Gainward GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB Boost Golden Sample Video Card in SLI Overclocked Review

Introduction and Package

The other day we got the chance to look at our first retail GTX 650 Ti Boost in the form of a video card from Palit. We found ourselves impressed with what the company had done with the cooler, but when it came to the out of the box overclock, the small jump in clock speeds did very little for extra performance.

With Palit and Gainward offerings always sharing some similarities with Palit being the parent company to Gainward, we thought what better way to test the GTX 650 Ti Boost Golden Sample then to test it in SLI. With the card sharing the same clock speeds as the Palit version and a very similar cooler design, it was the perfect pair. We'll get into all of this in just a moment when we take a closer look at the card and clock speeds.

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Due to the fact that the minor bump in clock speeds brought with it very little change in performance when compared to the reference model, and for the fact that we've already looked at the reference GTX 650 Ti Boost in SLI, now was the perfect time to test SLI overclocked.

Before we look at the performance of the GTX 650 Ti Boost in SLI when overclocked we've got to do a few things. The first is of course to look at the package that Gainward has put together. Once we've done that we'll take a closer look at the card itself before looking at the out of the box specifications and the clock speeds we managed to achieve today when overclocking.

Once we've looked over the card we'll take a quick look at our testbed, talk about the cards that you'll see in our graphs today, and then get stuck straight into the performance. First, though, we've got to take a quick look at the package Gainward is offering.

Package

You can see this is of course a Golden Sample model and we have a small sticker that mentions it's a Dual Fan type. You can see the model and some of the main highlights including the 2GB of GDDR5. Turning the box over we get a bit more detail on DirectX 11, Full HD gaming and the system requirements.

When it comes to the bundle we've got a Quick Install Guide along with the driver CD. Connectors come in the form of a DVI to VGA connector and a dual Molex to 6-pin PCIe power connector.

The Card and Specifications

The Card

Having a look at the card you can see we've got a dual fan design. You can see behind them we've got a heatsink that takes up majority of the card, and you can also see some hints of the copper heat pipes that are included to help draw the heat away from the core.

Taking a look around the Gainward GTX 650 Ti Boost shows us a single 6-pin PCIe power connector at the back of the card. Closer to the front we see a single SLI connector, which we'll of course be making use of today.

The connectivity side of things sees two Dual-Link DVI connectors in the form of a DVI-D and DVI-I. We've also got a HDMI and DisplayPort connector to round things off. You can also see a vent that takes up half of the top, allowing hot air to escape straight out the back of your case.

Specifications

As we mentioned earlier the Gainward GTX 650 Ti Boost Golden Sample comes overclocked out of the box and carries the same clock speeds we saw on the Palit video card. This means the core is bumped to 1006MHz or 1072MHz via Boost. The 2GB of GDDR5 has also been slightly increased to 6108MHz QDR.

As we mentioned earlier, because we know that the performance of this overclock is similar to the reference cards, we knew that SLI wouldn't see much difference either. Because of that we've decided to overclock the cards ourselves today. Looking above you can see we managed to push the core up to 1120MHz, while the 2GB of GDDR5 has been pushed to 6900MHz QDR on both cards.

Benchmarks - Test System Setup

We would like to thank the following companies for supplying and supporting us with our test system hardware and equipment: Intel, ASUS and Corsair.

We've got a strong lineup of video cards in our graphs today. On the NVIDIA side we've got the reference GTX 650 Ti Boost at stock, overclocked and in SLI. We've also got the Palit GTX 650 Ti OC at its out of the box speeds. Finally from the NVIDIA side we've got the MSI GTX 660 HAWK.

As for the AMD line up we've got some of our higher end single GPU options including the Sapphire HD 7970 XT, PowerColor PCS HD 7950 overclocked by us and the AMD HD 7970 GHz Edition.

The FPS Numbers Explained

When we benchmark our video cards and look at the graphs, we aim to get to a certain level of FPS which we consider playable. While many may argue that the human eye can't see over 24 FPS or 30 FPS, any true gamer will tell you that as we climb higher in Frames Per Seconds (FPS), the overall gameplay feels smoother. There are three numbers we're looking out for when it comes to our benchmarks.

30 FPS - It's the minimum number we aim for when it comes to games. If you're not dropping below 30 FPS during games, you're going to have a nice and smooth gaming experience. The ideal situation is that even in a heavy fire fight, the minimum stays above 30 FPS making sure that you can continue to aim easily or turn the corner with no dramas.

60 FPS - It's the average we look for when we don't have a minimum coming at us. If we're getting an average of 60 FPS, we should have a minimum of 30 FPS or better and as mentioned above, it means we've got some smooth game play happening.

120 FPS - The new number that we've been hunting down over recent months. If you're the owner of a 120 Hz monitor, to get the most out of it you want to get around the 120 FPS mark. Moving from 60 FPS / 60 Hz to 120 FPS / 120 Hz brings with it a certain fluidity that can't really be explained, but instead has to be experienced. Of course, if you're buying a 120 Hz monitor to take advantage of 3D, an average of 120 FPS in our benchmark means that in 3D you will have an average of 60 FPS, which again means you should expect some smooth gameplay.

Why are some graphs incomplete?

Adding new game benchmarks is a long, tedious and time consuming task as every video card has to be re-tested in those new benchmarks. Because of that reason we have always just evaluated our benchmark line up every six months. To stay up to date and current with the latest benchmarks and games available, we've changed our approach to adding new benchmarks.

Our benchmark line up will progress and be updated as newer more intensive games with benchmarks comes to light. While this will mean that initially you may only see a single video card in those particular graphs, as the weeks go on and we test more and more video cards, the results will grow quickly. This will help keep our benchmark line up as up to date as possible as we introduce and remove games on a constant basis.

Benchmarks - 3DMark 11

3DMark 11

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1

Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com

Product Homepage: http://www.3dmark.com/3dmark11/

Buy It Here

3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world's most popular benchmark. Designed to measure your PC's gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

3DMark 11 performance is extremely strong and you can see this SLI setup comes out ahead of everything. We've got a decent bump in performance when compared to the reference speed SLI setup and you can see we have no problem handling the single GPU HD 7970 GHz Edition from AMD.

Benchmarks - Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Version and / or Patch Used: 3

Developer Homepage: http://www.unigine.com

Product Homepage: http://unigine.com/press-releases/091022-heaven_benchmark//

New benchmark grants the power to unleash the DirectX 11 potential in the gift wrapping of impressively towering graphics capabilities. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. With the interactive mode emerging experience of exploring the intricate world is ensured within reach. Through its advanced renderer, Unigine is one of the first to set precedence in showcasing the art assets with tessellation, bringing compelling visual finesse, utilizing the technology to the full extend and exhibiting the possibilities of enriching 3D gaming.

Heaven continues the trend of some fantastic performance, leaving the AMD setups for dead, thanks to the excellent NVIDIA tessellation performance. You can also again see a nice bump in performance when compared to the performance of the reference SLI setup.

Benchmarks - Phantasy Star Online 2

Phantasy Star Online 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.sega.com/?t=EnglishUSA

Product Homepage: http://www.pso2.com/us/html/index.html

Play Phantasy Star Online 2 and experience revolutionary combat in an action-driven, free-to-play multiplayer online RPG from SEGA. Take a journey into an immersive sci-fi fantasy narrative and explore mysterious worlds to unravel their secrets. Join fellow adventurers and fight against the legions of darkness to banish them from the galaxy.

Score explanation: Less than 2000: Please adjust your game settings because the processing load is quite heavy.

2000 through 5000: The game runs fine at the setting, if you have room, you can adjust some settings.

5001+: The game works wonderfully at this setting.

PSO2 performance on our SLI OC setup is just behind the HD 7970 GHz Edition in this instance. We see both a strong gain in performance, though, and just extremely playable numbers, as we sky rocket past the recommended 5001+ score.

Benchmarks - Lost Planet 2

Lost Planet 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark - Test A Scene 1

Developer Homepage: http://www.capcom.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.lostplanet2game.com/

Lost Planet 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the sequel to Lost Planet: Extreme Condition which is also made by Capcom, taking place ten years after the events of the first game, on the same fictional planet. The story takes place back on E.D.N. III 10 years after the events of the first game. The snow has melted to reveal jungles and more tropical areas that have taken the place of more frozen regions. The plot begins with Mercenaries fighting against Jungle Pirates. After destroying a mine, the Mercenaries continue on to evacuate the area, in which a Category-G Akrid appears and attacks them. After being rescued, they find out their evacuation point (Where the Category-G appeared) was a set-up and no pick up team awaited them. The last words imply possible DLC additions to the game, "There's nothing to be gained by wiping out snow pirates... unless you had some kind of grudge."

Lost Planet 2 sees some excellent performance with playable numbers at all resolutions. As for gains over the reference setup, you can see the overclock brings with it a nice boost in performance.

Benchmarks - Just Cause 2

Just Cause 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Dark Tower

Developer Homepage: http://www.eidos.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.justcause.com/

Just Cause 2 employs the Avalanche Engine 2.0, an updated version of the engine used in Just Cause. The game is set on the other side of the world from the original Just Cause, on the fictional island of Panau in Southeast Asia. Panau has varied terrain, from desert to alpine to rainforest. Rico Rodriguez returns as the protagonist, aiming to overthrow the evil dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay and confront his former mentor, Tom Sheldon.

We see the strong gains continue as we move to Just Cause 2 with decent bumps in performance across the board and performance that puts our overclocked SLI setup ahead of the higher end single GPU setups.

Benchmarks - F1 2012

F1 2012

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/

Product Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com

In F1 2012 players will feel the unparalleled thrill of becoming a FORMULA ONE driver with a host of new features, wide-ranging technical and gameplay advancements and extensive competitive and co-operative multiplayer components. F1 2012 will feature all of the official teams, drivers and circuits from the 2012 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, including the debut of the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX at Austin, Texas and the return of Germany's famous Hockenheim circuit to the calendar.

Performance under F1 2012 is strong and you can see at 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050 we hit the FPS wall that comes in at around 128 FPS. As for 2560 x 1600, we're a few FPS off that, but at 115 FPS, we've got some very impressive numbers here, which puts this SLI setup ahead of all the other setups at the highest resolution.

Benchmarks - Metro 2033

Metro 2033

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.4a-games.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.thqnordic.com/

Metro 2033 is an action-oriented video game with a combination of survival horror and first-person shooter elements. The game is based on the novel Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. It was developed by 4A Games in Ukraine and released in March 2010 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360.[3] In March 2006, 4A Games announced a partnership with Glukhovsky to collaborate on the game.[4] The game was announced at the 2009 Games Convention in Leipzig;[5] a first trailer came along with the announcement.[6] A sequel was announced, currently titled Metro: Last Light.

Metro 2033 performance across the board looks great and you can see we're over the 60 FPS mark at all resolutions, which is something we love to see. Against the single GPU setups we again see this overclocked SLI setup is able to come out ahead of the competition.

Benchmarks - Dirt Showdown

Dirt Showdown

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/

Product Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/dirtshowdown/360/

DiRT Showdown is the new arcade racing game from the team that brought you the award-winning DiRT series, uncaged in 2012. Pick up and play controls combine with electrifying events, frenzied crowds and stunning graphics to deliver high octane, dive in and drive thrills from event one.

Dirt Showdown sees some great gains, but you can see at the highest resolution we still fall short of that 60 FPS number we want that provides a solid gaming experience. Compared to the reference clocked setup, though, we see some nice gains with some appreciated breathing room at 1920 x 1200, as we move into the 70 FPS realm.

Benchmarks - Nexuiz

Nexuiz

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.alientrap.org/

Product Homepage: http://www.nexuiz.com/

Nexuiz is an Arena First Person shooter coming soon to consoles. Nexuiz is fast paced with extremely competitive game play. IllFonic brings Alientrap Software's Nexuiz to next-gen gaming consoles around the world while staying true to the game play refined over the years through development. IllFonic introduces a new Victorian influenced art style that is simultaneously futuristic and sophisticated. Nexuiz for consoles is powered by CryENGINE 3.

We can see some really good gains under Nexuiz and finally we're able to hit the 60 FPS mark at 1680 x 1050 - albeit with an even 60 FPS. These are just the kind of performance increases we like to see when it comes to SLI and overclocking.

Benchmarks - Sniper Elite V2

Sniper Elite V2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.rebellion.co.uk/

Product Homepage: http://sniperelitev2.com/us/age.html

Sniper Elite V2 features detailed sniping simulation with advanced ballistics, taking into account gravity, wind, velocity, bullet penetration, aim stability and more. Guaranteed to provide players with the most realistic simulation of military sharpshooting yet available.

Here we see some huge performance gains across the board and excellent FPS seen at all resolutions with an extremely solid 70 FPS being seen at 2560 x 1600, hence making for a very playable gaming experience.

Benchmarks - Sleeping Dogs

Sleeping Dogs

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://eu.square-enix.com/en

Product Homepage: http://www.sleepingdogs.net/

The core gameplay of Sleeping Dogs consists of giving the player an open world environment in which to move around freely. Sleeping Dogs is played as an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective action-adventure game with role-playing elements. The player controls Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer, as he goes undercover to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization. On foot, the player character has the ability to walk, run, jump, climb over obstacles and swim, as well as use weapons and martial arts in combat. Players also drive a variety of vehicles including cars, boats, and motorcycles.

We see some nice gains over the reference clocked setup and the GTX 650 Ti Boost SLI setup when overclocked comes out ahead of even the strongest single GPU solution from AMD, the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition.

Benchmarks - Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.01

Timedemo or Level Used: Ranch Long

Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.farcry2.com/

Buy It Here

The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and so much more.

As you'd expect we see strong performance under Far Cry 2 with the SLI setup hitting our minimum FPS wall and our average FPS wall at the lower resolutions. 2560 x 1600 performance is also extremely strong, as you can see above.

Benchmarks - Hitman Absolution

Hitman Absolution

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.ioi.dk/

Product Homepage: http://hitman.com/

Hitman: Absolution is an action-adventure stealth game developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix. It is the fifth entry in the Hitman game series, and runs on IO Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine. Before release, the developers stated that Absolution would be easier to play and more accessible, while still retaining hardcore aspects of the franchise. The game was released on 20 November 2012, which is in the 47th week of the year (in reference to the protagonist, Agent 47).

Hitman seems to hit this FPS wall quite earlier with a minimum of around the 50 FPS mark and average of around the 70 FPS mark. While it's earlier than we're used to seeing, and we'll of course know more as we test the game more and more, across the board you can see we've got some great performance out of this SLI OC setup. We see great minimums and averages across the board.

Benchmarks - Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.nixxes.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.tombraider.com/us/base/agegate?refer=184&

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure platform video game. Published by Square Enix, Tomb Raider is the fifth title developed by Crystal Dynamics in the Tomb Raider franchise. As the first entry in a new Tomb Raider continuity, the game is a reboot that emphasizes the reconstructed origins of the culturally influential lead character Lara Croft. Tomb Raider was released on 5 March 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows to universal critical acclaim.

While we fall short of where we want to be at 2560 x 1600, you can see that the SLI and overclock helps for some strong performance at 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050, making for some very playable numbers.

Benchmarks - BioShock Infinite

BioShock Infinite

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://irrationalgames.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.bioshockinfinite.com

BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game and the third installment in the BioShock series. Previously known as "Project Icarus", it is being developed by Irrational Games and was released worldwide on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms on March 26, 2013. BioShock Infinite is not part of the storyline of previous BioShock games but features similar gameplay concepts and themes.

BioShock Infinite sees great gains from the SLI setup, but also the overclock. You can see at 1920 x 1200 we move from a 61 FPS average with the cards clocked at reference speeds to 67 FPS when overclocked, helping give us some nice breathing room.

Benchmarks - High Quality AA and AF

High Quality AA and AF

While we test all our games with maximum in-game settings, turning on Anti-Aliasing (AA) and Antistrophic Filtering (AF) helps take the intensity of our testing to another level.

Here we see video cards go from playable FPS to an unplayable FPS and the real power houses continue to help break that 60 FPS mark we always aim for to provide a smooth gaming experience.

We see some excellent gains over the reference clocked SLI setup and just some excellent performance overall. Far Cry 2 with AA and AF on isn't an issue for this setup.

SLI brings with it huge gains over the single GPU setup, and overclocked you can see our setup here manages to come out ahead of everything else, with some playable numbers at 1920 x 1200. We're still a bit behind the 60 FPS mark at 2560 x 1600.

Just Cause 2 numbers are great and you can see we're again ahead of everything else and we're getting playable numbers at both resolutions. The gain over the reference clocked SLI setup at 2560 x 1600 is also appreciated as we move away from the 60 FPS region into the 70 FPS area.

While some great gains are seen under Sleeping Dogs, you can see we still fall below the 60 FPS mark at both resolutions.

Temperature Test

The temperature of the core is pulled from MSI Afterburner with the max reading used after a completed run off 3DMark Vantage and the Performance preset.

The GTX 650 Ti Boost in general seems to be a warm running model and you can see above in SLI and when overclocked, the hottest core comes in at 78c. As you can see compared to the other cards here this is quite warm - saying that, though, the setup of course didn't have any issues running.

Sound Test

Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).

I think one of the larger reasons for the heat levels on the Palit and Gainward cards is the fact that they've been quite aggressive when it comes to noise levels.

You can see that even in SLI, this is an extremely quiet setup. If you wanted your cards to run a bit cooler and you didn't mind the extra noise, you could always use something like MSI Afterburner and run the fans manually at a higher RPM.

Power Consumption Test

Using our PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01 or "Power Thingy" as it has become quickly known as to our readers, we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated graphics cards installed. Keep in mind; it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).

There are a few important notes to remember though; while our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen in particular tests the power being drawn as much as 10% more. We test at the exact same stage every time; therefore tests should be very consistent and accurate.

The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum - only a SSD hard drive is used with a single CD ROM and minimal cooling fans.

So while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items, the draw is going to be higher.

Power draw sits as you'd expect considering a second card has been thrown into the mix. At over 400 Watt it's not a number that is too high and you should more than likely have a decent branded quality 600+ watt power supply if you're going to be running this kind of setup.

Pricing, Availability and Final Thoughts

When we looked at the performance of the reference video cards in SLI earlier this month, we found ourselves extremely impressed with the setup. Not only is the performance extremely strong, but the price point it hits at makes it extremely attractive.

It's safe to say that the setup on a whole is consistently faster than the single GPU AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition video card. While one could argue it's unfair to compare the single GPU setup with the dual GPU SLI one here, the bottom line is the price point of the two setups. The SLI setup we're looking at here today is going to cost you $339.98, while the cheapest HD 7970 GHz Edition is going to cost you $419.99 after rebate.

The decision to go down the path of a single HD 7970 GHz Edition over a setup like this today could be quite hard. SLI performance is extremely strong and you don't see the negative performance impact, which is still occasionally seen on AMD CrossFire setups. Noise levels on this setup is also extremely low, although temperature of the core is a little warmer than we'd like.

Let's step away from the performance of the SLI setup and concentrating more on the Gainward offering. Performance on the single card is going to be similar to the reference card, which is also similar to the Palit card, which carries with it the same clock speeds. The bundle is pretty small, but again considering the price point, this isn't a huge surprise. Of course we have to remember that the AMD Radeon HD 7790 while a little slower also comes bundled with BioShock Infinite, which we think makes for a good deal.

Noise levels on the Gainward card are pretty much identical to that of the Palit which is due to the fact that the two cards are near identical in most respects. If you're looking for a mid-range video card that is near silent, this is a great option from Gainward, thanks to that very quiet dual fan cooler.

The one setup that we haven't looked at yet and we really need to is HD 7790 in CrossFire. That is next on our to-do list and it will be interesting to see how these $300ish dual GPU setups compete against each other.