Nvidia has rolled out another line of all-singing, all-dancing graphics cards geared toward the high-end gaming market. They offer unprecedented power, but they’re as pricey as you might expect. So, gamers looking to put together a machine on the cheap side might instead look to the previous generation, the Pascal-based 10-series. At the bottom of this range, you’ll find two cards which make gaming affordable – provided that you’re willing to turn the settings down a little: the 1050 and the 1050Ti.

Here, we’ll take a closer look at the two cards, and scrutinise some of the differences between them.

The specs

While clock-speeds and transistor counts don’t tell the whole story, it’s worth starting with a look at the relevant statistics from either card. You’ll get 4GB of VRAM on the Ti, and 3GB or 2GB on the smaller cards. Each card comes with 768, except this is pared back to 640 active cores on the 2GB 1050.

In terms of features, the two cards are very similar. There’s no support for VR or SLi; the former requires computational muscle these cards can’t summon, while the latter is now reserved for high-end cards. On the other hand, there is support for G-Sync – so if you have a compatible monitor, you can enjoy asynchronous tearing reduction with no lag. This technology commands a premium, as it requires proprietary components in the monitor, and thus if you’re putting together a budget set-up, it’s probably not going to be much of a factor in your decision.

Both cards have a theoretical maximum resolution of 7680×4320, so just about every possibility should be covered. Note that the 1050Ti isn’t superior in every respect: it’s not clocked as quick as the 1050, though it does sport a more generous RAM complement. Whether this is a worthwhile trade-off will depend on the games you’re playing.

What does Ti stand for?

We haven’t yet mentioned what the Ti at the end of the card’s name stands for. Is it Total Immersion? Texture Interpolation? Tachyon Infarction? No, no, and no. Ti is the symbol for titanium on the periodic table. Not that the card is made from any titanium; that would escalate the cost ludicrously. But it does sound cool, and so Nvidia has been using it on their premium cards for a while now. So, now you know.

What Do I Need the Extra RAM For?

We all understand that the more video RAM we have, the better our performance will be. But the extent will vary according to the game we’re playing. Video RAM works in much the same way as system memory – it’s a temporary place for data to be kept and manipulated by the processor before being stored. In this case, the processor is the GPU on the card rather than the CPU on the motherboard. On both cards, the memory in question is super-quick GDDR5, which clocks in at a healthy 7GB/s.

Nvidia describes video memory as the ‘frame buffer’. It’s partly there to store frames while they’re waiting to be displayed. So, with 16-bit colour depth, you’re looking at two bytes per pixel. If your display is 1080p, you’ll need 2,073,600 pixels, so that’s just over 4MB per frame. If you’re powering a 4K display, this jumps to 16MB. And if you’ve turned on multi-sampling post-processing features in your game, then the display will need to be rendered multiple times, which consumes more memory. Your video memory will also need to store all of the visual assets used by the game, including all of the textures that make up the world. If you’re playing a modern game, this rapidly adds up.

What happens when you run out of VRAM? The game will instead start to use system RAM. It takes a lot more time to store and retrieve data from system RAM, and the game isn’t going to hang around to wait for the information – it will just crash. Much like its big brother, the 1060, the 1050 comes in two varieties: one strapped with 2GB and one with 3GB. We would suggest that 2GB of video RAM is cutting it a bit slim for modern gaming – even if you’re just playing lo-res classics and modern pixel-art games like Hotline Miami and Beat Cop.

In every case, the video RAM complement isn’t sufficient to deal with 1440p and 2160p gaming. If you’re building an office machine that won’t be doing any heavy graphical lifting, but you still want a sharp display, then opt for the 1050Ti.

What else should I watch out for?

To make things more confusing, you’ll also see variety between cards based on the same architecture. One manufacturer might decide, for example, that its version of the 1050Ti might benefit from a little extra juice for overclocking purposes, and so elect to bolt a six-pin power socket into the top of the card.

How do the numbers stack up in the real world?

The performance difference between the two cards is heavily dependant on the game you’re playing. UserBenchmark figures put the 1050Ti at 33% better in DOTA2, and just 2% better in The Witcher 3. Of course, take these figures with a (tiny) pinch of salt, as they’re collected from disparate machines where the other components are not held constant.

While it’s perfectly possible to game on a 2GB graphics card, we’d suggest that making the leap up to 4GB of the 1050Ti makes more sense in the long run. You’ll want a little breathing room, in case there’s a game out in the future that pushes your system beyond its limit. Considering the price difference between the two cards is so small, we think that the 1050Ti more than justifies a purchase for most gamers torn between the two – and this is reflected in the more expensive card’s hugely higher market share.