GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER – Review

After the announcement at the end of October, the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER, a new video card from Nvidia that fits into the low end of the market. Compared to the GTX 1650, the newcomer offers more CUDA cores and texture units, but above all it goes from GDDR5 to GDDR6 memory. The bus remains unchanged at 128 bits.

The increase in CUDA cores is due to transition from TU117 to TU116. The change of GPU brings with it another consequence, that is a better NVENC encoder compared to the GTX 1650. The Turing encoder is up to 15% more efficient than the Volta and offers some improvements to combat artifacts.

The encoder is the component that allows video cards to perform video encoding, relieving the central processor of this task and doing it faster. A particularly useful aspect for those who stream, for example.

Entering the technical details, the GTX 1650 SUPER makes available 1280 CUDA core (instead of 896 like the GTX 1650), 80 texture units (the GTX 1650 has 56) and 32 ROPs. The frequencies of the new GTX 1650 SUPER are equal to 1530/1725 MHz. The GTX 1650 instead operates at 1485/1665 MHz. The TGP of the card is 100 watts, therefore the proposals of the partners have an additional connector.

Another novelty concerns the memory, no longer 4 GB GDDR5 at 8 Gbps but 4 GB GDDR6 at 12 Gbps for a bandwidth that therefore rises from 128 GB / s of the GTX 1650 to 192 GB / s of the SUPER.

For this test we used one MSI GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER Gaming X, a card totally customized by the Taiwanese company. The board has a heatsink Twin Frozr 7 with two TorX 3.0 fans, one with dispersion blades with a sharp curve that accelerates the flow of air, while the other has a traditional design that provides constant flow.

Below there is an aluminum radiator with copper heat pipes that pass through the fins. The base is in nickel-plated copper. At the point where they touch the base and collect heat, the heatpipes are very close to each other to maximize heat collection.

The heatsink is equipped with technology Zero Frozr, which stops the fans in low load situations (below 60 ° C), keeping the PC even quieter. The MSI card, compared to the reference clocks indicated by Nvidia, boosts up to 1755 MHz. The card is accompanied by three DisplayPorts and one HDMI. The GTX 1650 SUPER Gaming X has dimensions of 248 x 127 x 44 mm and weighs 742 grams.

Test configuration

To know how we test video cards you can read this article. This article lacks the test chart with Fortnite because we have to run them again on the entire range of video cards. However, we did a session with the GTX 1650 SUPER with the title of Epic Games recording an average frame rate of 89.9 fps (70.8 fps for the 99th percentile) at Full HD resolution and Epic detail, so who is looking for a GPU to play that title finds in the new born of Nvidia a valid ally.

GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER performance

Nvidia's new GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER has performances that are very reminiscent of the GTX 1060 6GB of the last generation. The difference is often minimal, sometimes non-existent, we speak of about 1.5 fps on average. Instead, they dance 10 fps on average between the GTX 1650 SUPER and the GTX 1660. The jump between the GTX 1650 and the GTX 1650 SUPER is instead of 18 fps.

Consumption, temperatures and noise

The GTX 1650 SUPER is not a particularly demanding card, nevertheless it requires the connection of a 6-pin PCIe. The MSI heatsink does a good job, but we had no doubts, given the type of cooling and video card.

It can be seen how on balance Nvidia managed to file almost 40 watts under load from the GTX 1060 6GB, while roughly maintaining its performance.

As for the RX 590, the model in our possession is the Red Devil by PowerColor. We have noticed that it consumes much more than other RX 590s, such as the Sapphire Nitro +: we are talking about 40 extra watts under load. So the gap between the GTX 16 and the RX 590 is generally less extensive than it seems from our chart.

Conclusions

The GTX 1650 SUPER arrives on the market at a list price of around 180 euros. We must, as usual, wait for the next few weeks to see the real market price, but the following are our assessments taking the list price communicated and the current prices of the other cards as a bonus.

The price situation is as follows: the GTX 1650 stands at around 160 euros, while the GTX 1660 starts at a price of around 230 euros, but most models are sold at around 250 euros. Between the GTX 1650 and the GTX 1650 SUPER, according to current prices, we certainly recommend the second one, which is even better than a GTX 1660. If you need more performance instead, opt for the GTX 1660 SUPER.

If the GTX 1660 SUPER is the card we recommend between GTX 1660, GTX 1660 SUPER and GTX 1660 Ti to play in Full HD in maximum detail, the GTX 1650 SUPER instead is placed in a more complex panorama, where two AMD cards fall – RX 580/590 – which make the choice more difficult.

Performance-wise, the RX 590 is slightly faster but costs more. The RX 580 8GB is more at the level of the GTX 1650 SUPER, also in terms of price. It also has 8 GB of memory which could be useful in games that require more – especially in the near future.

As a result we believe, as with other GTX 16 series cards, that it is necessary to file the price (not much to tell the truth). We will see if the increase in availability will make it more attractive. The card is still valid and in Nvidia's GTX 16 series we believe it makes sense to opt for this solution or as written, if you want more performance and you have greater economic availability, on the GTX 1660 SUPER, leaving out the other models.

Do not forget that this solution is equipped with a Turing encoder, instead of the Volta of the GTX 1650. An aspect that could be of great help to users who stream and use software such as Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), Wirecast, Bandicam, HandBrake or Adobe Premiere.