At the top of the MSI GTX 1050 Ti roll are two cards that bear the familiar red-and-black MSI color system and have the “ Gaming ” label ; these are the ship’s company ‘s flagship GTX 1050 Ti cards. The company is besides offering more meek versions. In exchange for a lower price, they look a bite more pedestrian and pack specification that are closer to stock. Our review poster is one of the latter, and MSI offers a similar translation of this poster in non-Ti reduce, deoxyadenosine monophosphate well, that we tested. ( See our inspection of the MSI GeForce GTX 1050 2G OC. ) besides worth noting : MSI recently unveiled a low-profile, half-height version of the GTX 1050 Ti, the $ 155 MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GT LP, for personal computer upgraders and gamers looking to boost a thin home-theater personal computer or other slender background. ( Decent-performing half-height video cards have been scarce in recent years, with the best of the late batch being based on the aged GeForce GTX 750 Ti. )
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Reading: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC Review
Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buy decisions. ( See how we test. ) But as for the card we have on hand : The full-height card we ‘re testing hera today is a stock GTX 1050 Ti in most regards, but it does include an MSI-induced, meek overclock ( of 63MHz ) out of the box, hence the “ OC ” in its name. Despite its overclock, it is selling for the MSRP of a typical base-model GTX 1050 Ti, which is $ 139. Our know with Nvidia cards indicates that the poster may well overclock beyond the overclock numbers listed on the specification sail, but we ‘ll see in a piece about that. note that MSI besides sells a truthful stock adaptation of this batting order, lacking the “ OC ” in the name and adhering to the base specification listed for this GPU by Nvidia. 
Since this is card is close to stock apart from the meek overclock, it has all the standard specification of a GTX 1050 Ti, including 4GB of GDDR5 memory ( on a 128-bit memory interface ) along with 768 CUDA cores. Its cooling apparatus employs merely a one fan, and the menu takes up two PCI Express slots ascribable to the width of its air cooler. The circuit board is rather short in distance, though, making it bang-up for a small-form-factor build if you ca n’t afford or would preferably not shell out the extra expense for one of the mini versions of the GeForce GTX 1060, which tend to run about $ 200 for the 3GB versions and $ 240 for the 6GB. ( See, for example, our inspection of the Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 Mini. ) The MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC measures merely 7 inches long, making it easy to fit into even tight desktop-PC human body .
Easing the installation further is the fact that it does n’t require a PCI Express exponent connection, as it ‘s able to pull all the juice it needs out of the PCI Express slot it ‘s plugged into. ( MSI suggests the minimum of a 300-watt might supply for consumption with this batting order, then note that some low-end or clientele PCs may not have the necessity power-delivery disk overhead. You ‘ll want to check. ) besides know that the port mix is a bit abridge from higher-end cards, or even the Gigabyte G1 Gaming version of the GTX 1050 Ti we tested ( no four or five ports here on the backplane ), comprising single DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort connectors .
Despite its entry-level condition, the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC supports key leading-edge features coarse to recent GeForce cards, including Nvidia ‘s G-Sync, 8K output, and DirectX 12. This calling card is not “ VR-capable, ” however, by the standards of today ‘s Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets. That does n’t mean it ca n’t run VR titles, merely that it likely will not run them well, and a deficient VR experience can lead to nausea and headaches—choppy frame rates are the least of your troubles. The service line for smooth VR on the Nvidia side of the aisle is the next model up from this, the GeForce GTX 1060 .
MSI backs the GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC with a three-year guarantee, and alternatively of pairing the calling card with its specialize MSI Gaming App software much seen on its higher-end cards, it includes ( as a download ) the MSI Afterburner utility ( which, by the way, anyone can download and use on any television poster ). It lets you monitor temperatures and clock speeds, equally well as overclock the GPU. More on that later .
Performance
As we ‘ve mentioned in our other late calling card reviews, things are in flux these days when it comes to testing 2016 ‘s video cards, because the two emerging technologies that current-gen cards are built for are proving unmanageable to test in these early days .
The beginning of these is DirectX 12 ( DX12 ), which is barely now coming on the fit. There are relatively few real-world benchmarks for it. inactive, DX12 will finally be the standard graphics API, so it ‘s important to know if a card can handle DX12 well before buying. We tested the GTX 1050 Ti with the newest DX12-capable games we had on hand, including Hitman ( the 2016 edition ), Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Ashes of the Singularity, ampere well as Futuremark ‘s 3DMark DX12 benchmark, Time Spy. We tested a load of games using DirectX 11, besides, because that API will placid be in wide-eyed use for at least another class, and probably much longer .
The other angle is virtual reality ( VR ) confirm, or lack thence. VR is red hot these days, but the GTX 1050 Ti is not knock-down enough to earn a thumbs-up from Oculus and HTC for their headsets, so you wo n’t be immersing yourself in artificial worlds with this card ( or any other of its classify ) anytime soon, unless the hardware site changes on the VR headset side .
And indeed, on to the benchmarks. Since this specific MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti wag costs $ 139, we ‘ll compare it to the $ 110-to- $ 130 Radeon RX 460, and it ‘ll be quite matter to to see how they match up. GTX 1050 Ti cards are generally priced slightly above the Radeon RX 460 crowd ; very, the RX 460 is matched to do conflict with the GTX 1050, not the GTX 1050 Ti. That allows the GTX 1050 Ti translation to preside over its own little burp with no real contest among current-generation cards, since the Radeon increase wag, the Radeon RX 470, is a good act more expensive, at $ 179 or then. ( Some RX 470 cards are a tad cheaper than that, via $ 10 or $ 20 mail-in rebates, but most were in the $ 170 to $ 190 range at this writing. ) We ‘ve besides already tested and reviewed a bounty GeForce GTX 1050 Ti card from Gigabyte, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti G1 Gaming 4G, which cost $ 30 more than the MSI card at this write. So it ‘ll be intriguing to see what that extra jam of cash delivers .
All of the recent-generation cards we ‘ve tested in the $ 100-to- $ 200 range have besides been included in the benchmark charts below, with a few higher-end cards such as the GeForce GTX 1060 and AMD Radeon RX 480 throw in for position. We besides dropped in the short-board AMD Radeon R9 Nano, for an idea of the operation you can get in a identical covenant poster if money is no object. ( At this write, it was about four times the price of a distinctive GTX 1050, or more than three times that of this MSI GTX 1050 Ti. )
3DMark Fire Strike
We started off our testing with Futuremark ‘s 2013 interpretation of 3DMark, specifically the cortege ‘s Fire come to subtest. Fire fall is a celluloid test designed to measure overall gambling operation .
In the first base face-off between the two GTX 1050 Ti cards we have tested, the Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti G1 Gaming came out on acme on the Graphics Score, by 4 percentage. That ‘s a decent margin considering that it has the like GPU in its belly as the MSI card and both are overclocked. The Gigabyte menu comes overclocked higher than the MSI batting order, so this is n’t excessively surprise. Both GTX 1050 Ti cards besides spanked the less expensive Radeon RX 460, but in turn were drubbed by the pricier RX 470 .
Tomb Raider (2013)
Let ‘s start with some older games. here, we fired up the 2013 boot of the classical title Tomb Raider, testing at the Ultimate detail preset and three resolutions .
We ‘re only two tests in and already a pattern is emerging : The higher-clocked Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti is a shred more powerful than the mildly overclocked MSI OC wag. In this test, we saw the Gigabyte overtake the MSI menu by about 4 frames per second ( federal protective service ) at 1080p, but that ‘s distillery an accomplishment given their hardware similarities. Both cards were able to hit over 60fps in this deed, vitamin a well. In line, the Radeon RX 460 we tested ( a PowerColor wag ) languished in the 40fps zone .
Sleeping Dogs
following, we rolled out the very demanding real-world bet on benchmark screen built into the 2013 title Sleeping Dogs …
again, the Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti G1 Gaming circuit board held a regular 5 percentage advantage over the MSI GTX 1050 Ti card in this quiz. Both cards failed to cross the 60fps threshold, but they were close ; kicking down the contingent tied one notch would get you there with ease. Both of the GTX 1050 Ti cards besides much doubled the performance of the Radeon RX 460 poster, so it seems dependable to say at this point that this “ match-up ” is n’t much of one .
Bioshock Infinite
The popular championship Bioshock Infinite is n’t excessively demanding, but it ‘s a democratic one with leading good looks. In its built-in benchmark program, we set the graphics level to the highest preset ( Ultra+DDOF ) …
The MSI GTX 1050 Ti card was able to close the break with the more expensive Gigabyte card in this test, with the two cards equitable 3.5 percentage apart at 1080p. Both cards were in the eminent 70fps/low 80fps scope at 1080p, so that ‘s pretty much a wash from a real-world performance perspective .
Hitman: Absolution
future up was Hitman : absolution, which is an aging game but inactive pretty hard on a video recording calling card, particularly at our trial settings .
The race tightened further in this screen, with the deviation between the two GTX 1050 Ti cards within the margin of deviation between test runs. In this title, it is efficaciously a tie between them. The RX 460 was not conclusion at any resoluteness, and even the RX 470 did n’t beat the two GTX 1050 Ti cards by much .
Far Cry Primal
following, we moved to a more holocene game, released in 2016. Ubisoft ‘s latest open-world first-person search game is one of the most demand test titles we use, with lush leaf, detail shadows, and otherwise incredible environments. We used the Normal detail setting first .
This is the first gear screen where we can in truth see where the extra $ 30 for the Gigabyte 1050 Ti wag is being spent, as it was able to outpace the MSI OC card by a hearty 15 percentage at 1080p. As the resolution increased, the gap narrowed ( to the bespeak where equitable 1 inning per second separated them at 4K solution ), but cipher is going to play this plot at 17fps .
And here ‘s what we saw at the killer whale Ultra typeset …
The two GTX 1050 Ti cards pulled off playable frame of reference rates, the RX 460 was borderline, and the RX 470 intelligibly overran them all .
Ashes of the Singularity
Oxide ‘s Ashes of the Singularity is a bite of a departure as a benchmark, as it ‘s a real-time strategy title, rather than a first-person shooter or a third-person legal action championship. Due to the planet-scale nature of its battle scenes, with hundreds of onscreen tanks, ships, and other implements of future war, it can be extremely demanding at high settings. And because of the overplus of hand over units, this bet on is besides way more CPU-bound—especially at high settings and resolutions—than most early holocene games. We used the Standard preset here, rather than the game ‘s cause of death Crazy preset .
At 1080p resolution we saw the Gigabyte hold a mince advantage of a few frames over the MSI OC batting order, though both GPUs struggled with this punishing benchmark. Both GPUs were barely about a fast as a GeForce GTX 960 from the former generation, which is interesting. The Radeon RX 460 was boundary line acceptable at 1080p, limping to the finish note with a sexual conquest of just 28.4fps .
Grand Theft Auto V
One of the most popular game franchises on the planet, Grand Theft Auto needs no introduction. Version V took a set longer than many expected to land on the personal computer. But when it last did, in early on 2015, it brought a issue of graphic improvements and tweakable ocular settings that pushed the game far beyond its console roots .
note that many of the cards below have no bars because they would not run GTA V at our screen settings. That ‘s a quirk of this crippled : It will automatically bounce down settings if the game perceives it will not run acceptably at a given mix of resolution and detail settings .
This is a brutal quiz, as the graph shows the RX 460 could n’t hack our ( true demanding ) settings. The GTX 1050 Ti cards pulled it off, though, with both the Gigabyte and MSI GPUs reach over 60fps at 1080p, though the Gigabyte G1 Gaming held a 9 percentage advantage. surprisingly, the slenderly overclocked MSI GTX 1050 we tested ( the non-Ti batting order ) held its own on this test, excessively, placing just a shred behind its amped-up Ti brethren .
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Lara Croft rises once again in the early 2016 iteration of Square Enix ‘s long-running natural process franchise. As our bomber works to unfold an ancient mystery ( and reveal the mysterious to immortality ) ahead of the ancient and deadly Order of Trinity, she traipses through a swerve of complex atmospheric environments, from arid tombs to the cold siberian wilderness. A dynamic weather system, and the complexities of Lara ‘s wind-tousled hair, add to the bet on ‘s ocular complexity. Let ‘s count at the game at the Medium detail preset .
The results of this test largely mirror the others, with the Gigabyte tease holding a small advantage, so we wo n’t department of labor the details. What ‘s more interesting from a performance point of view is just how good the cheaper MSI GeForce GTX 1050 2G OC is for this game, as it was merely a few ticks slower than the MSI OC Ti batting order. The GTX 1050 Ti showed its teeth to the GTX 1050, though, at the Very High preset …
Hitman (2016)
The newest game in the Hitman franchise finds Agent 47 change state over a newly leaf, and embarking on a journey of self-discovery as a teacher at a school for underprivileged children. Just pull the leg of, of class ; he kills loads of people in this one, just like the stay. It does offer gorgeous graphics in both DX11 and DX12 varieties, though. We ‘ll tackle the erstwhile ( DX11 ) first, at the Medium detail setting.
This game produced the common very linear pecking order based on monetary value and spectacles, then as poster value increased indeed did performance, and vice versa. once again the MSI OC poster was good a bantam act behind the Gigabyte G1 Gaming, with both topping 70fps at 1080p. The RX 460 was in the hunt ( 59fps at 1080p ) but most surprise was the fact that the GTX 1050 Ti cards were about competitive with the much pricier GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition on this test. We saw the lapp dynamic at the High preset, though the GTX 1060 reasserted itself there …
It ‘s hard to get any rock-solid sense of DirectX 12 performance at this point. When we wrote this, still entirely a few major titles were available with DirectX 12 support. And running these games, anecdotally we saw no graphic differences between the titles running at DX11 versus DX12 settings. In some instances, titles running under DX12 offered performance gains, but elsewhere we saw lesser performance .
In other words, do n’t draw any set-in-stone conclusions from the DX12 results below. DirectX 12 is hush in its early stages. We ‘ll have to wait some months to say for surely how much of an advantage DX12 offers, and whether it sways things in party favor of AMD or Nvidia in any meaty room. calm, it ‘s worth taking a expression at what the GTX 1050 Ti and its competition can do with Microsoft ‘s latest bet on API today, because DX12 is the future .
This sequel to 2013 ‘s Tomb Raider was one of the first AAA titles to offer DirectX 12 confirm. We used the preset labeled Medium for testing .
The DX12 results between the two GTX 1050 Ti cards did n’t give us any new information, though we expected the RX 460 to do a little bite of catch-up thanks to its apparent DX12 art. Alas, it was crushed by the MSI OC circuit board by about 15fps at 1080p. naturally, the Gigabyte card was a spot faster than the MSI poster, but we expected that. The RX 470 absolutely trounced both 1050 Ti cards, though, topping 90fps at 1080p and even 60fps at 1440p .
The newest Hitman title besides offers up a DX12 graphics option in its benchmark that, like Rise of the Tomb Raider, looked identical to our eyes to the DX11 version. We used the Medium place setting here .
This game appears to be doing some matter to things with our challengers, as the GTX 1050 Ti cards performed about the lapp. It ‘s a rare happening, but possibly the new-ness of DX12 puts both cards on equal foot despite the clock speed dispute between them. The RX 460 was meek here, at least compared to the GTX 1050 Ti cards, while the RX 470 was a powerhouse, specially at 1440p .
Ashes of the Singularity (DX12)
The scheme entitle Ashes of the Singularity was among the inaugural to offer DirectX 12 support, even when it was however in beta. ( many missing bars hera, as this test was intermittently balky under DX12 when we tested some of these cards. )
The Radeon RX 460 made up some labor in this test. not amazingly, the GTX 1050 Ti cards were close, with the Gigabyte card pulling a flimsy edge. What is besides storm is the MSI GTX 1050 was precisely one frame per second slower than the MSI GTX 1050 Ti at 1080p .
3DMark (Time Spy)
We have n’t tested all of the cards we outline hera on the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark so far ; it ‘s a test from the Futuremark suite that was lone relatively recently finalized. But we did run it on the MSI GTX 1050 Ti circuit board we ‘re reviewing hera, angstrom well as on the Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti G1 Gaming card, PowerColor ‘s Red Dragon Radeon RX 460 and Red Devil RX 470, and a few early low-end cards. It presented no relative surprises .
The MSI card delivered a Time Spy DX12 Graphics Score of 2,238 ( while the Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti rang up at a close 2,349 ), versus the 1,622 of the PowerColor RX 460, a 3,513 for the PowerColor RX 470, and a 1,809 from a miniskirt interpretation of the GTX 1050 ( non-Ti ) from Zotac. Those numbers pretty much adjust to the nag order established throughout our testing .
Overclocking
If you recall earlier in the review, we noted that this MSI card is an OC edition, meaning MSI ships the GPU with a higher maximum potential boost clock than what is specified by Nvidia. however, we wrote that even though the specification for this circuit board dictate a 63MHz overclock right out of the box ( which is a 1,455MHz boost clock, for the record ), we postulated that the card ‘s GPU Boost would probably go higher than that, making whatever specification MSI listed for this poster irrelevant .
good, it turns out we were right. To see how well this small puppy would overclock, we popped it into our test organization and out of the box, with no tamper of software dials or any funny story occupation, it topped out ( when boost-clocking ) at 1,695MHz. That ‘s quite a boost over the specification for this card, and impressive for any modest-price menu like this one .
That said, that was approximately deoxyadenosine monophosphate far as we got with this GPU, as our attempts to push it even further were by and large bootless. In the end, we hit a clock-speed wall rather cursorily, and topping out around 1,759MHz. ( The GPU kept dialing itself back down to 1,695MHz and then second up to 1,733MHz, then 1,759MHz, and so forth. ) When we see those types of fluctuations—where we try to increase clock amphetamine but it decreases on its own—it means there ‘s no more overclocking headroom. It did n’t seem to be a thermal limit, as the hottest we saw the GPU get was 64 degrees C, which is not terribly hot for a GPU under load. If you read our inspection of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti G1 Gaming 4G, you ‘ll see it was running at 80 degrees C under load, so the MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC was quite a sting cooler .
One final examination bill : In Nvidia ‘s press briefing for the GTX 1050 Ti, the company claimed that some of its partner cards ought to be able to get up to 1,900MHz. indeed the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti we tested was able to go merely a tad beyond 1,900MHz in our review, but it is besides using a “ bin ” GPU, one preselected for overclocking fitness. So it looks like there in truth is something to that, not fair market boast. For the MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC, you will have to live with whatever GPU Boost 3.0 produces for an overclock. It ‘s surely not bad, but this batting order does not overclock well as the Gigabyte poster, which is what costs you $ 30 more for that card .
A Decent, Affordable Graphics Card
In the graphics-card global, free lunches are scarce, as they are everywhere else. If you want performance, you have to pay for it, and a card that costs less than another normally is n’t vitamin a mighty. dim-witted as that. Ham-sandwich prices get you … a overact sandwich .
nowadays that we ‘ve been able to sample a goodly range of current-generation cards from both AMD and Nvidia, we ‘re beginning to see the subtleties of the cards ‘ pecking order more distinctly. At the bottom of the atomic pile is the Radeon RX 460, and at good $ 99 or then, it is what AMD calls an “ e-sports ” card, for Web-based contest games, as it ‘s not in truth capable of maxed-out 1080p gambling with the latest abdominal aortic aneurysm titles. then there ‘s the GTX 1050, which can plot at 1080p, and the GTX 1050 Ti, even more thus. Those two GPUs slot in right in the big gap between AMD ‘s Radeon RX 460 and RX 470, and both are excellent GPUs .
adenine far as this specific card goes, it is vitamin a cheap as GTX 1050 Ti cards were at this writing, at barely $ 139, and as such has few extras. The real question then becomes : Is this card worth the $ 20 premium over a vanilla GeForce GTX 1050, and in turning, what about versus the $ 30-more-expensive Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti G1 Gaming 4G ?
It seems, based on our quiz and reviews, that the $ 20 or therefore excess for the GTX 1050 Ti over the basic GTX 1050 is money well exhausted. not lone is it quite a snatch faster in some games, but it besides has double the memory, and it offers all these benefits without requiring extra exponent. so, in our minds, that argument is settled ; unless money is very tight, go with the GTX 1050 Ti over the GTX 1050, and in go with the regular GTX 1050 over the Radeon RX 460, as it ‘s a bunch faster for precisely an supernumerary $ 20 and is actually playable at 1080p .
When considering the MSI GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC versus the Gigabyte G1 Gaming, though, we give the nod to the MSI tease for most buyers. Why ? Because $ 30 is a lot at this price decimal point. The Gigabyte card is surely faster, and it has more bling and overclocking potential. And with its binned chip, it ‘s distinctly a better all-around card, but it ‘s a act excessively expensive. If you ‘re already spending $ 170, you might a well pony up another $ 20 and get a much faster Radeon RX 470 .
That leaves the $ 139 MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti in a sweet descry, more low-cost than premium GTX 1050 Ti cards like the Gigabyte we tested, and decisively faster than the GTX 1050 at the identify 1080p gaming charge. overall, the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC delivers on all the promises of the GTX 1050 Ti lineup ; small, silence, and low-cost, and very capable for 1080p gambling. It does n’t offer anything more than fair the basics, but for most gamers on a budget, that ‘s more than enough .
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC
3.5
See It
$ 379.99
at Amazon
MSRP $ 139.99
Pros
Cons
The Bottom Line
This MSI wag is a near-stock GTX 1050 Ti, but that ‘s not a bad thing. It performs well for 1080p bet on and is low-cost, plain and simple .
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