Review: ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti Direct CU II TOP

Final thoughts and rating

HEXUS remains of the opinion that the recently-introduced GeForce GTX 650 Ti is a good video card. Priced at not much more than £100 for reference-like models and providing solid gaming performance at a full-HD resolution, NVIDIA's add-in card partners still need to think carefully about how to present retail offerings.

GTX 650 Ti clearly works best when playing to its strengths. The reference card's tiny form factor makes it particularly suitable for small-form-factor PCs, while low noise and enviable power-draw qualities help its case as a natural fit for mainstream PCs.

ASUS, meanwhile, has a completely different take on what makes a good GTX 650 Ti card. The Direct CU II TOP model, reviewed here, is all about projecting appeal by dint of sheer size. Notwithstanding the excellent thermal and noise properties of the card, obviously helped by housing the GPU under a massive heatsink, we believe this is the wrong tack to take with this class of GPU.

And if ASUS is to go down the make-it-as-fast-as-you-can path, which has some merit, it needs to also overclock the memory, as illustrated by our benchmarks. Then there's the ever-thorny issue of price. Other partners' cards, shipping with similar core overclocks, are available for £120; ASUS is charging £160 for this model. If it was our money on the line we'd go for the cheapest GeForce GTX 660 2GB or Radeon HD 7850 2GB - both are better gaming GPUs.

We come away with the nagging feeling that ASUS has designed a solid card around the wrong GPU. GeForce GTX 650 Ti simply doesn't warrant over-the-top cooling and a significant price premium.

The Good

The Bad

HEXUS rating

ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti Direct CU II TOP

HEXUS Where2Buy

TBC

HEXUS Right2Reply

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