GeForce GTX 660 Ti Review: Nvidia's Trickle-Down Keplernomics

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Actually at the time of the 8800GT there were several cards above it, the 8800GTS for one which would be akin to the 670 in your analogy as there was the 8800GTX as well. What kills your analogy though is the fact that the GTX260 and GTX280 were also around at the time, I recall the GTX280 being over double the price that I paid for my 8800GT's whilst offering less performance.
 


I don't think that any cards tell you if the VRAM and VRM are cooled by the cooler or not (many cards don't cool the VRAM and VRM). Having two fans is not a guarantee that the VRAM is cooled. I don't think that VRAM temperature is reported by any program, but it most certainly can be important. If the VRAM gets damaged, such as by heat, then the card is probably broken.
 


Even up to this day, there are SLI/CF setups that beat the higher end cards while being cheaper. That's nothing new and is to be expected. For example, Radeon 7850 CF is cheaper than the Radeon 7970 GHz Edition, but it is superior to the 7970 GHz Edition. Radeon 5770/6770 CF has been cheaper than the Radeon 6950 and 6970 for a long time, but it has similar performance to the 6970 and Radeon 6870 CF could often beat the 6970 for less money (albeit it is supposedly one of the most micro-stutter ridden configurations) too. GTX 560 TI SLI would beat the more expensive GTX 580. Heck GTX 560 SLI beat the 580 at a much lower price.

Also, the GTX 2xx cards didn't launch until several months after the 8800 GT did. I don't have to include them in the analogy if I don't want to.

I already said that the GTX 670 wasn't a perfect analogy and that it was simply the closest that we're likely to get.
 

The GTX280 launched in late 2008 and so did the the 8800GT, around about the same time as each other as history records.
 
Actuall, the 8800GT was released in October of 2007 as a cut down version of the G92 chip.

The GTX 280's GT200 was released in June of 2008, only to be replaced by the 55nm GT200b shrink in January 2009.

The 8800GT was reboxed as the 9800GT (July 2008) and GTS 240 (Q4 2009); both of which sold alongside the GT200(b).
 

You're right I was a year out, must have been thinking of the GTX260. Still blazorthon's analogy was still a rubbish one IMO as it fails to take into account the different tiers that these cards occupy.
 
[citation][nom]Mousemonkey[/nom]You're right I was a year out, must have been thinking of the GTX260. Still blazorthon's analogy was still a rubbish one IMO as it fails to take into account the different tiers that these cards occupy.[/citation]

How was it rubbish? I've already said that the GTX 670 isn't another 8800 GT, but is the closest to it that we're likely to get because it offers exceptionally similar performance to the top card and is sold at a significantly lower price. You're acting as if I said that it was the GTX 600 series' 8800 GT, which I did not.
 

Glacier

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Thanks to AMD's price cut, some 7950's are now $320. I can't see anyone buying a 660ti for $300 now. Nvidia needs to follow AMD's lead, and cut the 660ti down to $260. That will match the 7870's current price.
 
[citation][nom]Glacier[/nom]Thanks to AMD's price cut, some 7950's are now $320. I can't see anyone buying a 660ti for $300 now. Nvidia needs to follow AMD's lead, and cut the 660ti down to $260. That will match the 7870's current price.[/citation]

I see a lot of 7950s below $320. Some are below $300. I also simply don't see Nvidia dropping price. Even today, they still haven't dropped prices on the 670 and the 680 to keep up with AMD. Nvidia seems intent on keeping their cards around their launch prices at least for the next few months. I don't think that they'll drop prices until the holidays unless AMD undercuts them even more.
 
LOl! o.k.[citation][nom]army_ant7[/nom]Actively cooled memory? I don't think I've seen cards that have indicated that. Does any card with two fans pretty much encompassing the whole card qualify as having actively cooled memory? Also, another thing, does the temperature in Overdrive include the VRAM's temp? Just wondering if people need to worry about overclocking their VRAM. Thanks! :)[/citation]Lol!Good question but as far as a 7850 being better than a 660 ti i highly doubt it
 

makaveli316

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I've waited so much for this card and in the end i pick a Gigabyte Windforce 670 for 50 more euro.
660ti price/performance ratio is a joke. I'm so disappointed.
 
[citation][nom]bigcyco1[/nom]LOl! o.k.Lol!Good question but as far as a 7850 being better than a 660 ti i highly doubt it[/citation]

The 7850 is better if overclocking is considered, but not by much in average performance, although the minimums are a pretty good gain.
 

The 8800GT did not offer exceptionally similar performance to the top cards that were around at the time unless it was SLi'd, which is why I bought and ran two of them as soon as they were available.
 


Stop counting the GTX 200 cards and try saying that again. The point was that it offered similar performance to the top card of its generation. I could have done a comparison like you are with GTX 200 to Radeon 5000 before GTX 400 launched or GTX 500 to Radeon 7000 before GTX 600 launched and it wouldn't change anything when I'm talking about previous gen comparisons at those times.
 

BestJinjo

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@ mousemonkey,

You have your history mixed up then ;)

8800GT was a mid-range product and it launched on October 29, 2007
GTX280 was a high-end product and it launched on June 16, 2008
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=544&card2=567

If we look at the performance, GTX260 216 ~ GTX660Ti, GTX275 ~ GTX670, GTX285 ~ GTX680.

The difference between GTX260 216 and GTX285 was about 20-25% I recall. However, HD4890 dropped at $269 which delivered far better value than GTX285 at that time.

Today, HD7870 is already going for $200-225:
http://slickdeals.net/f/5156072-HIS-IceQ-H787Q2G2M-Radeon-HD-7870-Sleeping-Dogs-200-AR-Newegg
http://slickdeals.net/f/5145404-Asus-Radeon-HD-7870-DC2-2GD5-GPU-2GB-DDR5-DirectCU-II-dual-fan-cooler-223-49-AC-AR-20-free-Sleeping-Dogs-game-SuperBiiz

That makes a $290-300 GTX660Ti an extremely tough sell for non-overclockers looking for great value.

Overclockers would be way better served for something like a Gigabyte Windforce 3x 7950 OC for $310:
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Mini-Displayport-PCI-Express-Graphic-GV-R795WF3-3GD/dp/B007581QHG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346986760&sr=8-1&keywords=hd+7950

NV's price/performance right now is out of sync. While GTX670/680 offered great price/performance when they launched by undercutting 7950/7970 cards, NV hasn't dropped prices at all while after-market 7950s have fallen from $450-500 to $300-320.

NV doesn't really have an "8800GT" or "GTX460" bang for the buck this generation. GTX670 is $350-400! Worst of all GTX650/660 cards are launching September 13th but now HD7850/7870 cards dropped so much that it's almost meaningless for the market. I am hoping NV launches with a full line-up much closer to HD8000 series when they launch GTX700 next year. I mean HD7750/7770/7850/7870 launched in February-March and it took NV more than 6 months to complete the line-up. This situation has hurt us gamers greatly!!

 
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Wow, claiming amd cards pull ahead in the AA department...
Typical tom's "journalism"

No sgssaa support for AMD full stop, the ccc SSAA implementation simply doesn't work either in many games (amd owner here).
Considering most if not all modern demanding games use deferred shading and therefor don't properly (if at all) support MSAA, recommending to go with an AMD card for AA purposes is the worst advice ever given when it comes to gpus.

As an amd owner I'm considering switching to team green for the first time in ten years just because all this performance is going to waste with no AA options to put it into.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
[citation][nom]finicky[/nom]recommending to go with an AMD card for AA purposes is the worst advice ever given when it comes to gpus. As an amd owner I'm considering switching to team green for the first time in ten years just because all this performance is going to waste with no AA options to put it into.[/citation]

So you're saying that you plan to switch graphics cards because you personally believe your AMD card is more powerful, but you don't want to have extra power available for anti-aliasing...?

I think that's possibly the lamest, most ridiculous, and most transparent trollpost in the history of forever.
Not really believable, chief, but nice try. Thanks for the chuckle ;)
 

BestJinjo

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Wow! Talk Anonymous user supposedly has been using AMD GPUs for 10 years and can't get SSAA to work in games?

Why is it professional reviewers have no problem using SSAA in modern games?
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2012/test-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti/19/

To the point, you need 2 $500 GPUs to run SSAA in some of the latest games. Considering you commented on a GTX660Ti article, what's your point exactly? That GPU can't run 4xMSAA compared to HD7870, nevermind 4xSSAA. Talk about trolling.
 
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I just purchased a 660ti igame for my wife.Cost was $280. No complaints, stable,cool, and trouble free. The drivers actually work. Install it and forget about it. It plays everything she has BF3, Crysis 2,Mass Effect 2,etc. without any problems.We have always been an AMD family but with all of the driver issues and workarounds I've had enough. We'll try Nvidia this time around. I've got a GTX 670ti coming in a few days. I hope its as stable as the 660ti.
 

kieran544

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hiya im wondering if my computer will run skyrim the specs are AMD Athlon X2 270 3.4Ghz CPU
8GB DDR3 1333Mhz
MSI AMD HD 6670 1GB DDR5
 
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