Overview of the ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost DirectCU II

This packaging is something we have seen on many cards now from the GTX600 series lineup. The gray metallic looking finish with tearing claw marks represents something powerful inside trying to claw its way out. This may actually be the perfect representation for this card as it is a decent mid range performance model that looks to have some real promise at a good value. The front is similar to what we have seen before with some simple wordage covering a few key features and a small breakdown image of the DirectCU II thermal design. The rear covers many details about specifications, including an IO shot showing the connectivity of the card and what features it supports. Also included here are some key words about the SAP Component solution and even the GPU Tweak utility.

Upon opening the box we find the card packaged much like the higher end cards in a foam enclosure which was quite surprising as we were expecting the multifold/plastic swap combo i saw before on the more mainstream models.

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Here is the card unboxed and ready to shine. it is a dual slot design which means that it will fit in most all motherboards without worry of multi card fitment or any other issues. The top shows off two heat pipes protruding through emphasizing that this cooler means business. The dual fans work in tandem to ensure that things stay nice and cool and operate in such a way that you can barely hear them if at all even under load.

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The I/O side has enough connectors to allow for the full 4 displays as supported with the following connections:

• DVI-I
• DVI-D
• HDMI
• Displayport

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The heatsink comes off easily as it is held on with 4 screw surrounding the GPU. once removed the GPU and VRM is exposed for our viewing. The VRM and layout looks pretty standard from what I have seen before especially on ASUS cards with the all SAP components which make for a clean and neat looking but powerful VRM.

The cooler has 2 heatpipes all coming across the GPU directly to allow fast pickup of heat and quick transfer to the cooling fin array for maximum cooling capability of the GPU. Do note that the standard fin array has been replaced with a much more solid aluminum heastsink style setup which means that not as much air will reach the board level components but so far from testing it does not seem to be an issue as the SAP components stay well within reasonable temps during operation and loading.

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Here you can see the VRM components neatly laid out and ready for some extreme loading. This may be a standard clock card but it still carries the same VRM components just minus the higher screened GPU so it is built and ready for some overclocking and heavy loading action.

The DIGI+ controller we are all familiar with and it allows full precise digital VRM control. Besides being precise the DIGI+ controller also offers very efficient operation which allows for much cooler operating performance, along with heavier loading conditions with better performance.

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The power being fed to the card is simple with a single 6 pin (Up to 150W PCIe slot/6pin) which means even some of the most basic supplies will have no issue feeding this card and also means this card is quite efficient for the performance you get. 

The card employs a single SLI connector for up to 2 Way SLI unlike the standard Ti Version which did not support SLI at all so this can be doubled up for a very competent gaming rig.