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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super Cards
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NVIDIA has bombarded the PC gamer with a succession of add-in graphics cards based on its latest Turing architecture. Spanning from GTX 1650 (£140+) all the way up to Titan RTX (£2,500), today sees the gaming giant add a 12th Turing card. Enter the GeForce GTX 1660 Super
Interestingly, NVIDIA already has the GTX 1660 (£200+) and GTX 1660 Ti (£265+) GPUs in its gaming arsenal, released about six months' ago, so adding a third iteration appears to be overkill on first glance.
Yet the competition in the mainstream market is so fierce that hitting the absolute sweet spot is critical for revenue and profit. This is where the GTX 1660 Super comes in, priced from £210, and offering GTX 1660 Ti-like performance for significantly less money.
Delving into the specification table reveals how NVIDIA has managed to craft a GPU that it believes will be a price-to-performance champion in this hotly-contested sector.
GeForce GTX 16 Series goes Super |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU | GTX 1660 Ti | GTX 1660 Super | GTX 1660 | GTX 1650 | GTX 1060 | GTX 1050 Ti | |
| Launch date | Feb 2019 | Oct 2019 | Mar 2019 | Apr 2019 | May 2016 | Oct 2016 | |
| Codename | TU116 | TU116 | TU116 | TU117 | GP106 | GP107 | |
| Architecture | Turing | Turing | Turing | Turing | Pascal | Pascal | |
| Process (nm) | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 16 | |
| Transistors (bn) | 6.6 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 3.3 | |
| Die Size (mm²) | 284 | 284 | 284 | 200 | 200 | 132 | |
| Base Clock (MHz) | 1,500 | 1,530 | 1,530 | 1,485 | 1,506 | 1,290 | |
| Boost Clock (MHz) | 1,770 | 1,785 | 1,785 | 1,665 | 1,708 | 1,392 | |
| Shaders | 1,536 | 1,408 | 1,408 | 896 | 1,280 | 768 | |
| Peak GFLOPS | 5,437 | 5,027 | 5,027 | 2,984 | 3,855 | 2,138 | |
| Memory Size (MB) | 6,144 | 6,144 | 6,144 | 4,096 | 6,144 | 4,096 | |
| Memory Bus (bits) | 192 | 192 | 192 | 128 | 192 | 128 | |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | |
| Memory Clock (Gbps) | 12 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) | 288 | 336 | 192 | 128 | 192 | 112 | |
| ROPs | 48 | 48 | 48 | 32 | 48 | 32 | |
| Texture Units | 96 | 88 | 88 | 56 | 80 | 48 | |
| L2 cache (KB) | 1,536 | 1,536 | 1,536 | 1,024 | 1,536 | 1,024 | |
| Power Connector | 8-pin | 8-pin | 8-pin | - | 6-pin | - | |
| TDP (watts) | 120 | 125 | 120 | 75 | 120 | 75 | |
| Suggested MSRP | $279 | $229 | $219 | $149 | $249 | $139 | |
The GeForce GTX 1660 Super sensibly uses the same TU116 die as the other two cards. It is identical to the regular GTX 1660 from a top-end perspective, as it shares the same number of shaders and core speed. The major difference, and the one that makes it more like the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, is the transition from GDDR5 memory running at 8Gbps to GDDR6 at 14Gbps.
A 75 per cent increase in memory bandwidth is certainly not to be sneezed at, especially once gamers start inching up the image quality and put the onus on the hardware's ability to paint pretty-looking pixels, which is often limited by the memory-to-GPU bandwidth available on the card. For a mere £10 more, NVIDIA and its cohort of partners is now offering appreciably greater performance than present on GTX 1660.
In fact, given the specifications, one can argue that GTX 1660 Super's frame rate will get very close to the more expensive GTX 1660 Ti's. Begs the question as to why NVIDIA simply didn't drop the latter's price, but as any marketing person will be at pains to tell you, something new and shiny sells better than a price-cut product.
Getting past the speeds and feeds, GTX 1660 Super ought to offer a very decent triple-A games-playing experience at FHD (1080p) while making a good fist at QHD (1440p). That's exactly where a £200-£250 GPU in late 2019 ought to be.
Helping matters further, coinciding with the release of GTX 1660 Super, NVIDIA's latest Game Ready drivers integrate an improved image-sharpening filter for better performance in DX9, 11 and 12 games. The post-processing effect enables the games engine to drop the resolution without any appreciable loss in image fidelity - done through per-pixel sharpening - and therefore increases framerate further. Expect to see an additional 10-20 per cent performance, particularly at a QHD resolution, with this filter turned on. What's more, the same driver implements G-Sync alongside the company's ultra-low-latency mode (NULL), meaning you now don't have to choose one or the other.
Given the new status quo, it is reasonable to assume that NVIDIA will end-of-like the two older 16-series GPUs, leaving the GTX 1660 Super the sole standard-bearer in this segment.
So, how does the new-and-improved GeForce GTX 1660 Super perform in a bunch of triple-A titles. We're glad you asked.
Looking at results obtained from leading hardware review sites, run at the highest in-game settings at a lusty QHD resolution, the GeForce GTX 1660 Super offers a meaningful step-up in performance compared to the GTX 1660 that it replaces on a financial footing. It also, as expected, benchmarks in close proximity to the significantly dearer GTX 1660 Ti.
The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Super Gaming OC is a good example of this GPU
All in all, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super does exactly what it says on the tin: it offers impressive gaming performance at both FHD and QHD resolutions, is priced sensibly, and there's plenty of choice in the market thanks to NVIDIA's roster of add-in card partners.
Looking for an excellent platform on which to base your PC gaming spills and thrills without breaking the bank? The GeForce GTX 1660 Super looks like an ideal bet.
As always, Scan Computers is proud to retail a wide range of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super based cards.