Introduction

Last week, NVIDIA released their GeForce GTX 650. The card is based on the same GK107 graphics processor that we have seen on the low-end GeForce GT 640 before. The GK107 GPU is using a scaled down Kepler architecture design with just 16 ROPs and 384 shaders. It is positioned above the $100 mark, which clearly makes it an entry-level solution.



MSI has built a custom design GTX 650, which comes with an overclock out of the box and an improved thermal solution. A special feature is the ability to add an included extra fan if you think you need more cooling potential. With a price of $130, the MSI GTX 650 Power Edition OC is $20 higher than the NVIDIA GTX 650 reference design, which is quite a large increase. We will see if it is justified.

Packaging

Contents

You will receive:

• Graphics card
• Driver CD + documentation
• Mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter
• PCI-Express power cable
• DVI adapter
• Second fan

The Card

MSI's card design is longer than the reference design. The cooler, which pretty much covers the whole card, has an extra feature - you can add a second fan if you need better cooling performance. More on that on the next page.


The card requires two slots in your system.


Display connectivity options include two dual-link DVI ports and one mini-HDMI. You may use all the outputs at the same time.

An HDMI sound device is included in the GPU as well. It is HDMI 1.4a compatible and includes HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies support. The DisplayPort outputs are version 1.2, which enables the use of hubs and Multi-Stream Transport.


The card has no SLI connector. All SLI data is transferred over the PCI-Express bus.


Pictured above are the front and back, showing the disassembled board. High-res versions are also available (front, back). If you choose to use these images for voltmods, etc., please include a link back to this site or let us post your article.