This is another fast-paced game that has been highly optimized by its developers, although even with their help, the GeForce GTX 1660 still wasn’t able to hit 240fps at the high setting at 1080p. That said, medium or low settings should have no problem speeding you to anywhere to match your monitor’s refresh rate.
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Super Review and Benchmarks
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Super – Design and Features
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G Specs
- Gamers on a Budget, Gather ‘Round
- Similar Products
- MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming X 6G
- XFX Radeon RX 590 Fatboy
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition
- MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor
- XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition
- Nvidia GTX 1660 Super vs 1660 Ti: 1080p benchmarks
- Nvidia GTX 1660 Super vs 1660 Ti: 1440p benchmarks
- Ray tracing and DLSS
- You get what you pay for
- A SUPER Sweet Spot? NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Review
- A Look At Test Methodology
- Games Tested & Vendor Neutrality
- Specifications of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
- User Reviews, Q&A, and Videos on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
- Question
- Broadcast Like a Pro
- STREAM LIKE A BOSS
EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Super Review and Benchmarks
Nvidia is not quite done with its Turing architecture yet and is releasing possibly the last graphics cards in its product stack, closing two holes to complete its offering. First up is the $ 229 GTX 1660 Super (see Amazon), which sits between the vanilla 1660 version and the Ti version, both in terms of performance and price. The GTX 1650 Super will also arrive in a few weeks, the prices of which have yet to be announced, but will likely be around $ 179.
The big news with the Super GTX 1660 version is that it offers faster GDDR6 memory, which allows you to almost double the memory bandwidth compared to the GTX 1660. Nvidia is positioning this GPU as a good upgrade over the GTX 1060, saying it is “up to date”. 1.5 times faster. ” It will be available, as you read this, from all Nvidia board partners (Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte et al.) As there will be no Founders edition.”
EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Super – Design and Features
The GTX 1660 Super uses the TU116 sensor, which is the same as the GTX 1660 and 1660 Ti. The specs are pretty much the same as the standard 1660, apart from using the faster GDDR6 memory. It still has a total of 6GB and otherwise has the same number of CUDA cores, the same clock frequencies and memory bus width, but has a slightly higher TDP of 125W compared to 120W for the vanilla card. Here is the specification chart that illustrates the changes:
As I wrote above, the big change here is the transition to the faster GDDR6 memory. The GTX 1660 uses 8 Gb / s GDDR5 memory, while the Super version is equipped with 14 Gb / s modules found in higher Nvidia graphics chips. Even though it uses the same 192-bit memory bus as the version without super-fast memory, the additional high-speed memory allowed to increase the bandwidth from 192.1 GB / s to a huge 336 GB / s, a huge increase of 75 percent. Nvidia says this update delivers up to 20 percent more performance over the GTX 1660.
The EVGA card I got for review is short and a bit squat, but definitely not as thick as the really thick versions that EVGA previously offered. It is eight inches long, with an aluminum heat sink that covers most of the GPU, and has two fans with the EVGA logo on top of it. There is no RGB backlight, but there is a backplate, which on a semi-budget GPU is a bit of a surprise.
In terms of specifications, this card is clocked exactly the same as the GTX 1660, with a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz. It has 6 GB of memory and is designed for 1080p gaming at high settings. It uses one eight-pin connector for the power supply like the rest of its family, and includes one connector each for DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI-D. While the GTX 1660 Ti has weaker memory, it is still at the top of that three-card stack due to more CUDA cores, more texture units, and a larger L1 cache. The new 1660 Super will also support all the new software enhancements that Nvidia is announcing today .
Compared to the similarly priced AMD RX 590, there’s no competition here, as the 1660 Super is faster all-round with a decent margin, so AMD will have to lower the price to stay competitive in this price range. It also burns the GTX 1060, making it a very decent upgrade to this GPU as it runs 20 to 30 percent faster in most games.
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G Specs
Graphics processor | Nvidia Turing TU116 |
GPU Base Clock | 1530 MHz |
GPU boost clock | 1830 MHz |
Graphics memory type | GDDR5 |
The amount of graphics memory | 6 GB |
DVI outputs | 0 |
HDMI outputs | 1 |
DisplayPort outputs | 3 |
VirtualLink outputs | No |
Number of fans | 1 |
Card width | double |
Card length | 8.8 inches |
Plate power or TDP | 130 watts |
Power connector (s | 1 8-pin |
As the silicon from the recently introduced GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is still warm, Nvidia keeps production lines full-flow with another new mainstream GPU, the GeForce GTX 1660. Priced from $ 219 for entry-level models, the GeForce GTX 1660 is significantly cheaper than the entry-level versions GeForce GTX 1660 Ti ($ 279, $ 60 difference), but offers many of the same benefits. Key? The power to play popular multiplayer titles at 1080p resolutions above 60 frames per second (fps), in some cases even above 100 fps. The first GTX 1660 we tested, the $ 219 GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G from Gigabyte, is the GTX 1660 in a fairly stripped down form, but it provides solid performance and a good upgrade over previous generation graphics cards like the GeForce GTX 960.GTX 1050 or GTX 1060.
Gamers on a Budget, Gather ‘Round
Like the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, the GeForce GTX 1660 is the landmark between low-end Nvidia cards like the GeForce GTX 1050 and the much more expensive GeForce RTX line. The card carries all the benefits Nvidia has achieved with the transition to the Turing architecture, leaving behind the specialized Tensor and RT cores that give the GeForce RTX line of cards a higher price.
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Based on the same Turing TU116 chip as the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, the GeForce GTX 1660 is a mostly scaled down version of the Ti card, with one notable difference: using GDDR5 memory instead of GDDR6. (Both cards are 6GB.) This change has no effect on memory bandwidth (both card families are rated at 192.1GB / s permanently), but it’s interesting that Nvidia is taking such a big step backwards though this department.
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Other than that, the GeForce GTX 1660 is functionally almost identical to the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, except for a few critical drops in clock speed, power consumption, and the number of CUDA cores available for rendering.
This is Futuremark’s DirectX 12-capable benchmark for predicting the performance of DirectX 12-enabled games. It uses major API functions including asynchronous computation, explicit multi-card support, and multi-threading.
Nvidia GTX 1660 Super vs 1660 Ti: 1080p benchmarks
Right now, the GTX 1660 Ti is my best recommended 1080p gaphic card, while the regular GTX 1660 is what I consider to be “should buy” if you are less concerned with playing at 60fps at maximum settings. That’s because the GTX 1660 can still hit 60fps at high settings on almost any of today’s big hits, which is great if you want to save some cash. Meanwhile, the GTX 1660 Ti is much better equipped to deal with these higher quality settings.
Compared to the GTX 1660 Super, the 1660 Ti is a faster card overall, but as you can see below, the 1660 Super comes close to hitting 60fps on the Ultra settings in a surprisingly high number of times. In fact, in Forza Horizon 4 it even pushes 1660 Ti to the post, ranking first with an average of 106fps compared to just 100fps.
Moreover, the differences between some of these frame rates are actually quite small. For example, I’m not sure if I would be able to tell the difference between say 48fps and 52fps in Total War: Three Kingdoms, nor would I be able to tell if the 42fps average for the Supers in Metro Exodus was necessarily smoother than the 45fps Ti average. Likewise, anyone with a regular 60Hz monitor will not appreciate Final Fantasy XV’s ability to run at an average of 66fps compared to 62fps, and I’m pretty sure Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s performance will look and feel pretty pretty identical.
In this light, the GTX 1660 Super seems to be a pretty decent way to get power close to the Ti at a cheap cost, which is even worse when we push the quality setting to High. Here we’re dealing with a high refresh rate area for both cards (that is, outside of the old Metro Exodus), and once again I don’t think the human eye can tell the difference between 70 or 75fps in their minute-by-minute gameplay.
As a 1080p card, the GTX 1660 Super can recommend it compared to the more expensive Ti counterpart which costs around £ 250 / $ 260 at the time of this writing. The GTX 1660 Super, on the other hand, can be purchased for £ 220 / $ 230.
Nvidia GTX 1660 Super vs 1660 Ti: 1440p benchmarks
However, I think the extra £ 30 / $ 30 for the GTX 1660 Ti is probably worth the extra money when you consider the performance of each 1440p card. Again, the GTX 1660 Ti isn’t really an Ultra graphics card at this resolution, but the extra 5-7 frames per second in games like The Witcher III and Monster Hunter: World are big enough to register. After all, when you’re dealing with such a sensitive 35-50fps zone, even small spikes in performance can make a noticeable impact on your overall perception of game speed. Elsewhere, of course, the difference of 1-3 fps won’t make much difference.
However, at this resolution, the GTX 1660 Ti has always felt most comfortable at that resolution (which is why I believe it’s also a “must-buy” card for 1440p) and I think it still has enough of an edge to justify spending just a little more.
In the end, this maintains the significant performance boost in both Monster Hunter: World and The Witcher III, as well as Final Fantasy XV, there was enough leap for me to conclude that the GTX 1660 Ti was noticeably superior. Indeed, while the Super dropped to 41fps in FFXV on High, the 1660 Ti never went below 46fps, making it appear smoother overall.
That gap started closing as I moved to medium settings, admittedly both cards successfully leveled in Final Fantasy XV as well as Metro Exodus, but having spent a lot of time playing the former, I’d rather suffer the lower FPS a bit and play FFXV at a higher level than settle for close to 60fps at the medium quality setting. This is obviously just my personal preference and there will no doubt be some who don’t think the extra £ 30 / $ 30 is really worth the solution.
And that’s okay. However, when it comes to securing your PC for the future, I believe the GTX 1660 Ti is still a card to buy. It may not be much faster than the GTX 1660 Super right now, but as games get more challenging, the Ti, not Super, will be the card that will keep you playing at these higher quality settings for longer.
An important feature that the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti lacks in contrast to the high-end GeForce RTX 2000 series is ray tracing technology. Ray tracing improves lighting, shadows and in-game effects.
Ray tracing and DLSS
While the RTX 2060 supports hardware ray tracing acceleration, other cards do as well, albeit with limited capacity. Thanks to the driver update from Nvidia, all GTX 16 and 10 series cards can render ray tracing in-game, but without hardware acceleration using RT cores, performance is not great, even on the latest generation of high-end cards such as the GTX 1080 Ti.
The problem with ray traced lighting effects is that it takes an excessive amount of GPU to render. This is why RT cores are required and they make such a difference to RTX cards; especially the high-end ones. If you want to play ray tracing games at a comfortable frame rate, the RTX 2060 is the only card you can opt for in this case, though it will still be limited to 1080p in most games. The GTX 16 series cards will let you see what ray tracing looks like, but won’t be able to play many ray tracing games at anything close to your comfortable frame rate.
With that in mind, it’s a shame that deep learning super sampling (DLSS) support is limited to RTX graphics cards. It requires Tensor cores to run, and the GTX 1660, 1660 Super, and 1660 Ti just don’t have them, so they won’t be able to use DLSS. The RTX 2060 may and may give it an extra edge when it comes to ray tracing, although the very limited number of games supported make it a bit negligible. Moreover, our experience with the combination of both functions has not been great so far.
You get what you pay for
If $ 300- $ 350 is too expensive for you, the GTX 1660 Super is the best option in this group. 1660 Ti is only a worthwhile investment if you can find it at a comparable price. The level of performance is so close between the two cards that the Super, with typical savings of $ 50 to $ 100, is a much better buy. This almost invalidates the RX 590 from AMD, although we sometimes see a heavily discounted RX 590 making it an attractive alternative.
While the GTX 1660 is a good choice, we wouldn’t put it at the top of our list. We believe that for the same price, AMD offers great performance. That said, the GTX 1660 has improved significantly over the previous GTX 1060 model. The RX 580 and RX 590 are viable alternatives. In some cases, they can also be significantly cheaper, especially when you consider AMD’s amazing game packs. This is where availability and packaging options can enter into or terminate the contract. Packages are almost always a smarter option (and a better deal) than standalone cards. Note that availability (and retail) can also affect the equation and affect prices. If you’re looking for something a bit cheaper with a similar speed, check out the RX 5500 XT.
We don’t recommend spring factory overclock these days. Factory overclocked items and stock items now work the same, so overclocked items can no longer boast the superiority they had in previous generations. The price difference between the factory overclocked products and the 1660 Super is too close to be worth it.
Overall, the RTX 2060 is the best buy of the three because of its impressive capabilities. It also received the most five-star reviews. It’s the type of high-quality product you’ll have to pay a lot for, and we know it can be out of your reach if you’re on a shoestring budget. It continues to blow Turing’s competition out of the water and provide significantly better value for money. Over time, the RTX 2060 is worth investing in – even if you have to spend some time purchasing it.
In fact, we expected the situation to be a bit closer in this test between the GeForce GTX 1660 and the older GeForce GTX 1070, but considering the GTX 1070 also outperformed the GTX 1660 Ti in this test, it is no surprise that the GeForce GTX 1660 fell further behind same curve.
A SUPER Sweet Spot? NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Review
The GeForce NVIDIA SUPER series of cards has hit a total of five, thanks to the recent introduction of two GTX variants. We’re looking at 1660 SUPER here, focusing on 1080p in most of our tests, and up to 4K for esports titles with high frame rates. Let’s see how the extra memory bandwidth is used!
When NVIDIA launched its Turing architecture last fall, who could have predicted it would become SUPER? This summer we saw the original GeForce RTX 2070 and RTX 2080 get replaced with faster SUPER updates, while the original RTX 2060 got a SUPER refill rather than a replacement – one that gives you a fifty dollar bonus.
Since then, we’ve seen NVIDIA spread SUPER butter on even more, landing on the 1650 as well as the 1660 model this article is focusing on. Based on previous SUPER models, it was safe to assume that these GTX Variants would add some cores, but in fact, this only applies to one of them: the GTX 1650 SUPER.
The GTX 1660 SUPER is a bit quirky as it doesn’t increase the cores or even the peak frequencies. The upgrade comes down to the memory where you can see the jump from GDDR5 to GDDR6, in other words an increase in bandwidth from 192 GB / s to 336 GB / s.
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 and GTX 1660 SUPER
Before we proceed, here’s the full NVIDIA GeForce lineup for easier comparison:
The line of NVIDIA GeForce GPUs for gamers | |||||||
Cores | Base MHz | FP32 peak | Memory | Band | TDP | SRP | |
TITAN RTX | 4608 | 1770 | 16.3 TFLOPS | 24 GB 1 | 672 GB / s | 280W | 3500,499 |
RTX 2080 Ti | 4352 | 1350 | 13.4 TFLOPS | 11 GB 1 | 616 GB / s | 250W | $ 999 |
RTX 2080S | 3072 | 1650 | 11.1 TFLOPS | 8 GB 1 | 496 GB / s | 250W | 699 |
RTX 2070S | 2560 | 1605 | 9.1 TFLOPS | 8 GB 1 | 448 GB / s | 215W | $ 499 |
RTX 2060S | 2176 | 1470 | 7.2 TFLOPS | 8 GB 1 | 448 GB / s | 175W | $ 399 |
RTX 2060 | 1920 | 1680 | 6.4 TFLOPS | 6 GB 1 | 336 GB / s | 160W | pLN 349 |
GTX 1660 Ti | 1536 | 1500 | 5.5 TFLOPS | 6 GB 1 | 288 GB / s | 120W | $ 279 |
GTX 1660S | 1408 | 1530 | 5.0 TFLOPS | 6 GB 1 | 336 GB / s | 125W | 229 |
GTX 1660 | 1408 | 1530 | 5.0 TFLOPS | 6GB 3 | 192 GB / s | 120W | 219 |
GTX 1650S | 1280 | 1530 | 4.4 TFLOPS | 4 GB 1 | 128 GB / s | 75W | $. |
GTX 1650 | 896 | 1485 | 3.0 TFLOPS | 4 GB 1 | 128 GB / s | 75W | $ 149 |
Comments | 1 GDDR6; 2 GDDR5X; 3 GDDR5; 4 HBM2 Architecture: GTX & TITAN = Pascal; RTX = Turing |
A Look At Test Methodology
Techgage Gaming GPU Test PC | |
Editor | Intel Core i9-9900KS (4.0 GHz base, 5.0 GHz turbo, 8C / 16T) |
Motherboard | ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING CPU tested with BIOS 1302 (September 20, 2019) |
Memory | G.SKILL TridentZ Royal (F4-3600C16-8GTRG) 8 GB x 2 Works on DDR4-3600 16-16-16 (1.35V) |
AMD Graphics | AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB; adrenaline 19.11.3) AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB; adrenaline 19.11.3) AMD Radeon RX 590 (8 GB; adrenaline 19.11.3) |
NVIDIA graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (8 GB; GeForce 441.34) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6 GB; GeForce 441.34) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 1660 Ti (6 GB; GeForce 441.34) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 1660 SUPER (6 GB; GeForce 441.34) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 1660 (6 GB; GeForce 441.34) |
Storage | Graphics: WD Blue 3D NAND 1 TB (SATA 6 Gb / s) Radeon: Kingston SSDNow V310 960 GB (SATA 6 Gb / s) |
Charger | Corsair RM650x (650W) |
Chassis | NZXT S340 Elite Mid-tower |
Cooling | Corsair Hydro H100i V2 AIO liquid cooler (240 mm) |
And so on | Windows 10 Pro (64-bit; 1909) |
All GPUs have been tested with up-to-date (at the time of the test round commencement) drivers and with an up-to-date Windows 10 (1909) operating system. Our operating system is kept clean and optimized to reduce distortions in benchmarks, ensuring accurate results. V-Sync, G-SYNC, and FreeSync are disabled at the monitor and driver level. Both the Intel chipset driver and the management engine (ME) have been updated to the latest versions.
Games Tested & Vendor Neutrality
Our current test suite includes a total of ten games. These include Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for esports testing with very high FPS, as well as Far Cry 5, F1 2019, Monster Hunter: World, Metro Exodus, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Division 2 and Total War: Three Kingdoms.
We skipped Battlefield V this round because we had sluggish performance on the first GPU we tested (not the 1660 SUPER), so due to the timing we just described it as a loss and moved on. In addition to our game suite, the end of the review was completed with some synthetic benchmarks.
The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G has two fans with triangular blade edges that claim to provide more even airflow throughout the heat sink, that is, if they work at all.
Specifications of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
Here is the specification of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti card:
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
Dedicated video card (has its own video memory)
Standard GTX 1660 Ti – base: 1455 MHz, boost: 1590 MHz; Max-Q GTX 1660 Ti – base: 1140 MHz, boost: 1335 MHz
Nvidia G-Sync Compatibility – Technology to prevent screen tearing, stuttering and vibration
VR ready – supports virtual reality goggles
Standard: 80 watts; Max-Q: 60 watts
Posted on August 4, 2019
User Reviews, Q&A, and Videos on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
You can read and submit user reviews, questions, answers and videos about the GPU below. Thanks for your input.
Question
monday – May 7, 2020
can i change the gpu in my inspiron 15 7000 gaming 7559 to something better than 960m?
Ben – June 14, 2020
Almost every time, unless you have a special laptop with an external GPU, the CPU is integrated into the motherboard. So no, unfortunately you can’t
The GTX 1660 fares well against many cards, providing a 10-20% improvement over the GTX 1060 6GB in most cases. It also challenges or exceeds the RX 590 and 580 in many games in both 1080p and 1440p, but lags behind the 1660 Ti by 10 to 25 percent depending on the game tested.
Broadcast Like a Pro
Get amazing performance and image quality when streaming live on Twitch or YouTube. The dedicated GeForce GTX 1660 hardware encoders provide 15% faster performance over previous generation graphics cards and are optimized for Open Broadcaster Software (OBS).
STREAM LIKE A BOSS
Steal your show with amazing graphics and a smooth, stutter-free live stream. Next-generation hardware encoding and decoding come together to show all the best moments down to the finest detail. The all-new NVIDIA Broadcast application provides powerful artificial intelligence capabilities that enhance audio and video quality with effects such as virtual backgrounds, automatic webcam cropping, and microphone noise removal. So you can give your audience what’s best – every time.