NVIDIA's new GTX 1650 is built around their smallest graphics processor—the TU117. It features all the improvements of the Turing architecture, like larger caches, concurrent execution of float and integer operations, and adaptive/variable-rate shading. What's missing (like on all the other GeForce 16-series cards) is support for RTX real-time raytracing and DLSS, which have been removed to save on chip area, reducing cost.
EVGA is using reference clocks on their GTX 1650 SC Ultra Black, but has increased the power limit slightly thanks to the added 6-pin power connector. Averaged over all our benchmarks at 1080p, the EVGA card is 33% faster than the GTX 1050 Ti and 10% behind the Radeon RX 570. This makes the card 12% slower than even the GTX 1060 3 GB and 26% slower than the GTX 1060 6 GB, and puts it a whopping 51% behind the GTX 1660 (the next step up in the Turing product stack). This is strong evidence NVIDIA will release a GTX 1650 Ti to fill that hole in their lineup. Compared to other factory-overclocked GTX 1650 cards we've reviewed, the EVGA SC Ultra Black (what a name), is 1-2 % slower—something you'll never notice. With those performance levels, the GTX 1650 is not good enough for 60 FPS gaming at 1080p with highest details, but you should be able reach that FPS rate in most games with reduced details.
EVGA's dual-slot, dual-fan thermal solution just uses a single heatpipe, and the heatsink seems to be a bit low on surface area, which requires the fan to work extra hard to achieve target temperatures. With 66°C, the card does run very cool, but noise levels of 36 dBA during gaming are simply too high for a card in this performance class and easily noticeable. All other GTX 1650 Tis we tested before are significantly quieter—the quietest are barely audible when fully loaded. It seems EVGA set too ambitious a thermal target for their cooler's capabilities, leading to more fan noise than what we'd expect; maybe a BIOS update can help resolve that. Good things are happening in idle, though, as the card will shut off its fans completely for a perfect noise-free experience. This state is also active during productivity and Internet browsing. I have to commend EVGA for managing to squeeze a metal backplate into their tight budget—this not only improves looks of the card, but also protects against damage.
Like all other Turing GPUs, power efficiency of the EVGA GTX 1650 SC Ultra Black is excellent. Compared to cards like the GTX 1660 and GTX 1660 Ti, gaming power efficiency is similar. Compared to AMD's Radeon RX 570, the difference is massive—the EVGA card is almost 2.5x as power efficient as the RX 570. Power draw during gaming is also well behaved and reaches only 68 W, which ensures that any power supply will be able to handle this card. Unlike the NVIDIA reference design, which uses PCIe slot power only, EVGA has added an additional 6-pin power connector and raised the board power limit to the same 85 W we've seen on other cards with 6-pin power. With 90 W, the manual adjustment limit is lower than on competing models though, which go up to 100 W. Maybe, EVGA decided on a more conservative limit to avoid overwhelming the relatively weak heatsink. Still, the 6-pin is justified as it peaked at 84 W in our power-consumption measurements.
You can find the EVGA GTX 1650 SC Ultra Black for $160, which is a $10 increase over the NVIDIA MSRP of $150. Quite reasonable considering you get idle-fan-stop and a backplate. On the other hand, given the fan noise, I probably would have preferred a more capable cooler instead of the backplate, which seems to be the route other vendors are going. Also, other companies give you an overclock out of the box, but that's easily remedied with manual overclocking, where the EVGA SC Ultra Black does very well, reaching the second-best overclock of all GTX 1650 card we've tested so far. The bigger problem with pricing is NVIDIA's MSRP, which is simply too high when compared to competing options. AMD's Radeon RX 570 can be found online for $130 and offers significantly higher performance. A more realistic price point for the GTX 1650 would be $120, at which point it would achieve price/performance parity with the Radeon RX 570. Compared to RX 570, the GTX 1650 definitely wins with impressive power efficiency and better temperatures, but pricing is just too high for that to matter. It also faces strong competition from NVIDIA's own GTX 1060 series, which offers similar or better performance and can be found used for bargain prices. Another competitor is the GTX 1660, which is faster and actually has a better price/performance ratio than the GTX 1650.