The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Review, Feat. EVGA XC GAMING: Turing Stakes Its Claim at $219
by Ryan Smith & Nate Oh on March 14, 2019 9:01 AM ESTPower, Temperature, and Noise
As always, we'll take a look at power, temperature, and noise of the GTX 1660, though after having seen the GTX 1660 Ti in a similar if not identical design, we aren't expecting anything out of the ordinary. As mentioned earlier, we've seen the XC Black board with the GTX 1660 Ti not too long ago.
Using the same TU116 GPU as the GTX 1660 Ti, the voltages are unsurprisingly the same.
| NVIDIA GeForce Video Card Voltages | ||
| Model | Boost | Idle |
| GeForce GTX 1660 | 1.037V | 0.656V |
| GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | 1.037V | 0.656V |
| GeForce RTX 2060 | 1.025v | 0.725v |
| GeForce GTX 1060 6GB | 1.043v | 0.625v |
As for clockspeeds, the same broad points from the GTX 1660 Ti review apply. Clocks at +10W TDP and at reference 120W TDP are only slightly altered, and the trend of NVIDIA's conservative boost estimates continues.
| GeForce Video Card Average Clockspeeds | |||||
| Game | GTX 1660 | EVGA GTX 1660 XC |
GTX 1660 Ti | GTX 1060 6GB | |
| Max Boost Clock |
2160MHz
|
2160MHz |
2160MHz
|
1898MHz
|
|
| Boost Clock | 1830MHz | 1830MHz | 1770MHz | 1708MHz | |
| Battlefield 1 | 1880MHz | 1885MHz | 1888MHz | 1855MHz | |
| Far Cry 5 | 1889MHz | 1897MHz | 1903MHz | 1855MHz | |
| Ashes: Escalation | 1874MHz | 1872MHz | 1871MHz | 1837MHz | |
| Wolfenstein II | 1832MHz | 1861MHz | 1825MHz | 1835MHz | |
| Final Fantasy XV | 1865MHz | 1869MHz | 1855MHz | 1850MHz | |
| GTA V | 1894MHz | 1898MHz | 1901MHz | 1872MHz | |
| Shadow of War | 1879MHz | 1882MHz | 1860MHz | 1861MHz | |
| F1 2018 | 1880MHz | 1886MHz | 1877MHz | 1865MHz | |
| Total War: Warhammer II | 1890MHz | 1893MHz | 1908MHz | 1875MHz | |
Compared to the official average boost clock of the GTX 1660 Ti, the differences are also minor.
Power Consumption
Meanwhile when it comes to idle power consumption, the GTX 1660 falls in line with everything else at 83W. With contemporary desktop cards, idle power has reached the point where nothing short of low-level testing can expose what these cards are drawing.
All told, NVIDIA has very good and very consistent power control here. and it remains one of their key advantages over AMD, and key strengths in keeping their OEM customers happy.
Temperature
Noise
Turning again to EVGA's card, despite being a custom open air design, the GTX 1660 XC Black doesn't come with 0db idle capabilties and features a single smaller but higher-RPM fan. The default fan curve puts the minimum at 33%, which is indicative that EVGA has tuned the card for cooling over acoustics. But the curve is a little more forgiving at higher temperatures, and doesn't ramp up as much, reducing their noise levels significantly from the Ti XC Black.
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flyingpants265 - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
used cards have no warranty and arent a realistic option for most peopleBp_968 - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
EVGA warranties are usually 3 to 5 years and transferable. And as long as it works for a week or so after you install it its likely good forever at that point. Out of the 120+ video cards I've owned and installed over the past 25 years I've only see a handful fail and the majority of those were DOA right off out of the box.AustinPowersISU - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
Do you work for Nvidia by chance? I mean, they had $500 million less sales in Q4 last year due to (partly) the used market eating into their profits. I guess bashing the reliability of old products is a way to increase sales of the new, but it damages the brand.If a $200 purchase would literally cause you massive financial pain if it broke, I would make the argument that you shouldn't be purchasing anything, regardless of warranty.
I would also make the argument that a 1070 that has lasted for years is probably more reliable than turing, which had failure problems at launch.
The true solution would be to actually release a product that increased performance over last gen at a better price, but that doesn't seem to happen with Nvidia anymore.
Enjoy the lower performance for more money. I'll keep gaming on my 1070 I picked up for $175.
Mr Perfect - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
Page one paragraph three starts with "Turing our eyes to NVIDIA’s new card then"I can't decide if that's a typo or a pun.
Ryan Smith - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
I'm going to go with "both".Thanks!
atiradeonag - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
$219 1660 offers better perf/$ than both RX 580 and RX590, AMD your moveDeath666Angel - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
RX590 was never a perf-per-dollar leader. RX580 still is according to TPU. TechSpot has the 1660 slightly ahead. Guess it depends on the seller and the price you can get. Does the 1660 offer any game addons? Seems like this is the first time in a while we have competition. Now we just need it for the 300€ range and we're golden. Let's see what Navi brings.eva02langley - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
Like I mentioned, at 180$, the RX 580 stand at 2.30$, below the 1660... and you get Resident Evil 2 and DMC 5 for free.Qasar - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - link
eva02langley and what if you dont want to play those games?? then what?RX580 starts at $320, 1660 $300 ( for preorder, price could change ) where i am ( canada ) i wish video cards were that inexpensive up here....
Death666Angel - Sunday, March 17, 2019 - link
"what if you dont want to play those games?? then what?"Have you heard of this newfangled thing called "Ebay"?