The entry point into the world of Pascal-based desktop GPUs is the GTX 1050. Equipped with only 2 GB of GDDR5 RAM, it primarily competes against the - only marginally more expensive - GTX 1050 Ti with 4 GB of RAM. Zotac's GeForce GTX 1050 Mini is a very compact graphics card without a fancy heatsink design.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Zotac-GeForce-GTX-1050-Mini-2GB-Review.190669.0.html
Does Nvidia specifically tell you that you are NOT allowed to test the 1050 against the 960 gtx? Would it look worse? It is clearly inferior to the 970 gtx and I can only assume that they won't allow it because it would look inferior to the old tech it is replacing - at least in terms of performance. In power and heat I'd still expect the new 1050 to be better.