MSI GeForce GTX 1050Ti Gaming X 4GB

With most generations of video cards, the rule of thumb is buyers can expect to get about one notch better performance than the last generation. Usually this means ‘x70’ performance at ‘x60’ prices. This has been true for countless NVIDIA generations and the 10-series is really no exception – as this formula works and works very well for NVIDIA. The only real exception to this rule has always mid-range ‘Ti’ type cards which usually offer noticeably better performance than expected but without that much in the way of added cost.

This outlier in their lineup is most likely why NVIDIA skipped the whole 950Ti route and instead simply handicapped the 960 to make a ‘3GB’ version. Thankfully they have seen the error of their ways as the GTX 960 3GB was a touch overpriced for what it had to offer. This generation the GTX x50Ti makes a return and it is decent competition especially when dealing with overclocking versions like the MSI Gaming X. We would go as far as saying the MSI GTX 1050Ti Gaming X is strong competition for AMD.

That is impressive as quite honestly AMD’s architecture scales down to this ‘x50Ti’ price range much better than NVIDIA. This should come as no surprise as AMD have eschewed the uber high end and instead focused in on the average buyer – even if it costs them ‘bragging rights’ about ‘owning the performance crown’. This does put NVIDIA at a distinct disadvantage and is such a well-known weakness that experienced buyers usually look to AMD before NVIDIA. In other words, the very design philosophy used by NVIDIA is their Achille’s heel in this corner of the market

This well-known weakness of NVIDIA’s lower end cards can all be traced back to the memory bus. Arguably their architecture scales down just as well as AMD’s when it comes to number crunching but by hobbling it with a rather narrow 128-bit bus the end results are usually best described as lackluster. This is why most non-reference cards focus all their attention on the RAM side of the equation and leave the GP107-400 core alone. MSI on the other hand did not accept this and instead has not only pushed the RAM up a bit to achieve 113.7GB/s memory bandwidth, but by including a 6-pin power connector they have turned their GP107-400 into a really, really fast card for its class.

Now it still is no GTX 1060, as MSI was not able to work miracles, but the end result is a card that is perfect for a number of scenarios. For example, buyer’s only interested in 1080P resolution will love what this inexpensive card can offer. You will get frame rates in modern games that are sure to satisfy… and do so without breaking your budget. So much so that secondary considerations such as noise and heat production will have to be carefully considered before going the AMD route. That is a testament to what MSI has been able to do for a mere $30 over stock GTX 1050Ti prices.

Though to us the best use of this card is as the foundation for a kick-ass HTPC build. When you combine low noise, low power consumption with 100% MAD-VR compatibly the end result is crystal clear up conversion of DVD & Blu-Ray content that has to be seen to believed. Better still it also allows you the luxury of having a system that is whisper quiet and cool running… all for under two hundred dollars after taxes. That is a combination that is awfully tempting. As such we consider the MSI GTX 1050Ti Gaming X 4GB to be one of the few ‘perfect’ budget HTPC cards available today.