ASUS GTX 1650 Phoenix Graphics Card Review

ASUS GTX 1650 Phoenix The new Nvidia GTX 1650 series is here at last, and ASUS have sent us their new Phoenix model to test! Now, these aren't going to topple the RTX 2080 Ti any time soon. However, at about 1/10th of the cost, are they 1/10th of the performance? For those who are gaming at 1080p, you don't need to spend megabucks on your new build to play the latest games. For those who want to save on cost, but still play the latest titles, the GTX 1650 cards are very appealing. However, just how fast are they and can they keep up with the budget offerings from AMD? Let's find out! 16xx Reviews We've already tested the ASUS GTX 1660 OC Phoenix, and it was fantastic. Incredible performance for both 1080p and 1440p. At a reduced cost, I'm expecting the GTX 1650 to perform well at 1080p, but not so well at 1440p or 4K. Here are all our 1650 reviews. However, if you want to spend a little more, you can read our reviews of the 1660 and 1660 Ti's all linked below also. GTX 1650 ASUS GTX 1650 PhoenixMSI Gaming X GTX 1650Palit GTX 1650 StormXGigabyte GTX 1650 Gaming OC GTX 1660 ASUS GTX 1660 OC PhoenixZotac GTX 1660 Twin FanEVGA GTX 1660 XC UltraMSI GTX 1660 6GB Gaming XGigabyte GTX 1660 Gaming OC GTX 1660 Ti ASUS Strix GTX 1660 TiGigabyte GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OCNvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Features Pretty much all of the GTX 1650 cards are about the same. The fine details come down to the cooler, and any factory overclocks. The bigger the cooler, the higher the card can be clocked for more performance. The Phoenix is a fairly mid-range model, with a modest cooler, so I'm expecting it to sit in the middle of the range of GTX 1650 cards. GPU Model: TU117-300 (TU117)Nvidia Turing Architecture12 nm FinFET896 CUDAs56 TMUs32 ROPs4GB GDDR5128-bit Bus Specifications For in-depth specifications, please visit the official product page here. 4K Video Review Packaging The box is nice and compact, but that makes sense, since this is a fairly small GPU. Despite being small, we can see it is one of their "OC Edition" cards, so it runs slightly above reference speeds out of the box. It also features a better quality dual bearing fan for improved life span. Around the back, we see they're really focused on reliability. This is achieved with their more durable fan, as well as their auto-extreme manufacturing process. In the box, you'll find the usual startup guide, as well as a CD Rom. Personally, I don't think either are needed, as it's all on their website these days, and you'll likely get newer drivers online anyway. A Closer Look The card is super compact, but still looks rather funky. It reminds me of the old Bat Mobile with those twin strips down it. Its compact design should make it super easy to install though, even in some mini-ITX or SFF systems. The single fan design doesn't look like much, but the power usage on this card is meant to be extremely low. Therefore, that spiral radiator and fan combo should be more than enough to keep things in order. To help with airflow, the plastic shroud is open on all sides. This will allow heat to easily leave the GPU and keep airflow at a maximum. Admittedly, it's not the sexiest design, but it's affordable and functional. Hopefully the performance reflects that same value for money approach. You'll notice this GPU has no extra GPU power cable requirements. It simply draws power directly from the motherboard. However, around the back connectivity look decent, with 1 x HDMI, 1 x DP, and 1 x DVI-D. How We Test We continue to update our testing methods around once per year. As such, we re-test older hardware to reflect changes over time. These can be driver updates, Windows updates, game patches, and more; all of which have an impact on performance figures. Furthermore, we update our test bench to newer and more relevant hardware. This means that our new reviews aren’t always comparable to those of older reviews, so please compare the testing methodology on older reviews should you be trying to compare them with newer ones. Replicate Our Results When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory and kept as simple as possible, although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of graphics card, CPU, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you’re looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using the benchmarks available to you. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware tested here to give you a ballpark figure of how much of an upgrade this will provide you with. Graphics Card Test System Motherboard – Aorus Z390 Gaming MasterProcessor – Intel Core i9-9900K (Stock)RAM – Crucial Ballistix Gaming 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHzCPU Cooler – Noctua NH-D15SPower Supply – Be Quiet Power Zone 1000WMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Thermaltake Core P5 TGOperating System – Windows 10 64-bitMonitor – AOC 28-Inch 4K Gaming Monitor Additional Hardware Killawatt style electricity usage meter wall plugPrecision Gold N05CC Decibel meter Gaming To gauge performance levels which are easily reproduced time after time, by both ourselves and our readers, we now stick strictly to games default profiles. With our previous reviews, we used the “Medium or Normal” preset. However, as GPUs get faster, we’ve now moved that up to “High” profiles for all games, at all resolutions. V-Sync is always disabled in our testing, as is FreeSync and G-Sync technologies or similar. Graphics card power usage set to optimised or balance, and the system power mode set to High Performance within Windows and the available GPU driver software. Identical settings are used for all resolutions unless otherwise stated. Games and Settings Used Shadow of the Tomb Raider DX12 High Preset1080p1440p2160pDeus Ex: Mankind Divided DX12 High Preset1080p1440p2160pGhost Recon: Wildlands High Preset1080p1440p2160pBattlefield V DX12 High Preset1080p1440p2160pBattlefield V DX12 High Preset (DXR Enabled) NVIDIA RTX Cards ONLY1080p1440p2160pMetro Exodus DX12 High Preset1080p1440p2160pMetro Exodus DX12 High Preset (RT, then RT and DLSS Enabled) NVIDIA RTX Cards ONLY1080p1440p2160pFar Cry New Dawn High Preset1080p1440p2160p The Division 2 High Preset1080p1440p2160p Software Used 3DMark Fire Strike (download)FireStrike Ultra BenchmarkUnigine Superposition (download)4K Optimised BenchmarkHWMonitor (download)GPU-Z Noise Everyone has a reasonable noise level preference when it comes to comes to components on a computer. Some can handle all fans at 100% load to keep temperatures down; some want an entirely silent computer. To accurately gauge the noise output of a graphics card, we position a Precision Gold N05CC one meter above our open-air test bench and take an average reading at idle and load. Gaming noise levels are taken during a CPU vs CPU match a preset match in Soul Calibur VI. Power Consumption We take power readings during idle state with no background applications running. Then again at 50% completion of the Unigine Superposition benchmark, using the average as the final published result. Gaming power consumption is taken during a CPU vs CPU match a preset match in Soul Calibur VI. Temperatures We take temperature readings after 10 minutes of desktop idle with no background programs running, then take the recorded maximum delivered from Unigine Superposition after a 4K optimised run, confirming the numbers are accurate with HWMonitor. Furthermore, the ambient temperature is always kept +/- 1c from 21c. Gaming temperatures are taken during a CPU vs CPU match a preset match in Soul Calibur VI. Synthetic Benchmarks 3DMark FireStrike Despite only using the PCIe power, the much less "power-ful" Phoenix wasn't as far off the pace of the Gaming OC as we expected. In fact, it's pretty damn close. Of course, the scores are still trash as this is a 4K benchmark, and 4GB of VRAM really struggles in that regard. 3DMark TimeSpy The same here though, obviously a bit behind the Gigabyte model, but not as much as expected. This isn't a 4K test, and you can see the gap from the RX570 is much smaller this time around. Unigine Superposition Again, pretty much as you would expect, lagging at 4K but still landing where it should no our charts. Shadow of the Tomb Raider At 50 FPS, the performance is pretty spot on here. Not the magical 60 FPS, but only 2 FPS off the more expensive Gaming OC? That's impressive. Plus we're running high settings, so dropping down to some medium settings, and you're golden. 33 FPS at 1440p is a bit cinematic, but it's still very much playable too. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Again, I'm staggered how close this tiny card is to the bigger Gaming OC. 46.4 FPS at high is decent enough, but again I would be dropping to medium to play this one. Ghost Recon: Wildlands The fantastic optimisation of this game, and its love for Nvidia cards pays off, hitting a respectable 56.32 FPS at 1080p and just shy of 40 at 1440p. The RX570 is still ahead though, but as you'll see later, it requires a crap-load more power to keep that lead. Battlefield V This is a pretty demanding title for any GPU, but 50 FPS is very playable for 1080p. I could easily tip that over 60 FPS with a few graphics tweaks to shadows and textures though, as could you. However, for 1440p, you'll be looking between low and medium settings; that's really up to you. Metro Exodus The mighty GPU crusher kills it again, with just 30 FPS at 1080p, and who cares at 1440p. Just like every other GPU short of the £300+ cards wants to drop to medium, maybe even low with this game. Far Cry New Dawn Superb optimisation wins again, with a killer 55 FPS here. I'd tweak one or two settings to get that higher, but overall, you can keep this game running fast and looking pretty at 1080p. With the use of medium settings, I don't think 1440p isn't out of reach either. The Division 2 The results are, overall, remarkably consistent, with mid-50's yet again. I'd be happy with that, but 60 FPS loyalists could easily reach their goal with minor adjustments. Again, just 2 FPS behind the Gaming OC though, which is impressive. Power Consumption This cards party trick definitely comes in the form of efficiency. Not only is the card cheap, but it's noticeably affordable to run. 122.6 Watts power is staggeringly low, given this bench is running an i9-9900K CPU. Compare that to the slightly faster RX570, which at 312 Watts may as well be powered by coal compared to the rather green GTX 1650. Temperatures The Phoenix ran quite a bit warmer than the Gaming OC. However, Gigabyte have a huge dual-fan cooler configuration vs the Phoenix which has a dinky little blower fan. Sure, it's still enough, 68.7c is fine, but it's clear the difference a big cooler makes. Acoustics Despite being a tiny cooler, it doesn't run the fan that hard really. It trades off the slightly higher temperatures for low noise. 37.9 dBa is fantastically low, and also much quieter than we expected. How Much Does It Cost? The ASUS GTX 1650 Phoenix Graphics Card is available now. You can pick one up on Amazon.co.uk for just £138.99, or $154.99 in the US on Amazon.com. That's about the same as the slightly faster RX570, but that depends on where you want to be with efficiency, as the GTX is going to be a noticeable amount cheaper to run. Overview Nvidia has done a great job with this chipset. It could be a tiny bit faster, but couldn't every GPU? What impresses the most, however, is the extraordinarily low power consumption and temperatures. Running just off of the PCIe lanes 75 watts. This card gives performance way above what you would think is possible on such a tiny amount of power. It runs cool, quiet, and you don't need a powerful PSU at all, which can save you a lot of money. Performance When it comes to gaming at high settings, we saw just shy of 60 FPS in pretty much all the 1080p tests, with few exceptions. For most, gaming at medium would be more than ideal for this card. Even more so, 1440p on some older games shouldn't put up much of a fight. Then again, if this is just for Apex, Fortnite, Wow, or whatever, it's going to smash through those easier than the games we benchmark. Should I Buy One? It's a tough call, as of course the RX570 is still a bit faster. However, the RX570 is properly old tech these days with drivers that have all but maxed it out. The GTX 1650 still has time to grow, and I expect the gap will close a little further. Cheap to buy, incredibly efficient to run, and most impressively, it's tiny too; perfect for those cheap SFF LAN gaming builds. ASUS GTX 1650 Phoenix Graphics Card Review