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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti - The Budget Kepler With A Bite

By James Lu - 9 Oct 2012

Price-Performance Comparison

Price-Performance Comparison

When it comes to entry-level and mid-range graphics cards, the key metric gamers will be looking at is its price-to-performance ratio, i.e. how much bang do you get for your buck?

For this comparison, we calculated the average FPS of each card, based on its sum total score across all settings and resolutions on our gaming benchmarks, as well as the synthetic benchmark Unigine 2.1 "Heaven". We then divided that score by the card's suggested retail price in US dollars to derive exactly what 1 US dollar will get you in terms of FPS for each card.

US$ Price-Performance Comparison

Model Current Price in US$ Average FPS FPS per US$1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti $149 44.9 0.302
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 $109 32.9  0.302
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 $229 69.6 0.304
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti $299 76.5 0.256
AMD Radeon HD 7770 $119 38.1  0.320
AMD Radeon HD 7870 $239 65.2  0.273
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti $199 55.1  0.277

As you can see, the GTX 650 Ti provides exactly the same amount of FPS per US$1 as the entry-level mainstream GTX 650. As such, if you can afford the extra US$30 this makes it a great pick as you're getting more performance for the same dollar value. If you're looking for the card providing the absolute best value for money, AMD's Radeon HD 7770 with its revised pricing of US$119 is extremely hard to beat. Do remember though that this chart is not indicative of which card is more powerful, it merely shows the relative value worthiness of the card. In our tests, the GTX 650 Ti is, for the most part, a better performer than the AMD Radeon HD 7770. However, that comes at a higher premium. We'll discuss more on which card is a better buy after more local comparisons in the next section below.

 

Factoring in the Local Price-Performance Aspect

By now,we're all well aware of the pricing disparity in overseas and local markets. For a look at how things stand in Singapore, we have gathered as many current retail prices from as many add-in partners of that particular card as possible to generate an average price. Currently, we do not have an SRP for the GTX 650 Ti, but have estimated it to be about S$259 (see below for explanation):

S$ Price-Performance Comparison

Model Current Average Price in S$ Average FPS FPS per S$1
ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti DirectCU II TOP $299 47.5 0.159
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Estimated $259 44.9 0.174
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 $189 32.9  0.174
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 $367 69.6 0.190
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti $468 76.5 0.163
AMD Radeon HD 7770 $176.4 38.1  0.216
AMD Radeon HD 7870 $364.7 65.2  0.179

As for the GTX 650 Ti, at the time of writing, most vendors have yet to reveal the pricing on their GTX 650 Ti SKU and as such we need to make predictions based around similar SKUs. We do know that ASUS' DirectCU II TOP model will retail for $299, with the non-TOP edition available for $279. ASUS' prices are usually slightly above the average, so this gives us an idea of where we can expect the rest of the vendors to set their SRPs.

If the vendors were to follow US pricing, with a price-performance ratio to match that of the GTX 650, which has an average price of S$189, the 650 Ti will need to be priced at S$259 (derived from keeping the constant ratio and multiplying that with the card's average frame rate). This is where we expect a standard edition card's pricing to be. If pricing is closer to ASUS's non-TOP edition at S$279, the price-performance comparison ratio will fall slightly, making it a less appealing buy.

At time of writing, the absolute best buy in Singapore is AMD's Radeon HD 7770. There's actually nothing even close in terms of value for money, with a ratio of 0.216 FPS per S$, making it the only card above the 0.200 ratio. In fact, for the GTX 650 Ti to even match the Radeon HD 7770's value proposition, it would need to be priced at S$209, something that's very unlikely to happen. Having said that, many add-in partners have been known to announce special promotional pricing and one-off deals, so do look out for these - if you see a GTX 650 Ti model drop as low as $209, it would be, without a doubt, one of the best bargains around.

We will be sure to update this chart when the GTX 650 Ti's actual average local pricing is known. At this point of time, what's certain is that unlike what NVIDIA seems to be targeting, the Radeon HD 7770 isn't the real competitor to the GTX 650 Ti. If anything, it's perhaps more apt to compare with the 1GB edition of the Radeon HD 7850 that's retailing for less than S$300. Unfortunately, this variant is still too new and we'll have to re-look at this comparison in the near future.

 

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