Zotac GAMING GeForce GTX 1650 OC Review

What the new Zotac Gaming GTX 1650 OC lacks in sheer performance it more than makes up for in sheer value for buyers looking for decent to good 1080P gaming performance. This may seem counterintuitive as even Zotac Gaming GTX 1660 standard edition will offer markedly better performance at 1080P – and out and out smoke it at 1440P – the fact of the matter is this factory overclocked NVIDIA GTX 1650 card costs about seventy dollars less. That is nearly half the cost of this peppy little GTX 1650. Put simply the Zotac Gaming GTX 1650 OC is a very good $150 card that acts more like a sub-200 card rather than the typical 150 range one.

We honestly were surprised by this card as on the surface it does not seem all that impressive when compared against its ‘bigger brothers’ in the GTX 1600 series. Only 4GB of RAM (and GDDR5 RAM at that), noticeably fewer CUDA cores, not even all that high core frequencies (even ‘overclocked’ this card is still rated for the high 1600’s), it doesn’t even have a PCIE power port (not even a 6 pin)… and the lack of heat pipes in the ‘sunflower’ heatsink with only one fan… well on paper that added up to mediocrity. The reality is a lot more nuanced. So much so no one should just write this card off before taking a closer look.

First and foremost is the new TU117 core is a downright power miser. Terms like ‘sips power’ do not even begin to cover it. This is why it does not need a massive heatsink, and instead it is one that is very reminiscent of what Intel used to ship with their CPUs. In fact, this heatsink is more than up to the task of cooling this little core and doing so without making all that much noise. This is because the Zotac cooler can handle much higher TDPs than what this core will ever produce. Heck, we routinely use mid-level CPUs which have higher TDP’s and their tiny coolers are more than up to the task.

What this means is that while yes we would have liked to have seen a 6-pin PCIE power port for increased overclocking potential (of which this new addition basically has none), the fact of the matter is the ‘rated’ frequencies of 1695 are a mere suggestion. It will routinely peak and stay in the 1700s. This combined with more CUDA cores, more shader units, and faster RAM than the 1050Ti it really replaces means that this is more than up to the task of what buyers in the $150 range are looking for.

So while it is obvious that buyers looking for higher than 1080P gaming performance (the 4GB of RAM really is a bottleneck) should seriously consider stepping up a price notch or three, those on a tight budget that don’t want/need/desire bells may just like what the new Zotac Gaming GTX 1650 OC has to offer. In either case AMD’s all but stranglehold on this corner of the market just got a lot more tentative. So before you buy any $150-priced card, we strongly recommend giving this card serious consideration. Its small size, decent gaming performance, and low power requirements may just be exactly what you are looking for.