Today we’re looking at two different graphics cards as possible upgrades to my “Average Steam User’s PC”.  I took a look at quite a few candidates for this, and wound up with both the GTX 1050 and the GTX 1050Ti.

But first… What am I drinking?

Today, in honor of summer coming to a close, I’m drinking a Pineapple Express cider from Jester & Judge Cidery (Stevenson, WA).  Just the right mix of sweetness with the pineapple tang.

EVGA GTX 1050Ti FTW: http://amzn.to/2gtFkTz
MSI GTX 1050 Gaming X: http://amzn.to/2yxxi1S

First is the MSI Gaming X Twin Frozor 6. It features 640 CUDA cores and base clock of 1,442MHz, boosting to 1,556.  This card also has 2GB of GDDR5 running at 7,100MHz.

The 1050Ti is EVGA’s For The Win edition.  Differences from the 1050 include 768 CUDA cores with a 1,379MHz base and 1,493MHz boost.  The 1050Ti also sports 4GB of GDDR5 clocked at 7,000MHz.

Both of these cards represent the best of each chip you can buy, and they come with a slightly premium price.  Typically a 1050 would run you around $120 for a single fan card, vs The MSI is running $145 right now on Amazon, while a 1050Ti comes in closer to $160, while the EVGA is at $180.

So why the price hike?  These are factory overclocked cards, both featuring dual-fans and over-engineered coolers and PCBs for this class of graphics card, and that translates to better power delivery, as well as very good thermals with none of the noise drawbacks.  Unlike most standard 1050 and 1050Tis, these require 6-pin power, and have much higher power ceilings, rather than being limited to the 75W available through PCIe.

I was able to overclock the 1050 to 1,875MHz while drawing 83W.  The 1050Ti hit 1,979MHz at 91W.  These overclocks would not have been possible without the extra power delivery.

Something else to keep in mind... these are going up against the GTX 760 SC, which is a 190W TDP card.  The heat savings alone could make either of these cards worthwhile.

These are both excellent cards at this price point.  Check out the benchmarks in the video for an idea of how they perform in games at 1080p and near max settings...

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Highlight Reel Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Funkorama Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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