Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 1050 2GB Graphics Card Review

A Closer Look

The card is quite compact, but the design is still pretty funky. It has two large fans fitted over a sizable heat sink, more so than you would normally require for a card of this specification, but that should just mean it runs cooler and quieter than most in its class.

The shroud is plastic, but it’s very nicely finished with a matte black look and soft orange coloured highlights. It’s certainly a gaming card and should pair up nicely with most motherboards.

Down the side, you’ll find an RGB LED lit Gigabyte and fan stop badge. The fan stop is quite an important one, as that light indicates that the card is running in passive mode. With this chipset, and such a large heat sink, I’m expecting this card to be able to run almost passively in most scenarios, and the fans will just kick in when you’ve been running your games for a while. The card is powered by a single 6-pin connection too, so it’ll be compatible with pretty much any power supply, including more affordable models.

Around the back, the angular design continues, giving the card a rather aggressive appearance.

connectivity is excellent, with a DVI-D port at the top, 1 x DP, and 3 x HDMI, so lots of options dependant on what your monitor supports, as well as support for multiple monitors if that’s what you desire.

The card also comes equipped with lovely backplate, which should help with the overall cooling capabilities, but also helps tidy up the design for a clean look. It’ll also help strengthen the card, but it’s not exactly long and heavy, so it’s unlikely to droop anyway.

The PCB is laid out nicely, with lots of room for airflow.

As you can see, the cooler design is pretty robust, with three radiator sections and two thick copper heat pipes connecting everything up. The actual GPU block is extended to cover the other major chips too, allowing for comprehensive passive cooling as well as active cooling.