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 GTX650Ti.

We did eventually manage to get the card to overclock using precision X but nothing to write home about (+78Mhz) with the card already overclocked from the factory.


NVIDIA Reference Design

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.