GTX 650 ti, 560, or 660?

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ozzman1997

ozzman1997

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Oct 7, 2012
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Hi, I've been debating on which of these to get. I won't be playing THAT many games (as of now) but I do play Flight Simulator X every so often, and I also do some 3D modeling which requires a decent video card for rendering. I don't do huge production renders, I just want to be able to model without having my video card stick and show artifacts. And sometimes when I'm bored, I want to be able to have smooth frame rates in my occasional COD Nazi Zombie massacres. My budget is anywhere between $150 and $220 so yes, I know, I won't be able to afford a high-end card. I just need something substantial and for it to be the best value per dollar spent. As for a brand, I've been hearing that EVGA is pretty much top dog. I want to go for either an EVGA or an Asus, which seems decent as well. Can anyone help me out here? :)
 
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bigshootr8
Yea I'm in agreeance here that the GTX660 would be the best card of the lot. If you go with EVGA as well you can run into the step it up program where you have the ability to move to a better card if you decided you wanted something better down the line for example a likely scenario. If a couple months down the road you wanted a more powerful card you could trade it in for a 670 or if the newer cards are out and you can afford it then that.

From what I remember this is how it works. You pay for the extended warranty through them when I did it my 560Ti's were 15 dollars each which gave me the ability to step up. Then after that you would have to tell them how much you paid for he card and if they were rebates and then they would...
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See, I was looking at the 560 because it has so much more memory bandwidth and actually benches higher than the 650 ti, and for a lower price too. (139.99) So would a 660 be worth it over that? Seems like Nvidia starved the new 600 series cards of memory bits. Because the 570, which is comparable to the 660, has a 320-bit controller while the 660 only has a 192-bit controller. So I don't know...I do like the fact that the 600 series offers PCIe 3.0, which my motherboard supports.
 
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So for a 660, would you recommend EVGA? A friend told me they are good quality and their customer service is outstanding. Same price as the Asus, if you don't count the extra 10 bucks from the rebate.
 
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The 560 is an old Fermi and therefore draws lots of power, and produces a lot of heat, and is slower than the 660.

The 650Ti uses the same chip as the 660 but is intentionally handicapped in both bandwidth and cores meaning it will be slower and suffer at high MSAA/FXAA and high resolutions.

In fact the biggest jump in performance probably is the 650Ti to 660. Go for an EVGA 660, I'd say EVGA because they're the only American based company(just better support overall, no racism), go for a signature or FTW if you can, the stock cooling on the stock models is really bad and loud.
 
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If you have to get a nvidia card, get this 660:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500270



But in all honesty this 7870 is the same price as the 660's, and it is stronger:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161404




If you want the best price performance card in your budget, get this 7850 1GB ($165):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161426

It is almost as strong as the other two, has 5/5, and still comes with a free game!
 
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i have evga 660 ftw signature 2 and i can only recommend it. see my signature for some game fps info. its really great tough 3gb version might not be necessary. when i get to 2.55gb vram usage in skyrim i get terrible fps :) but thats just one crazy mod with all details on ultra 8msaa 16af and so on :)

best
revro
 
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That's because the 660 is really only meant to use 1.5 GB (Hence why the OEM version does). Many benchmarks have shown that once you go over that, the 192 bit bus chokes (Though the 660 Ti's drop in framerate is far more pronounced).

If you want a high end card, get one. Don't try to make something more than it is.
 
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i actually plan to go with 8970 or 770 (hopefully 384 with 3gb vram) when they come out if they can go on 500watt psu and buy hp 2740w 2560x1440p lcd

also i had in games 1.6-1.8gb usage without any fps reduction. otherwise now i run fc3 on 45+ avg fps with msaa on 0 and thanks to fxaa it looks great on ultra with shadows and post processing on medium

best
revro
 
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Like I said, the 660 is a much more balanced card than the 660 Ti so the FPS reduction might scale in a more linear fashion as apposed to the 660 Ti's drop off. Actually an oc'd 660 is about as strong as an oc'd 660 Ti lol!
 
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Thanks for the replies people, I always like others' opinions before I go and buy something. To me, I think the EVGA 660-FTW signature 2 seems to be the best performance/price ratio and it's made by a good American brand. It also has a better cooling solution than the reference one, and it's got a 96% 5-star review. That's the best rating I've seen on a video card thus far. Also, the reason I'm going with Nvidia is because I've heard Catalyst drivers cause so many problems in games, and also Nvidia cards run FSX a lot better than AMD ones. I'm not saying I am a fanboy, it's just that I know people who have had bad experiences with ATi/AMD graphics cards, and I'd like to stay away from that. :) So here are my rig's to-be specs: (I have everything running but the GPU; using a GT 430 right now. :??: )

Intel Core i5-3570k @3.5 GHz
Asus P8Z77-V
8 Gb Patriot Viper 3 1600MHz DDR3
EVGA GTX 660 FTW Signature 2 (currently EVGA GT 430 1gb)
Seagate Barracuda 500gb 7200rpm HDD
Antec Three Hundred ATX case
Corsair CX600 600-watt PSU
Asus SATA 24x DVD burner

Should notice quite a difference when upgrading to a 660 then, am I right? 😀
 
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i switched to nvidia for first time in life and i am happy with it. will see how it handles 2560x1440 but on a 27inch with 0 msaa and fxaa i think i should be able to get 30fps+ on customizing ultra settings. if not then i will switch to something more powerfull

best
revro
 
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I just want to clear a few things up before you make a purchase on incorrect assumptions:

-Catalyst driver's are every bit as good as Nvidia's. I actually switched to AMD because of nvidia's terribly unstable drivers. One driver even stopped many video card's fans from turning on and fried them (Not mine luckily). However the fact is that both companies seem to have good drivers at this point (Though AMD seems to increase every games performance by 5-10% every month so lately they have been in the lead).

-FXAA has almost no performance hit on either brand of cards, and is largely more of a trade-off than a feature. It makes things blurry in order to hide jaggy lines. Sometimes it is terrible, other times it is slightly worth it if done right.

-This 660 is $25 cheaper and has just as good cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500270

-I have bought highly reviewed things that still broke. If it is 4/5+, it is fine.

-I cannot stress enough that paying more for a 660 than a 7870 is absolute insanity. It would be like paying more for a 7770 than a 650 Ti. It just doesn't make any sense.
 
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Ive seen side-by side comparisons of AMD vs Nvidia running FSX and there is always the same winner...Nvidia cards don't have the "micro stutter" like the AMD ones do. I did notice that the colors from AMD cards are actually a little better-looking than the competition, but they still lack consistency on frame rates. Another thing I like is that Nvidia has CUDA cores, which most 3d programs favor over stream processors. The only thing I see going for AMD over the other guys at that price point is the memory bit rate. Also the memory clock on the 660 is about 5 times faster than the 7870. I'm not dissing on AMD, neither am I a "fanboy", but I don't see how a 7870 can beat a 660 in terms of true power.
 
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Yea I'm in agreeance here that the GTX660 would be the best card of the lot. If you go with EVGA as well you can run into the step it up program where you have the ability to move to a better card if you decided you wanted something better down the line for example a likely scenario. If a couple months down the road you wanted a more powerful card you could trade it in for a 670 or if the newer cards are out and you can afford it then that.

From what I remember this is how it works. You pay for the extended warranty through them when I did it my 560Ti's were 15 dollars each which gave me the ability to step up. Then after that you would have to tell them how much you paid for he card and if they were rebates and then they would calculate the cost to step it up which is essentially the difference. So if the 670 was a 100 dollars more then what you spent then there you go instant 670.
 
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I'm going with the EVGA 660. And I'll tell you a fascinating recollection of my past experiences with ATi Radeon. The last time I bought an ATi card (which was 2 years ago for my old AMD rig) I found out my 550-watt PSU wouldn't be enough for it. I had a guy check it out and he said I had to have a 6-pin PCIe power connector. And it's weird, because nowhere on the box or instructions did it say I needed a power connector, so I could have fried the card without even knowing it--which Best Buy would not take back. :ouch: And the card was only a fanless ATi 5570... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129189 ...Something that shouldn't require extra power.

So I took it back to Best Buy where I paid a $120 for that piece of garbage, and after that I couldn't get the drivers uninstalled to revert to my old EVGA 6200 card! I had to sweep the drive, and even then, they were still in my programs list! :fou: After that, I took it to a tech shop and they eventually got those nasty drivers off of my system, but it was horrible! Like a virus! And the worst thing was, I couldn't install my old drivers with Catalyst still on there! ARGH! :fou:

So with that trade-in program that EVGA offers, theoretically I could buy a 660 now, and then if within the 90 days that they offer the "step-up" guarantee they release the 7xx series of Kepler cards, I could trade it in for a 760 or 770 (If I had to, which I probably won't.) 😉 Thanks guys, you're always helpful on this forum! :)
 
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And yea I wouldn't deal with Best Buy for PC components they are a garbage company to deal with in that regard and they are normally way over priced.

w/ EVGA
It would have to be for a higher card. So if you had a 660 you could only upgrade to a 770 or higher card with the new generation. With the current generation you could go up to the 670, 680, and maybe the 690 I don't know.
 
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