We very recently reviewed a number of NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti GPUs in our recent launch round up where Kepler established a new standard of performance at $299. All the brands tested far exceeded the benchmark set by the previous GTX 560 Ti which was to provide fluid 1080p frame rates and introduce new technologies like FXAA, and TXAA sampling. However, NVIDIA had yet to hit the magical $199 sweet spot that most gamers with a budget can afford. Today is the day that they fill that sweet spot so join us for a quick look at the the brand new GeForce GTX 660 with EVGA’s Superclocked edition.
A Video Overview of the NEW GTX 660 (and GTX 650)
We hope to eventually check out the GTX 650 as well, but for now, here’s an overview of the two of them together…
Now let’s see what EVGA has done to the stock GTX 660!
Features and Specifications
EVGA has chosen to launch with two versions: A 2GB and 3GB model. The 2GB card should fit nicely with casual gamers while the 3GB will mostly like please a more serious gamer who likes higher resolutions and higher detail settings, and should help those of us that donate the unused compute cycles for Folding when not gaming. Both of these cards are not stock vanilla cards, so the prices for the 2GB Superclocked start at $229.99 while the 3GB hits at $269.99 US/CA. But of course, more vanilla versions of the GTX 660 are available from other manufacturers.
We give you the exact break down of each card below along with how it compares to the previous generation GTX 560 Ti and the higher end GTX 660 Ti.
The nice thing about the EVGA GTX 660 Superclocked is the increased core clock and boost clocks. The impressive memory frequency, bit rate, and memory capacity allows turning up of game, or program details that would otherwise slow cards lesser cards. Speaking of memory, the GTX 660 utilizes Samsung video memory while the GTX 660 Ti uses Hynix. Also worth noting is that the Precision X overclocking and OC Scanner monitoring programs get another custom face lift just for this card. However, these will work with other vendor cards as well.
The rest of the built in NVIDIA features include the SMX Engine, Adaptive Vertical Sync for eliminating those missing frame jitters, Surround technology for multi-monitor support (up to 4 displays), PhysX for creating a more realistic environment, 3D Vision and Vision 2 ready, 2-way SLI, and CUDA technology for extra GPU computing power.
Closer Look at the EVGA GTX 660 Superclocked
At a glance, the EVGA GTX 660 and GTX 660 Ti are twins. In fact, very little is changed between the two since most of differences are inside the GPU die and card firmware. The card sports a standard single fan GPU cooler with graphics that identify it as an EVGA product. Noise and temps are expected to be extremely similar between the two cards because of these design similarities.
The PCI ports are the same on both cards as well. Users have the option of using dual DVI, one HDMI, and one Display ports. That gives you connectivity all the way up to four displays for 3D surround gaming, or if you need the real estate for productivity.
To enforce sweet spot $199 price, the card requires only one 6pin PCIE power cable from a minimum 450 watt power supply. Using or purchasing a good quality 80Plus 550-600 watt ensures you have room to grow if you purchase a second card for SLI. However, this also makes the card a great upgrade for folks with older systems with weaker power supplies, which naturally, saves the user in upgrade costs. This is important at the higher value end of the spectrum.
Based on a quick comparison of features and specifications, plus the $199 price point, this card looks poised to take gamers to a new level of performance. Especially if they are coming from GTX 4xx series cards or older.
Let’s see if there is any extra value added in the bundle.
What’s in the Box?
While the EVGA GTX 660 Ti ships from retailers with a copy of Borderlands 2, the GTX 660 does not. At least at this point before launch. It would be cool if all $199 and higher cards came with something that good.
What you do get is a well wrapped video card, VGA-DVI adapter, user’s manual, drivers disc, 4pin to 6pin PCIE cable adapter, and slick EVGA badge (centered low on the manual). All of which is likely to keep the highly competitive $199 price point in check.
Test System Configuration
Installing your video card, video drivers, and any extra software is all part of the user experience. In the past, we’ve had a couple large cards require some effort due to really large PCBs and over sized PCI brackets. Fortunately, the card installed easily. Driver version 306.23 (Win 7) worked well with the EVGA GTX 660 SC.
- Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus V Gene
- Memory: Kingston HyperX 2800MHz DDR3 @ 1600 CL8
- Video Card 1: EVGA GTX 660 Superclocked (as tested)
- Video Card 2: MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II
- Video Card 3: EVGA GTX 660 Ti SuperClocked
- Video Card 4: GIGABYTE GTX 670 OC Edition
- Power Supply: Antec High Current Pro 1000 Watt Platinum
- Cooling: NZXT HAVIK 140
- OS: Win 7 Pro 64-bit
We have chosen a system that is somewhat on the upper end of the Z77 chipset series, but is still realistic for a $199 GPU to inhabit. We test against GPUs directly below it and above it including a GPU that is double the price, namely, the GTX 670. This will give us a good idea of just how much value NVIDIA has given this GPU and how well it will serve gamers searching for a GPU in this price point.
Screen resolutions are set at 1920 x 1080p on an ASUS VG27H 3D monitor. Benchmark resolutions are in the graph details. Power consumption was monitored using a Seasonic Power Angel with a minimum of 1 hr observation time. Fan noise was recorded using an Extech sound meter which has a limited 30dB detection level. Therefore, fan noise was measured from 2 feet away so we could hear some difference.
Overclocking the GTX 660 EVGA’s Precision X
EVGA provides Precision X to work within NVIDIA’s Kepler algorithms. Like the GTX 660 Ti, a new blue GTX 660 skin was released to fit EVGA’s card. Users simply install Precision X, copy, and paste the skin to the proper folder. The utility offers all the settings needed to tune and to overclock the card. OC Scanner will test your overclock and card’s stability. If you don’t have an EVGA card but wished you had one, Precision X will still work with your GTX 660 from any other manufacturer.
Using Precision X, the voltage was maxed, fan set to 70%, and the card was able to achieve a 53MHz GPU clock offset and 215MHz memory offset. Temps remained below 80C so heat wasn’t the limiting factor. Fan noise was below 22dB during stock card operations. Overclocked, noise reached 36dB. This is all to be expected as EVGA naturally saves the premium GPU for their FTW series.
To get things going, let’s start the benchmarks off with our go to synthetic benchmarks: 3DMark11 and Unigine Heaven 3.0.
Synthetic 3D Performance Results
While 3DMark11 is a purely synthetic 3D benchmark, it does a decent job of placing GPUs within the field. What we see here is how the memory, active cores, and bit rate effect the overall output of the video card. Even though it’s slower than the 660 Ti SC, notice it’s surprisingly faster than the Fermi GTX 580. Overclocking the card affords about 200 more P score points.
The Heaven Demo is great for testing raw 3D performance. The surprise here is that the GTX 660 is only about 5 frames slower than the GTX 660 Ti. The Fermi cards just have all that extra bandwidth which helps them stay relevant. Still, not too shabby at all for the 660.
Now that we have some idea of how things should shake out, let’s see if the synthetic benchmarks are correct when dealing with real games!
Metro 2033
Although Metro 2033 is very dated now, it still continues to chew up the GTX 660 GPU resources which scored a surprising 28.6 fps while its big brother scores 30.1 fps. The results was repeatable. Whether stock or overclocked, the card still has some heart, and the best part is, it is within striking distance of a GPU nearly $100 more than it.
Speaking of age, it seems that GTX 580 still manages to hang in there on this older title. But we see a change coming up…
Let’s look at a few more benchmarks and take this review home.
Batman Arkham City
Batman Arkham City puts more emphasis on NVIDIA PhysX and the power of the GPU with it enabled. The GTX 660 scores about 8 frames less than the GTX 660 Ti, but scores a whopping 16 FPS better than the outgoing GTX 560 Ti. 52 fps for the GTX 660 is also very playable at 1080p. Despite their former excellence, both the GTX 5xx series Fermi cards just don’t have the optimizations like Kepler so they have to rely on their raw bandwidth to keep up. It’s interesting to see the GTX 660 at $199, still keep up with a GTX 580 which is still available on clear out for nearly $100 more.
While GTX 580 is technically a stronger card for direct compute and CUDA based apps, the GTX 660 is definitely more efficient as a gaming card, which is what NVIDIA designed it to do.
STALKER Call of Pripyat
This benchmark moves a lot of data. The more numerous cores, faster memory, and frequencies assist the GTX 660 very well. The card isn’t much slower than the GTX 660 Ti in everything but the Rain test. Pretty darn good for a $199.99 to $229.99 priced card. We also now start to see just how efficient the GTX 660 can be when paired with the right title. Anything Fermi based really starts to fall off now.
Battlefield 3
In my demo, a lot more PhysX and movement is going on which pushes my test GPUs pretty hard. The GTX 660 was only a mere 7 frames slower than the GTX 660 Ti which is really not half bad at all. It keeps up with the beefy Fermi cards as well. This is good news for BF3 fans that are looking for something more capable at a reasonable price. With over 22 more FPS over the GTX 560 Ti, it really does make it a potentially worthy upgrade if your game of choice is this title.
Aliens vs Predator Benchmark
As expected, the GTX 660 SC stays close on the heals of the GTX 660 Ti SC. With all the tessellated video action going on with this benchmark, this is a very decent score. Overclocking the card did add about another 9 FPS to the score in offline testing.
This benchmark also shows that older titles may not benefit as much from the upgrade, similar to what we found in Metro 2033. It’s clear that if you play the newest games, then the upgrade to GTX 660 is worth it. But if you still play a large number of older games, and are still getting reasonable frame rates, the upgrade choice is a tougher one.
Final Thoughts
When it comes down to it, the GTX 660 and 660 Ti are technically twins. But aside from the number of cores, and memory, nearly $100 separates the two GPUs in price. So is that $100 worth it?
While the GTX 660 Ti is more powerful and has more resources to handle more demanding games and potentially applications, the GTX 660 SC makes great use of its higher frequencies to help provide very playable frame rates even when using higher graphical settings. Surprisingly, the GTX 660 is on par with its beefier Fermi cousin, the GTX 580. But as shown in our benchmarks, the difference between the Fermi and Kepler architecture all come down to whether you play the newest games or not. Kepler is clearly more efficient and better optimized as the titles get newer.
Getting to our subject card specifically, EVGA GTX 660 Superclocked is a quiet, and capable gaming experience. The card is a fraction of the former Fermi’s weight and utilizes its resources very efficiently. This means that, as an upgrade, the card is easier to deal with and doesn’t require a larger power supply, increasing your upgrade costs. While single card configurations won’t get too hot or loud, SLI may put them in very close proximity on some boards, which may limit the air flow of the “reference style” cooler. But that’s only a concern if SLI is in your future.
The GTX 660 is a great value especially if all you really need is a single GPU solution that plays at 1080p resolutions well, and especially if you’re finding that you’re playing today’s newer titles. This is evident in titles like Battlefield 3 where this card is matching top end Fermi GPUs still on shelves for higher prices. It’s also pretty apparent that at $100 less than the GTX 660 Ti, you certainly aren’t losing that amount in gaming performance. We highly recommend it for its great value starting at the $199 sweet spot for a great gaming card.
Our $229 EVGA Superclocked GTX 660 isn’t too shabby either if you want something better than a vanilla stock card. Especially with the great warranty.
Pros
- Relatively high end performance with today’s game titles
- Great cost-performance ratio at $229.99
- Cool and quiet Kepler operation
- Precision X overclocking utility
- Single 6pin power required!
- Cross shipping RMA support
- Warranty: 3 Year standard, 5 Year and 10 Year upgradable
Cons
- Won’t please overclocking enthusiasts
Overall Rating: 9.0 / 10.0
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