NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 vs GTX 1060 Max-Q – Turing vs Pascal showdown

Another day, another Turing vs Pascal showdown. Today we’re looking at the new GeForce GTX 1650 and how it fares against GTX 1060 Max-Q. Yesterday we showed you the battle between the former and the GTX 1060 – beefed up version of the GTX 1060 Max-Q. Actually, today’s contender is not a bunch different from the GTX 1060 – it uses the same chip, but keeps the voltage down, while regulating the frequencies to ensure a more cool and quiet work for a laptop.

You can check out our Top Laptop Graphics Ranking to see these two graphics cards and many more.

Specs overview

Let’s start by saying that the GeForce GTX 1650 is rated at 50W, while the GTX 1060 Max-Q uses a little bit more – 60-70W depending on the system. In addition to the higher TDP, the GTX 1060 Max-Q embodies a higher CUDA count – 1280 to 1024 for the GTX 1650. However, the chip is working at a lower frequency (they vary depending on the power supplied) – 1063-1265 MHz Base frequency and 1341-1480 MHz in Boost. While the GTX 1650 “ticks” at 1395 MHz Base and 1560 MHz Boost frequencies. Additionally, the older Pascal design is built around a 16nm manufacturing process, as for the GTX 1650 is built upon a 12nm one.

Memory-wise the GTX 1060 Max-Q is unchanged from its more powerful brother (the GTX 1060) – it has 6GB of GDDR5 memory, 192-bit bus and works at 2002 MHz, resulting in 192.2 GB/s. The GTX 1650, on the other side, settles with 4GB of GDDR5 memory, 128-bit bus, works at relatively the same speed – 2001 MHz, while the bandwidth is 128.1 GB/s.

Benchmarks

In the benchmarks, we see a slight raw performance advantage of the GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q over the newer graphics card.

Results are from the 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)


Gaming tests

When we turn to games, though the difference becomes negligible with the framerate being lower from 1 to 5 fps per setting, per game.

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)Full HD, Normal (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650173 fps94 fps50 fps
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060143 fps101 fps57 fps

Far Cry 5Full HD, Normal (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 165065 fps60 fps56 fps
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 106063 fps60 fps56 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)Full HD, Lowest (Check settings)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650120 fps80 fps39 fps
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060119 fps85 fps44 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 165060 fps55 fps48 fps
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 106060 fps56 fps49 fps

Conclusion

Despite the seemingly vast advantage of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q we see from the benchmarks, we find the gaming tests to be more representable of the real difference between these GPUs. That said, the GTX 1650 lacks behind with a couple of frames per second in some games, however, the fact that it uses around 17-29% less energy (depending on the configuration of the competitor), hence producing less heat, makes the Turing representative a better choice.

All laptops equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (4GB GDDR5)

All laptops equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)

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