Maxing The Mid: ROG Strix GTX 1050 Ti
Between the Dual, the Phoenix and the Expedition, it's the ROG Strix GTX 1050 Ti that's the high-end 'Ti. And here it is:
Fitted with all the latest ROG gear, it has key advantages such as:
- ASUS' AURA RGB lighting on the cooler shroud LEDs
- A pair of patented Wing-Blade, 0dB fans that switch off when things are cool
- DirectCU heatpipes that make direct contact with the GPU core
- ASUS FanConnect header
- 4+1 phase Super Alloy Power II hardware
- AutoExtreme construction
- ROG designed PCB backplate
- 6-pin power connector to supply extra power for sustained boost and overclocking
- Customizable color decals
The ROG Strix GTX 1050 Ti is clocked at 1,506MHz boost and 1,392MHz base clock in OC Mode, with its GDDR5 memory clocked at 7GHz (effective). That makes it 10% faster than reference in 3DMark Firestrike Ultra, 11% Faster in DOOM at Ultra settings and 9% faster in Rise of the Tomb Raider at Very High settings. With 4GB of graphics memory and 768 GPU core shaders its perfect for Full HD gaming, or even WQHD with many games. VR users will want to step up to the GTX 1060 6GB or 1070 though.
Meanwhile, its DirectCU cooler and Wing-Blade fan combination pushes 30% cooler temps while remaining three times quieter than reference. The 0dB fans shut-off below 55C, so low graphics activity like social media and internet browing, watching movies or light gaming is unlikely to see them turn on, but of course your ambient case and air temps will vary results.
FanConnect can help here, by wiring up a case fan direct to the graphics card's 4-pin connector it can time them on/off to match the GPU fans, which is often the hottest component in the case. The fan speed curve can be controlled from the ASUS GPU Tweak software, and both 3- or 4-pin fans can be connected and controlled.
Overclocking is boosted by the presence of a full set of Super Alloy Power components - including SAP II MOSFETs, Capacitors, Chokes and also POSCAPs on the rear-side, near the back of the GPU silicon. Combined with the 6-pin power connector that's unusually found on GTX 1050 Ti's, there's plenty of power available to maximise overclock speeds in GPU Tweak.
The Strix shroud features two customization options; first the AURA RGB on the side so you can see it through the chassis window (should you have one). That's 16-plus million colors to choose from and you can also sync it to your Strix and ROG motherboards that have the AURA feature. Six lighting effects are available to choose from: static, breathing, strobing, color cycling, music reactive and GPU temperature reactive. On the top side there's two customizable decals. Two are provided, but you can cut/copy or 3D print and apply your own style in the spaces provided as a bit more self-expression.
The shroud is a strong ABS plastic covering the aluminum fins underneath. With fat, nickel plated copper heatpipes interleaving them, the heat is rapidly transferred from the directly-connected GPU core. On the backside it has an aluminium plate adorned in a digital-style pattern, along with ROG logo. The rear IO has two DVI-D ports, one HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.4, allowing it to support Ultra-wide and 4K UltraHD displays, as well as Nvidia GSync panels.
At just 9.5-inches (24.1cm) long it's short enough to fit all standard ATX and mATX chassis, and should also fit all but the smallest mini-ITX or similar small form factor boxes.
