ZOTAC GTX650 Ti AMP! Review

The latest entrant to the Kepler family, the GTX650Ti hits the scene today and we have the ZOTAC AMP! edition to play with. See how it gets on…

Product on Review: ZOTAC GTX 650 Ti 2GB GDDR5
Manufacturer and Sponsor: ZOTAC
Street Price: £144.50 At time of review

Budget and gaming are two words that don’t often go well together. When pricing up a new PC, the graphics card is often the most expensive component which is why so many manufacturers are looking for on-board video solutions. All too often though we see that on-board solutions simply do not have the grunt available to power the latest games to any playable level at today’s most popular resolution – 1920×1080. It’s also safe to assume that not everybody has the space or for that matter even wants a PC the size of a small refrigerator. Small form factor PC’s popularity is rising exponentially and with that manufacturers are having to downsize their components without compromising on performance.

In the latest round of graphics card releases, the AMD HD77XX series produced ground breaking performance while still keeping a small footprint. Sure, the cards won’t be breaking any 3DMark records any time soon but they offered DirectX 11 gaming at a competitive price. The introduction of Kepler by NVIDIA has given AMD numerous headaches, forcing AMD to drastically reduce the price of the 7 series range to compete. Today, we see what could be the final nail in the 7 series’ coffin, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX650 Titanium or ‘Ti’ as it’s more commonly known.

NVIDIA claim that enthusiasts change their graphics card solutions every three years and with this in mind, the GTX650 Ti is aimed at users who own the 9600 GT, which is now over four years old. Claims of a 5x performance boost are heralded by NVIDIA who also claim the GTX650 Ti out performs last year’s GTX550 Ti by 1.5x, not a bad performance boost at all considering the GTX650 utilises DirectX 11 enhancements something the 9600 GT is incapable of. Today though we will be concentrating on today’s most recent graphics cards available and will be comparing the GTX650Ti to these, specifically the AMD HD7770, it’s direct competitor to see which is best for you, allowing you to make the most informed decision when purchasing.

About ZOTAC

Established in 2006, ZOTAC is the world’s largest and most innovative manufacturer of graphics cards, mini-ITX motherboards and mini-PCs. ZOTAC system components, and mini-PCs can be found in all continents around the globe.

Derived from the terms “zone,” for being distinct in the PC components and systems business, and “tact,” for our superior skill, experience, quality and manufacturing capabilities. Combined, “ZOTAC,” represents technological strength and experience blended with a fresh approach on the industry’s ever-changing needs.

ZOTAC entered the market with an expanded lineup of NVIDIA® GeForce® based graphics cards, which included the passive-cooled ZOTAC GeForce® ZONE Editions and class leading overclocked ZOTAC GeForce® AMP! Editions, in addition to the standard GeForce® series lineup. ZOTAC has since expanded its focus to include motherboards, mini-PCs and innovative accessories worldwide.

ZOTAC products are manufactured to the most rigorous quality standards that combine world-class quality control, reliability, features and performance with superior end-user and channel support.

Specification

Rather than trim back the GK104 found on the GTX680/670, the GTX650 features the same GK106 core found in the GTX660, a totally new processing unit.

The GK106 core still retains many of the features found on the flagship GK104 processor. SMX performance features are still there offering more shader, texture and processing performance while consuming less power than previous DX11 GPU’s. Indeed, NVIDIA claim that the new Kepler core is capable of delivering twice the performance/watt ratio than the 1st gen DX11 graphics cards!

The new GTX650 contains four of these SMX units which gives us a total of 768 CUDA cores and 64 texture units. The GTX650 ships with a 128-bit memory interface spread over two 64-bit memory controllers, which allows NVIDIA to support mixed density memory modules (2GB instead of 1.5GB). The reference design ships with just 1GB of GDDR5 however, our ZOTAC AMP! editon has twice this amount.

Missing Feature
Sadly, the GPU Boost feature found in higher end GeForce offerings is disabled so overclocking the card, at least at the time of this review was not available. This is discussed more in the ‘Overclocking’ section of the review.

ZOTAC GTX650 Ti AMP! Specification

Graphics Processing Clusters 3
SMXs 4
CUDA Cores 768
Texture Units 64
ROP Units 16
Base Clock 1033 MHz
Boost Clock NA
Memory Clock (Data rate)6200 MHz
L2 Cache Size 256KB
Video Memory 2048MB GDDR5
Memory Interface 128-bit
Total Memory Bandwidth 99.2 GB/s
Fabrication Process 28 nm
Transistor Count 2.54 Billion
Connectors 2 x Dual-Link 2 x HDMI
Form Factor Dual Slot
Power Connectors 1 x 6-pin
Recommended Power Supply 400 Watts
Thermal Design Power 110 Watts
Thermal Threshold 98° C

Features

SMX
Kepler GPUs feature our next-generation Streaming Multiprocessor, SMX. To improve performance, SMX features substantially more shader, texture, and geometry processing units, while the double speed processor clock present in prior GeForce GPUs has been eliminated in favor of more CUDA cores operating at the lower-speed graphics clock. This change dramatically improves Kepler’s performance per watt.

Anti-Aliasing
NVIDIA FXAA technology harnesses the power of the GPU’s CUDA Cores to reduce visible aliasing. It is applied with other post-processing steps like motion blur and bloom. For game engines making use of deferred shading, FXAA provides a performance and memory advantage over deferred shading with multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA). FXAA reduces but does not completely eliminate shader aliasing. FXAA’s chief advantage over traditional MSAA is higher performance. In many cases, FXAA can be applied at a cost of 1ms per frame or less, resulting in frame rates that are often 2x higher than 4xMSAA with comparable image quality.

TXAA is a new film-style AA technique that’s designed to exploit GeForce GTX600 series high texture performance. TXAA combines the raw power of MSAA with sophisticated resolve filters similar to those employed in CG films. TXAA is available with two modes: TXAA 1 and TXAA 2. TXAA 1 offers visual quality on par with 8xMSAA with the performance similar to 2xMSAA, while TXAA 2 offers image quality that’s superior to 8xMSAA, with performance comparable to 4xMSAA.

NVIDIA 3D Vision
NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ technology is a combination of Graphics Processor Units (GPU), specialized 3D glasses, software, and certified displays and projectors that deliver an immersive 3D experience on your PC or workstation. For a complete list of system requirements for NVIDIA 3D Vision Technology

NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround
NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround expands your field of view across three 3D monitors for Breathtaking panoramic gaming. At an ultra-wide resolution of 5760×1080, games like Battlefield Bad Company 2 have to be played to be believed.

CUDA
CUDA is NVIDIA’s parallel computing architecture that enables dramatic increases in computing performance by harnessing the power of the GPU to speed up the most demanding tasks you can run on your PC.

SLI
NVIDIA SLI technology links multiple GeForce GPUs together for dramatically improved graphics performance. With over 1000 supported applications and used by over 94% of multi-GPU PCs on Steam, SLI is the technology of choice for gamers who demand the very best.

NVIDIA PureVideo
Blu-ray and HD DVD movies are bringing a new level of movie-viewing experience; with high-definition image quality far surpassing standard-definition DVDs. NVIDIA PureVideo™ HD2 technology provides unsurpassed Blu-ray and HD DVD movie picture quality.

Dual Link DVI
Dual-link DVI convertible output supports Video/Audio signal integration through DVI to HDMI interface, which drivers resolution of a digital display up to 1920×1200 or higher.

PhysiX
PhysX™ is designed specifically for hardware acceleration by powerful processors with hundreds of cores. Combined with the tremendous parallel processing capability of the GPU, PhysX™ will provide an exponential increase in physics processing power and will take gaming to a new level delivering rich, immersive physical gaming environments

Packaging & Accessories

Box Front

Yet again we see a very familiar packaging design with the attractive orange and black design clearly identifiable as a ZOTAC product. There is also no mistaking that this is an AMP! (read performance) product thanks to the AMP! Edition emblazoned across the midriff of the box front design.

Box Rear

The rear of the box introduces the feature set of the GTX650Ti along with minimum system requirements and what is included in the box.

Accessories

While not pictured, NVIDIA have assured us that like higher end products which featured a free copy of Borderlands 2, the entry level GTX650Ti will also receive a free game from participating e-tailers – Assassins Creed III. The usual furore of manuals and installation guides are included in the accessory list along with a driver CD, DVI/VGA adaptor and a twin MOLEX-6pin power port.

First Look

Card Top

The ZOTAC GTX650 Ti is a tiny card in comparison to many graphics cards currently on sale. Measuring just 160mm in length it is little more than half the size of its bigger brother the ZOTAC GTX680 AMP! yet it still features many of the attractive qualities of its stable-mate with a translucent orange 80mm fan held in place by louvered a matt black frame.

Black PCB

Again, we were impressed by ZOTAC’s PCB colouration which is a solid matt black, matching the GPU shroud perfectly. As with the GTX660Ti, The ZOTAC design has crammed 4x256MB GDDR5 memory modules on the rear of the PCB which do not receive any active cooling.

I/O Backplate

The I/O back plate of the card features a twin DVI ports, twin HDMI ports along with a small vent not that it’s required in all honesty as the majority of hot air is exhausted back into the case.

Profile

The GTX650Ti is still a twin port design, taking up two PCI slots thanks to the comparatively large cooling design. As you can see from this angle, the cards cooler is an open design with the black shroud simply acting as a frame and will do little to direct hot air to the vent on the rear.

Power Ports

The card is powered by a single 6pin PCIe power plug which most modern PSU’s should have at least one of. If not the ZOTAC have thoughtfully added a MOLEX to PCIe adapter. A 400W PSU with a 20A rating is recommended by ZOTAC for this GPU.

Overview

We liked the look of the GTX650Ti. It is small enough to fit all but the smallest PC setups and would be perfect for an mATX or HTPC if you are short on space. The contrasting orange and black theme, as ever, works very well together and is immediately identifiable as a ZOTAC product.

Let’s delve a little deeper and take a closer look at today’s sample…

Closer Look

Heatsink

Here we see that the heatsink which is none to dissimilar to the reference Intel CPU heatsinks. The Aluminium circular design, while basic, should be enough to cope with the 110W TDP, keeping the GPU well below the 98c thermal threshold.

Naked GTX650 Ti

With the main heatsink removed via 4 spring loaded screws, we can see that ZOTAC have attached four foam blocks to equalise the pressure on the core making heatsink removal and replacement less difficult and primarily, less likely to ‘nibble’ the core. The layout of the GPU is typical of today’s design with the power port located towards one end of the card while the core is surrounded by memory modules with the VRM near the IO area.

Voltage Regulation Module

Each of the three R60 chokes are matched with 2 MOSFETs making a 2+1 phase power design for the voltage regulation module.

Memory

The memory modules hail from Hynix with a product line of H5GQ2H24AFR ROC. This memory is rated to 1500MHz at 1.6vdd so with the memory running at a measly 1350MHz I dare say we can push the memory a little higher!

Core

Finally we see the core of the ZOTAC GTX650 Ti: The GK106. Built on the same 28nm manufacturing process as the rest of the Kepler family. It also happens to have a massive 2.54billion transistor count so without further discussion, I think it’s time we put the card through its paces…

Test Setup

With the latest Intel chipset release we decided to update our ageing X58 setup to the new X79 chipset. Not only that but we will be using the flagship Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition processor clocked to 4.5GHz to ensure we have no CPU bottlenecks. With 16GB of ram on board there should be minimal paging so the benchmarks we run today will hopefully give a true reflection of the graphics card’s performance.

Some of the components for our test bench were kindly donated by CORSAIR who provided the majority of components without whom we would not have been able to bring you this review so a big thanks to them.

Graphics cards on test:
ZOTAC GTX650 Ti AMP! 2GB GDDR5

AMD HD7770 1GB GDDR5

ZOTAC GTX660 2GB GDDR5
GIGABYTE GTX680 Super Overclock
MSI GTX680 Twin Frozr 2GB GDDR5
ZOTAC GTX660Ti AMP! Edition 2GB GDDR5
MSI R7870 Hawk 2GB GDDR5
EVGA GTX680 SuperClocked Signature 2GB GDDR5
GIGABYTE GTX680 Windforce 2GB GDDR5
NVIDIA GTX670 2GB GDDR5
HIS HD 7870 IceQ Turbo 2GB GDDR5
MSI HD 7870 Twin Frozr III OC 2GB GDDR5
GIGABYTE HD7850 OC WindForce x2 2GB GDDR5
ZOTAC GTX680 2GB GDDR5
AMD HD7870 2GB GDDR5
Zotac GTX580 AMP2! 3GB GDDR5
XFX R7970 Black Edition 3GB GDDR5
XFX R7770 Black Edition ‘S’ 1GB GDDR5
AMD HD7750 1GB GDDR5
HIS HD7970 3GB GDDR5
XFX DD Radeon R7950 3072MB GDDR5
PowerColor PCS+ Radeon HD7950 3072MB GDDR5
AMD Radeon HD7950 3072MB GDDR5
AMD Radeon HD7970 3072MB GDDR5
ZOTAC GTX570 AMP! 1280MB GDDR5
NVIDIA GTX570 1280MB GDDR5
MSI GTX560Ti-448 Twin Frozr III 1280MB GDDR5
MSI GTX560Ti-384 Twin Frozr III 2GB GDDR5
AMD HD6990 4GB GDDR5

***NOTE*** Pre-release Forceware drivers (306.38) were used with the ZOTAC GTX650 Ti.

Motherboard: MSI X79 Big Bang X-Power II
CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition @ 4.5GHz
RAM – 16GB (4x4GB) Corsair Vengeance (Red) DDR3 @ 1866MHz 9-10-9-27
Power Supply – ANTEC High Current Pro 1200W
Hard Drive – Kingston HyperX 240GB
Cooler – Corsair H100

Benchmarks
Normally we would run the tests at four settings however at 2560×1600 both the NVIDIA GTX650 Ti and AMD HD7770 could not produce adequate (playable) frames per second at 2560×1600 so these tests were omitted as they served no purpose other than to state that 1920×1080 is the maximum resolution one could hope to utilise these two cards for.

Battlefield 3
Crysis 2
Crysis Warhead
Metro 2033
Batman: Arkham City
Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
DiRT 3
Futuremark 3DMark 2011
Unigine: Heaven 2.5

Let’s see how today’s graphics card performed…

Overclocking (Lack of GPU Boost)

The introduction of the GTX650Ti see NVIDIA beginning to lock down overclocking with the omission of GPU Boost. Incredulously, NVIDIA have taken this step clearly to boost profits. Why buy a GTX680 when you can overclock a GTX670. Why buy a GTX670 when you can overclock a GTX660Ti? Why buy a GTX660 when you can overclock…..you get the picture.

In the case of the GTX650Ti we received a few weeks back, we tried overclocking and while overclocking tools allowed the movements of sliders, only the memory clockspeeds would latch. The GPU clockspeed just wouldn’t increase at all. After chatting with our contacts and receiving the white paper, it was confirmed that GPU Boost would not be a ‘feature’ of the GTX650 Ti.

We did eventually manage to get the card to overclock using precision X but nothing to write home about (80 Mhz) with the card already overclocked from the factory.

This will undoubtedly cause huge debate as it appears NVIDIA are following in the footsteps of Intel, by locking overclocking, forcing people to buy higher end equipment with ‘unlocked’ features. This is perhaps not the best move by NVIDIA as it goes against the ethos of overclocking. Those who have been in the game for as long as we have will understand that people overclocked to get similar performance out of older hardware to compete with the new. Now it appears you need a barrel load of money to overclock which has evolved into a competition of who has the biggest bank balance, not who had the greatest skill. So while we can understand NVIDIA’s business case for locking overclocking on entry level cards, overclocking purists will certainly not be happy at all by the direction NVIDIA have taken.

Temperature, Acoustics and Power Consumption

Power Consumption

To test for power consumption we do not use anything too technical, just a wall meter which measures the total system power draw minus the monitor.

A 400w power supply with a single 6pin PCIe power cable is all that’s required to power the GTX650Ti and as you can see from the graph above, low power consumption is one of the GTX650Ti’s main attractions. That said in could not quite match the AMD HD7770, consuming around 30W more under load.

Temperature

To test temperatures we measured idle temperatures after booting windows, letting all applications finish loading and ran a few benchmarks. Once the benchmarks were complete we left the card to reach a cooling plateau where we then took the idle temperatures. For the load tests, we would normally run Furmark for 20 minutes, taking the absolute maximum temperature attained however we found that this throttled the card and resulted in spurious results. So we set Heaven running continuously for 20 minutes and used this as a temperature result as the card did not throttle with this application.

Despite consuming a little more power than the AMD HD7770, it ran much, much cooler. Much of this temperature difference could be equated to the improved cooling on the ZOTAC GTX650Ti however I also believe the GTX650Ti is also more efficient, turning much of its power to performance rather than wasted heat.

Acoustics

The ZOTAC GTX650Ti was virtually silent when idle and even when placed under load the card emitted little more than a murmur. Intrigued by the lack of volume, we increased the speed of the single fan to maximum. Despite the higher revolutions, the fan was still very quiet in comparison to most other cooling designs.

Let’s move on to our suite of gaming and synthetic benchmarks…

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 leaps ahead of its time with the power of Frostbite™ 2, the next instalment of DICE’s cutting-edge game engine. This state-of-the-art technology is the foundation on which Battlefield 3 is built, delivering enhanced visual quality, a grand sense of scale, massive destruction, dynamic audio and incredibly lifelike character animations. As bullets whiz by, walls crumble, and explosions throw you to the ground, the battlefield feels more alive and interactive than ever before. In Battlefield 3, players step into the role of the elite U.S. Marines where they will experience heart-pounding missions across diverse locations including Paris, Tehran and New York.

Average and minimum frames per second were measured using Fraps during the parking lot scene on Operation Sword Breaker. High and Ultra presets were loaded at both resolutions.