Conclusion
With this review, we took the EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER SC ULTRA Gaming for a spin. This video card is positioned to compete within the sub-$200 GPU market. EVGA’s take on this card is much more conservative with its engineering when compared to the more expensive Asus counterpart. At the time of writing this review, we were able to find the EVGA GPU at their web store for $189.99. Since we started the review it has gone out of stock, but it may come back. This is the nature right now with GPUs, availability and pricing are all over the place. It’s just something we have to deal with, but the video card does exist out there. We would not purchase it at anything over $200 though, at that point, it’s time to start looking at the next GPU model up.
Gaming Performance
At 1080p resolution, we found that our EVGA video card was more than capable of providing us with the frames for a playable experience in the various games tested within this review. We found that bumping up the resolution to 1440p simply does not deliver a great gameplay experience most of the time. In all titles tested, we observed that our sample traded blows with the AMD equivalent while slightly trailing behind the Asus model utilizing the same GPU. The higher boost clock on the ASUS video card did help, but not by leaps and bounds, it didn’t change the playable game experience.
Horizon Zero Dawn
In Horizon Zero Dawn, we saw the EVGA 1650 Super SC Ultra Gaming sit in last place although it managed to still provide playable framerates when set to 1080p resolution. When adjusted to 1440p the experience was not playable and required an adjustment to the medium quality preset. When overclocking the EVGA 1650 Super SC Ultra Gaming we observed a very small bump in performance. We went from 48 FPS average to 52 FPS average at the same settings which were not enough of an increase for us to enhance any visual settings.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 is our first Vulkan title in the test suite, and we saw a similar showing to the DX12 based Horizon Zero Dawn. The EVGA 1650 Super SC Ultra Gaming maintained a last-place showing in both its stock and overclocked configurations. We utilized a custom mix of visual settings which allowed us to maintain 48 FPS average when the card was left at stock. With our overclock applied I attempted to increase resolution while keeping all other settings the same. Unfortunately, the game would not even allow this configuration as I was quickly limited by the 4GB frame buffer of the GPU. Our overclock did allow us to maintain 53 FPS average which resulted in a far more enjoyable gaming experience.
F1-2020
F1-2020 was a bloodbath for Team Green, and our EVGA 1650 Super SC Ultra Gaming took a shellacking. At stock, the EVGA 1650 Super SC Ultra Gaming manages 82 FPS average when set to 1080p and the highest in game graphics preset. In our overclocked run we managed to just barely beat the stock Asus Strix 1650 Super. After overclocking I attempted to run the game at 1440p with a single drop in preset quality. I still managed to find the game playable and mostly in the high 50s and low 60s.
Wolfenstein Youngblood
Coming in as a complete reversal of our F1-2020 results we see our NVIDIA based GPUs come out in full force. The EVGA 1650 Super SC Ultra Gaming manages to come second only to the Asus Strix 1650 Super. We saw average framerates as high as 119 when the card was left to stock boost clocks. Utilizing any graphics settings beyond the High preset resulted in noticeable stutter due to the 4GB frame-buffer limitation. On the other hand, I was able to increase the resolution to 1440p in this title while still maintaining playable frames.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a demanding title in 2020 and our EVGA 1650 Super SC Ultra Gaming managed to push out close to 49 FPS average when set to the medium graphics preset at 1080p. In this title that is more than playable. Overclocking the EVGA 1650 Super SC Ultra Gaming did not allow us to increase any resolution or graphics options.
Overclocking
Given the smaller size of this video card, I really did not expect much when it came to overclocking headroom. For anyone who read through my articles, it’s clear I found the heatsink on this GPU to be -oddly ill-designed in one regard. This GPU features a fairly well-built heatsink for the GPU die but one area where it’s lacking is its VRAM cooling, with thermal contact constrained by a single thick thermal pad. This is a poor choice for anything other than stock operation, which to be fair is all this card is advertised as capable of. But we did manage to get a very high GPU overclock, which improved performance, so there is headroom left in this beast.
Final Points
Those reading this article in full are likely potential mid-range GPU purchasers looking to make the best choice with their hard-earned money. This EVGA card might not be a chart-topper in all of our benchmarks, but this EVGA card’s appeal is more complicated than benchmark numbers alone suggest.
With a smaller physical footprint, a highly reputable warranty department, and a step-up program that offers buyers a chance to spend the difference for an upgraded GPU, it’s clear EVGA has a lot to offer a potential buyer in this market segment. If one were buying a new GPU today for a midrange or budget build, then the EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER SC ULTRA Gaming is still viable under $200 in 2020.