Conclusion
Today we took a look at the ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER O4G GAMING video card. The ASUS GTX 1650 SUPER video card is small, but it’s built for extreme overclocking while keeping the GPU cool and power efficient. With an MSRP of $169.99, this video card is only $10 over the official NVIDIA MSRP of $159 for the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER GPU.
At this price range, the ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER O4G GAMING competes with the newly released AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB GPU and video cards based on that GPU. At $169.99 for the 4GB versions, the 4GB Radeon RX 5500 XT is the direct competition to the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER. Both GPUs are new, and this comparison is extremely relevant today for those shopping under $200.
We also threw in an ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1650 O4G GAMING non-SUPER to see how much of an upgrade the new ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650 SUPER provides over the original release. These video cards represent ASUS ROG STRIX O4G GAMING variants, which are the fastest, highest boost clocks available on each GPU from ASUS. This provides a great GeForce GTX 1650 versus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER performance review.
We also showed you how to overclock the ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER O4G GAMING and the highest overclock we achieved. We used that overclock to see if the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER can achieve performance greater than the factory overclocked SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 5500 XT 4G OC video card. This is our ASUS 1650 SUPER review.
GTX 1650 SUPER vs. GTX 1650
One of the comparisons we made throughout this review was to see how much faster the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650 SUPER was compared to the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650. We wanted to directly compare both video cards and see how much faster the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER is over the GeForce GTX 1650. If you are looking for an update, you will know what this new video card can offer still under $200.
The results showed very clearly that there was a consistent 30-40% performance gain throughout our testing. That is the newer ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650 SUPER was between 30-40% faster than the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650. The game plays a big part in exactly how much. For the most part, though we did see in the upper 30% range.
That is a very nice bump in performance under $200 and makes a big difference at 1080p. It was the difference between a game being not playable at a certain setting versus playable. The non-SUPER would not be playable at a “High” or “Ultra” setting in a game eve at 1080p, but the new SUPER would. That means you will be able to raise your game settings to higher values at 1080p if you are coming from the original GTX 1650 release. This is a big deal now because games are becoming more demanding.
GTX 1650 SUPER vs. Radeon RX 5500 XT
Now this one is really interesting, and we didn’t quite expect it. When we looked at the performance directly between the factory overclocked ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650 SUPER versus the factory overclocked SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 5500 XT we found them to be rather neck-and-neck in performance. Performance between them seemed to be 2-3% apart in every game, except one. We honestly did not expect them to be so close to each other.
There were a couple of games where the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650 SUPER was on top and others where the SAPPHIRE PULSE RX 5500 XT was on top. However, the margins were so close that the gameplay experience and playable gameplay settings were exactly the same. They felt exactly the same. Only one game was particularly faster on the Radeon RX 5500 XT, but it still felt the same.
It seems performance is evenly matched factory overclock to factory overclock. Both video cards allow a “High” to “Ultra” gaming experience at 1080p.
Overclocked GTX 1650 SUPER vs. Radeon RX 5500 XT
Lastly, we overclocked the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650 SUPER O4G GAMING video card as high as possible. We got a really high overclock on this video card, sustaining 2.1GHz GPU frequency and taking the memory from 12GHz to 15.3GHz. That high overclock allowed the video card to raise performance between 7-15% depending on the game. That was enough to make games playable at tough settings at 1080p.
The overclock was enough to raise performance over the factory overclocked SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 5500 XT 4G OC video card in every game. Generally, it was 6-10% faster. Keep in mind that in our overclocking attempts with the SAPPHIRE video card we did not actually get an overclock that was too much higher than the factory overclock was already achieving. Therefore, if the SAPPHIRE video card was overclocked, it would at best only perform evenly with the overclocked ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650 SUPER, at best. It will depend on the game.
The fact is, factory overclocked, or manually overclocked, both video cards are very evenly matched in performance.
Final Points
With performance between the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER and Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB models being so close and evenly matched it is all going to come down to price and clock speeds. No doubt fast GPU frequencies and memory will provide the best experience with either. The only way one may be a better value over the other will come down to which one is cheaper, and which one has the higher overclock. That’s it.
What this review does show, like our last review with the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1660 Ti is that these video cards are not irrelevant just yet. The GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER is a new product in fact, along with the Radeon RX 5500 XT. Therefore, finding robust video cards like the ASUS ROG STRIX series which can overclock very high will be important to differentiating the cards and helping you figure out which one you’d rather go for.
ASUS has done another great job with its ROG STRIX brand and created a highly overclockable video card with the ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER O4G GAMING video card. It has a high factory overclock that provides a high GPU boost out-of-the-box as it is. If you chose to manually overclock, you’ll get your money’s worth. It will provide a “High” to “Ultra” gaming experience at 1080p depending on the game.
Due to the awesome build by ASUS, overclocking ability and default performance it earns our Silver Award. The high price of this particular video, and hard to find availability, holds it back slightly. Look for deals, rebates and sales, or perhaps look toward the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1650 SUPER A4G GAMING which is priced lower online currently and should overclock just as well.
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