14 DAY TRIAL // The GeForce GTX 650 graphics card from NVIDIA is actually one of the weaker 600-series boards, but it still has a graphics clock speed of over 1 GHz, one that Zotac decided to push even higher.
The advent of CPUs with integrated graphics, especially AMD's accelerated processing units (APUs), have made low-end add-in-video boards obsolete.
Thus, even though NVIDIA has the GeForce GTX 400 series cards up for sale, they are barely ever mentioned.
As such, The GeForce GTX 650 is the likeliest to be considered the “cheap” NVIDIA option these days ($110 / 110 Euro, give or take).
The fact that it lacks any sort of dynamic overclocking (GPU Boost) is another contributing factor, as is the relatively low CUDA core count (384).
Zotac has decided to overclock the video adapter anyway. After creating a custom PCB (printed circuit board) with a 3+1 phase VRM, it drove the clock speed from 1,058 MHz to 1,071 MHz.
The memory it left alone though. The 1 GB (1,024 MB) of GDDR5 VRAM functions at the same 5.0 GHz frequency as ever. On that note, the memory interface is the same as on the reference board as well: 128 bit-wide.
The last distinctive element between the NVIDIA GTX 650 and Zotac's GTX 650 Destroyer TSI is the cooler that puts the TSI in its name.
Short for “Twin, Silent, Intelligent,” it has a large, monolithic aluminum heatsink, two 70mm fans and a cooler shroud possessing the silver-gold scheme of Extreme Edition models.
Zotac's adapter has two DVI ports, a DisplayPort and an HDMI output, for compatibility with more or less every monitor and HDTV out there.
We do not know when, where and for how much the item will start selling. We imagine the difference between this and the reference price won't be too great. Either way, it may not matter, as there is a high chance that availability will be restricted to Greater China.