The EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked edition arrives
Test Configuration – Hardware
- Intel Core i7-3770K reference 3.50 GHz/Turbo to 3.7GHz, overclocked to 4.8 GHz; HyperThreading is on, supplied by Intel.
- EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard (latest Beta BIOS, USB/PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x), supplied by EVGA
- 8 GB OCZ DDR3 PC 1866 Kingston RAM (2×2 GB, tri-channel at 1866 MHz; supplied by Kingston)
- EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked, 2 GB (EVGA base clocks of 980/3004MHz and also overclocked, +70MHz/+190MHz), supplied by Nvidia
- GeForce GTX 680, 2 GB reference clocks, supplied by Nvidia.
- GeForce GTX 670, 2 GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia
- GeForce GTX 580, 1.5GBreference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia
- GeForce GTX 560 Ti, 1GB reference design and clocks, supplied by Nvidia
- BFG GTX 280, reference design and clocks
- PowerColor Radeon HD 7970, 3 GB with custom cooling at stock clocks (925/1375MHz)
- Onboard Realtek Audio
- 2 x 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200-12 HDDs; one for AMD and one for Nvidia
- Thermaltake ToughPowerXT 775W power supply unit supplied by Thermaltake
- Thermaltake Overseer RX-I Full Tower case, supplied by Thermaltake
- Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro CPU watercooler, supplied by Thermaltake
- Philips DVD SATA writer
- HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD.
Test Configuration – Software
- Nvidia GeForce 305.37 Beta drivers for all GTXes. High Quality
- AMD 12.7 Beta Catalyst drivers; latest CAPs. High Quality – optimizations off; use application settings
- Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
- Latest DirectX
- All games are patched to their latest versions.
- VSync is off in the control panel.
- AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for Crysis.
- All results show average, minimum and maximum frame rates except as noted.
- Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
- Windows 7 64, all DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths; DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.
The Benchmarks
Synthetic
- Vantage
- 3DMark 11
- Heaven 3.0
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Serious Sam 3 BFE
- Crysis
- Far Cry 2
- Just Cause 2
- World-in-Conflict
- Resident Evil 5
- BattleForge
- Alien vs. Predator
- STALKER, Call of Pripyat
- Metro 2033
- F1 2010
- H.A.W.X. 2
- Lost Planet 2
- Shogun II
- Civilization V
- Crysis 2
- Dirt 3
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Batman: Arkham City
- Max Payne 3
- the Secret World
Before we get to the EVGA GTX 660 TI Superoverclock’s performance charts, let’s look at overclocking, power draw and temperatures.
Overclocking, Power Draw, Noise and Temperatures
Overclocking the GTX 660 Ti is just as easy as overclocking the GTX 670, 680 and 690. What is not surprising is that we could not match the GTX 670 overclock since the EVGA Superclocked edition is already overclocked +65MHz on the core. We were able to add an additional +70MHz for a total offset of +135MHz over the base clocks that Nvidia set for the reference GTX 660 Ti. On top of that, we were able to get +190MHz on the memory, about half what we achieved with the GTX 670.
We did not adjust the GTX 660 Ti’s voltage. Temperatures were never an issue and the fan profile remained at stock which meant that the GTX 660 Ti is also extraordinarily quiet at maximum load – the fan profile rarely went over 30% and the temperatures remained well under 80C under the most stressful conditions and highest load. In contrast, the PowerColor HD 7970 is much more noticeable when it ramps up under load even though it uses custom cooling.
Kepler is extraordinarily power efficient – much more so than Tahiti. Under load, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti typically draws up to 134W of power in most non-TDP apps. This is what you should experience with the power target slider set at its default 100% setting. For our testing of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, we maxed the slider out at +123% as we do for all Kepler cards. Likewise, we also max the PowerTune slider for AMD cards. At this setting, GTX 660 Ti will draw up to 165W in non-TDP apps. There is absolutely no comparison with the HD 7970 or even the HD 7950 as they use much more power.
Let’s head to the performance charts and graphs to see how the EVGA Superclocked GTX 660 Ti compares with the rest of the Kepler family – the GTX 680 and GTX 670, as well as the last generation GTX 560 Ti that it replaces and the former flagship GTX 580 as well as against the stock (original, 925/1375MHz) AMD HD 7970. As an added bonus, we are going to look at Nvidia’s flagship from four years ago – the GTX 280 – to see how it stacks up against the modern cards.
Its amazing how much performance Nvidia is able to get out of Kepler, looking at the specs of the 660ti and the 7970 one would think theres no chance the 660ti can compete. Yet the numbers tell a different story.
Very insightful review.
Excellent article, as always. Thank you for so clearly illuminating that this is a perfect 1080p card for the money.
Minor mistakes I found in the article:
“…superb tessellation capabilities and a really fast and power efficient GPU in comparison to their previous GTX 660 Ti.” (Probably 560 Ti)
Specification graphic is posted twice in the article.
“The GTX 660 Ti is set up for SLI or TriSLI by using two or three GTX 560s.” (660s)
conveniently done review. include only the HD 7970. ignore the HD 7950, ignore the HD 7950 boost, ignore the HD 7970 GHz edition. Make the nvidia cards look significantly better even though its really close.
This review is about the EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked edition and it introduces the GTX 660 Ti. We approached it from a very different angle than most tech sites since we don’t have a HD 7950.
We had to use the HD 7970 to “stand in” for an overclocked HD 7950B. Why would we use the HD 7970 GHz edition at all since it is priced higher and out of the price range of the 660 Ti completely?
Instead, ABT’s evaluation focused on the GTX family of Kepler as it was released. Just as we saw the GTX 670 come very close in performance to the GTX 680 for $100 less, we see the GTX 660 Ti come close to the GTX 670’s performance at a further $100 less.
In this review we see a card designed to compete with a HD 7870 do pretty well compared to cards in a higher class, the GTX 670 and a HD 7970 reference edition. The GTX 660 Ti is aimed directly at the upper-midrange and up to 1920×1200 resolution. Since it can manage higher resolutions, we believe it is a decent value and market pricing will adjust its pricing.
Evidently AMD also believes that the GTX 660 Ti is a strong performer since they saw fit to adjust their pricing downward on the HD 7800s after the reviews were published.
if the HD 7970 is at a different price point then why include the GTX 680 and GTX 670 which are also both significantly more expensive. I appreciate you’ve only been given the HD 7970 but that doesn’t mean you have to manipulate the results totally in favour of Nvidia. I agree kepler is good but the way you portray it is misleading for consumers.
Are we going to go in circles on this? The GTX 680 and the GTX 670 were included to show the “Kepler family” and the value of each of these GPUs as they step down in price each $100
There is no manipulation of results. They are what they are. The EVGA GTX 660 Ti was compared in the ABT review fairly with the GTX 680/670/580/560 Ti and the GTX 280 as well as a stock HD 7970. The settings are the same and the reader will be able to draw conclusions as they will.
If you really wish to discuss the article, there are already two threads on ABT forum devoted to the evaluation and your arguments have already been answered there.
http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=25358
http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=25356
You really, really need to start making larger graphic charts.
To clarify, the performance summary charts are too small.
will a geforce gtx 660 ti work for an pci e 2?
Yes. PCIe 3.0 is backward compatible with 2.0 so a 3.0 Video card works fine in a 3.0 slot. Your bandwidth will be restricted theoretically but practically there will be no performance difference.
Very likely, only the GTX 690 might have some issues with slightly limited performance in some games in a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot:
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=30825
Only prefer it if you think your graphics card is too old and very urgent to be upgraded.