The EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked edition arrives

Conclusion

This has been quite an enjoyable, if far too short, 1-week exploration for us in evaluating our new GTX 660 Ti. It did extraordinarily well performance-wise comparing it to the the GTX 580 and GTX 670 where it brings good performance value compared to the faster Kepler card and better efficiency and performance than the older Fermi flagship. We are totally impressed with this cool-running “value” enthusiast card which is able in many games to go nearly head to head against or beat the more expensive HD 7970 in a few games.

We can see that the EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked is an excellent replacement for the GTX 560 Ti which is not even in the same class.  Although they are both aimed at 1920×1200 resolution, the new card can also handle 2560×1600 whereas the old card just falls flat even in older titles.  And gamers upgrading from a GTX 280 will notice a big jump in the performance of this new card in DX9 and DX10 games to say noting of playing with tessellation in DX11 games which will noticeably improve the visuals.

We see good overclockability with reasonable quietness at stock voltage and fan profile even when the GTX 660 Ti Superclocked is overclocked even beyond EVGA’s factory overclock and it scales well in performance.  It is definitely quieter than the PowerColor HD 7970 and it uses relatively little power compared to the HD 79×0 and the difference widens as each overclock goes up.

For its $299 price, it gives more than 85% of the performance of the GTX 670 which is priced at $400 and the it comes dangerously close to HD 7970’s performance territory at 1920×1200.   From our results, we can expect Ti will be a bit faster than the HD 7950 and beat up on the HD 7870.  At $300 it is priced to match the HD 7870 while challenging and beating the more expensive HD 7950 in performance.  And for ten dollars more, the EVGA GTX 660 Ti offers better performance than the reference Tis while giving the gamer EVGA’s excellent support and warranty as well as a great community.

Pros

• The EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked provides excellent performance for a $309 card and for the third time in a few months, makes the reference HD 7970 again appear overpriced.
• TDP and power draw is superb. Performance per watt is better than its competitor’s flagship 28nm offerings (to say nothing about beating the last generation) and it is quiet in comparison to the older cards.
• Overclockability is excellent – GPU Boost works as advertised.
• The cooling design is quiet and efficient; the card and well-ventilated case stay cool even well-overclocked.
• It is possible to use two or three of these cards for SLI performance without needing a massive PSU
• 3D Vision 2 and PhysX enhance gaming immersion and both are improved using the GTX 660 Ti compared to the GTX 560 Ti which is not in the same performance class – upgrading from the GTX 560 Ti to the GTX 660 Ti brought a solid improvement.
• Surround and 3D Vision Surround plus an accessory display can now be driven off of a single GTX 660 Ti by requiring a single passive adapter; HD 7970 requires two, and tearing is noticeably better with Surround, compared to Eyefinity
• 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
• Adaptive VSync reduces stuttering while retaining the advantages of minimizing tearing.
• Borderlands 2 coupon is included with all the EVGA GTX 660 Ti editions.  It is a $60 value and likely to be very popular.
• The EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked is a great value for just ten dollars more than the reference version.  You get a 3+ year warranty backed by Nvidia’s number 1 USA partner with great support from service and community.  EVGA comes highly recommended!

Cons

• None

The Verdict:

• If you are buying a powerful upper-midrange video card right now that is perfect for 1920×1200 resolutions while still being able to handle 2560×1600 as well as being great bang for buck, the EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclock is an easy choice for only ten dollars more than the reference design. We feel it deserves ABT’s Great Value award since it performs well against competing cards that are currently priced out of its class.

If you currently game on an older generation video card such as a GTX 280, you will do yourself a big favor by upgrading. The move to a GTX 660 Ti will give you better visuals on the DX11.1 pathway especially over DX10, and you are no doubt thinking of SLI if you want to get nearly the ultimate in gaming performance without breaking the bank with a GTX 690.   The GTX 560 Ti is struggling in many modern games to say nothing of the GTX 280 which cannot even run DX11’s improved visuals over DX1o, especially including tessellation.

The competition is hot and AMD offers their own set of features including Eyefinity and the recently faster and lower-priced GHz editions. We are interested to see if there will be any further downward adjustments in AMD’s pricing regarding the HD 7870 and HD 7950 and how they will counter this new GTX 660 Ti release.

Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at ABT. Next up is an evaluation of the EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard which has allowed us to increase our Core i7-3770K to 5.0GHz!  And you can expect more great reviews from Mario for our new mobile section; also expect a Thermaltake mid-tower review and Water2.0 Pro and Performer versus high-end air-cooling!  And don’t forget to check our forums! Our tech discussions are becoming among the best to be found anywhere!!

Mark Poppin

ABT Senior Editor

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