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MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost Twin Frozr III OC - Game for Another Mid-Range Kepler?

By Wong Chung Wee - 10 May 2013
Launch SRP: S$289

MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost Twin Frozr III OC - Game for Another Mid-Range Kepler?

MSI's Mid-Range Kepler Gaming Card

The MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost Twin Frozr III OC is one of the pair of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost cards from the new MSI Gaming series. Its other counterpart is the non-OC edition which isn't factory overclocked. It appears add-on card partners of NVIDIA have been quick to flesh out the product range based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost, which was released late in March. This mid-range series of graphics cards are targeted at the budget-conscious gamers who are not willing to spend more than S$300 for a single discrete graphics card. In terms of direct competition, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost cards were also seen going head-to-head with those based on the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (Bonaire) core.

The MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost Twin Frozr III OC sports an overclocked GK104 GPU operating at a base clock of 1033MHz that is slightly higher than similar cards. Coupled with its Gaming series brand, MSI is clearly attempting to distinguish the card amid the noise faced by such mid-range ones. Sadly, it doesn't look any different as we expected a pro-gamer centric cooler styling.

Hailing from its Gaming series, the factory overclocked MSI card has a 1,033 MHz base clock with a boost clock of 1,098MHz, but its 2GB of memory chips have not been overclocked as they are rated to operate collectively at 6,008MHz (which is the same as the memory on a reference card). The card features high-end components like its solid capacitors as well as its Twin Frozr III cooling system that consists of  80mm dual fans and SuperPipe technology for better heat dissipation.

The GPU cooler sits directly on the GK106 core, and from this perspective, near the edge of the PCIe interface, we could see two of the three heatpipes that lead to the heatsink.

From its rear, we can see four Hynix memory chips (with another four facing the side of the cooler), as well as the third heatpipe that extends beyond the PCB of the card. The card measures approximately 9.3-inch (23.5 cm) in length, with a height of roughly 5-inch (12.5 cm) and a thickness of 1.4-inch (3.6 cm). It's a dual-slot card and we recommend the neighboring third slot to be kept empty for better air flow (as with all  dual-slot graphics cards).

The rear of the MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost Twin Frozr III OC graphics card.

The video connectivity options of the card consists of one full-size DisplayPort (version 1.2), a HDMI port (version 1.4a), one dual-link DVI-D port and one dual-link DVI-I port. The maximum supported resolution of the card is 2560 x 1600 pixels.

The video connectivity options on the card. Perhaps for the more high-end cards from the MSI Gaming Series, we hope to see customized metal blackplates with Dragoon Army motifs. 

It is evident that MSI has spared no expense at product differentiation as such mid-range cards tend to get drowned out in such a crowded product segment. The card retails for S$289 that makes it an attractively priced alternative among other cards using this GPU and against the AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5. Customized overclocked cards based on this AMD Radeon HD GPU are currently in this price range too. Within the NVIDIA front, this card is priced about 22 per cent higher than the lower ranked NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti as such cards are usually priced below S$250.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost Custom Cards and competitive SKUs compared
  MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost Twin Frozr III OC (N650Ti TF 2GD5 /OC BE) ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost DirectCU II OC Palit GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost OC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost AMD Radeon HD 7790 AMD Radeon HD 7850
  MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost Twin Frozr III OC (N650Ti TF 2GD5 /OC BE) ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost DirectCU II OC Palit GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost OC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost AMD Radeon HD 7790 AMD Radeon HD 7850
Core Code
  • GK106
  • GK106
  • GK106
  • GK106
  • Bonaire
  • Pitcairn Pro
GPU Transistor Count
  • 2.54 billion
  • 2.54 billion
  • 2.54 billion
  • 2.54 billion
  • 2.08 billion
  • 2.8 billion
Manufacturing Process
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
  • 28nm
Core Clock
  • 1033MHz
  • 1020MHz
  • 1006MHz
  • 980MHz
  • 1000MHz
  • 860MHz
Stream Processors
  • 768 CUDA cores
  • 768 CUDA cores
  • 768 CUDA cores
  • 768 CUDA cores
  • 896
  • 1024
Stream Processor Clock
  • 1033MHz
  • 1020MHz
  • 1006MHz
  • 980MHz
  • 1000MHz
  • 860MHz
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs)
  • 64
  • 64
  • 64
  • 64
  • 56
  • 64
Raster Operator units (ROP)
  • 16
  • 16
  • 16
  • 16
  • 16
  • 32
Memory Clock (DDR)
  • 6008MHz
  • 6008MHz
  • 6108MHz
  • 6008MHz
  • 6000MHz
  • 4800MHz
Memory Bus width
  • 192-bit
  • 192-bit
  • 192-bit
  • 192-bit
  • 128-bit
  • 256-bit
Memory Bandwidth
  • 144.2GB/s
  • 144.2GB/s
  • 144.2GB/s
  • 144.2GB/s
  • 96 GB/s
  • 153.6 GB/s
PCI Express Interface
  • PCIe v3.0 x16
  • PCIe v3.0 x16
  • PCIe v3.0 x16
  • PCIe v3.0 x16
  • PCIe v3.0 x16
  • PCIe v3.0 x16
Power Connectors
  • 1 x 6-pin PCIe
  • 1 x 6-pin PCIe
  • 1 x 6-pin PCIe
  • 1 x 6-pin PCIe
  • 1 x 6-pin
  • 1 x 6-pin
Multi GPU Technology
  • SLI
  • SLI
  • SLI
  • SLI
  • CrossFireX
  • CrossFireX
DVI Outputs
  • 1 x DVI-D
  • 1 x DVI-I
  • 1 x DVI-D
  • 1 x DVI-I
  • 1 x DVI-D
  • 1 x DVI-I
  • 1 x DVI-D
  • 1 x DVI-I
  • 2
  • 2
HDMI Outputs
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
DisplayPort Outputs
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
HDCP Output Support
  • Yes

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8.0
  • Performance 8
  • Features 8
  • Value 7.5
The Good
Good all-round performance
Excellent cooling system
Low power draw, especially at idle
The Bad
Could have bundled a good game title
Lack of a gamer-centric cooler shroud design
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