NVIDIA are very sharp when it comes to marketing a card. The GTX650Ti when it was originally released did 'just enough' to see off the competition and in doing so keeping the green team on the entry level pedestal, cementing it's position as the best manufacturer throughout the range of graphics processing units. Like most, we were however disgruntled by the fact that the original design had features such as SLI and perhaps most importantly GPU BOOST missing, these omissions inevitably left a bitter taste in our mouths, regardless of the fact that the GTX650Ti was the best card in it's class.

The AMD HD7850 it was pitched against was no slouch either and most recently, the AMD HD7790 which replaces it, ensured AMD were once again number 1. That victory however was (very) short lived because with the release of the GTX650Ti BOOST, NVIDIA are once again cream of the crop, top of the pops, numero uno.

With such a swift response from NVIDIA, we can't help feeling that they were just holding this card back, waiting for AMD to release their card before showing their hand. A tactical move which has paid dividends but the owners of the original GTX650Ti may well feel short changed with this release and rightly so because the BOOST version is everything the original design should have been.



While we are happy to give the NVIDIA GTX650Ti BOOST our Gold award due to it being the best in class, we do so begrudgingly because you can't help feeling for those who bought the first GTX650Ti when for approximately £20-25 more you could have an extra GB of GDDR5 and the 'BOOST' features which make this card much more appealing. We expect the NVIDIA GTX650Ti BOOST to retail around the £150 mark which may seem expensive for what is in effect an entry level card to high resolution gaming but it seems fair considering the comparative performance of both its brethren and competitors. Also bear in mind that it arrives with 2GB of GDDR5 which will also add to the cost when comparing the price against the 1GB version of the GTX650Ti. It is however close to HD7870 and GTX660 levels so only you can decide if it worth saving that little bit extra - but then where do you stop?

In summary the NVIDIA GTX650 Ti BOOST is the highest performing GPU at this level capable of producing playable framerates at today's most popular resolution.