Introduction

NVIDIA today announced the GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card, the smallest and most affordable implementation of the "Turing" architecture. Much like other GeForce GTX 16-series graphics cards launched to date, the GTX 1650 lacks dedicated RTX real-time raytracing hardware and tensor cores even though it is based on "Turing". NVIDIA is positioning the card at a starting price of US$149 and expects the card to be capable of Full HD (1080p) gaming with reasonably high settings.

The GeForce GTX 1650 is based on the tiny new "TU117" silicon from NVIDIA. This chip is configured with 896 CUDA cores, 56 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 4 GB of memory that ticks at 8 Gbps, churning out 128 GB/s bandwidth. Not too long ago, such specifications were considered quasi-premium for this price-segment; that is, until AMD significantly cut prices of its Radeon "Polaris" graphics cards post the crypto-mining crash. The Radeon RX 570 4 GB, going by specifications alone, would qualify as a segment higher than the GTX 1650, but can be had for around the $130-mark from North American retailers.

With a rated power-draw of just 75 watts—half that of the RX 570—most GeForce GTX 1650 graphics cards typically do not need an additional PCIe power connector and can make do with slot power only, which can be useful when upgrading OEM systems that have weak PSUs and possibly lack the power cabling required for higher-end graphics cards. Certain premium factory-overclocked cards based on this chip may at best pack a single 6-pin connector. Display outputs typically only include one DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, and DVI-D each. The chip is endowed with all of the new 10bpc HDR video decoding hardware acceleration introduced with "Turing", so it has a solid resume for your living room.



In this review, we have with us the ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1650, a premium offering by ASUS based on this GPU, armed with the company's coveted Republic of Gamers branding, a new DirectCU II cooling solution that looks premium, and factory-overclocked GPU Boost frequency of 1830 MHz.