The Nvidia GTX 1050s and 1050 Tis are now on shelves, and Asus is the latest board partner to announce its versions of the wallet-friendly yet surprisingly powerful cards. Along with the familiar ROG Strix, Asus also debuted three new flavors, namely the Expedition, Dual, and Phoenix.
Unlike the rest of its brothers, the ROG Strix cannot get all of its power requirement from the 75 W PCIe slot. And while it needs an auxiliary 6-pin power connector to run, it does have the advantage of greater overclocking potential and cooler performance thanks to its DirectCU II heat dissipation system. It also features Aura Sync-compatible RGB LEDs to match other Aura-enabled products.
Both the Expedition and Dual are your typical, dual-slot, dual-fan cards, though the former features a more utilitarian build and the latter has a more aesthetic appeal.
Expedition cards were engineered for non-stop gaming environments such as gaming cafes and 24/7 systems. To prove its grit and certify its stability, Asus tests the Expedition through a 144 hour gauntlet—including a two-hour reboot test and a 15-hour 3D Mark test with heavy loading. On the other hand, the Dual was designed to color match with the Asus Z170-A and Z-170 Pro motherboards, while also being a performer with its optimized dual fans.
Lastly, the Phoenix features a compact body for small form factor gaming PCs in shoebox, mini-ITX, and some smaller microATX cases. It also arrives with dual-ball bearing fans.
Prices for the Asus 1050 cards are: PHP 6,580 (Phoenix GTX 1050 2GB), PHP 7,110 (Dual GTX 1050 2GB), and PHP 7,410 (Expedition GTX 1050 2GB); while prices for the Asus 1050 Ti are: PHP 8,130 (Phoenix GTX 1050 Ti 4GB), PHP 8,430 (Dual GTX 1050 Ti 4GB), PHP 8,850 (Expedition GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB), and PHP 9,620 (ROG Strix GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Gaming)
Asus GTX 1050 Quick Specs:
- CUDA Cores: 640
- Base Core Speed: 1354 MHz
- Boost Clock Speed: 1455 MHz
- VRAM: 2 GB GDDR5
- Effective Memory Speed: 7 Gbps
- Memory Bus: 128-bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 112 GB/s
- Power Requirement: 6-pin connector required for ROG Strix 1050
- Output: 1x DVI-D, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4
- Others: Super Alloy Power II components, Asus GPU Tweak II, OpenGL 4.5, DirectX 12, Vulkan
- Dimensions: Dual slot
- Prices: PHP 6,580 (Phoenix GTX 1050 2GB), PHP 7,110 (Dual GTX 1050 2GB), PHP 7,410 ( Expedition GTX 1050 2GB)
Asus GTX 1050 Ti Quick Specs:
- CUDA Cores: 768
- Base Core Speed: 1290 MHz
- Boost Clock Speed: 1392 MHz
- VRAM: 4 GB GDDR5
- Effective Memory Speed: 7 Gbps
- Memory Bus: 128-bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 112 GB/s
- Power Requirement: 6-pin connector required for ROG Strix 1050 Ti
- Output: 1x DVI-D (2x DVI-D for ROG Strix 1050), 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4
- Others: Asus GPU Tweak II, Aura Utility (for ROG Strix 1050) and OpenGL 4.5
- Dimensions: Dual slot
- Price: PHP 8,130 (Phoenix GTX 1050 Ti 4GB), PHP 8,430 (Dual GTX 1050 Ti 4GB), PHP 8,850 (Expedition GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB), PHP 9,620 (ROG Strix GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Gaming)