MSI Gaming X GTX 1650 Graphics Card Review

A Closer Look

This may be a budget graphics card, but it sure as hell doesn’t look like it. This is every bit as sexy as some of their flagship RTX models. Sure, that doesn’t come free and there’s no a chance this card is going to match the Nvidia MSRP. However, the old adage that you get what you pay for may apply.

OK, so the cards more expensive, but that does get you a lot of GPU cooling real estate. This means a larger surface area, and also room for much larger fans to cool the radiator.

TORX

These huge TORX Fans 3.0 can cool at much lower RPM, which means better efficiency and lower noise (we hope). Not only that, but extra cooling often translates to bigger overclocking potential.

The longer and wider cooler design allows them to keep everything within a two slot design though, so it should fit in a wide range of chassis’ easily enough.

More Power!

Towards the back, there’s a single 6-pin header. Now, the GTX 1650 doesn’t need this to operate as it’s a lower power part. However, adding more power overhead and stability is no bad thing, and will certainly help with overclocking.

No back plate, but the card is light and fairly compact. It honestly doesn’t need one. However, I must commend MSI for doing something you don’t often see, and giving us a card with a really clean looking rear PCB, as well as a dragon graphic on it. It may not have a back plate for aesthetics, but it’s pretty close.

Down the side, there’s a simple MSI logo with RGB back lighting. Nothing complicated, but a little extra customisation certainly never hurt.

Display Outputs

Around the back, you’ll find dual DisplayPort outputs, and a single HDMI. That’s pretty decent for such a cheap card, and certainly more than most will need or use.