The GeForce GTX 660 Ti Review, Feat. EVGA, Zotac, and Gigabyte
by Ryan Smith on August 16, 2012 9:00 AM ESTMeet The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC
Our final GTX 660 Ti of the day is Gigabyte’s entry, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC. Unlike the other cards in our review today this is not a semi-custom card but rather a fully-custom card, which brings with it some interesting performance ramifications.
| 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 | ||
The big difference between a semi-custom and fully-custom card is of course the PCB; fully-custom cards pair a custom cooler with a custom PCB instead of a reference PCB. Partners can go in a few different directions with custom PCBs, using them to reduce the BoM, reduce the size of the card, or even to increase the capabilities of a product. For their GTX 660 Ti OC, Gigabyte has gone in the latter direction, using a custom PCB to improve the card.
On the surface the specs of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC are relatively close to our other cards, primarily the Zotac. Like Zotac Gigabyte is pushing the base clock to 1033MHz and the boost clock to 1111MHz, representing a sizable 118MHz (13%) base overclock and a 131MHz (13%) boost overclock respectively. Unlike the Zotac however there is no memory overclocking taking place, with Gigabyte shipping the card at the standard 6GHz.
What sets Gigabyte apart here in the specs is that they’ve equipped their custom PCB with better VRM circuitry, which means NVIDIA is allowing them to increase their power target from the GTX 660 Ti standard of 134W to an estimated 141W. This may not sound like much (especially since we’re working with an estimate on the Gigabyte board), but as we’ve seen time and time again GK104 is power-limited in most scenarios. A good GPU can boost to higher bins than there is power available to allow it, which means increasing the power target in a roundabout way increases performance. We’ll see how this works in detail in our benchmarks, but for now it’s good enough to say that even with the same GPU overclock as Zotac the Gigabyte card is usually clocking higher.
Moving on, Gigabyte’s custom PCB measures 8.4” long, and in terms of design it doesn’t bear a great resemblance to either the reference GTX 680 PCB nor the reference GTX 670 PCB; as near as we can tell it’s completely custom. In terms of design it’s nothing fancy – though like the reference GTX 670 the VRMs are located in the front – and as we’ve said before the real significance is the higher power target it allows. Otherwise the memory layout is the same as the reference GTX 660 Ti with 6 chips on the front and 2 on the back. Due to its length we’d normally insist on there being some kind of stiffener for an open air card, but since Gigabyte has put the GPU back far enough, the heatsink mounting alone provides enough rigidity to the card.
Sitting on top of Gigabyte’s PCB is a dual fan version of Gigabyte’s new Windforce cooler. The Windforce 2X cooler on their GTX 660 Ti is a bit of an abnormal dual fan cooler, with a relatively sparse aluminum heatsink attached to unusually large 100mm fans. This makes the card quite large and more fan than heatsink in the process, which is not something we’ve seen before.
The heatsink itself is divided up into three segments over the length of the card, with a pair of copper heatpipes connecting them. The bulk of the heatsink is over the GPU, while a smaller portion is at the rear and an even smaller portion is at the front, which is also attached to the VRMs. The frame holding the 100mm fans is then attached at the top, anchored at either end of the heatsink. Altogether this cooling contraption is both longer and taller than the PCB itself, making the final length of the card nearly 10” long.
Finishing up the card we find the usual collection of ports and connections. 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. Meanwhile toolless case users will be happy to see that the heatsink is well clear of the bracket, so toolless clips are more or less guaranteed to work here.
Rounding out the package is the usual collection of power adapters and a quick start guide. While it’s not included in the box or listed on the box, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC works with Gigabyte’s OC Guru II overclocking software, which is available on Gigabyte’s website. Gigabyte has had OC Guru for a number of years now, and with this being the first time we’ve seen OC Guru II we can say it’s greatly improved from the functional and aesthetic mess that defined the previous versions.
While it won’t be winning any gold medals, in our testing OC Guru II gets the job done. Gigabyte offers all of the usual tweaking controls (including the necessary power target control), along with card monitoring/graphing and an OSD. It’s only real sin is that Gigabyte hasn’t implemented sliders on their controls, meaning that you’ll need to press and hold down buttons in order to dial in a setting. This is less than ideal, especially when you’re trying to crank up the 6000MHz memory clock by an appreciable amount.
Wrapping things up, the Gigebyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC comes with Gigabyte’s standard 3 year warranty. Gigabyte will be releasing it at an MSRP of $319, $20 over the price of a reference-clocked GTX 660 Ti and $10 less than the most expensive card in our roundup today.
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CeriseCogburn - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
660Ti is hitting over 1300 core.amd loses in oc this time
Get used to changing your whistling in the dark tune
TheJian - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-overc..."We do need to warn you, increasing GPU voltages remains dangerous."
From page 2. Also note he says you can't go over 1ghz or so without hitting raising volts (he hit 1020 default). Raise your hand if you like to spend $300 only to blow it up a few days or months later. Never mind the Heat, noise, watts this condition will FORCE you into. His card hit a full 10c and 6db noisier than defaults. He hit 1150/1250boost max. Only 50mhz more than the 660ti. Nice try. From page 11 7950 BOOST review at gurud3:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-with-...
"In AMD's briefing we notice that the R7950 BOOST cards will be available from August 16 and onwards, what an incredibly coincidental date that is. It's now one day later August 17, just one AIC partner has 'announced' this product and there is NIL availability. Well, at least you now have an idea of where the competition will be in terms of performance. But that's all we can say about that really."
Note you can BUY a 660TI for $299 or $309 that is clocked by default only 14mhz less than the zotac AMP in this review. If Ryan is to note what you want in the article, he should also note it will possibly light on fire, or drive you out the room due to heat or noise while doing it. AMD isn't willing to BACK your speeds. Heck the DEFAULT noise/heat alone would drive me out of the room, never mind the extra cost of running it at your amazing numbers...LOL. A quick look at the 7950B already tells the story above it's ref speeds/volts. RIDICULOUS NOISE/HEAT/COST.
From guru3d article above:
Measured power consumption default card=138 Watts
Measured power consumption OC at 1150 MHz (1.25 Volts)=217w!! Note the one in Ryan's review is clocked at 850mhz and already 6.5db's higher than 660TI AMP. I want a silent (or as close as poosible) PC that won't heat the room or every component in my PC.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_c...
1122mhz CORE on 660TI. The gpu boost hit 1200! That's 31% above stock (and I only googled one oc review), and I don't think this is as HOT as your 1150 would be, nor as noisy. Scratch that, I KNOW yours will be worse in BOTH cases. Just look at this review at anandtech with zotac at 1033mhz already. The zotac Amp is also 5c cooler already and you haven't got over 850mhz on the 7950 boost here. Try as you might, you can't make AMD better than they are here. Sorry. Even Anand's 7950 boost review 4 days ago says it's hard to argue for the heat/noise problem added to the already worse 7950 regular vs 660 ti. Not to mention both 7950's are more expensive than 660ti. It's all a loss, whether or not I like AMD. Heat/temp/watts are WORSE this time around on AMD. Raising to higher clocks/volts only makes it worse.
I already pointed out in another post Ryan should have posted 900mhz scores, but not to help AMD, rather that's what I'd buy if I was looking for a card from AMD for the going market cards on newegg. You just wouldn't purchase an 800mhz version (or even 850mhz), but AMD would have paid the price in the heat/watts/noise scores if Ryan did it. I would still rather have had it in there. Anandtech reviews seem to always reflect "suggested retail prices and speeds" rather than reality for buyers. That still doesn't help your case though.
It's not ridiculously easy to OC a 7950boost to 35-45% higher...Which loses a lot at 1920x1200, by huge margins, and warhead is useless as shown in my other posts, it's a loser in crysis2 now for boost vs. 660ti's of any flavor above ref.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-with-...
Crysis 2 ultra uber dx 11 patches everything on high. WASH for 7950 boost vs. REF 660ti! Why did Anandtech choose 2008 version?
Ref 660TI which nobody would buy given pricing of high clocked versions at $299/309 for 660 TI, default no fiddling necessary and no voiding warranty or early deaths of hardware. You seem to ignore what happens when you OC things past reasonable specs (already done by AMD with heat/noise/watts above zotac Amp here). I suspect AMD didn't want their chip to look even worse in reviews.
Argument over. I win... :)...So does your wallet if you put your fanboyism away for a bit. Note I provided a google search to my RADEON 5850 XFX purchased card complaints (regarding backorder) at amazon in another post here. I love AMD but, c'mon...They lost this round, get over it. You may have had an argument for a 7950 boost at $299 that was actually COOLER than the 7950 regular and less noisy. But with both being worse, & price being higher...It's over this round. Note the cool features of the 600 series cards in the above oc article. It's safe at 1122/1200! It's safe no matter the card, though they vary you can't hurt them (per card settings are different...Ultimate OC without damage). Nice feature.
I'd argue blow by blow over 2560x1600 (as you can prove NV victories depending on games) but I think it's pointless as I already proved in other posts, only 2% actually use that or above. Meaning 98% are using a res where the 660TI pretty much TRASHES the 7950 in all but a few games I could find (1920x1200 and below).
(hit post but didn't post...sorry if I'm about to double post this).
Galidou - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
It's fun to see that Nvidia as reached a very good power consumption and heat level compared to the generation before. How they mention it, but when AMD fanboys were mentioning it, coparing 6xxx against gtx5xx, they were just denied and being told it wasn't important.''Measured power consumption OC at 1150 MHz (1.25 Volts)=217w''
Wow it's amazing, 217 watts, almost as much as a gtx 580 stock.....
Comparing the 7950b noise and temperature with the very bad reference cooler against a very quiet aftermarket cooler on the 660 ti, very nice apples to apples comparison. The 7950b is for the average users, we all know the 7950 models that are overclocked and got VERY nice coolers already, thanks for the refresh.
TheJian - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
This AMD fanboy bought a radeon 5850. Not sure what your point is?The ref design was in there too...Check the green bar card.
Galidou - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Well, the reference design works wonders on 660 ti because it has alot better power consumption and temperatues, the 7xxx reference coolers are just plain crap, good thing there's not much around, else the opinion of the 7xxx series would be uber bad.Overclockers tend to love the radeons and I'm an overclocker, not an AMD fanboy, I just can't support all the hate when there'S no reason for it.
CeriseCogburn - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
radeon 6000 series was losing the benches as it "saved power"580 was referred to as housefire and worse, nVidia was attacked for abandoning gamers w/compute
ROFL - abandoning the gamers
green earth became more important than gaming
losing frame rates was a-okay because you saved power and money
Compare that to now - nVidia is faster, quieter, smoother, and uses less power
amd loses frames, and sucks down the juice, and choppier
The 580 had a HUGE lead at the top of the charts....
So, that's the same how ?
It would be the same if amd hadn't completely failed on frame rates and had a giant lead stretching out in disbelief at the top of the charts - then one can say "the power doesn't matter" because you get something for it
It's really simple. So simple, simpletons should be able to understand. I don't think fanboys will though.
RussianSensation - Thursday, August 16, 2012 - link
Well in fairness AnandTech did test reference clocked 660Ti cards, which is a fair review. They also could have included factory pre-overclocked 660Ti cards and just commented on the price difference (i.e., up to $339). This was also mentioned in the review.But what I find the most amusing is that after how much talk was around the amazing overclocking capabilities of GTX460, NV users want to ignore that HD7950 can overclock to 1.1-1.15ghz and match a $500 GTX680. Can a GTX660Ti do that? At the end of the day an overclocked 7950 will beat an overclocked 660Ti with AA. Overclockers will go for the 7950 and people who want a quiet and efficient card will pick the 660Ti.
just4U - Thursday, August 16, 2012 - link
Does a 1.1-1.5GHZ 7950 actually match up well against a GTX680? While AMD and NVidia perform better on different games I'd still think the 680 would be somewhat ahead..CeriseCogburn - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
No the 7950 does not, it takes a 1200-1250 core 7970 to "match up".Even then, it can only match up in just "fps".
It still doesn't have: PhysX, adaptive v-sync, automatic OC, target frame rate, TXAA, good 3D, Surround center taskbar by default without having driver addons, STABILITY, smoothest gaming.
I could go on.
Hey here's a theory worthy of what we hear here against nVidia, but we'll make it against the real loser amd.
It appears amd has problems with smooth gameplay because they added a strange and unable to use extra G of ram on their card. Their mem controller has to try to manage access to more ram chips, more ram, and winds up stuttering and jittering in game, because even though the extra ram is there it can't make use of it, and winds up glitching trying to mange it.
There we go ! A great theory worthy of the reviewers kind he so often lofts solely toward nVida.
Galidou - Sunday, August 19, 2012 - link
Look at all the big words: ''PhysX, adaptive v-sync, automatic OC, target frame rate, TXAA, good 3D, Surround center''. Stability is my preffered, I owned so many video cards and had so little problems with them, Nvidia ATI or AMD but still Nvidia fanboys still have to make us feel that everytime you buy a video card from AMD, you gotta have to face the ''inevitable'' hangups, drivers problems, the hulk is gonna come at your home and destroy everything you OWN!!!! Beware if you buy an AMD video card, you might even catch.... ''CANCER''. oohhh cancer, beware....I had none of that and still has none of that and ALL my games played very good, memory is the problem now, not the lack of adaptive crapsync, physixx and such. You just made me remember why I do not listen to TV anymore, the adds always try to make you feel like everything you own should be changed for the new stuff, but then you change it and you feel almost nothing has been gained.
I call for ''planned obsolescence'' for the last message.