We have two new graphics cards in the lab today: Nvidia's GeForce GTX 650 and 660, filling the gap between its GeForce GT 640 and GTX 660 Ti with Kepler derivatives. Are these GK107- and GK106-based boards able to challenge the Radeon HD 7750 and 7850?
Nearly six months have passed since Nvidia launched its Kepler architecture with the GeForce GTX 680, a card that we praised for its much-improved efficiency and raw performance. Since then, we've seen the company replace Fermi-based models with the GeForce GTX 690, 670, 660 Ti, and the GT 640, all leveraging the same technology.
AMD, which had already launched several of its own current-gen cards when Nvidia struck back, is fighting off the competition with performance-enhancing driver updates, deep price cuts, and BIOS-based overclocking of existing models. What was previously a stable graphics card market is now an all-out battleground, pockmarked with old price tags and new, more attractive deals. Of course, patient enthusiasts have to be loving it, while the gamers who jumped early continue to enjoy their high-end hardware.
In the more mainstream space, AMD's $110 Radeon HD 7750 and $210 Radeon HD 7850 are dominant, though. Nvidia is finally ready to throw some Kepler-based competition up against those quick and quiet budget-oriented boards. Today, we're being introduced to the GeForce GTX 650 at $109 and the GeForce GTX 660, expected to sell for $229.
Meet GeForce GTX 650
If this block diagram looks familiar, you probably saw it in Nvidia GeForce GT 640 Review: Cramming Kepler Into GK107. GeForce GTX 650 uses the same GK107 graphics processor as the existing GeForce GT 640. It sports two SMX clusters with a total 384 CUDA cores and 32 texture units, and it's capable of producing 16 full-color pixels per clock cycle thanks to two ROP clusters.
So far, the GeForce GTX 650 looks exactly the same as GeForce GT 640. So, what makes it different?

The GeForce GTX 650 has two distinct advantages over the GT 640: higher clock rates and GDDR5 memory. The GTX 650's 1058 MHz core clock is 158 MHz higher than the GT 640, but this is a relatively minor boost. The real performance boost comes from the GDDR5, which offers two times the bandwidth per clock cycle than DDR3. This improvement is key to the GeForce GTX 650's potential to compete with AMD's Radeon HD 7750.
Let's have a closer look at this card as it compares to the playing field:
| GeForce GT 640 | GeForce GTX 650 | Radeon HD 7750 | GeForce GTX 550 Ti | GeForce GTS 450 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shader Cores | 384 | 384 | 512 | 192 | 192 |
| Texture Units | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| Color ROPs | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Fabrication process | 28 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm | 40 nm | 40 nm |
| Core (Shader) Clock | 900 MHz | 1058 MHz | 800 MHz | 900 (1800) MHz | 783 (1566) MHz |
| Memory Clock | 891 MHz DDR3 | 1250 MHz GDDR5 | 1125 MHz GDDR5 | 1025 MHz GDDR5 | 902 MHz GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 192-bit | 128-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 28.5 GB/s | 80 GB/s | 72 GB/s | 98.5 GB/s | 57.7 GB/s |
| Graphics RAM | 1 GB DDR3 | 1/2 GB GDDR5 | 1 GB GDDR5 | 1/2 GB GDDR5 | 1/2 GB DDR3 |
| Power Connectors | None | 1 x 6-pin | None | 1 x 6-pin | 1 x 6-pin |
| Maximum Thermal Design Power | 65 W | 64 W | 55 W | 116 W | 106 W |
| Price | $95-$110 (Newegg) | ~$109 (MSRP) | $100-$140 (Newegg) | $110-$150 (Newegg) | $100-$110 (Newegg) |
The GeForce GTX 650's memory bandwidth advantage over the GT 640 is huge. It also appears superior to the GeForce GTS 450 in almost every way, and should compete readily against the Radeon HD 7750 and GeForce GTX 550 Ti.
Originally, we expected the GeForce GT 640 to fall under $100. And at $110, the GeForce GTX 650 will almost assuredly push the lower-end board down to where it should have been at launch.
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Overclock (GV-N650OC-2GI)

Gigabyte's GeForce GTX 650 is expected to sell for $140, which is $30 more than Nvidia's suggested price, and likely a result of the card's 2 GB of GDDR5. Less expensive models will include one gigabyte. A 1111 MHz core clock is 53 MHz above the reference specification, but the board's memory operates at the same 1250 MHz.
The GeForce GTX 650 does not feature GPU Boost, so any overclocking that happens beyond 1111 MHz is going to have to be manually-triggered.

Although the reference GeForce GTX 650 has two dual-link DVI ports and one mini-HDMI output, Gigabyte adds an analog VGA connection. All told, the card supports four screens operating concurrently: three in Surround mode and one extended desktop.

The card’s PCB is the same 5.5" long as the Afox GeForce GT 640 we've already reviews. But the GeForce GTX 650 stands a full 4.5"-tall, rather than occupying a half-height form factor. It requires a six-pin auxiliary power connector, which is somewhat surprising in light of Nvidia's claimed 64 W thermal ceiling. No SLI connector is available, so multi-card operation is not possible.

Gigabyte covers its GeForce GTX 650 with a large heat sink and a 100 mm fan that performs excellently in our noise and thermal testing. The plastic shroud around the cooler extends past the PCB, making the card look larger than it is.
- GeForce GTX 650: Filling In The Gaps
- GeForce GTX 660: Introducing GK106
- Gigabyte's GeForce GTX 660 (GV-N660OC-2GD)
- Zotac's GeForce GTX 660 (ZT-60901-10M)
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: Batman: Arkham City
- Benchmark Results: Battlefield 3
- Benchmark Results: Crysis 2
- Benchmark Results: DiRT Showdown
- Benchmark Results: Max Payne 3
- Benchmark Results: Metro 2033
- Benchmark Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Benchmark Results: World Of Warcraft: Mists Of Pandaria
- SLI And CrossFire, Compared
- Overclocking GeForce GTX 660
- GeForce GTX 660: OEM And Retail Cards With Different GPUs?
- Memory Bandwidth: Testing The Limits
- Memory Bandwidth: Analysis And Summary
- OpenCL: GPGPU Benchmarks
- OpenCL: GPGPU Benchmarks (Basemark CL)
- OpenCL: Image Processing (Basemark CL)
- OpenCL: Video Processing (Basemark CL)
- Temperature And Noise
- GeForce GTX 650 And 660: Nvidia Fights Back
1. Read the article.
2. Understand what the article is talking about.
3. If you find an urge to comment about "______ sucks" or "_______ wins again", especially when the article says the opposite of what you want to post, chances are your comment will look dumb as hell when it's posted and earn you 20 downvotes. Therefore, don't post that goddamn poor excuse of a "comment".
I've got nothing else to say on the GTX650 but to just point out that it's a weak card.
On the other hand, the GTX660 is probably the only Kepler (besides the 670) that impresses me. I don't know about everyone else though. To point out one thing, most Radeon 7870s can be found at $240 or lower without MIR. The GTX660 is priced well for a release MSRP and makes the 660ti offers less value, kind of like the 670 vs 680. For 8xMSAA, the performance does cripple but I think at this price point, most people are going to stay with 4xAA or possibly lower.
Wait for sales on whichever one is needed and then grab one -
AMD 7770 can be had for just over $100.
AMD 7870 can be had for about $220.
1. Read the article.
2. Understand what the article is talking about.
3. If you find an urge to comment about "______ sucks" or "_______ wins again", especially when the article says the opposite of what you want to post, chances are your comment will look dumb as hell when it's posted and earn you 20 downvotes. Therefore, don't post that goddamn poor excuse of a "comment".
Is it because 650 performance is too poor to show off on benchmark? It doesnt take a genius to figure out the huge diff between 6870 vs 650. 7770= 6850 speed. So I guess even the 7750/460SE are putting shame on 650 on those high quality detail? too shy to show off 460SE/9800GT up against 650?
I dare u put on a detailed benchmark with 650 up against 7770/7750/GTS450/550ti/460/9800GT/9800GTX on all condition. Not a selective benchmark.
Thanks for the attempted compliment, but call me Mike. I'm glad you've been paying attention.
It was more of a joke than anything else to simply write "AMD wins again!" and it was actually pretty funny! I try to balance things out so that no one company is viewed too favorably.
For example, I recently bought an Nvidia GTX 460 1 GB 256 bit card for $70, new, with a 3 month warranty for a friend to upgrade his gaming computer. Unusual? Yes. Great deal? You better believe it! Of course, if an equivalent AMD card was available at a cheaper price, that's the one I would've bought.
Now, relax and try to control yourself. Refrain from the use of profanity in future posts. Thanks.
I've got nothing else to say on the GTX650 but to just point out that it's a weak card.
On the other hand, the GTX660 is probably the only Kepler (besides the 670) that impresses me. I don't know about everyone else though. To point out one thing, most Radeon 7870s can be found at $240 or lower without MIR. The GTX660 is priced well for a release MSRP and makes the 660ti offers less value, kind of like the 670 vs 680. For 8xMSAA, the performance does cripple but I think at this price point, most people are going to stay with 4xAA or possibly lower.
Exactly - Savvy TH readers will wait for sales on whichever one is needed and then grab one!
AMD 7770 can be had for just over $100 on sale.
AMD 7870 can be had for about $220 on sale.
The 6870 might be more compelling at that price point. Newegg still sells them. It's too bad that AMD didn't release a 7830 or something similar from the Nvidia side. But chances are, you probably can get the 7850 or 660 below $200 by the end of the year. Fingers cross though.
That is if you don't need the compute performance in which AMD clearly leads
another thing, i would prefer more comparison to old cards like the 460 1GB (256bit). i am sure alot of gamers still use that old card
Dude, we included the 650 for reference at high details in the rest of the benchmarks. The info is there, just trying to keep it focused.
It's all there. Just look for it.
It did, look at the numbers from the other high detail benches. The 460 kills it.
But the 460 192-bit is too expensive for a direct comparison, so I didn't include it in the standard low-detail benches. It has a higher price point than the 7770.
True. I thought it could at least give the 7770 some competition, but as it turns out it's slower than the 7750. But actually, that's to be expected since it's basically a GT640 with GDDR5. They should probably called it a GT645 or GTS640. It doesn't deserve the GTX name