Palit GTX 1650 StormX OC Review - Mini ITX Graphics Card!

At the time of this writing, the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 has been out for a week now and it is quite disappointing as a whole, to say the least. The performance is not as great as anticipated and the price is not on par with its performance relative to its competitor.

But not all graphics card are built the same, some are specifically made for special purposes like what we have here today with the Palit GTX 1650 StormX OC. So before you jump into conclusions, I suggest you read the full article below to learn why this particular graphics card still has its purpose on the budget graphics card market.

MY EARLY BREAKDOWN

Pros: Decent performance, Compact form factor, No external power source required

Cons: A little expensive relative to its performance

SPECIFICATIONS

Memory Amount: 4G
Memory Interface: 128bit
DRAM Type: GDDR5
Graphics Clock: 1485MHz
Boost Clock: 1725 MHz
Memory Clock: 8 Gbps
CUDA Cores: 896
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec): 128
Microsoft DirectX: 12 API with feature level 12_1
OpenGL: 4/5
Bus Support: PCI-E 3.0 x 16
DVI: Dual-Link DVI-D
HDMI: HDMI 2.0b
Maximum Digital Resolution: 4096×2160@60Hz
Height: 1 Slot
Board Size: 145 x 99 x 40 mm
Graphics Card Power: 75 W
Recommended System Power: 300 W
Accessory: Manual, DVD Driver

WHAT’S INSIDE THE PACKAGE

Palit GTX 1650 StormX OC, Quick installation guide, Compact Disc

FULL REVIEW

Palit’s GTX 1650 Lineup

Let’s check out Palit’s lineup for the new NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 graphics card. They actually have 6 graphics card for this series, we have the Dual and Dual OC which both feature a dual fan design with 6 pin power slot, we also have the StormX+ and StormX OC+, and then the StormX and StormX OC that we are taking a look at today.

Now, here are the differences among these graphics cards so you can have an idea when choosing one for your particular needs.

So the first difference between them is with the boost clock frequencies, and then the display output interface, the maximum digital resolution supported, the height of the graphics card slot wise and the overall dimensions.

Palit 1650 StormX OC Unboxing and Review

Design and Construction

Now, let’s take a look at the Palit 1650 StormX OC, as you can see it is pretty small and compact because this is actually made specifically for mini-ITX builds. It features a single fan design with a decently looking plastic shroud.

Up top, we have the Geforce logo.

And then on the other side, we have the output ports, we have the Dual-link DVI port and the HDMI 2.0b port.

At the other side, we can clearly see the single heatsink.

And then at the back, we have the circuit board itself which fortunately is color black.

And lastly, here’s a look at the side of this graphics card.

Now, What’s good about this card is that it doesn’t require any external power source. It will grab its power directly from the PCI Express slot which makes sense for any compact mini-ITX builds.

By the way, here’s a quick size comparison so that you can have an idea of how small this graphics card really is. So as you can see it is almost the same size as a regular 2.5″ HDD enclosure which makes it really valuable for small form factor builds.

Before we proceed to benchmark results, I just want to give full disclosure that this is my first graphics card review, so please bear with me as I don’t have any other graphics card to compare this with, so everything that I will show you here is relative to my system’s specifications. What you’re getting here is an idea how this graphics card runs with a relatively entry-level system on a combination of latest and old game titles.

But don’t worry, as I have some comparison data for you guys later and a proper recommendation for this particular model that we have right here.

Now, with regards to our testing, I am using a system with a Ryzen 5 2600x processor on an MSI B450M Mortar motherboard, with 8GB of Gskill Ripjaws V RAM, Which are all powered by a Seasonic Mi2II 620W power supply. The games are all installed in a 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm storage device and all benchmarks are average of 3 identical runs captured using either

Fraps or MSI afterburner depending on the game. All games are in 1080p resolution.

Game Benchmarks

Let’s start off with the most tasking game on our lineup, Battlefield V.

On high settings, directx12 enabled, vsync off, the Palit 1650 StormX OC performed ok, I was able to play at around 60FPS for the most part but I encountered some frame drops from time to time. I think dialing the settings a little bit lower should help with improving the frame rate.

Next, we have Battlefield 1, I included this because it recently went on sale and I figured some of you might still be playing this. The performance of the Palit 1650 StormX OC is also ok on this one with some minor frame drops.

Next is Assasins Creed Unity which recently went free, and as expected, the Palit GTX 1650 StormX OC performed flawlessly on this old game.

And then we have the new Apex Legends, as you can see on the graph below, the Palit GTX 1650 StormX OC performed well on this new battle royale game.

In Dota 2, an old game but still very relevant, the Palit GTX 1650 StormX OC performed unexpectedly good with this one.

And lastly, we have the Rainbow Six Siege, the Palit GTX 1650 StormX OC also performed well with the game’s built-in benchmarking tool.

While we’re at it I also ran this graphics card on some synthetic benchmarks like Unigine superposition, 3DMark Fire Strike and 3DMark Time Spy so that you can have an idea how this card will score if you have the same specifications as mine.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Unigine Superposition

3DMark Fire Strike

3DMark Time Spy

Now, before we head into my final thoughts, I also monitored the temperature of the Palit GTX 1650 StormX OC, even with the single fan design, the temperature hovers decently around 44.7 to 68.7 degrees.

Graphics Card Comparisons

Like I said earlier, this being my first graphics card review, I apologize if I don’t have any other graphics cards on hand to compare this with, but luckily, Sir Tom of Bermore Techzone is kind enough to let me borrow some of his results here so that I can show you guys some benchmark comparisons.

So this is in Battlefield V on high preset.

As you can see the GTX 1650 is faster than the older GTX 1050ti but unfortunately, it is lagging behind the RX570 which is significantly older and cheaper. And this is actually the case among different testing done by a lot of reviewers out there, so the GTX 1650 on its entirety is really in a very difficult position right now.

It can be argued that the RX 570 is faster and cheaper but consumes more power while the GTX 1650 is newer and requires almost half the power at only 75W but is slower and more expensive. I think if they made this a little bit cheaper than the competitor it would be a viable option for most people. But as of now, these 1650 graphics card is more of a niche rather than the supposed new budget graphics card king like it’s predecessors the 1050 and 1050ti.

VERDICT

My take on this is, if you’re looking for the best bang for your money in terms of price to performance ratio, then the GTX 1650 is probably not the graphics card for you, but if you’re looking for a graphics card that is still powerful but consumes less power, let’s say you’re going to use them in bulk on an iCafe business which power consumption will definitely be considered, then the GTX 1650 is a good option.

Now, not all graphics card are built the same, some are specifically made for special purposes like what we have here today with the Palit GTX1650 StormX OC. Regardless of the unfortunate price to performance issue of the GTX 1650 as a whole, I think this graphics card will still have its purpose, which is, like I said earlier, for miniITX builds and budget builds, especially that it is super compact and doesn’t require any external power source. I think this would be great for building a decent portable gaming pc and if you want to set up an HTPC or a PC for couch gaming.

Now, the purpose of this review is to introduce you to the Palit GTX1650 StormX OC, show you its performance and use case scenario, and I think I’ve done all that here with bonus insights and recommendations.

And there you have it guys thank you for reading this article, if you want to see more benchmark comparisons. I suggest you go ahead and watch the videos of Sir Tom of Bermor Techzone about the GTX 1650. Thanks to Palit for sending this in, full disclosure, everything I said on this article is honest and true to my stand with regards to this graphics card. This is also my first graphics card review so please bear with me with this one. Have a great day.