even getting 3 or 4 monitors connected is an option.
The card is okay for regular and casual gaming, but it isn't stellar though. For a little more boom-boom-pow we really think the GeForce 660 series is the way to go. We do like the fact though that the performance vs price bracket shifts, at 150 EUR/USD you do get more perf for your dough and that means more value.
Is it good value ?
Yep, the card offers very decent value. If you play your games up-to a monitor resolution of say 1600x1200 then the GeForce GTX 650 Ti is going to work out really well for you. Bringing Kepler towards 28nm has many advantages. NVIDIA can do more with less transistors and thus has a cheap to produce silicon at hand. This product shows that really well, with a reference clock hovering just under 1 GHz NVIDIA can achieve more performance with less silicon.
Typical these high clock frequencies have an adverse effect on your power consumption, but at 28nm, you don't need much voltage. So the product when it's stressed only consumes give or take 75 Watts. In idle mode (desktop) that number is as low as 5 to 10 Watt. That's really impressive.
For the Sparkle GeForce GTX 650 Ti the Dragon series with its dual-fan cooler you do not have to worry about cooling and noise, the product is virtually silent even under hefty game stress. While it is stressed it will keep that GPU under 55 Degrees C as well. This is actually interesting for a powerful HTPC.
Anyway, we stated this in the reference review already, you as an consumer immediately will have to forfeit on image quality settings to make the modern games perform well enough at a monitor resolution of 1920x1080. The card will run with good image quality settings up-to 1600x1200, after that resolution you'll quickly find yourself making compromises on image quality in order to gain in rendering performance.
If you take the product out of the gaming bracket, then it's all extremely positive as honestly it is a versatile and progressive card when it comes to features and options. That cooler absolutely works well, the product is silent, remains at low temperatures and just looks cool really.
Final words
The Sparkle GeForce GTX 650 Ti dragon series SKU is interesting, all variables are right and well it is an okay looking card. Interesting is the Dual-fan cooler that performs quite well with this card. It's downright silent and will keep the temperature under 55 Degrees C at full load.
Tweaking wise the product didn't disappoint either, 1150~1200 MHz should not be an issue even with 6+ Gbps on the memory, and that will drive performance upwards another notch. We spotted the card for roughly 150 EUR / 160 USD, so if that monetary value is something that matches your maximum budget then we can definitely recommended this product, but remember, gaming at 1920x1080/1200 on a card like this is a massive challenge with the new games out there. Unless you lower quality settings big-time that is. So really this product serves PCs with a monitor up-to 1600x1200the best.
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