GTX 480 or GTX 660?

[kevin82485]

So, I'm building a new PC. I ordered a GTX 480, but I'm beginning to have second thoughts. Its still in the mail, so I haven't received it quite yet. I'm having second thoughts because I could get the GTX 660 for the same price as the GTX 480. There really isn't anything on the Internet that compares the two cards.

I like the 660 because it's cooler, quieter, and uses less power. But it is only 192-bit compared to the 384-bit 480 which I believe would benefit Anti-Aliasing. The 660 has 960 CUDA cores, but the 480 only has 480 CUDA cores. The 480 is the high end of the 400 series whereas the 660 is middle of the road for the 600 series, but is the 660 powerful enough to be better than the 480?

My system is as follows:
i5-3570K
8 GB RAM
MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt
256 GB Samsung 830 SSD
750 GB HDD

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? From my perspective it's like comparing red apples to green apples. I would prefer the 660 if it as powerful or more powerful, because it's cooler, quieter, and uses less power. I'm not interested in any other card except these two unless it can be had for $200 or less.

 

[freshbakd]

This website only does a hardware comparison not benchmarks.
http://www.hwcompare.com/13164/geforce-gtx-480-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti/
Assuming they know what they are talking about....
But keep in mind the 480 runs loud and hot

 

[Ironslice]

The 660 is slightly more powerful than the 480 at stock, and although the 480 has much better overclocking potential, it runs much hotter uses much more power and is much louder.

Not to mention the 660 has all of the Kepler features such as Adaptive V-sync, GPU boost and TXAA.

I would see if you can return the 480 and go with the 660. If not, the 480 is one beast of a card.

 

[Guest]

lets look at some benches with using the GTX 580 as a "control card"
the 480 in metro 2033

16.6/24.7=68.4% performance of the GTX 580

21.8/27.3=79.8% performance of the GTX 580 (the blue bar is "stock")

crysis anyone?

32.6/38.5=84.6%

38/41.7=91%


so in this rather unscientific example the 660 is clearly better in a highly demanding games such as metro 2033 and crysis.

 

[maxalge]

lets look at some benches with using the GTX 580 as a "control card"
the 480 in metro 2033
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_580/images/metro_2033_1920_1200.gif
16.6/24.7=68.4% performance of the GTX 580
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_660_Direct_Cu_II/images/metro_2033_1920_1200.gif
21.8/27.3=79.8% performance of the GTX 580 (the blue bar is "stock")

crysis anyone?
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_580/images/crysis_1920_1200.gif
32.6/38.5=84.6%
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_660_Direct_Cu_II/images/crysis_1920_1200.gif
38/41.7=91%


so in this rather unscientific example the 660 is clearly better in a highly demanding games such as metro 2033 and crysis.

You made a mistake on your calcs for the gtx 480 in metro, the 480 gets 21.6, not 16.6.

So the 660 and the 480 basically tie, while the 480 can overclock to match the 580, the 660 has bad OC potential.


http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/09/19/asus_geforce_gtx_660_directcu_ii_overclocking_review

 

[Guest]

You made a mistake on your calcs for the gtx 480 in metro, the 480 gets 21.6, not 16.6.

So the 660 and the 480 basically tie, while the 480 can overclock to match the 580, the 660 has bad OC potential.


http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/09/19/asus_geforce_gtx_660_directcu_ii_overclocking_review

AH!

but that leaves 1 to 1 lets look at a third, just for the H E double hockey sticks of it:

nope! can't use those . .different AA settings. though it is not surprise with the larger memory bandwidth the 480 is apparently ahead.
btw, the reviews i used (bad from not to give a citation!)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_580/1.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_660_Direct_Cu_II/1.html

btw, thanks for the correction and not being insulting about me making a mistake.

cheers.

 

[bigshootr8]

Also, it looks like the 660 looks like a better option on this premise. How many people typically OC there gpu maybe there CPU but rarely there GPU. Also a another contributing factor is the tech that goes into the 660 dx11 and the opengl version. You are getting a more complete featured card with the 660 and you are getting a tie in performance.

 

[maxalge]

Also, it looks like the 660 looks like a better option on this premise. How many people typically OC there gpu maybe there CPU but rarely there GPU. Also a another contributing factor is the tech that goes into the 660 dx11 and the opengl version. You are getting a more complete featured card with the 660 and you are getting a tie in performance.

The 480 is dx11 as well, and had adaptive v-sync too, I believe it also has a lot more mature opengl, not quite sure about the last one.


Really, the only considerations should be the fact that it IS a power hungry card and it will get hot if you don't turn up the fan with a more aggressive fan profile on afterburner.


Happy hunting.

 

[ohyouknow]

I would go 660 due to relative performance out of the box. You can also connect up to 4 displays should you choose to do so down the road. 480 can only do 2 unless you SLI another to drive more displays. You will will be warm this Winter with the 480 as you would not have to use a heater for your room =P.

 

[bigcyco1]

The 480 is a beast of a card but the fact it's a power hog and runs hot i wouldn't buy it

 

[bigcyco1]

The 660 is slightly more powerful than the 480 at stock, and although the 480 has much better overclocking potential, it runs much hotter uses much more power and is much louder.

Not to mention the 660 has all of the Kepler features such as Adaptive V-sync, GPU boost and TXAA.

I would see if you can return the 480 and go with the 660. If not, the 480 is one beast of a card.

+1 This

 

[bigshootr8]

+1 ^ and to my knowledge adapative vsync is something new to the 600 series I checked the feature list for the gtx480 no such tech.

http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US/en_US/pdf/GTX-480-470-Web-Datasheet.pdf


680 first to use it

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/16/nvidia_adaptive_vsync_technology_review

 

[maxalge]

+1 ^ and to my knowledge adapative vsync is something new to the 600 series I checked the feature list for the gtx480 no such tech.

http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US/en_US/pdf/GTX-480-470-Web-Datasheet.pdf


680 first to use it

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/16/nvidia_adaptive_vsync_technology_review

I am running the newest nvidia drivers, and the options lets me choose adaptive vsync, which I have enabled.

Would their own drivers lie?

 

[maxalge]

+1 ^ and to my knowledge adapative vsync is something new to the 600 series I checked the feature list for the gtx480 no such tech.

http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US/en_US/pdf/GTX-480-470-Web-Datasheet.pdf


680 first to use it

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/16/nvidia_adaptive_vsync_technology_review

Yup, gtx 480 gets FXAA and adaptive vsync since 301.24 beta. =)


http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/geforce-301-24-beta-gtx480-570-580-series-now-get-fxaa-adaptive-vsync-t4047777.html

 

[bigcyco1]

Yup, gtx 480 gets FXAA and adaptive vsync since 301.24 beta. =)


http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/geforce-301-24-beta-gtx480-570-580-series-now-get-fxaa-adaptive-vsync-t4047777.html

Cool i didn't think the 480 had it either good to know. 😉

 

[Maximus_Delta]

Never Settle !!!

Get an AMD card.

 

[bigshootr8]

Never Settle !!!

Get an AMD card.

This song comes to mind. Its the AMD v NVIDIA wars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnR3Rln5qzc

 

[bigcyco1]

This song comes to mind. Its the AMD v NVIDIA wars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnR3Rln5qzc

:lol:

 

[bigcyco1]

Never Settle !!!

Get an AMD card.

Stop Spamming!!

 

[Maximus_Delta]

Stop Spamming!!

I see you went with 2 GTX670s 😱

How do u like those new AMD drivers ??

Never Settle (don't forget that)

 

[bigcyco1]

I see you went with 2 GTX670s 😱

How do u like those new AMD drivers ??

Never Settle (don't forget that)

I like amd drivers fine and i like my cards just fine i am a fan of both go sip your red koolaid somewhere else it's not welcome here

 

[bigshootr8]

haha yea if you read anything hes posted you'd know he has both. I think it was you whose son's computer has a amd card no?

 

[bigcyco1]

haha yea if you read anything hes posted you'd know he has both. I think it was you whose son's computer has a amd card no?

Yep my son has a 7950 that i payed for the guy is just trolling

 

[kevin82485]

Thanks for the help everyone. I placed my order yesterday for the GTX 660. I would rather have this card even if they have virtually the same performance. I would rather have it for being quiet, cool, and sipping power.

 

[kevin82485]

Best answer selected by kevin82485.