{"id":31852,"date":"2012-09-13T14:31:13","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T13:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=31852"},"modified":"2012-10-01T21:06:20","modified_gmt":"2012-10-01T20:06:20","slug":"galaxys-gtx-660-arrives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/galaxys-gtx-660-arrives\/","title":{"rendered":"Galaxy&#8217;s GTX 660 arrives!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n                                                                              google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Nvidia has just released its &#8220;sweet-spot&#8221; $229 GeForce GTX 660 and the $109 GTX 650 based on its &#8220;GK106&#8221; 28nm Kepler DX11.1 architecture today. These new GPUs\u00a0are\u00a0the fourth and the fifth in Nvidia&#8217;s lineup &#8211; after the dual-GPU $1000 Flagship GTX 690 and the single-GPU $500 GTX 680, as well after the $400 GTX 670 and the $299 GTX 660 Ti. Although we will take a brief look at the GTX 650, we will focus primarly on the performance of the GTX 660 as it relates to the current GeForce lineup in performance and price and particularly on the Galaxy GTX 660 GC which etails for $239.<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-660-BOX-+-CARD-Large.jpg?resize=480%2C450\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31865\" title=\"GTX-660-BOX-+-CARD-(Large)\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-660-BOX-+-CARD-Large.jpg?resize=480%2C450\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-660-BOX-+-CARD-Large.jpg?resize=480%2C450 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-660-BOX-+-CARD-Large-300x281.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We received a\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660 GC video card from\u00a0Galaxy under NDA and for the past week, we have been comparing it to the AMD Radeon HD 7850 that it is going head to head with, as well as to part of Nvidia&#8217;s existing Kepler line-up. We are also comparing it to Nvidia&#8217;s recently released GTX 660 Ti as well as to Nvidia&#8217;s\u00a0second card\u00a0of the last generation, the GTX 570 as well as our\u00a0older\u00a0EVGA FTW GTX\u00a0460, a highly factory-clocked\u00a0GTX from the 400 series that basically defined price and performance at the $200 level when it launched.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Faster, Smoother, Richer&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nvidia designed the GeForce GTX 660 primarily for gamers who want to enjoy their games with the graphics settings and anti-aliasing (AA) turned up to high, although perhaps not to ultra settings, paired with a 1920&#215;1080 display. That means that Nvidia has positioned it directly against the HD 7850 which sits solidly in the $200-plus\u00a0price range. It is very likely that the GTX 660\u00a0will also be compared against the faster HD 7870 although Nvidia has positioned the GTX 660 Ti in its price range.<\/p>\n<p>The GTX 660 is Nvidia&#8217;s replacement for <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=23490\">the GTX 560 which launched at the beginning of 2011 at $199<\/a>. It followed the pricing tradition of the GTX 460 which debuted at $199 and made quite a stir against AMD&#8217;s HD 6850. The EVGA FTW GTX 460 was priced at $229 as it was rather highly overclocked and we shall see how its performance holds up today against the more modern 28nm cards.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The GTX 660&#8217;s Competition &#8211; the HD 7850 at $200-229<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This time, Nvidia is aiming for slightly less than GTX\u00a0660 Ti\u00a0performance in a &#8220;sweet-spot&#8221; package to directly compete with AMD&#8217;s midrange card, the HD 7850, their bread and butter line-up. The HD 7850 is now selling this morning\u00a0for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;DEPA=0&amp;Order=BESTMATCH&amp;N=100006662&amp;isNodeId=1&amp;Description=hd+7850&amp;x=0&amp;y=0\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.newegg.com\/Product\/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;DEPA=0&amp;Order=BESTMATCH&amp;N=100006662&amp;isNodeId=1&amp;Description=hd+7850&amp;x=0&amp;y=0', 'an average price on Newegg for $200-$229']);\" >an average price on Newegg for $200-$229<\/a> and we were able to get <em>DiRT Showdown<\/em> bundled in with our reference-clocked HIS HD 7850 for $199.99 shipped plus taxes.\u00a0\u00a0 Nvidia estimates that only ten percent of gamers pay $300 or more for their video cards by using the Steam Hardware Survey as their source.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/90percentGamers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31860\" title=\"90percentGamers\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/90percentGamers.jpg?resize=387%2C261\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/90percentGamers.jpg?resize=387%2C261 553w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/90percentGamers-300x202.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We purchased a $200 HIS reference HD 7850 IceQX as the cheapest SKU that we could find last week although the\u00a0average price is about $200 to $229 at Newegg depending on brand and clockspeeds. We not only ran\u00a0our HIS HD 7850\u00a0at its\u00a0reference clocks of 860\/4800MHz, we also ran it at the highest factory overclock of any of AMD&#8217;s partners &#8211; at 1000MHz\/5000MHz &#8211;\u00a0to see how well it compares with Kepler GTX 660 scaling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The GTX 660 Pricing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are going to be\u00a0several varieties of the GTX 660 with their suggested base price starting at $229 which will include some factory overclocked SKUs.\u00a0Here\u00a0are some\u00a0partner pricing that\u00a0have been\u00a0confirmed:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Galaxy GeForce GTX 660 2GB Galaxy Clocked &#8211; $239.99<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Superclocked &#8211; $229.99<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 EVGA GeForce GTX 660 3GB Superclocked &#8211; $269.99<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Comparison<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So you will see us pit the Galaxy clocked GTX 660 at reference clocks and also further overclocked, against our HIS reference design HD 7850 (860\/1200MHz) and\u00a0also at 1000MHz\/1250MHz to stand in for the highest factory overclocked HD 7850 that you can buy. We are also going to compare the GTX 660 Ti, the GTX 570, and the\u00a0GTX 460 using 24 modern games and 3 synthetic benchmarks using 1920&#215;1200 and 1680&#215;1050 resolutions.<\/p>\n<p>In this way, are can compare the performance of the current as well as the last generation of GeForce video cards to see if the GTX 660 follows the great value traditon of the GTX 460 and also how it compares to last generation&#8217;s second-fastest GTX, the GTX 570. Of course, the most important comparison might be the GTX 660 against the much more expensive GTX 660 Ti which is curently selling for $299 with a copy of <em>Borderlands 2<\/em> bundled with it.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">What&#8217;s New with Kepler&#8217;s GTX 660?<\/h3>\n<p>Nvidia&#8217;s marketing buzzwords for the GTX 680, GTX 690, GTX 670 and GTX 660 Ti launches are, <em><strong>&#8220;Faster. Smoother. Richer.&#8221;\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>The GTX 660 is also designed for extreme efficiency and high performance.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Faster<\/h3>\n<p>The GTX 680&#8217;s Kepler architecture has 8 SMX units and 1536 CUDA cores. In comparison, the more affordable GeForce GTX 670 and GTX 660 Ti both ship with 1344 CUDA Cores and 7 SMX units. The main difference between the GTX 670 and the GTX 660 Ti is that the less expensive card has a narrower bus &#8211; cut down from 256-bit to 192-bit. Now for the GTX 660, the bus width remains the same 192-bit, but the GTX 660 is further cut down from the Ti&#8217;s 7 SMX units and 1344 cores to 5 SMX units and\u00a0960 CUDA cores.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This means that\u00a0the GTX 660\u00a0is the mainstream Kepler card and also explains why it is priced $70 less than the Ti version at $229. The question is, of course, how does it perform compared to the GTX 660 Ti?<\/p>\n<p>The Kepler GTX 660 promises way better geometry and texture processing\u00a0over Fermi&#8217;s GTX 460 thanks to its improved instruction throughput and redesign. In addition, Nvidia brings &#8220;GPU Boost&#8221;, a dynamic way to boost clocks speeds and maximize performance for each game.\u00a0 Nvidia estimates that the GTX 660 is more than twice faster than the GTX 460.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Smoother<\/h3>\n<p>New kinds of anti-aliasing &#8211; FXAA and TXAA &#8211; now compete with MSAA in terms of IQ while not sacrificing as much performance. <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=31233\">TXAA which we evaluated in <\/a><em><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=31233\">the Secret World<\/a>, <\/em>brings anti-aliasing without texture crawling or shimmering when the camera is in motion. Also, there is a new &#8220;Adaptive VSync&#8221; that is reduces tearing and stuttering associated with regular VSync. Great hardware needs great software to support it and Nvidia is also a software company.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Richer<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;\">For the first time, it is now possible to play games spanning 3 displays in Surround off of a single GeForce GTX 660 just as with the GTX 680, GTX 670 and the GTX 660 Ti.\u00a0 The GTX 660 (below, left) brings two dual-link DVI connectors, one HDMI and one DisplayPort connector (for a 4th accessor display) so that only one adapter is needed for any DVI-enabled display for 3-panel Surround. In contrast, you will generally need two adapters for DVI for the HD 7850 (below, right) to run the competing 3-panel Eyefinity and you may also experience more tearing with the AMD solution.<a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RadionIO660ti.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31881\" title=\"RadionIO660ti\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RadionIO660ti.jpg?resize=480%2C98\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RadionIO660ti.jpg?resize=480%2C98 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/RadionIO660ti-300x61.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;\">PhysX has also been improved. One 6-pin PCIe power connector\u00a0is required for the 660&#8217;s\u00a0operation and if you forget to connect it, you will get an on-screen reminder at boot-up &#8211; a feature not found\u00a0with older Nvidia cards.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SURROUND-4disp.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-28912\" title=\"SURROUND-4disp\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SURROUND-4disp.jpg?resize=458%2C235\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SURROUND-4disp.jpg?resize=458%2C235 763w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SURROUND-4disp-300x153.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 458px) 100vw, 458px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">How does the $229 GTX 660 compare with AMD&#8217;s HD 7850?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This evaluation attempts to analyze and compare the GTX 660, the GTX 660\u00a0Ti, the GTX 570 and the EVGA GTX 460 FTW performance. We also include HD 7850 performance as well. We will see what this new Nvidia Kepler enthusiast value GPU brings to the table for about two hundred and twenty-nine dollars, $239 in the case of the Galaxy GTX 660 GC.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31882\" title=\"ti-660-7850\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ti-660-7850.jpg?resize=480%2C534\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ti-660-7850.jpg?resize=480%2C534 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ti-660-7850-269x300.jpg 269w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ti-660-7850-919x1024.jpg 919w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Since we do not want any chance of our CPU &#8220;bottlenecking&#8221; our graphics, we are testing all of our graphics cards by using our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=30448\">Ivy Bridge Intel Core i7-3770K at 4.80GHz<\/a>, 8 GB Kingston PC1866 DDR3 and EVGA&#8217;s Z77 FTW motherboard. This new motherboard features 16x + 16x PCIe 3.0 specification for CrossFire\/SLI. <img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Next page...\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-includes\/js\/tinymce\/plugins\/wordpress\/img\/trans.gif?w=720\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/> The Core i7-3770K at 4.8GHz is more than enough to differentiate even high-end video cards at high resolution and high detail settings. <img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Next page...\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-includes\/js\/tinymce\/plugins\/wordpress\/img\/trans.gif?w=720\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Before we do performance testing, let&#8217;s take a look at the\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0GC and quickly recap its new Kepler DX11.1 architecture and features.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--pagetitle: Introduction--><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Architecture recap &#038; specifications--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Architecture and Features<\/h3>\n<p>We have covered Fermi&#8217;s GK104 architecture in a lot of detail previously. You can can read our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=28910\">GTX 680 introductory article<\/a> and and <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=29157\">its follow-up<\/a>. We also covered the <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=29519\">launch of the GTX 690<\/a>, the launch <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=29607\">of the GTX 670<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=31410\">launch of the GTX 660 Ti<\/a>. The new Kepler architecture builds on Fermi architecture with some important improvements and refinements that we will briefly cover here before we get into performance testing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>SMX architecture<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SMX.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-28916\" title=\"SMX\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SMX.jpg?resize=471%2C302\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SMX.jpg?resize=471%2C302 785w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SMX-300x192.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 471px) 100vw, 471px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As Nvidia&#8217;s slide\u00a0indicates, the new Kepler architecture is called SMX and it emphasizes 2x the performance per Watt over Fermi. Their multi-threaded engine handles all of the information using\u00a0three graphics processing clusters including the raster engine and two streaming multi-processors.<\/p>\n<p>The Fermi\u00a0SM is now called the SMX cluster. Each SMX cluster includes a Polymorph 2.0 engine, 192 CUDA cores, 16 texture units and a lot of high-level cache. In the GTX 680, four raster units and 128 Texture units comprise 32 ROPs; eight geometry units each have a tessellation unit, and more lower-level cache. Both the GTX 670 and the GTX 660 Ti each have 4 graphics engines but one less SMX unit and only 24 ROPs.<\/p>\n<p>The other main differentiation between the GTX 670\/680 and the GTX 660 Ti and\u00a0GTX\u00a0660\u00a0is that the 660 and the Ti bus is much narrower at 192-bit, cut down from 256-bit. Nvidia has really improved their memory controller over last generation as there is a 192-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface at 6Gbps declared throughput.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/6gbpsDDR5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-28958\" title=\"6gbpsDDR5\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/6gbpsDDR5.jpg?resize=300%2C239\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/6gbpsDDR5.jpg?resize=300%2C239 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/6gbpsDDR5.jpg 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GeForce GTX 660\u2019s memory speed is 6008MHz data rate. The base clock speed of the GeForce GTX 670 and the GTX 660 Ti is 915MHz and the typical Boost Clock speed is 980MHz whereas the GTX 660 boosts a higher base clock of 980MHz with a typical Boost speed of 1033MHz and sometimes near 1100MHz under good conditions.\u00a0 The Galaxy GC&#8217;s factory clock is set to 1006MHz with a typical boost to 1072MHz (and beyond as we have observed).\u00a0 Galaxy did not adjust the memory speed.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31862\" title=\"GeForce_GTX_660_Block_Diagr\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GeForce_GTX_660_Block_Diagr.jpg?resize=480%2C280\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GeForce_GTX_660_Block_Diagr.jpg?resize=480%2C280 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GeForce_GTX_660_Block_Diagr-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The GeForce GTX 660 Ti ships with 1344 CUDA Cores and 7 SMX units whereas the GTX 660 ships with 960 CUDA cores and 5 SMX units.\u00a0In addition to its five SMX units and GPU Boost, the GeForce GTX 660 also ships with three 64-bit memory controllers (192-bit), 384K L2 cache, and 24 ROP units.<\/p>\n<p>Like certain\u00a0earlier GeForce GPUs, the GeForce GTX 660\u2019s memory controller supports mixed density memory module operation. This feature allows\u00a0Nvidia to outfit the board with 2GB of memory instead of the expected 1.5GB while utilizing a 192-bit memory interface.<\/p>\n<p>The memory controller logic divides the GTX 660\u2019s eight memory modules as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Memory Controller 1: 4 pcs: 128M x 16 GDDR5 (1GB, 16-bit mode)<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Memory Controller 2: 2 pcs: 64M x 32 GDDR5 (512MB, 32-bit mode)<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Memory Controller 3: 2 pcs: 64M x 32 GDDR5 (512MB, 32-bit mode)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The three memory controllers\u00a0divide the memory into equal size fragments of 512MB each to create a frame buffer size of 1.5GB and 192-bit interface. The remaining 512MB of memory is accessed in an additional memory transaction by memory controller 1 with a 64-bit width. This gives the GPU access to a full 2GB of video memory with minimal latency.\u00a0 We are using a 2GB HIS HD 7850 to compare with the Galaxy GTX 660 although there are 1GB versions of the HD 7850 available.\u00a0 The GTX 660 design allows for either 2 or 3GB of memory &#8211; never 1GB.<\/p>\n<p>The GeForce GTX 680 reference board measures 11&#8243; in length whereas the GTX 670, GTX 660 Ti and GTX 660\u00a0are each\u00a09.5&#8243;. Display outputs include two dual-link DVIs, HDMI and one mini-DisplayPort connector.\u00a0Two 6-pin PCIe power connectors are required for both the GTX 660 Ti&#8217;s and the GTX 670&#8217;s operation but only one is required for the GTX 660.\u00a0 Nvidia&#8217;s partners may use a full-sized PCB as Galaxy does (below right) for their GTX 660 or a short one as EVGA does below left).<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ShortPCB.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31883\" title=\"ShortPCB\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ShortPCB.jpg?resize=480%2C397\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ShortPCB.jpg?resize=480%2C397 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ShortPCB-300x248.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Under load, the GeForce GTX 660 typically draws 115W of power in most non-TDP apps. This is with the power target slider set at its default 100% setting.\u00a0We maxed the slider out at +110% using Galaxy&#8217;s own Xtreme Tuner overclocking software for all of our benching just as we\u00a0maxed out the Power Tune setting\u00a0for the HIS Radeon HD 7850\u00a0in Catalyst Control Center. \u00a0At this +10% maximum power\u00a0setting, the\u00a0GTX 660\u00a0will draw around 127W in non-TDP apps.<\/p>\n<p>This is a very brief overview of Kepler architecture as presented to the press at Kepler Editor&#8217;s Day in San Francisco a few months ago. We also attended Nvidia&#8217;s GPU Technology Conference (GTC) and you can find a lot more details about the architecture in <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=29692\">our GTC 2012 report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>GPU Boost<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>GPU Boost was invented by Nvidia to improve efficiency and to raise the GTX 660 clocks automatically in response to dynamically changing power requirements. Up until now, Nvidia engineers had to select clock speeds on a specific &#8220;worst case&#8221; power target &#8211; often a benchmark.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, all apps are not equal in their power requirements and some applications are far more power-hungry than others. That means that in some games with lower power requirements, the game is not optimized for higher core frequency because it is limited by a global power target.<\/p>\n<p>With GPU Boost, there is real time dynamic clocking with polling every millisecond. In this way, clocks can be ramped up to meet the power target of each application &#8211; not held back by the most stressful application, which is usually a benchmark, not a game.<\/p>\n<p>As we found with the GTX 680, the GTX 670, the GTX 660 Ti and now\u00a0the GTX 660, GPU Boost goes hand-in-hand with overclocking and it delivers additional frequency in addition to the clocks set by the end user. GPU Boost continues to work with the GTX 660 while overclocking to the maximum allowed by the ever-changing power envelope.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/GPUBOOST-oc.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-28940\" title=\"GPUBOOST-oc\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/GPUBOOST-oc.jpg?resize=480%2C269\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/GPUBOOST-oc.jpg?resize=480%2C269 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/GPUBOOST-oc-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Moving the voltage higher also moves the frequency and boost higher. In practice, if you monitor the frequencies, they constantly change up and down.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Adaptive VSync<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Traditional VSync is great for eliminating tearing until the frame rate drops below the target &#8211; then there is a severe drop from usually 60 fps down to 30 fps if it cannot meet exactly 60. When that happens, there is a noticeable stutter.<\/p>\n<p>Nvidia&#8217;s solution is to dynamically adjust VSync &#8211; to turn it on and off instantaneously. In this way VSync continues to prevent tearing but when it drops below 60 fps, it shuts off VSync to reduce stuttering instead of drastically dropping frame rates from 60 to 30 fps or even lower. When the minimum target is again met, VSync kicks back in. In gaming, you never notice Adaptive VSync is happening; you just notice less stutter (especially in demanding games).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/AdaptiveVSynch.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-28932\" title=\"AdaptiveVSynch\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/AdaptiveVSynch.jpg?resize=480%2C269\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/AdaptiveVSynch.jpg?resize=480%2C269 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/AdaptiveVSynch-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Adaptive VSync is a good solution that works well in practice. We spent more time with Adaptive VSync by playing games and it is very helpful although we never use it when benching.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>FXAA &amp; TXAA<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>TXAA<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>There is a need for new kinds of anti-aliasing as many of the modern engines use differed lighting which suffers a heavy performance penalty when traditional MSAA is applied. The alternative, to have jaggies is unacceptable. TXAA &#8211; Temporal Anti-Aliasing is a mix of hardware mult-sampling with a custom high quality AA resolve that use temporal components (samples that are gathered over micro-seconds are compared to give a better AA solution). It&#8217;s main advantage is that it reduces shimmering and texture crawling when the camera is in motion.<\/p>\n<p>There is TXAA 1 which extracts a performance cost similar to 2xMSAA which under ideal circumstances give similar results to 8xMSAA. Of course, from what little time we have spent with it, it appears to be not quite as consistent as MSAA but works well in areas of high contrast. TXAA 2 is supposed to have a similar performance penalty to 4xMSAA but with higher quality than 8xMSAA.<\/p>\n<p>TXAA was the subject of <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=31233\">a short IQ analysis of <em>the Secret World<\/em><\/a> &#8211; the first game to use it. So far, it appears to be a great option for situations where MSAA doesn&#8217;t work efficiently and it almost completely eliminates shimmering and texture crawling when the camera is in motion. It works particularly well for <em>the Secret World<\/em> as the slight blur gives the game a cinematic look.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>FXAA<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Nvidia has already implemented FXAA &#8211; Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing. In practice, it works well in some games <em>(Duke Nukem Forever\/Max Payne 3)<\/em>, while in other games text or other visuals may be a bit blurry<em>. <\/em> FXAA is a great option to have when MSAA kills performance. We plan to devote a entire evaluation to comparing IQ between the HD 7000 series and the GTX 600 series as well as comparisons with the older series video cards.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Specifications<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Here are Nvidia&#8217;s specifications for the reference GTX 660:<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31861\" title=\"GTX 660 specs\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-660-specs.jpg?resize=455%2C458\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-660-specs.jpg?resize=455%2C458 569w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-660-specs-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-660-specs-298x300.jpg 298w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As discussed, the GTX 660 is very similar to the GTX 660 Ti\u00a0but with less CUDA cores and a higher clockspeed to partially compensate.. The GeForce GTX 660 was also designed from the ground up to deliver exceptional tessellation performance which Nvidia claims is\u00a0higher than the HD 7850&#8217;s tessellation performance. Tessellation is the key component of Microsoft&#8217;s DirectX 11 development platform for PC games.<\/p>\n<p>Tessellation allows game developers to take advantage of\u00a0the GeForce GTX 660&#8217;s GPU&#8217;s tessellation ability to increase the geometric complexity of models and characters to deliver far more realistic and visually rich gaming environments. Needless to say, the new GTX 660 brings a lot of features to the table that current Nvidia&#8217;s customers will appreciate, including improved CUDA&#8217;s PhysX, 2D and 3D Surround plus the ability to drive up to 3 LCDs plus a 4th accessory display from a single GTX 660; superb tessellation capabilities and a really fast and power efficient GPU in comparison to their previous GTX 460 and GTX 570.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Surround plus an Accessory display from a single card<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One of the criticisms that Kepler has addressed from Fermi was that two video cards in SLI are required to run 3-panel Surround or 3D Vision Surround. From a single card, the GTX 670, 680, the GTX 660 Ti\u00a0and now the GTX 660 can run three displays plus an accessory display. Interestingly, Nvidia has changed their taskbar from the left side to the center screen. We now prefer the taskbar in the center; it might be more convenient for some users rather than clicking all the way over to the left for the start menu as with Eyefinity.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that we did notice. Suround and 3D Vision Surround are now just as easy to configure as AMD&#8217;s Eyefinity. And AMD has no real answer to 3D Vision or 3D Vision Surround &#8211; HD3D lacks basic support in comparison.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SURROUND-taskbarCenter.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-28945\" title=\"SURROUND-taskbarCenter\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SURROUND-taskbarCenter.jpg?resize=480%2C207\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SURROUND-taskbarCenter.jpg?resize=480%2C207 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/SURROUND-taskbarCenter-300x129.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One new option with the GTX 660\/660 Ti\/670\/680\/690 is in the bezel corrections. In the past, the in-game menus would get occluded by the bezels and it was annoying if you use the correction. Now with Bezel Peek, you can use hotkeys to instantly see the menus hidden by the bezel. However, this editor does not ever use bezel correction in gaming.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that we are\u00a0still noting &#8211; Surround suffers from less tearing than Eyefinity although AMD appears to be working on a solution with their latest drivers. The only true solution to tearing in Eyefinity is to have all native DisplayPort displays or opt for the much more expensive active adapters. And you will need two adapters for Eyefinity for most HD 7850s to run Eyefinity, whereas you only need one for Surround with the GTX 660, GTX 660 Ti, GTX 670 and the GTX 680.<\/p>\n<p>Nvidia also claims a faster experience with the custom resolutions because of a faster center display acceleration.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>A look at the\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660 GC<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC_1799-Large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31866\" title=\"DSC_1799-(Large)\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC_1799-Large.jpg?resize=480%2C238\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC_1799-Large.jpg?resize=480%2C238 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC_1799-Large-300x148.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The GTX 660 is on a short PCB especially compared to the GTX 680. With the GeForce GTX 660, Nvidia&#8217;s board partners have the option to produce custom GTX 660 boards on launch day. Galaxy uses a full-sized PCB with dimensions of 9.6&#8243; long by 4.37&#8243; wide by 1.51&#8243; thick.\u00a0 Just like the GeForce GTX 670 and GTX 660 Ti\u00a0were made into a smaller form factor chassis, Nvidia made a number of adjustments to the 660 reference board to save space by moving the power supply closer to GPU.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Display outputs include two dual-link DVIs, one HDMI, and one DisplayPort connector.\u00a0One 6-pin PCIe power connector is required for operation. If a user fails to connect the power connector properly, a brief message is displayed at boot-up instructing them to plug-in the power connector.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31867\" title=\"IO\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/IO.jpg?resize=288%2C202\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/IO.jpg?resize=288%2C202 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/IO-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With the reference GTX 660, the power circuitry moved to the other side of the board, the area on the right side of the PCB was removed to save board space.\u00a0 In contrast, the Galaxy GTX 660 features a custom PCB design with the following benefits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Galaxy custom PCB design features:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Extended PCB length<\/strong> for better layout and signal path<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thru-board ventilation near MOSFETs<\/strong> for better component cooling<\/li>\n<li><strong>High quality shielded inductors <\/strong>maintain cleaner signal and eliminate coil whine<\/li>\n<li><strong>Improved power handling <\/strong>in Galaxy\u2019s custom PCB design increases energy efficiency and OC potential<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31869\" title=\"ShortPCB-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ShortPCB-1.jpg?resize=491%2C405\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ShortPCB-1.jpg?resize=491%2C405 1024w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ShortPCB-1-300x247.jpg 300w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/ShortPCB-1.jpg 1770w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Galaxy also uses a &#8220;Force Air&#8221; bracket to help exhaust hot air out of the case.\u00a0 They use a shielded DVI-I port while reference cards do not, meaning that the analog signal when using the included adapter will be cleaner.\u00a0 Secondly, there\u2019s more to the custom cooling in that the fan blades themselves are a special aerodynamic\/acoustic design that further reduces noise output.\u00a0 Finally, the PCB uses a 6 phase power design vs. 5 phase on reference cards for higher power output and more stable current.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>SLI<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The GTX 660 is set up for 2-way SLI by using two GTX 660s. We hope to bring you a follow-up evaluation comparing GTX 660 SLI performance scaling over a single GTX 660 Ti and perhaps compared to a single GTX 680. We received our second EVGA GTX 660 Super Overclock on Monday evening, too late to do any SLI benching although we installed them into our case.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Super-Widescreen 5760 x1080, Surround, 3D Vision Surround, and PhysX<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The\u00a0Galaxy\u00a0GTX 660 is set up exactly the same way as the more expensive GTX 660 Ti, GTX 670 and GTX 680. Since the GTX 660 is\u00a0considerably slower than the GTX 670 overall, one can reasonably expect the performance delta to be much lower\u00a0for super-widescreen resolutions as well as for Surround, 3D Vision Surround and for PhysX as in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=29607\">last evaluation of the GTX 670 in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For 3D Vision and for Surround, many games need to have their settings reduced. Just remember that you are playing across three screens and are also rendering each scene twice for 3D Vision!! And turning on PhysX on a GTX 660, although affecting the frame rate, it is enough to play the game with fully maxed out details and FXAA or AAA compared to the GTX\u00a0460 it replaces.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overclocking<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Our Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0GC edition is already overclocked +26MHz over the Nvidia reference clocks. We were able to overclock a further +40MHz with complete stability even though we did not adjust the voltage nor our fan profile. We also managed +170MHz on the memory clocks which were lower than the GTX 660 Ti&#8217;s +190MHz and considerably lower than the +400MHz we managed on the GTX 670 and the +550MHz on the GTX 680 and the GTX 690.<\/p>\n<p>Even with overclocking further, temperatures generally\u00a0stayed below 60C and the fan rarely exceeded 40%. The\u00a0Galaxy\u00a0GTX 660 GC\u00a0is a quiet card.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The GTX 650<\/strong><\/p>\n<p align=\"LEFT\">Based on\u00a0Nvidia&#8217;s &#8220;GK107&#8221; GPU, the GeForce GTX 650\u00a0is for GeForce GTX entry level gaming.\u00a0The reference GTX\u00a0650 has\u00a0384 CUDA Cores running at 1058MHz, while its TDP is just 64 watts. It can draw its entire power from the PCIe slot although it ships with a PCIe connector for overclocking.\u00a0 And with up to 2GB of 5GHz GDDR5 memory, the GeForce GTX 650 has the\u00a0ability to\u00a0play the latest DX11 games at 1080p HD resolution\u00a0with reasonable detail settings.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GeForce_GTX_650_Block_Diagr.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31887\" title=\"GeForce_GTX_650_Block_Diagr\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GeForce_GTX_650_Block_Diagr.jpg?resize=480%2C507\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GeForce_GTX_650_Block_Diagr.jpg?resize=480%2C507 480w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GeForce_GTX_650_Block_Diagr-284x300.jpg 284w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The GeForce GTX 650 ships with 2 SMX units containing 384 CUDA Cores and 32 texture units.\u00a0 The memory subsystem of the GeForce GTX 660 consists of two 64-bit memory controllers (128-bit) with either 1GB or 2GB of GDDR5 memory.\u00a0 The graphics core clock speed of the GeForce GTX 650 is 1058MHz. GPU Boost is not available. The GeForce GTX 650\u2019s memory speed is 5000MHz data rate.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Basically the GTX 650 is a GT 640 with higher clock speeds and DDR5 instead of DDR3.\u00a0 Here is the GTX 650&#8217;s specification chart:<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31888\" title=\"GTX 650 specs\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-650-specs.jpg?resize=458%2C417\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-650-specs.jpg?resize=458%2C417 572w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/GTX-650-specs-300x273.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 458px) 100vw, 458px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With a TDP of just 64 watts, the GeForce GTX 650 draws very little power, yet it ships with an external power connector. This power connector provides additional headroom for overclocking.\u00a0Nvidia&#8217;s board partners\u00a0will offer GeForce GTX 650 OC SKUs at a variety of speeds at launch.\u00a0Nvidia claims that\u00a0many GeForce GTX 650 boards are capable of hitting speeds in excess of 1200MHz and we are looking forward to testing this for ourself versus our two overclocked gHD 7770s and HD 7750 which generally overclock well.<\/p>\n<p>The idle power of GeForce GTX 650 is ~5W\u00a0and HD video playable is ~13W, again representing\u00a0excellent conservation of\u00a0power.\u00a0 The GeForce GTX 650 reference board measures 5.7&#8243; in length. Display outputs include two dual-link DVIs and one mini-HDMI. One 6-pin PCIe power connector is required for operation.\u00a0 We hope to have a GTX 650 evaluation published next week.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Check out the performance summary charts and particularly the overclocking charts to note how well the Galaxy GTX 660 scales.\u00a0 Besides overclocking it further than the Galaxy clocks, we also underclocked it to GTX 660 reference clocks\u00a0.\u00a0The specifications look good with solid improvements over the Fermi-based EVGA GTX\u00a0460 FTW.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s check out performance after unboxing our Galaxy GTX 660 GC. Head to the next page for the unboxing and then to the test configuration .<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: The Galaxy GTX 660 GC exposed--><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Next page...\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-includes\/js\/tinymce\/plugins\/wordpress\/img\/trans.gif?w=720\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>The Galaxy\u00a0GTX 660 GC<\/h2>\n<p>The\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0arrives in a\u00a0newer smaller redesigned Galaxy\u00a0box that advertises the card without its specifications on its outside other than it is &#8220;GC &#8211;\u00a0 Galaxy clocked&#8221;. It mentions its 2GB framebuffer, Custom cooling, being 4-display\u00a0ready,\u00a0PhysX, 3-way SLI, DirectX11 and 3D Vision.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31870\" title=\"Box-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-1.jpg?resize=480%2C280\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-1.jpg?resize=480%2C280 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-1-300x174.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The back of the\u00a0Galaxy box goes into more detail about support for 4 concurrent displays and we see the key features of the card as well, &#8220;why Galaxy&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-obv.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31871\" title=\"Box-obv\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-obv.jpg?resize=480%2C286\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-obv.jpg?resize=480%2C286 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-obv-300x178.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Great utilities are included, including Galaxy&#8217;s Xtreme Tuner Plus which includes an improved GPU voltage tuner.<\/p>\n<p>One end panel shows the card&#8217;s connection possibilities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31872\" title=\"Box-endpanel\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-455x1024.jpg?resize=273%2C614\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-455x1024.jpg?resize=273%2C614 455w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-133x300.jpg 133w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 273px) 100vw, 273px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The other end panels gives the key features, minimum system requirements as well as what&#8217;s included in the box.<a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-specs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31873\" title=\"Box-endpanel-specs\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-specs.jpg?resize=480%2C117\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-specs.jpg?resize=480%2C117 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-specs-300x72.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-contents.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31874\" title=\"Box-endpanel-contents\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-contents.jpg?resize=480%2C109\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-contents.jpg?resize=480%2C109 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-endpanel-contents-300x67.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a> The card comes well-protected and\u00a0in an anti-static bag. <a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-inner.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31875\" title=\"Box-inner\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-inner.jpg?resize=480%2C398\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-inner.jpg?resize=480%2C398 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Box-inner-300x248.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Inside the box besides the new GTX, we find a driver CD, manual, DVI to VGA connector and\u00a0a Molex to 6-Pin PCI-E power connector.<a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Contents.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31876\" title=\"Contents\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Contents.jpg?resize=480%2C544\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Contents.jpg?resize=480%2C544 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Contents-264x300.jpg 264w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Contents-903x1024.jpg 903w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There is a single\u00a0SLI connector for 2-way SLI with one other GTX 660. You can mix cards from different vendors with different clock speeds but you cannot mix cards with different amounts of cores or different framebuffers as you can with AMD&#8217;s competing multi-GPU solution, CrossFire.<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/card-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31877\" title=\"card-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/card-1.jpg?resize=480%2C407\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/card-1.jpg?resize=480%2C407 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/card-1-300x254.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Galaxy GTX 660 is a good looking card with twin fans and 3 heatpipes to stay cool and quiet.\u00a0 A single PCIe connector shows in the above and below images.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Card-obv-1-pcie-cooling.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31878\" title=\"Card-obv-1-pcie-cooling\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Card-obv-1-pcie-cooling.jpg?resize=480%2C272\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Card-obv-1-pcie-cooling.jpg?resize=480%2C272 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Card-obv-1-pcie-cooling-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let&#8217;s turn it over.<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Card-obv.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31879\" title=\"Card-obv\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Card-obv.jpg?resize=480%2C236\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Card-obv.jpg?resize=480%2C236 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Card-obv-300x147.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Here are the connectors; 2 dual-link DVI, 1 HDMI 1.4a and 1 DisplayPort 1.1a<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/IO1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31886\" title=\"IO\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/IO1.jpg?resize=384%2C270\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/IO1.jpg?resize=384%2C270 800w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/IO1-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0is factory overclocked and warrantied for\u00a0three years.\u00a0Galaxy has\u00a0included their\u00a0Xtreme Tuner\u00a0overclocking software on the driver DVD or as a download on their site and you can even raise the voltage. This is a tool that we use with great results including overclocking our new GTX beyond the factory overclock. With a great warranty and\u00a024\/7 phone support,\u00a0Galaxy offers great service!<a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/card-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31914\" title=\"card-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/card-2.jpg?resize=480%2C298\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/card-2.jpg?resize=480%2C298 1000w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/card-2-300x186.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We can&#8217;t wait to test out our new card, but before we begin the testing, head over to our testing configuration.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Test Configuration, Power Draw, Noise &#038; Overclocking--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>Test Configuration &#8211; Hardware<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Intel Core i7-3770K reference 3.50 GHz\/Turbo to 3.7GHz<\/span>, overclocked to 4.8 GHz<span style=\"font-size: small;\">; HyperThreading is on, supplied by Intel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard (latest Beta BIOS, USB\/PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire\/SLI 16x+16x), supplied by EVGA<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">8 GB OCZ DDR3 PC 1866 Kingston RAM (2&#215;2 GB, tri-channel at 1866 MHz; supplied by Kingston)<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Galaxy\u00a0GTX 660 GC, 2 GB (Galaxy base clocks of 980\/3004MHz and also overclocked, +70MHz\/+190MHz and underclocked to reference speeds), supplied by Galaxy<\/li>\n<li>EVGA\u00a0GTX 660 Ti, 2 GB reference clocks, supplied by EVGA.<\/li>\n<li>EVGA\u00a0GTX 460 FTW,\u00a01 GB reference design and clocks, supplied by EVGA<\/li>\n<li>GeForce GTX 570, 1.3GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia<\/li>\n<li>HIS IceQX\u00a0Radeon HD 7850,\u00a02 GB with custom cooling at stock clocks (860\/4800MHz) and overclocked (1000\/5000MHz)<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Onboard Realtek Audio<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">2 x 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200-12 HDDs; one for AMD and one for Nvidia<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Thermaltake ToughPowerXT 775W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Thermaltake Overseer RX-I Full Tower case, supplied by Thermaltake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro CPU watercooler, supplied by Thermaltake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Philips DVD SATA writer<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">HP LP3065 2560&#215;1600 thirty inch LCD. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Test Configuration &#8211; Software<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Nvidia GeForce 306.02 Beta drivers for all GTXes. High Quality<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span>AMD 12.8 WHQL Catalyst drivers; latest CAPs. High Quality &#8211; optimizations off; use application settings<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Latest DirectX<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">All games are patched to their latest versions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">VSync is off in the control panel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">AA enabled as noted in games<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for <em>Crysis.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Windows 7 64, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths; DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">The Benchmarks<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Synthetic<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vantage<\/li>\n<li>3DMark 11<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Heaven 3.0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><strong>DX9 <\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Left 4 Dead 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Serious Sam 3 BFE<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Alan Wake: Ameican Nightmare<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><strong>DX10<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Crysis<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Far Cry 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Just Cause 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>World-in-Conflict Soviet Assault<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Resident Evil 5<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><strong>DX11<\/strong><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><em>BattleForge<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Alien vs. Predator<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>STALKER, Call of Pripyat<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Metro 2033<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>F1 2010<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>H.A.W.X. 2<\/em><em><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Lost Planet 2<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Shogun II<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Civilization V<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><em>Crysis 2<\/em><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>Dirt 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Deus Ex: Human Revolution<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><em>Batman: Arkham City<\/em><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Battlefield 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Max Payne 3<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>the Secret World<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Before we get to the\u00a0Galalxy GTX 660 GC&#8217;s performance charts, let&#8217;s look at overclocking, power draw and temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overclocking, Power Draw, Noise and Temperatures<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Overclocking the Galaxy GTX 660 GC\u00a0is just as easy as overclocking the GTX 660 Ti, 670, 680 and 690. We were able to add an additional +40MHz for a total offset of +66MHz over the base clocks that Nvidia set for the reference GTX 660. On top of that, we were able to get +170MHz on the memory, about half what we achieved with the GTX 670 but only -20MHz less than what we got with the EVGA GTX 660 Ti.<\/p>\n<p>We did not adjust the GTX 660&#8217;s voltage nor fan profile. \u00a0Temperatures were never an issue and the fan profile remained at stock which meant that the Galaxy GTX 660 is also extraordinarily quiet at maximum load &#8211; the fan profile rarely went over 40% and the temperatures remained under 60C under the most stressful conditions and highest load in gaming. Similarly, the HIS HD 7850 is also quiet and cool under load as it also\u00a0uses custom cooling.<\/p>\n<p>For our testing of the Galaxy GTX 660, we maxed the slider out at +110%. Likewise, we also max the PowerTune slider for AMD cards.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s head to the performance charts and graphs to see how the\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0GC compares with the GTX 660 Ti as well as the last generation GTX\u00a0570\u00a0and earlier\u00a0GTX 460 as well as against the stock\u00a0and overclocked\u00a0AMD HD 7850.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: Performance Summary Charts--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Performance summary charts &amp; graphs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Here are the summary charts of 24 modern PC games and 3 synthetic tests. The highest settings are\u00a0generally chosen and it is DX11 when there is a choice; DX10 is picked above DX9, and the settings are generally ultra or maxed unless specified on the chart. Specific settings are listed on the Main Performance chart. The benches are run at 1920&#215;1200 and 1680&#215;1050 with separate charts devoted to dividing games up into easy to read charts by their DX pathway and by resolution.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Main Overall Summary chart<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><\/strong>In the first three columns of the main performance summary chart, the Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0GC is tested at\u00a0Nvidia reference\u00a0clocks (Column 1)\u00a0and also factory overclocked (2) and further overclocked (3)\u00a0next to\u00a0a single stock GTX 660 Ti (4)\u00a0for comparison; next (column 5) is a single GTX 670, next to a GTX 460 FTW edition (in column 6). In the last two columns, the HD 7850\u00a0is featured, first at stock clocks (column 7)\u00a0and then at the highest factory overclock available in the last column.<\/p>\n<p>(<em>Far Cry 2<\/em> does not run properly on Catalyst 12-8 so the HD 7850 was tested using Catalyst 12-4*; in <em>Max Payne 3<\/em>, the GTX 460 FTW and the GTX 570\u00a0are unable to run 1920&#215;1200* resolution with only 1GB of vRAM.).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/MainSummary-13.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31976\" title=\"MainSummary-1\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/MainSummary-13.jpg?resize=560%2C449\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/MainSummary-13.jpg?resize=560%2C449 700w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/MainSummary-13-300x240.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/MainSummary-23.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-31978\" title=\"MainSummary-2\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/MainSummary-23.jpg?resize=560%2C447\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/MainSummary-23.jpg?resize=560%2C447 700w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/MainSummary-23-300x239.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Above\u00a0is the master chart and although it has not been made into a graph as there is too much information to put onto a single graph, there are many other charts and sub-graphs that are based on it that follow.<\/p>\n<p>All results, except for Vantage and 3DMark11, show average framerates and higher is always better. In-game settings are fully maxed out and they are identically high or ultra across all platforms. As usual, we begin with the synthetics.<\/p>\n<h2>Futuremark &amp; Heaven synthetic tests<\/h2>\n<p>3DMark11 is Futuremark&#8217;s latest DX11-only benchmark and Vantage is DX10. Unfortunately, scores are completely meaningless when they are presented in this way but they do offer supporting data to accompany our game benches. Here is the chart with Vantage and 3D Mark11:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3DMark-vantage.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31931\" title=\"3DMark-vantage\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3DMark-vantage.jpg?resize=482%2C589\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3DMark-vantage.jpg?resize=482%2C589 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/3DMark-vantage-245x300.jpg 245w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0GC\u00a0beats the GTX 570 &#8211; especially in 3DMark11 &#8211; and the HD 7850 and pulls way ahead of the other older FTW GTX 460; and when it is overclocked, it scales well. However, these are synthetic benches and not games.<\/p>\n<p>Heaven 3.0 is a very demanding benchmark and here it is expressed in a chart.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Heaven.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31932\" title=\"Heaven\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Heaven.jpg?resize=482%2C535\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Heaven.jpg?resize=482%2C535 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Heaven-270x300.jpg 270w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Again, synthetic tests are interesting but they are not necessarily indicative of real world gaming performance. In all three cases, the overclocked Galaxy GTX 680 GC\u00a0&#8220;wins&#8221; over everything else except the GTX 660 Ti by a fair margin. Next up, let&#8217;s look at DX9 games.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>DX9 Games<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>We test the popular Source Engine represented by <em>Left 4 Dead 2<\/em> and also a demanding DX9 game, <em>Serious Sam 3, BFE <\/em>with both at completely maxed out settings. We recently added <em>Alan Wake: American Nightmare<\/em> with completely maxed out settings including 4xAA plus FXAA High.\u00a0 First up is 1680&#215;1050.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX9-16x10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31933\" title=\"DX9-16x10\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX9-16x10.jpg?resize=482%2C828\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX9-16x10.jpg?resize=482%2C828 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX9-16x10-174x300.jpg 174w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next up is 1920&#215;1200.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX9-19x12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31934\" title=\"DX9-19x12\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX9-19x12.jpg?resize=482%2C832\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX9-19x12.jpg?resize=482%2C832 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX9-19x12-173x300.jpg 173w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Both <em>Left 4 Dead 2<\/em> and <em>Serious Sam 3 BFE<\/em> are faster on the GTX 660 Ti\u00a0than any of the other cards. The Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0GC improves strongly over the GTX 570 and especially over the overclocked GTX 460 FTW. The further overclocked\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660 is significantly faster than even the fastest factory overclocked HD 7850. Let&#8217;s check out DX10 games<\/p>\n<h3><strong>DX10 Games<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>We test five DX10 games &#8211; <em>Resident Evil 5<\/em>, J<em>ust Cause 3, Far Cry 2, Crysis <\/em>and<em> World in Conflict: Soviet Assault<\/em>. Here\u00a0is 1680&#215;1050 resolution on a single chart.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX10-16x10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31936\" title=\"DX10-16x10\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX10-16x10.jpg?resize=482%2C1102\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX10-16x10.jpg?resize=482%2C1102 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX10-16x10-131x300.jpg 131w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now at 1920&#215;1200<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31935\" title=\"DX10-19x12\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX10-19x12.jpg?resize=482%2C1101\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX10-19x12.jpg?resize=482%2C1101 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX10-19x12-131x300.jpg 131w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX10-19x12-448x1024.jpg 448w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Out of these five DX10 games, the GTX 660 Ti wins but the Galaxy GTX 660 especially overclocked, comes close.\u00a0 In all cases, the new GTX is faster than the overclocked HD 7850.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>DX11 Games<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Most of our testing emphasizes DX11 games and we bench\u00a016. Since the charts would get too long, we break them up into charts of\u00a08 games each.<\/p>\n<p>First up are the older DX11 games at 1680&#215;1050<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-OLD-16x10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31937\" title=\"DX11-OLD-16x10\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-OLD-16x10.jpg?resize=482%2C1603\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-OLD-16x10.jpg?resize=482%2C1603 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-OLD-16x10-90x300.jpg 90w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And now at 1920&#215;1200<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-OLD-19x12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31938\" title=\"DX11-OLD-19x12\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-OLD-19x12.jpg?resize=482%2C1607\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-OLD-19x12.jpg?resize=482%2C1607 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-OLD-19x12-307x1024.jpg 307w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now the newer DX11 games at 168&#215;1050:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-new-16x10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31939\" title=\"DX11-new-16x10\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-new-16x10.jpg?resize=482%2C1503\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-new-16x10.jpg?resize=482%2C1503 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-new-16x10-96x300.jpg 96w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-new-16x10-328x1024.jpg 328w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Finally the newer DX11 games at 1920&#215;1200<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-new-19x12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31941\" title=\"DX11-new-19x12\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-new-19x12.jpg?resize=482%2C1501\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-new-19x12.jpg?resize=482%2C1501 482w, http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DX11-new-19x12-96x300.jpg 96w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In every single case, the Galaxy GTX 660 downclocked to reference speeds beats the competing HD 7850 even when it is overclocked to the highest factory overclock available!\u00a0 In only 4 games out of the 24 we tested does the HD 7850 even come close.\u00a0 This is a blow-out win for the GTX 660.<\/p>\n<p>We also see the GTX 660 handily beating the GTX 460 FTW even though the EVGA card is highly overclocked over a reference GTX 460.\u00a0 And the GTX 660 is also stronger than the GTX 570, the second fastest GTX of the Fermi generation after the GTX 580.\u00a0 Also, in all cases, the GTX 660 Ti is faster than the GTX 660 although overclocked in a few games, it comes relatively close and it is a good value for $229- $70 less than the more expensive Ti<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s head for our conclusion.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><!--pagetitle: The Conclusion--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This has been quite an enjoyable, if far too short,\u00a0week&#8217;s\u00a0exploration for us in evaluating our new Galaxy GTX 660 GC.\u00a0 \u00a0It did extraordinarily well performance-wise comparing it to\u00a0last two generation&#8217;s\u00a0GTX 570 and GTX\u00a0460 where it brings good performance value compared to the faster Kepler card and better efficiency and performance than the older Fermi second card. We are totally impressed with this cool-running\u00a0mainstream &#8220;sweet spot&#8221;\u00a0enthusiast card which totally runs away from it&#8217;s competitor the HD 7850, and even solidly beats\u00a0the fastest factory-clocked HD 7850.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We see good overclockability with reasonable quietness at stock voltage and fan profile even when the Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0GC is overclocked beyond Galaxy&#8217;s factory overclock and it scales well in performance. It is as quiet as the\u00a0HIS HD 7850 and EVGA GTX 660 Ti, quiet cards indeed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For its $229 price, it gives more than 80% of the performance of the GTX 660 Ti\u00a0which is priced at $299 and it runs away from even factory overclocked HD 7850s which are priced the same. From our results, we can expect\u00a0the\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0will also be a bit faster than the HD 7870. At $229 it is priced to match the factory overclocked HD 7850s while challenging and beating the more expensive HD 7870 in performance. And for ten dollars more, the\u00a0factory-overclocked Galaxy GTX 660 GC offers better performance than the reference\u00a0660s while giving the gamer Galaxy&#8217;s excellent support and warranty.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">Pros<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0GC provides excellent performance for a $229 card and soundly beats even the overclocked HD 7850 across the board.<\/li>\n<li>Overclockability is\u00a0acceptable &#8211; GPU Boost works as advertised.<\/li>\n<li>The cooling design is quiet and efficient; the card and well-ventilated case stay cool even well-overclocked due to the Galaxy bracket.<\/li>\n<li>It is possible to use two of these cards for SLI performance without needing a\u00a0big PSU<\/li>\n<li>3D Vision 2 and PhysX enhance gaming immersion and both are improved using the GTX 660 compared to the GTX\u00a0460 which is not in the same performance class &#8211; upgrading from the EVGA (overclocked) GTX 460 FTW to the GTX 660 brought a solid improvement.<\/li>\n<li>Surround and 3D Vision Surround plus an accessory display can now be driven off of a single GTX 660 by requiring a single passive adapter; HD 7850 generally requires two, and tearing is noticeably\u00a0less with Surround compared to Eyefinity<\/li>\n<li>New AA allows for high performance without jaggies in deferred shading lighting engines; TXAA solves the shimmering and crawling when the camera is in motion<\/li>\n<li>Adaptive VSync reduces stuttering while retaining the advantages of minimizing tearing.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660 GC is a great value for just ten dollars more than the reference version. You get a\u00a03 year warranty backed by 24\/7 tech support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Cons<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The factory overclock is modest and we also got a modest overclock at stock voltage and fan profile.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The Verdict:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>If you are buying a\u00a0&#8220;sweet spot&#8221;\u00a0midrange video card right now that is perfect for 1920&#215;1080 as well as being great bang for buck, the\u00a0Galaxy GTX 660\u00a0GC is an easy choice for only ten dollars more than the reference design. We feel it deserves ABT&#8217;s Editor&#8217;s Choice award since it\u00a0absolutely destroys\u00a0competing cards\u00a0in its class and price range.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/EDITORsCHOICE.jpg?resize=150%2C251\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We do not know what the future will bring, but the Galaxy GTX 660 brings good value and a great performer to the 28nm GeForce Kepler family. With great features like PhysX and the second generation of 3D Vision, you can be assured of immersive gaming by picking this card for 1920&#215;1080 resolution.<\/p>\n<p>If you currently game on an older generation video card such as a GTX 460 or older, you will do yourself a big favor by upgrading. The move to a GTX 660 will give you much higher performance, and you are no doubt thinking of SLI if you want to get much higher gaming performance on a budget. The GTX 460 is starting to struggle in many modern games and the move to a GTX 660 will make for a better gaming experience.<\/p>\n<p>The competition is hot and AMD offers their own set of features including Eyefinity 2.0\u00a0and the recently faster and lower-priced GHz editions. We are interested to see if there will be any further downward adjustments in AMD&#8217;s pricing regarding the HD 7870 and HD 7850.<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at ABT.\u00a0 Later today you can expect an evaluation of the EVGA\u00a0GTX 660 which arrived on\u00a0Monday evening and was much too late to be included in this review &#8211; we understand it is an overclocking beast! \u00a0And you can expect more great reviews from Mario for our new mobile section; also expect a Kingston SSD evaluation faceoff between manstream and enthusiast SSDs as well as versus HDD. And don&#8217;t forget to check our forums.\u00a0\u00a0ABT forum\u00a0tech discussions are among the best to be found anywhere!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 60px;\">Mark Poppin<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 60px;\">ABT Senior Editor<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px; text-align: left;\">Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px; text-align: left;\">Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px; text-align: left;\">Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px; text-align: left;\">For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px; text-align: left;\">Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 120px;\">\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 164304<\/li>\n<li>SETI@Home &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech &#8211; 138705<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.worldcommunitygrid.org\/reg\/viewRegister.do?teamID=3P39R3SRV1', 'World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech']);\" target=\"_blank\">World Community Grid &#8211; Team AlienBabelTech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=31852\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=top title=\"Author: Mark Poppin\" src=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/660-galaxy-IMAGE-linkfinal.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,7814,5],"tags":[72,680,5806,4326,5587,5803,5805,799,5121,121,5804],"class_list":["post-31852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-articles","category-gaming","tag-amd","tag-galaxy","tag-gtx-460-ftw","tag-gtx-570","tag-gtx-660-ti","tag-gx-660-gc","tag-hd-7850","tag-his","tag-kepler","tag-nvidia","tag-xtreme-tuner-hd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}