MSI GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER GAMING X review (Page 26)

MSI GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER GAMING X review

Graphics cards 1049 Page 26 of 26 Published 2019-11-22 18:29 by Hilbert Hagedoorn

Conclusion

Final words and verdict

What to make of the new GeForce GTX 1650 Super. First, it is not a bad performing card really, especially compared to the 1650 regular model, heck you'll see 30% running up-to 40% more performance depending on game, API and resolution. The architecture is sound and at 1920x080 this product is a good proposition. It even has enough horsepower to play a game or two in 2560x1440, however, the card is severely limited by its 4GB graphics memory. High resolutions and games simply quickly pass that 4 GB marker. Ergo, if you stick to Full HD, you're fine really. But after that resolution, NVIDIA is forcefully steering you to the 1660 series with 6 GB graphics memory. Being a 1650 Series you do get up-to-date with the latest Turning architecture, just not tensor and RT cores. The card offers performance one may expect in this price range and with the AIB partner cards will see an up-to 5% advantage over the base model. Tweaking wise there's room left. We do think that all cards will match a roughly 5 to 10% OC delta in generic performance. As mentioned, the 4 GDDR6 graphics memory is nice and fast, which the GPU likes, the 4GB, however, feel somewhat limited, then again at Full HD is sufficient for the majority of games.

Aesthetics

MSI applied that dark design, the TwinFrozr 7 cooler, and once juiced up, it is a nice looking product. It sits in the Gaming X line, was made a little darker to look at with new gunmetal elements, and that works for me. The RGB lighting effects are funky to see. That LED inclusion that has been done subtly but merely is a white LED this round. Lacking is a back-plates. I have to admit, this is looking very nice but looks are always personal, of course. So in the end, on looks, you certainly get that premium feel of detailed aesthetics and quality.

Cooling & acoustic levels

The card tops out at almost 65 Degrees C while gaming. So that's not bad at all, the acoustics I'd rate as silent, we doubt you'll ever hear the card once mounted into a chassis. In idle the fans do not spin btw. We've heard no noticeable coil whine. But I do want to note that any graphics card at a high-enough FPS can make some coil whine.

Overclocking

We've been able to push roughly 13% extra perf out of the card compared to the reference card. The combination of fantastic tweakable memory, power and voltage settings will bring you a proper overclock. Once you've applied it, you get a few percent more perf. Here again, we expect all brands to roughly reach this kind of tweaking performance.

Concluding

You know, I have to say that the 'new' SUPER series for both the 1650 and 1660 is a bit puzzling. The 1650 Super, however, does get a very healthy chunk of extra shader processors and a lot more memory bandwidth compared to the regular model. That does lift up spirits overall. In its range, the card is a bit all over the place, often close to the RX 580 and RX 590, sometimes way lower as it runs into VRAM limitations. The raw rendering performance, however, is at an interesting level and at in 1920x1080 mostly at a comfortable framerate. I do wish for this card series to have seen it at 6GB, as graphics memory anno the year 2019/2020 need to get closer to that 8GB default once you pass 1920x1080. The product is very nice for the entry-level to the mainstream market but sits in a very narrow saturated segment with lots of choices. We expect pricing to sit in the 150~160 USD ranges, so it is competing with the Radeon RX 570 most of the time and that card you can spot at 150 USD with 8GB already. Making the 1650 Super a more difficult proposition. The product is fast enough for any day gaming up-to, the Full HD monitor resolution domain of 1920x1080. Once again please let me reiterate, the Raytracing and AI feature like DLSS, of course, have been stripped away. The product as-is is good, the power consumption of the 1650 SUPER series, by the way, is really good. The product as fabbed and presented by MSI though comes very much recommended as it ticks most right boxes design-wise with the added bonus of a very nice tweak. But whether or not the consumer market actually needs a card with just 4GB graphics memory at these prices in this very saturated positioning, remains to be seen. But if this is your budget range and Full HD is your game, the question; is this card worth your money? We'd like to say yes.