Nvidia finally released their $300 current generation part back in August when they unveiled the GeForce GTX 660 Ti based on the GK104 architecture. This new graphics card offered a performance to price ratio that was unmatched by any current generation product, including Nvidia’s own GTX 670.

Consequently AMD was forced to reduce pricing across most of their Radeon HD 7000 series in order to better compete with the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. Then a month later along came the $230 GTX 660 based on the GK106 architecture which was, according to our results, on average 14% slower than the Ti version.

This again meant that the price vs. performance had been improved as the non-Ti version was just 14% slower yet roughly 23% cheaper. When compared to the competition from AMD the GeForce GTX 660 again faired quite well delivering 10% more performance than the Radeon HD 7850 ($200) and just 5% less than the 7870 ($250).

Having successfully hit AMD with a current generation $300 product in August and then a $230 product in September, Nvidia is now delivering their sub-$200 product this month as they ready the new GeForce GTX 650 Ti.

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti is targeting the $150 price range, making it roughly 35% cheaper than the GTX 660. At this price it is around 30% more expensive than the Radeon HD 7770 which typically commands a $130 price tag.

What’s interesting about the GeForce GTX 650 Ti is that it is based on the same GK106 architecture as last month’s release, the GTX 660. However while they might share the same Kepler GPU codename they are very different. The GTX 650 Ti has of course been downgraded, at least on paper, featuring one less SMX Unit and as a result 20% less CUDA Cores. The TMUs have also been reduced by 20% while there are 33% less ROPs.

The GTX 650 Ti’s GPU has 768 CUDA cores (192 less than the GTX 660) meaning there are 4 SMX. The TAU count has been reduced to 64 from the GTX 660’s 80, while the ROPs have been reduced from 24 to just 16.

However Nvidia didn’t stop there, cutting the 192-bit memory bus of the GTX 660 down to a 128-bit bus for the GTX 650 Ti, which in turn has reduced the memory bandwidth to just 86.4GB/s from 144.2GB/s, a 40% reduction. This has had many questioning if the GeForce GTX 650 Ti is going to be worthy of the $149 price tag and today we plan to find out...

Hardware - Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition (3.30GHz) - x4 4GB G.Skill DDR3-1600(CAS 8-8-8-20) - Crucial m4 512GB (SATA 6Gb/s) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 (1536MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 (1280MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1024MB) - AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (3072MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7970 (3072MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7950 (3072MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7870 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7850 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7770 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6970 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6950 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6870 (1024MB) - Asrock X79 Extreme11 (Intel X79) - OCZ ZX Series (1250w) Software - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - Nvidia Forceware 306.23 - AMD Catalyst 12.9

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti scored 5170pts in the 3Dmark performance test making it 41% faster than the Radeon HD 7770. This also meant that it was 27% faster than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 20% faster than the Radeon HD 6870.

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti averaged 31fps in Aliens vs. Predator at 1680x1050 making it 19% faster than the Radeon HD 7770. That said it was 1% slower than the old Radeon HD 6870 and 7% slower than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti. Then when compared to the GeForce GTX 660 the new GTX 650 Ti was 28% slower.

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti rendered a respectable 41fps at 1680x1050 in Alan Wake allowing it to match the performance of the Radeon HD 6870. This meant that it was 24% faster than the Radeon HD 7770 yet 9% slower than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 29% slower than the GTX 660.

When testing at 1680x1050 in Battlefield 3 the GeForce GTX 650 Ti averaged 43fps making it 10% faster than the Radeon HD 6870 and 26% faster than the Radeon HD 7770. However when compared to the old GeForce GTX 560 Ti it was 10% slower and 31% slower than last month’s GTX 660.

Less demanding games such as Modern Warfare 3 are no problem for the GeForce GTX 650 Ti at 1680x1050. Here it managed to average 80fps making it 40% faster than the Radeon HD 7770 and just 1% slower than the 6870. Still when compared to the old GeForce GTX 560 Ti the GTX 650 Ti was still 4% slower and 28% slower than the GTX 660.

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti just managed to render over 30fps in Crysis 2 at 1680x1050 matching the Radeon HD 6970 and beating the 6870 by a 13% margin. Moreover it was able to outperform the Radeon HD 7770 by a 19% margin while beating the GeForce GTX 560 Ti by a 29% margin.

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti managed 41fps at 1680x1050 when testing with Dragon Age II, making it 71% faster than the Radeon HD 7770 and 37% faster than the 6870. Furthermore it was also 5% faster than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, though 21% slower than the GTX 660.

Again the GeForce GTX 650 Ti was able to provide playable performance at 1680x1050, this time in Dirt 3. Here it was just 5% slower than the Radeon HD 6870 and 2% slower than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, while it was 17% faster than the Radeon HD 7770.

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti rendered just 36fps at 1680x1050 when playing Dirt Showdown making it 23% slower than the Radeon HD 7770.

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti averaged 54fps at 1680x1050 in Hard Reset making it 10% faster than the Radeon HD 6870 and 50% faster than the 7770. That said it was still 10% slower than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 28% slower than the GTX 660.

Just Cause 2 saw the GeForce GTX 650 Ti render just 45fps at 1680x1050 making it 15% slower than the GTX 560 Ti and 25% slower than the GTX 660. Yet despite that it was still 5% faster than the Radeon HD 6870 and 36% faster than the 7770.

King Arthur II can be a very demanding game, even at 1680x1050 and as a result the GeForce GTX 650 Ti averaged just 22fps. This meant that while it was 5% faster than the old Radeon HD 6870 it only matched the GeForce GTX 560 Ti. When compared to the Radeon HD 7770 the GTX 650 Ti was 22% faster while it was 27% slower than the GTX 660.

When testing with Metro 2033 at 1680x1050 the GeForce GTX 650 Ti averaged 46fps allowing it to match the Radeon HD 6870. This also meant that it was 21% faster than the Radeon HD 7770.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim saw the GeForce GTX 650 Ti render 50fps at 1680x1050 making it 7% slower than the Radeon HD 6870. Yet despite that it was 2% faster than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 39% faster than the Radeon HD 7770.

When testing with The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings at 1680x1050 the GeForce GTX 650 Ti averaged 46fps making it 7% faster than the Radeon HD 7770. Although it managed to beat the Radeon HD 7770 the GeForce GTX 650 Ti was 19% slower than the 6870, 10% slower than the GTX 560 Ti and 27% slower than the GTX 660.

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti was impressive enough in Deus Ex: Human Revolution as it managed a very playable 64fps at 1680x1050, making it 36% faster than the Radeon HD 7770. That being said it was still 10% slower than the Radeon HD 6870, 3% slower than the GTX 560 Ti and 26% slower than the GTX 660.

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti averaged 44fps in Max Payne 3 at 1680x1050 making it 2% slower than the old Radeon HD 6870 and 4% slower than the GTX 560 Ti. That said it was 16% faster than the Radeon HD 7770.

Sleeping Dogs is an extremely demanding video game once all the visual settings are maxed out and as a result the GeForce GTX 650 Ti managed just 21fps. This made it 9% slower than the old GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 20% slower than the Radeon HD 6870. However when compared to the Radeon HD 7770 the GeForce GTX 650 Ti was 11% faster.

Another new game is Borderlands 2, though this game is less GPU intensive than Sleeping Dogs and as a result the GeForce GTX 650 Ti managed a much healthier 53fps. This meant that although it was 27% slower than the GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 12% slower than the Radeon HD 6870, it was still 18% faster than the 7770.

When testing with Crysis 2 at 1920x1200 we were able to extract 2fps more which was an 8% performance increase.

This time we see a 6% increase in Deus Ex: Human Revolution when comparing our custom overclock to both the Nvidia spec and Gigabyte’s factory overclock.

Again we see just a 6% increase or 2fps gain from our overclock, this time in Max Payne 3. It appears that there is very little reward for overclocking the GeForce GTX 650 Ti.

The GeForce GTX 650 Ti consumed 14% more power under load when compared to the Radeon HD 7770 while it consumed roughly the same amount as the 6870. When compared to the GeForce GTX 660 the GTX 650 Ti consumed just 4% less power under load.

The Gigabyte WindForce 2X cooler worked extremely well on the GeForce GTX 650 Ti keeping load temperatures at 47 degrees, considerably lower than any other graphics card we have tested.

At the time we saw the Radeon HD 7770 as a pointless release from AMD. Furthermore we believed that the lackluster performance stemmed from the HD 7770’s limited 128-bit bus, which resulted in a paltry 72GB/s bandwidth -- less than the HD 5750 had and far less than the GTX 460.

Since then AMD has made a few changes to the Radeon HD 7000 series pricing and one such change saw the 7770 MSRP drop from $159 to a slightly more attractive $139. Today most Radeon HD 7770 graphics cards still retail for $139, though it is possible to find examples for as little as $120.

So how does the GeForce GTX 650 Ti stack up? Well with a suggested retail price of $149, depending on memory capacity, it is slightly more expensive than the Radeon HD 7770. With the 2GB models like the one we tested today expected to sell for around $149 that meant the GTX 650 Ti is just 7% more expensive than the 7770.

With that being the case we were happy to learn that on average the GeForce GTX 650 Ti was 25% faster than the Radeon HD 7770 in the 18 games that we tested at 1680x1050. That said we were slightly disappointed to find that the GeForce GTX 650 Ti was on average 7% slower than the old GTX 560 Ti, a graphics card that was released almost 2 years ago now.

Albeit the GeForce GTX 560 Ti did cost 40% more than the GTX 650 Ti at release, it has been possible to purchase one for less than $200 with rebates in recent times. Speaking of previous generation parts, the GTX 650 Ti was also slightly slower than the old Radeon HD 6870 which today can still be had for roughly the same price, while stock lasts.

Then when compared to the recently released GeForce GTX 660 the GTX 650 Ti was 28% slower while costing just 22% less. Where we felt the GeForce GTX 650 Ti really slipped up when compared to the GTX 660 was in its power consumption, as it consumed just 4% less power.

In the end the GeForce GTX 650 Ti release is almost as disappointing as the Radeon HD 7770 release was 8 months ago. Neither product really seems to be a step forward as they both struggle to improve on pre-existing products. Had Nvidia released the 2GB version of the GeForce GTX 650 Ti with the same $139 price tag as the Radeon HD 7770 it might be a different story, but unfortunately at $149 we aren’t getting too excited about Nvidia’s latest release.