Nvidia has two new graphics cards, namely the GeForce GTX 1050 (built on Pascal architecture) and GTX 1050 Ti, sporting a 300 percent performance increase over the GTX 650 from 2012.
The company touts that the new GPUs are ready for a large slew of games, with particular attention going to e-sports titles such as World of Warcraft, DOTA 2 and League of Legends.
The OEM crafted the 1050 Ti to be VR ready, and says that the card will play nice with Oculus Rift. However, Nvidia still urges users to purchase a GTX 1060 for a truly encompassing VR experience.
A plus of the 1050 and 1050 Ti is that the cards are less power-hungry than their more powerful counterparts, meaning that the GPUs eat up only 75 watts of power and require a power source of minimum 300-watt.
Nvidia explains that users can easily install the GTX 1050, tweak the game settings via the GeForce Experience software and start their favorite game.
It is also possible for manufacturers to add a 6-pin power connector to the card, which allows for stronger cooling systems. Just in case overclocking fans want more from the new GPUs.
Let's take a look at the technical specs of the two graphic cards.
The basic GTX 1050 comes with 640 Cuda processing cores clocked at 1,354 MHz, but which can be dialed up to 1,455 MHz. The card has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory working on a 128-bit interface. To summarize, the 1050 has a data rate of 7Gbps and full memory bandwidth of 112 GBps.
The more powerful GTX 1050 Ti packs 768 Cuda cores that are clocked at 1,290 MHz, but with overclocking potential to reach 1,455 MHz. The data rate and bandwidth are identical to the GTX 1050, but the amount of GDDR5 memory is double, at 4 GB.
The GeForce GTX 1050 will ask customers to shell out $109, and the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti costs $139. The launch date is on Oct. 25 and Nvidia fans should know that no Founders Edition is in store for the two GPUs.
Keep in mind that the budget-friendly cards do not holster the company's Scalable Link Interface, which means that you cannot use more than one in your rig.
The OEM was recently called to court in a class action lawsuit where customers accused it of false advertising, claiming that Nvidia promised 4 GB of RAM and only offered 3.5 GB, instead.
Nvidia settle the case, so its US residing clients who bought a GeForce GTX 970 during the last two years can get a $30 refund on a number of select GPUs.
