The GeForce GTX 660 Ti Review, Feat. EVGA, Zotac, and Gigabyte
by Ryan Smith on August 16, 2012 9:00 AM ESTMeet The Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition
Our next GTX 660 Ti of the day is Zotac’s entry, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition. As indicated by the AMP branding (and like the other cards in this review) it’s a factory overclocked card; in fact it has the highest factory overclock of all the cards we’re reviewing today, with both a core and memory overclock.
| GeForce GTX 660 Ti Partner Card Specification Comparison | ||||||
| GeForce GTX 660 Ti(Ref) | EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked | Zotac GTX 660 Ti AMP! | Gigabyte GTX 660 Ti OC | |||
| Base Clock | 915MHz | 980MHz | 1033MHz | 1033MHz | ||
| Boost Clock | 980MHz | 1059MHz | 1111MHz | 1111MHz | ||
| Memory Clock | 6008MHz | 6008MHz | 6608MHz | 6008MHz | ||
| Frame Buffer | 2GB | 2GB | 2GB | 2GB | ||
| TDP | 150W | 150W | 150W | ~170W | ||
| Width | Double Slot | Double Slot | Double Slot | Double Slot | ||
| Length | N/A | 9.5" | 7.5" | 10,5" | ||
| Warranty | N/A | 3 Year | 3 Year + Life | 3 Year | ||
| Price Point | $299 | $309 | $329 | $319 | ||
Zotac will be shipping the GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP at 1033MHz for the base clock and 1111MHz for the boost clock. This represents a sizable 118MHz (13%) base overclock, and a 131MHz (13%) boost overclock. Meanwhile Zotac will be shipping their memory at 6.6GHz, a full 600MHz (10%) over the reference GTX 660 Ti. The latter overclock will stand to be very important, as we’ve already noted the GTX 660 Ti is starting off life as a memory bandwidth crippled card. Power consumption willing, the GTX 660 Ti AMP is in a good position to pick up at least 10% on performance relative to the reference GTX 660 Ti.
Like the EVGA card we just took a look at, Zotac’s GTX 660 Ti is based on NVIDIA’s reference board, so we’ll skip the details here. Rather than using a blower like EVGA however, Zotac is using an open air cooler – dubbed the dual silencer – that is well suited for a board of this length. The cooler uses a pair of 70mm fans, mounted over an aluminum heatsink that runs nearly the entire length of the card. Attaching the heatsink to the GPU itself is a trio of copper heatpipes, which transfer heat from the GPU to various points on the heatsink. Meanwhile the VRMs are cooled by a smaller, separate heatsink that fits under the primary heatsink; given the size and the location, it’s hard to say just how well this secondary heatsink is being cooled.
Altogether the card measures just 7.5” in length, an otherwise itty-bity card made just a bit longer thanks to some overhang from Zotac’s cooler. Zotac advertises their dual silencer as being 10C cooler and 10dB quieter than the competition, and while this may strictly be true when compared to some blowers, it’s not appreciably different than the dual-fan open air heatsinks that are extremely common on the market today. In fact among all of the cards we’re reviewing today this is unquestionably the most standard of them, as Zotac and several other NVIDIA partners will be shipping reference clocked cards built very similar to this. For this reason we’ll be using Zotac’s card as our reference card for the purpose of our testing.
Moving on, power and display connectivity is the same as with the GTX 670 and other cards using NVIDIA’s PCBs. This means 2 PCIe power sockets and 2 SLI connectors on the top, and 1 DL-DVI-D port, 1 DL-DVI-I port, 1 full size HDMI 1.4 port, and 1 full size DisplayPort 1.2 on the front.
Rounding out the package is the usual collection of molex power adapters and quickstart guides, along with a trial version of Trackmania Canyon. However the real star of the show as far as pack-in games goes will be Borderlands 2 through NVIDIA’s launch offer.
Wrapping things up, Zotac is attaching a $329 MSRP to the GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP, which makes it a full $30 more expensive than reference-clocked cards and reflecting the greater factory overclock. This also makes it the most expensive card in today’s review by $10. Meanwhile for the warranty Zotac is offering a base 2 year warranty, which is extended to a rather generous full limited lifetime warranty upon registration of the card.
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TheJian - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...And it's $350. The only BOOST edition on newegg 2 days after this review.
A full 6 660 TI's for $299 (one after rebate). So, unfair to not include a card that looks like there's a $50 premium to the TI? I beg to differ. Also there are 11 cards available to BUY for 660 TI. Nuff said?
It was rightly picked on.
Google 7950 boost, you get $349 cheapest and availability is next to none. Google 7950b you don't even get a result for shopping. The radeon 7950 cheapest at newegg is already $319.99 (most after rebate). If you're looking at 1920x1200 and below the 660 TI is a no brainer. It is close in the games it loses in, and dominates in a few it wins in. Not sure why the nvidia 660 ti is even in the list, you don't buy that. Zotac's $299 is basically the bottom you buy and is faster than the ref design at 928mhz/1006 boost (not 915/boost 980), so consider the TI GREEN bar slower than what you'll actually buy for $299. Heck the 6th card I mentioned at $299 after rebate is running it's base at 1019 boost at 1097! So they are clocking regular cards at a full 100mhz faster than REF for $299. Another at $309 is also like this (1006/1084 boost). Knowing this you should be comparing the Zotac AMP (barely faster than the two I mention for $299 and 309) vs. the 7950 which is $320 at minimum!
Zotac AMP (only 14mhz faster base than $299/309 card) vs. 7950 (again more expensive by $20) @ 1920x1200
Civ5 <5% slower
Skyrim >7% faster
Battlefield3 >25% faster (above 40% or so in FXAA High)
Portal 2 >54% faster (same in 2560x...even though it's useless IMHO)
Batman Arkham >6% faster
Shogun 2 >25% faster
Dirt3 >6% faster
Metro 2033 =WASH (ztac 51.5 vs. 7950 51...margin of error..LOL)
Crysis Warhead >19% loss.
Power@load 315w zotac amp vs. 353 7950 (vs 373w for 7950B)! Not only is the 660TI usually faster by a whopping amount, it's also going to cost you less at the register, and far less at the electric bill (all year for 2-4 years you probably have it - assuming you spend $300-350 for a gaming card to GAME on it).
For $299 or $309 I'll RUN home with the 660 TI over 7950 @ $319. The games where it loses, you won't notice the difference at those frame rates. At todays BOOST prices ($350) there really isn't a comparison to be made. I believe it will be a while before the 7950B is $320, let along $299 of the 660 TI.
NVIDIA did an awesome job here for gamers. I'll wait for black friday in a few months, but unless something changes, perf/watt wise I know what I'm upgrading to. I don't play crysis much :) (ok, none). Seeding higher clocked cards or not, you can BUY them for $299, can't buy a BOOST for under $350. By your own account, only two makers of 7950 BOOST. Feel free to retract your comment ;)
CeriseCogburn - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
NO ONE plays crysis anymore, it's merely a placeholder to prop up AMD card stats. It's blatantly sick as Crysis 2 is out.It's IMMENSE bias for amd.
Galidou - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
They use Crysis 2 almost everywhere on the internet again because of one reason, it's heavy, no one plays 3dMark because it's not a game still it's always included in reviews because it's relevant to performance.TheJian - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Read it again...He said NOBODY plays CRYSIS. He's confirming what I said.The complaint wasn't about crysis 1...It was about benchmarking a game from 2008 that isn't played, and is based on CryEngine 2 which a total of 7 games were based on since 2007. Crysis 1, warhead, Blues Mars (what? Not one metacritic review), Vigilance (what? no pc version),Merchants of Brooklyn, no reviews, The Day (?) and Merchants of Brooklyn,(?) Entropia Brooklyn (?). Who cares?
The complaint is Anantech should use CRYSIS 2! With the hires patch and DX11 patch, with everything turned on. The CryEngine 3 game engine is used in 23 games, including the coming crysis 3! Though after a little more homework I still think this will be a victory for AMD, it's far more relevant and not a landslide by any means. But it IS relevant NV loser or not. Crysis 2 is still being played and I'm sure crysis 3 will for at least a while soon. 3x the games made on this engine...Warhead should be tossed and Crysis 2 used. But not without loading the 3 patches that get you all this goodness.
Galidou - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Well I meant Crysis, not the 2, confused there. Even if no one plays the first one it's still very intensive but true, they should use crysis 2 as it's more relevant of games played now...CeriseCogburn - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
Yes we all play 3dmark and upload our scores and compare.Not sure about you, you only play one game that now conveniently got an amd driver boost.
Good for amd they actually did something for once - although i'll be glad to hear how many times it crashes for you each night @ 1300 WC.
It will be a LOT. Believe me. 30 mods, not as many as myself, but you'll be going down with CCC often.
Galidou - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
Of all the video cards I had, and I had ALOT from the geforce 2 GTS up to my actually retreated 6850 crossfire(just received my Sapphire 7950 OC) I had close to 0 problems. How could you know anything about CCC while it's obvious you didn't have an AMD video card in years.I have 30 mods because it was already straining my limited video memory and I had a problem with one of them already(realistic sounds of thunder) which was related to my hi-fi sound card driver(asus xonar STX) that I found lately.
I had no problem with CCC at all, other than using it to scale my LCD TV so it fits all the screen and using my game profiles. I didn't touch it much in the last year. It played Dirt 2, 3, Skyrim, GTA 4, Fallout 3, Fallout NV, Oblivion!!, and so on without a problem. And yet, you try to tell me I'll have problem with a program you don't know a thing about.
But just so you might appreciate me for my efforts, my wife decided to change the 4870 for the forthcoming Guild wars 2 for energy and temperature reason. So I got her a 660 ti as my 6850 were already sold to a friend. She game at 1080p only and I didn't want to overclock her stuff so, it was obvious. At the same time I'll be able to compare both, but I already know I like Nvidia's UI more than AMD's CCC though they look quite alike now.
BTW just for the sake of it I researched with google:
AMD drivers keep crashing:
3,54 million results
Nvidia drivers keep crashing:
3,37 million results
CeriseCogburn - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
The reason I say what I do is because I DO HAVE A LOT of amd cards, you DUMMY.CeriseCogburn - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
you're another idiot that gets everything wrong, attacks others for what they HAVE NOT SAID, gets corrected again and again, makes another crap offshot lie, then, OF COURSE - HAS A PERFECT DUAL AMD SETUP THAT HAS NEVER HAD A PROBLEM, EVA!That means you have very little experience, a freaking teensy tiny tiny bit.
Look in the mirror dummy.
Galidou - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
The 7950b is crap, I don't even want to hear about a reference design with a little boost. On newegg there are 4 cards out of 18 that are reference and the others are mainly overclocked models with coolers ALOT better which will overclock terribly good.It's easy for the average user to see the win for nvidia considering 20% of the overclock has been already done and there's not much headroom left..... Once overclocked, the only one that's faster for the 660 ti, remains portal 2.
The Zotac might only have 14mhz more on base clock but the core clock is not the thing here, the zotac is the better of the pack because it comes with memory overcloked to 6,6ghz which is the only weakness of the 660ti, memory bandwidth. There's a weird thing in here tho, I found the minimum fps on another review, but on anandtech, the minimum appeared only in the games that it was less noticeable, good job again Nvidia.