The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Review: GK106 Fills Out The Kepler Family
by Ryan Smith on September 13, 2012 9:00 AM ESTFinal Words
Bringing our review of the first GK106-based video card to a close, it’s difficult not to sound like a broken record at times. The launch of the GeForce GTX 660 and the accompanying GK106 GPU is very much a by-the-numbers launch. This is by no means a bad thing, but it does mean that it’s a launch with very few surprises.
As far as NVIDIA’s execution goes, GK106 and the GTX 660 is exactly what they’ve needed to start filling in the gap between $100 and $300. Truth be told we would have liked to see the GTX 660 come in at $200 so that NVIDIA had a clear $200 contender – an always-popular price point – but given the performance of the GTX 660 that’s being a bit wishful on our part. Furthermore NVIDIA would still need to leave enough room for the eventual launch of the next GK106 part, which will be whatever goes between GTX 650 and GTX 660. So much like the GTX 460 1GB two years before it, the GTX 660 launches at $229.
To that end NVIDIA has done their launch planning well, and for $229 it’s hard to argue that they haven’t hit the right balance of price and performance. GeForce GTX 660 offers around 88% of the performance of the GTX 660 Ti at 1920x1200, making it a strong performer in its own right and the logical follow-up to the GTX 660 Ti. However on that note I think this is going to be one of the more unusual launches due to how inconsistent the performance gap between NVIDIA’s cards is, as the GTX 660 offers anywhere between 80% to 100% of the performance of the GTX 660 Ti, owing to the much different shader-to-ROP ratio of the GTX 660. In the right scenario the GTX 660 is every bit as fast as the GTX 660 Ti, though these scenarios are admittedly few and far between.
The real question of course isn’t how the GTX 660 compares to the GTX 660 Ti, but rather how it compares to the Radeon HD 7870 in the face of AMD’s earlier price drops. Even with a more balanced shader-to-ROP ratio for GTX 660, the question of who wins remains to be heavily dependent on the game being tested. AMD controls their traditional strongholds of Crysis, DiRT, and Civilization V, while NVIDIA controls Battlefield 3, Starcraft II, and Portal 2. The end result is that the GTX 660 is on average 4% ahead of the 7870, but once again this is an anything-but-equal scenario; even swapping out a single game could easily shift the balance, reiterating the importance of individual games when relative performance is so inconsistent.
Meanwhile when it comes to physical metrics like power consumption, temperature, and noise, NVIDIA does have a clear edge thanks to another efficient rendition of the Kepler architecture with GK106. GK106 doesn’t enjoy nearly the same advantage over Pitcairn that GK104 did over Tahiti, but it’s still enough to get the same job done with less power consumed and less noise generated. It’s also just enough to make GTX 660 the preferable card over 7870 (at least as far as reference cards go) though by no means is 7870 suddenly a poor choice.
The real wildcard for today’s launch is going to be the prevalence of factory overclocked cards, which are going to be showing up at the same $229 price point as reference cards. Factory overclocked cards will sacrifice GTX 660’s edge in power consumption, but of course they’ll extend the GTX 660’s performance lead. For major launch articles we’re always going to base our advice on reference clocked cards since those are by definition the bare minimum level of performance you can expect, but you’ll want to come back later today for our companion article that takes a look at some of the $229 factory overclocked cards launching today.
Ultimately how well the GTX 660 is received is up to AMD more than it is NVIDIA. The 7870 is already priced close enough to the GTX 660 that the price difference is negligible, and meanwhile AMD and their partners could easily trim another $10 or $20 off of the card’s price to match or beat NVIDIA’s pricing (all the while still offering a bundled game), at which point the sweet spot would once again shift back to AMD. Otherwise AMD is still not in a bad position, even if the GTX 660 is technically the better card.
Wrapping things up, as we briefly discussed earlier NVIDIA’s biggest hurdle isn’t AMD so much as it is themselves. The GTX 660 is a clear multi-generational upgrade over particularly old cards like the 9800GT and GTX 260, but compared to the Fermi cards of the last two years the performance jump isn’t quite as grand. Contrasting the launch of the GTX 660 to the launch of the GTX 460 1GB two years ago, NVIDIA is actually doing far better in this respect thanks to the fact that the GTX 660 offers an impressive 75% jump in performance over the GTX 460 1GB. But at the same time we’re now approaching a more frugal market segment; enthusiasts gamers can justify spending $300+ every 2 years for a next-generation video card even if the gains are only 50%, but mainstream gamers need a bigger jump. GTX 660 is unquestionably a meaningful upgrade to an aging Fermi card – these days Fermi is going to have a hard time hitting playable framerates at 1920 with a high degree of quality – but given the fact that we’re still on the Direct3D 11 generation of video cards holding on to Fermi for one more generation wouldn’t be hard to justify for the cash-strapped mainstream gamer.
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rarson - Friday, September 14, 2012 - link
chizow doesn't understand the concept of early adoption. He only mentioned rebates because that Nvidia rebate debacle has been beaten over his head time and time again.chizow - Friday, September 14, 2012 - link
Ah just a matter of time before the only idiot on the internet willing to defend AMD's laughable 28nm launch prices arrives to defend their honor.How do you feel now about those $550, $450, and $350 pricepoints you so vigorously defended when the 7970/7950/7870 launched?
And yes its important to mention the rebates because revisionists like yourself are so quick to forget the actual rebates, they only mention the price drops.
So just as I asked then, where's AMD's rebates given the floor has completely dropped from under their entire pricing structure just a few months after release, just as I predicted?
Galidou - Sunday, September 16, 2012 - link
We did not vigorously defend the pricing scheme, we're just not seeing it as worse as you can see it, hence why we answer to you. Everytime I see people like you speak about AMD the way they do, I just see so much hate, when you start to say things like idiot and trying to say we're defending our ''honor'' you're past the point where your arguments are worth even a penny to me.If you have to disrespect people when speaking about video cards, there's one thing I have to say, you have a choosen side and it hinders your judgement. Stay respectful and I'll give you credit but now it's too late you just proved ourselves that you're not fit to judge well in this discussion.
Anyone know that a judge couldn't work on an affair of murder if the murdered one is in his own family because it... would severely hinder his judgement by putting emotions in the way. Disrespect to me is the worse form of acting when arguing. You lost it all there to me, I'm just sad I did reply to your previous messages without reading this one first, I would of just realized that it's too late for you.
AMD and Nvidia are both company trying to make money, trying to put one on a pedestal like if everything they do is related to god and thus is perfect... AMD's 4870 was a mistake, 7970 was a mistake, gtx 280 is related to god and it's AMD's pricing scheme that is at fault.
Everything AMD does is wrong, everything Nvidia does wrong is AMD's fault.... Like my 6800 gt that never worked properly with that Nforce 3 chipset, AMD's fault, that driver release that fried tons of Nvidia's video cards, AMD's fault, GTX 670's performance so close to GTX 680's performance, AMD's fault, 660 ti 192 bit bus and 24 ROPs, AMD's fault(I heard they stole them during the night and are not willing to give em back unless Nvidia pays a heavy ransom), Why isn't Nvidia making more money than Intel and Microsoft, AMD's fault, my grandfather's cancer, AMD's fault, wow, life is a bag full of surprise. Chozow's lack of respect calling us stupid, AMD's fault, we lost our honor because of... AMD's fault.....
chizow - Sunday, September 16, 2012 - link
Uh disrespect? You mean like you questioning very easily referenced facts like price and performance at every turn, or questioning how much I paid for a 2xGTX 670 or even that they existed with 680 PCB? Or questioning numbers only to be rebuked by a link from a widely respected website, only to question that website, then get provided with more benchmarks from one of the site you linked and question that one too?There comes a point you can't reason with people like you, so if you want to argue about emotional attachment leading to irrational behavior, you should really look in the mirror.
But what should I care, as you said everyone must look themselves in the mirror and be at peace with their own decisions in life, I can for a fact say I'm good with my buying decision this round, do you think one can say the same about buying AMD 28nm parts under their ridiculous asking prices, especially given all of the recent price drops?
Also, I have been critical of Nvidia as well with 28nm, so to say I think they can do no wrong, downright dishonest on your part. There's a reason I waited to buy my 670s instead of snatching them up at launch for $400, but then again, I've been at this long enough to make an informed decision.
Galidou - Sunday, September 16, 2012 - link
''Uh disrespect? You mean like you questioning very easily referenced facts like price and performance at every turn, or questioning how much I paid for a 2xGTX 670 or even that they existed with 680 PCB''Nope, I mean calling other idiots: ''Ah just a matter of time before the only idiot on the internet willing to defend AMD's laughable 28nm launch prices arrives to defend their honor.''
End of the discussion, you're a disrespectful Nvidia fanboy, I doubted for the gtx 670 price you said because I was vigorously looking for a 670 but not a reference fan design, something with an aftermarket fan that will stay cool for a nice and quiet overclock.
For what you call facts, life turn around perception and interpreted by the brain. Women tend to dislike when their boyfriend cheat on them while in some country it's normal to have many wifes, know what I mean? Perception is something personnal, something might be bad and abnormal and seem like a fact from someone's standpoint but for another human being, it might be just normal dependnig on their choosen side, past experiences and emotions. If someone totally beleives 2+2 makes 5 and no one can convince him of anything else, then to him it's the truth. If the only truth to you is your truth, you will disagree all of your life with other peoples because they have a different point of view.
All I was discussing with you isn't that AMD is perfect and that their pricing is perfect, I was just defending my point of view, the way I saw things while saying ''TO ME IT SEEMS LOGICAL'' while all you had to say was ''REFERENCED FACTS, FACTS, FACTS, FACTS'' not caring about how I perceived things, I just hoped you could understand why I see things this way, I understand the way you see things because I can tell it seems logical to me but that isn't the way I see IT.
chizow - Monday, September 17, 2012 - link
"End of the discussion, you're a disrespectful Nvidia fanboy."Please don't talk about respect when you can't even adhere to your own standards.
If you claim "TO ME SEEMS LOGICAL" while questioning my conclusions but ignoring facts and historical data that are relevant to the industry in general and graphics cards in particular, that suggests to me that your thought processes are not logical at all, but born of ignorance or subnormal intelligence.
After all, a simpleton can believe Unicorns and Fairies exist, but that does not make it so.
You brought up the GTX 280 again, yet once again you can't seem to understand the very key differences with the GTX 280 vs. 7970 launch prices. I've already outlined them, do I need to do so again?
Simple question, do you think Nvidia's pricing was worst at launch with the 280 than AMD's pricing with the 7970?
Galidou - Monday, September 17, 2012 - link
''You brought up the GTX 280 again, yet once again you can't seem to understand the very key differences with the GTX 280 vs. 7970 launch prices. I've already outlined them, do I need to do so again?''I brought that up?? You have to read back to realize you started it all again speaking of rebates and such which was the only reason why I answered to you to show that not everyone sees the way you do.
Maybe we could just state that Nvidia made a mistake by pricing the gtx 680 at 500$ because it was stronger than a 600$ card and then they are the faulty one as you usually see things.
''I've already outlined them, do I need to do so again?''
Well if you outlined them, if it was so different, why did you bring up the apst of the gtx 280 to compare to this different story in the first place?
Calling you an Nvidia fanboy isn'T disrespectful to me like calling other idiots defending their honor. It means you have a choosen side, maybe it might seem like it's an attack but it'S not, sorry if the hat fits your head.
Galidou - Monday, September 17, 2012 - link
Oh and I was wondering, for someone so informed about your purchases and everything, did you say you owned a gtx 280? For someone buying 330$ gtx 670 that's quite a fun ''fact'' considering you whined about the TOO LOW price of the radeon 4870, but no, you didn't get to buy one of those for 250$ on special, you got the gtx 280.... Fun stuff when the 4850/4870 were at the TOP of Performance/dollar charts, which was something we don't see often.....(fanboyism?)I'm an informed buyer which is why the only video cards I bought brand new at launch for me, my wife or friends are: Geforce ti 4200, radeon hd 9500 flashed to 9700 pro, 8800 gt, radeon 4850/4870, gtx 460 ti, radeon 6850/6870, gtx 660 ti and the radeon 7950 I super overclocked for my 3 monitors and skyrim :)
And yes there are ATI cards included in my buying decision which doesn't make me a Fanboy and helps my OPINION being undistorted by emotions thus the reason I'm not calling others idiots when speaking in forums related to VIDEO CARDS.
Galidou - Monday, September 17, 2012 - link
''And yes there are ATI cards included in my buying decision''I meant Nvidia cards :)
chizow - Monday, September 17, 2012 - link
Since you love to make this about me, when it really isn't....Yes I bought a GTX 280 at launch but I waited a few days and got lucky on a Bing cash back promotion on Ebay. 35% Bing Cash Back, quite a few others got it as well (feel free to google it), brought the total to $420ish. Then Nvidia issued their big rebate after the 4870 launch, so I had the option of $120 check or $150 EVGA bucks, I took the cash.
So $300, minus the $220 I got for my 8800GTX on Ebay and I paid a whopping total of $80 out of pocket for the fastest single GPU. Early 2009 I got a 2nd 280 for $230 in a Dell deal after the economic crash that dropped prices on all GPUs....
Obviously not everyone would have been so fortunate, but if I didn't get 280s, I might very well have gotten 260s or waited for 285s.