EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost SuperClocked 2GB Video Card Review

Introduction

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Our video card content category lately has been truly dominated with some extremely high-end setups ranging from $1,000 - $2,000. Today we take everything back to what a lot of people consider normal, and move over to the mid $100 price bracket, where the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost GPU sits.

We've looked at a number of AMD Radeon HD 7790 and GTX 650 Ti Boost models since we saw them lunch last month. On the AMD side we've looked at versions from Sapphire, GIGABYTE and ASUS - all of which have done a good job of impressing us with strong out of the box performance.

As for the NVIDIA side we've looked at a reference version card running at stock clock speeds, overclocked and in SLI mode. Along with the reference card looked at in a number of ways, we've also checked out retail options from Palit, Gainward and MSI.

Today, though, it's all about the EVGA version that falls under the SuperClocked name. A name that we've seen a bit lately thanks to the arrival of the EVGA GTX TITAN SuperClocked 6GB that we completely fell in love with. While we'd normally move from here into the box and bundle, like the GTX TITAN we looked at recently, we've unfortunately got just the video card on hand today.

So from here we'll move straight onto the card before looking at the specifications to see what kind of overclock the "SuperClocked" title brings with it. We'll then take a quick look at our test system, talk about the setups that you'll see in our graphs today, and then get stuck straight into the performance numbers.

The Card and Specifications

The Card

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You can see the overall cooler design is pretty much identical to the NVIDIA reference version. We've got the fan on the right side, which draws cool air in, and pushes it directly across the core and straight out the back of the case.

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As we move to the top you see the exact setup you'd expect - a single 6-pin PCIe power connector towards the back, while closer to the front, we have a single SLI connector, allowing us to run up to two of these video cards together for extra performance.

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Finishing off our look at the card with the connectivity, you can see we've got a Dual-Link DVI-D and DVI-I port along with a HDMI and DisplayPort to round off the connections. This is a fairly standard setup that we've seen on other GTX 650 Ti Boost offerings.

Specifications

Out of the box a reference clocked GTX 650 Ti Boost comes with a core clock of 980MHz, which is pushed to 1033MHz via boost. As for the 2GB of GDDR5 memory, that comes in at 6008MHz QDR.

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EVGA have provided a nice boost with the overclock. While they've chosen to leave the GDDR5 speed at 6008MHz, they've pushed the core up to 1072MHz, which is in turn pushed even higher to 1137MHz via boost.

This compares to the Palit and Gainward offerings which saw only a small core increase to 1006MHz, which was pushed to 1072MHz via boost. Our testing of those video cards showed that the small overclock really did little for extra performance, so we're hoping the larger core increase that EVGA has offered, separates this offering a little more from the pack.

Benchmarks - Test System Setup

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

Looking at the setups we've got in our graphs today, alongside the EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost SuperClocked, we've also got the reference clocked NVIDIA offering and the slightly overclocked Palit GTX 650 Ti Boost. Finally from the NVIDIA side we've got the MSI GTX 660 HAWK 2GB.

As for the AMD line up we've got the whole HD 7700 series with the HIS HD 7750 1GB IceQ X Turbo, HIS HD 7770 iCooler overclocked to over 1100MHz, the Sapphire HD 7790 1GB Dual-X OC and finally the ASUS HD 7790 DirectCU II OC that we clocked to over 1200MHz on the core.

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.

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Starting off with 3DMark 11, we can see straight away that the EVGA offering is able to separate itself from both the reference and Palit video cards.

Against the Sapphire HD 7790 1GB, we see the EVGA video card perform exceptionally well, especially at the higher resolutions.

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.

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Heaven has always favored NVIDIA GeForce offerings due to the strong tessellation presence. You can again see that the GTX 650 Ti Boost sits ahead of the HD 7790 and the EVGA model manages to again stand out ahead of the other GTX 650 Ti Boost cards with their lower clock speeds.

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.

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PSO 2 performance continues the trend with the EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost SuperClocked being able to separate itself from the other cards. We also continue to see it sit ahead of the HD 7790 by a decent margin.

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."

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Lost Planet 2 performance on the GTX 650 Ti Boost is strong with good numbers seen at 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050.

While we don't see much change between the GTX 650 Ti Boost offerings at the higher resolution, you can see at 1680 x 1050, the EVGA model again separates itself from the other cards.

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.

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Just Cause 2 performance is a lot like Lost Planet 2 with strong numbers being seen at the lower two resolutions.

We see the EVGA again separate itself slightly from the other GTX 650 TI Boost offerings. It's not by a major amount, but as always, every extra FPS is appreciated.

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.

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Across the board we can see a bit of a boost with the most appreciated extra couple of FPS being seen at the highest resolution, as we find ourselves sitting in the 60 FPS realm.

Against the HD 7790 you can see that we have playable numbers at all resolutions, while the AMD offerings fall shy 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.

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Metro 2033 sees some great performance gains. At 1920 x 1200 you can see we move from below 60 FPS to over it with the out of the box overclock offered by EVGA.

You can see we also move from the 60s into the 70s at 1680 x 1050. These are always the most appreciated gains for improved gameplay.

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.

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While across the board the EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost SuperClocked continues to do a good job of separating itself from the other GTX 650 Ti Boost cards, you can see that we do fall short of the 60 FPS average we want at every resolution.

The same happens for the HD 7790, too, unless we manually overclock it.

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.

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While we see a little bit of movement here, you can see across the board, we don't have a single setup that is in the 60 FPS realm, let alone the 50 FPS area.

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.

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Sniper Elite V2 again makes some excellent use of the overclock on offer here from EVGA. You can see at 1680 x 1050 we manage to move from 60 FPS to 66 FPS with the overclock. That extra breathing room is extremely appreciated.

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.

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Sleeping Dogs performance gains are strong across the board with the EVGA model continuing to separate itself with its strong out of the box overclock.

Against the AMD HD 7790, we can again see across the board that the NVIDIA GTX 650 Ti Boost is able to take out the win.

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.

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Far Cry 2 numbers look good at all resolutions with nice little performance jumps and strong numbers being seen at every resolution including a 41 FPS minimum at 2560 x 1600.

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).

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Hitman Absolution minimum numbers look good at the lower resolutions. Saying that, we'd prefer a little more FPS in the average department. Across the board, though, we see that all of the GTX 650 Ti Boost video cards sit quite close to each other, with little separating them.

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.

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While the EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost SuperClocked again does a good job of separating itself from the pack, the overall the numbers are just too low to be able to provide a solid gaming experience.

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.

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BioShock Infinite sees some fantastic gains from the EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost SuperClocked when compared to the other video cards.

However, the numbers are still just a little shy of where we'd like them to be.

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.

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While we see a bit of movement at both resolutions, it's not quite enough at the higher 2560 x 1600 test to bring that minimum up to the 30 FPS realm.

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While across our other AA and AF tests we really manage to see some nice performance increases, you can see that overall the numbers are just a little too low.

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.

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Coming in at 73c, the EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost SuperClocked runs a little warm. Saying that, it's not at a temperature that we're worried about, and it's important that we're in an open air environment, which tends to not be as efficient as a closed case, with proper air flow.

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).

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Checking out noise levels you can see we're in the bottom half of the pack, with some overall strong numbers being seen in both the idle and load departments.

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.

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Power draw on the EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost SuperClocked is extremely impressive, coming in towards the very bottom of the pack.

Pricing, Availability and Final Thoughts

At the time of writing the EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB SuperClocked can be had for $169.99 after a $10 rebate. This puts it in the middle of the pack when compared to other GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB offerings. The difference between what we're seeing from EVGA, though, and all the other cards, is the fact that this one carries with it the highest out of the box overclock.

We also know after testing the Palit GTX 650 Ti Boost that the small overclock really does very little for added performance. While we do at times see it sneak out ahead of the reference model from NVIDIA, the increase isn't enough for it to really be noticed in real-world gameplay. On the other hand, the push to 1072MHz offered by EVGA, which is then pushed to 1137MHz via the boost feature, really helps it jump out in front of the pack.

Not only do you see the gains easier, you also see at times the performance increase is enough to move us from unplayable to playable, or just give us a bit more breathing room in that 60 FPS region, hence making everything run smoother.

We can't really comment too much on the bundle except for the fact that over at Newegg you get yourself a $75 value in-game coupon for World of Tanks, PlanetSide 2 and Hawken. The value of this for most, though, isn't quite as appealing as the BioShock Infiniti inclusion that comes with AMD's Radeon HD 7790.

If you're not interested in overclocking yourself, the EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB SuperClocked indeed stands out as it gives you performance that's clearly faster than the competition. What's also appealing is the fact that there's no massive price premium or anything like that associated with the model.

The fastest out of the box GTX 650 Ti Boost clearly comes from EVGA in its SuperClocked model, and at the moment, it's the best one to buy.