GTX 660 or 660 ti?

[SlammerBurgr]

I have been asking a bunch of questions about the 660 TI and I was almost settled on it, but it is it worth the money over the GTX660?

I am looking for a card to last me at least 3 years. I am stepping up from a 560 TI. I am playing The Witcher 2 now and I will being playing Dead Space 3 upon it's release, I would like to run them maxed out with no OC.

 

[esrever]

The answer is no. The 660ti is severely bandwidth constrained. Its a horrible card. The 660 is weaker so the constrains don't show up as much and you are paying less.

Don't buy either if you are looking for a card to last since both have low memory bandwidth and newer games are going to be more demanding for that. All of nvidia's cards this generation except maybe the 670 suffers from the same problems.

The AMD cards are much better in that regard and will probably last longer. nvidia basically made every card the gtx 460 192bit this generation when the 460 256bit performed 20% better in newer games by just increasing the memory bandwidth.

 

[loops]

660 is a better buy than the ti.....for the price a 7870 seems like a better deal.

 

[SlammerBurgr]

thanks for all the info. I did not realize that the bandwidth was that big a deal. All the reviews are saying it works almost as well as the 670.

Maybe I should mention that I use a 22" monitor at 1900x1080 so the higher res of the 7950 doesn't really matter to me. The card is very power hungry at 200 watts, and I read from somewhere that the 660 TI is actually faster at AF which calculates into maxing out my games.

So, is the memory bandwidth really THAT bad? Currently it doesn't outperform the GTX by a huge margin, will I see a larger difference between them in future games because of the 3 gb of VRAM?

 

[esrever]

Well the the power consumption isn't much but the vram bandwidth is really problematic when you add AA and higher level textures.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-geforce-gtx-650-benchmark,3297-17.html

 

[leo115]

I was just struggling with the same problem, it really depends what you will use it for and your budget. For me I bought the ti version and am very happy with it running borderlands 2 at ultra settings smooth as butter, and will be using the extra CUDA cores for GPU rendering as well as gaming. I also got the free borderlands so it was a no brainer because I would've bought it anyways and -$60 form the pricetag. For you if you only need a card for gaming then the 660 (non-ti) is a better deal, only 5-10% difference really, AMD also has great offerings for even less but you loose Physx and some programs CUDA support.

 

[leo115]

PhysX is irrelevant. Batman:AC is the only recent game you need an Nvidia card to use PhysX in (if you have a decent CPU).

You may not find it necessary and it isn't, but its definitely a nice touch. Physx works really well in Borderlands 2, it all depends on the games you play. Planetside 2 is also supposed to use Physx but its not noticeable in the beta as of yet.

 

[SlammerBurgr]

I was just struggling with the same problem, it really depends what you will use it for and your budget. For me I bought the ti version and am very happy with it running borderlands 2 at ultra settings smooth as butter, and will be using the extra CUDA cores for GPU rendering as well as gaming. I also got the free borderlands so it was a no brainer because I would've bought it anyways and -$60 form the pricetag. For you if you only need a card for gaming then the 660 (non-ti) is a better deal, only 5-10% difference really, AMD also has great offerings for even less but you loose Physx and some programs CUDA support.

That promotion is ever unfortunately otherwise like you said, its a no brainer. They offer the 7950 in Newegg with Sleeping Dogs...but I don't give two craps about that game.

It's coming down to this, my local best buy only has the 660 TI as it turns out and not the 7950. The 660 TI they carry is the NVIDIA model (not EVGA or some other third party) and they think it is worth $349.99. So I guess I am a complete dummy here but I think I am going to get it just because I want it tonight instead of waiting for it.

I appreciate everyone's advice on this.

 

[leo115]

That promotion is ever unfortunately otherwise like you said, its a no brainer. They offer the 7950 in Newegg with Sleeping Dogs...but I don't give two craps about that game.

It's coming down to this, my local best buy only has the 660 TI as it turns out and not the 7950. The 660 TI they carry is the NVIDIA model (not EVGA or some other third party) and they think it is worth $349.99. So I guess I am a complete dummy here but I think I am going to get it just because I want it tonight instead of waiting for it.

I appreciate everyone's advice on this.

Well if you feel the surcharge is worth it over one day shipping then go for it otherwise I suggest you get 1-2 day shipping and get a much better card over the stock, I would suggest the MSi power edition as it's what I got and its great, but with the recent article about their over volt solution I would be weary of it and get the Gigabyte model instead.

 

[esrever]

That promotion is ever unfortunately otherwise like you said, its a no brainer. They offer the 7950 in Newegg with Sleeping Dogs...but I don't give two craps about that game.

It's coming down to this, my local best buy only has the 660 TI as it turns out and not the 7950. The 660 TI they carry is the NVIDIA model (not EVGA or some other third party) and they think it is worth $349.99. So I guess I am a complete dummy here but I think I am going to get it just because I want it tonight instead of waiting for it.

I appreciate everyone's advice on this.

that is a lot for the card. I don't think the card is worth more than $260 considering the price of the 7870 and 7950 on newegg. Maybe you can get a price match.

 

[leo115]

Yeah, and it works really well on my AMD setup too. My point was that it's irrelevant for a GPU purchase decision, contra Nvidia's marketing.

I wasn't aware if Physx ran well on AMD's cards unless your CPU could really compensate, what card are you using? or do you have a dedicated Nvidia card?

 

[gamerkila57]

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

or

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition OC

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102983

 

[SlammerBurgr]

I asked about the price match, they can only do it on the very same item. I tried to get a discount because their selection was lousy and they didn't have a 7950...I guess they didn't care if they lost a customer so they called my bluff. I walked out with the card, at least I had 100 bucks from selling my MSI 560 TI. I do like that the NVIDIA card has a 3 year warranty. Ive never owned a NVIDIA card so I wanted to check it out anyway.

I can post some stuff about it if anyone would like. Any suggestions on benchmark tests to post?

 

[SlammerBurgr]

Best answer selected by SlammerBurgr.

 

[determinologyz]

People making it seem like the 660 Ti is str8 garbage when its not..But then again i play at 1080p with 2/4x aa on and dont see any problems and havent seen a performance hit after 1.5GB of vram..My opinion both cards is good and you cant go wrong depending on what you want out of a card

 

[leo115]

People making it seem like the 660 Ti is str8 garbage when its not..But then again i play at 1080p with 2/4x aa on and dont see any problems and havent seen a performance hit after 1.5GB of vram..My opinion both cards is good and you cant go wrong depending on what you want out of a card

Ya I know the feeling, I hadn't tested it much but I was running games very well at 1080p even with 16x AA and it only bogged down when I was in huge battles, and my CPU isn't that great even. The 192 bit may kill some performance but its still a great option from Nividia, and it killed AMD forcing them to price drop.

 

[SlammerBurgr]

People making it seem like the 660 Ti is str8 garbage when its not..But then again i play at 1080p with 2/4x aa on and dont see any problems and havent seen a performance hit after 1.5GB of vram..My opinion both cards is good and you cant go wrong depending on what you want out of a card

So far I have tested it on The Witcher 2 and with the graphics on ultra (the only thing disabled was uber sampling) it ran outstanding! It was seamless from what I could see but I guess it's hard to criticize going from a 660 TI 1024mb card. So far it has been exactly what I wanted, and since I bought the NVIDIA model (pricey$$$) I have a 3 year warranty so I have something to show for it.

 

[SlammerBurgr]

So far I have tested it on The Witcher 2 and with the graphics on ultra (the only thing disabled was uber sampling) it ran outstanding! It was seamless from what I could see but I guess it's hard to criticize going from a 660 TI 1024mb card. So far it has been exactly what I wanted, and since I bought the NVIDIA model (pricey$$$) I have a 3 year warranty so I have something to show for it.

I meant 560 TI. oops

 

[leo115]

So far I have tested it on The Witcher 2 and with the graphics on ultra (the only thing disabled was uber sampling) it ran outstanding! It was seamless from what I could see but I guess it's hard to criticize going from a 660 TI 1024mb card. So far it has been exactly what I wanted, and since I bought the NVIDIA model (pricey$$$) I have a 3 year warranty so I have something to show for it.

Glad to hear its working well with Witcher 2, I've been waiting to play it myself. Glad to hear its working for you tho, have fun gaming.

 

[determinologyz]

Glad to hear its working well with Witcher 2, I've been waiting to play it myself. Glad to hear its working for you tho, have fun gaming.

Ive heard so much about the witcher 2 i might check it out

 

[echondo]

It's not that the 660 ti is garbage per say, but it's completely overpriced, and SlammerBurgr, I can't believe you spent almost $350 for a reference version. Did you even get Borderlands 2?

If not then I am sorry, but you're an idiot for buying it for that much. If you wanted it THAT bad, why not just order a GTX 670 for $50 more on Newegg?

I just can't believe the decision he has made, you are so impatient to not wait at least 3 days for a GPU to arrive with free shipping and a "free" $60 game? You had to have it right now?


Best of luck, hope the card lasts you a good while, and I do honestly mean that.

 

[SlammerBurgr]

echondo, The borderlands 2 promo is over otherwise I probably would have ordered it from newegg, and shipping was $7.87 not free, so the MSI card I was thinking about would have run my 320, the 7950 almost 340. It was worth a few extra dollars to me to have it right then vs saving 20 to 30 and getting it in a few days. I know it is more expensive than the others but it comes with a 3 year warranty where the others only have one, and I am not into overclocking so I wanted to go with the NVIDIA because I have never used on before. I do not regret it, good warranty and the aesthetic value of the NVIDIA with the badge, and all the stickers and fancy packaging (I know I'm stupid) but it's no different from buying an iPad over something else, half of the cost is in the presentation.

Its not a big deal, I spent too much here maybe but I will save money on my next purchase where I would have spent more. My next purchase is a WD Caviar drive BTW.

 

[leo115]

echondo, The borderlands 2 promo is over otherwise I probably would have ordered it from newegg, and shipping was $7.87 not free, so the MSI card I was thinking about would have run my 320, the 7950 almost 340. It was worth a few extra dollars to me to have it right then vs saving 20 to 30 and getting it in a few days. I know it is more expensive than the others but it comes with a 3 year warranty where the others only have one, and I am not into overclocking so I wanted to go with the NVIDIA because I have never used on before. I do not regret it, good warranty and the aesthetic value of the NVIDIA with the badge, and all the stickers and fancy packaging (I know I'm stupid) but it's no different from buying an iPad over something else, half of the cost is in the presentation.

Its not a big deal, I spent too much here maybe but I will save money on my next purchase where I would have spent more. My next purchase is a WD Caviar drive BTW.

As long as you know what you got yourself into Im glad you found what you needed. As for the HD I read that production was back on track meaning lower prices, so you may want to hold out for a deal, check newegg's daily & weekend deals.

 

[SlammerBurgr]

I can admit when I am wrong haha. I am returning my 660TI to best buy today because I saw on newegg I can get the GigaByte OC model, 8gbs of 12800 kingston hyper RAM, and a coolermaster 212+ for less than what I paid for the card.

The only reason I am not getting the HD 7950 is that I think with my MOBO, CPU I have it will probably be bottleneck.

 

[esrever]

I can admit when I am wrong haha. I am returning my 660TI to best buy today because I saw on newegg I can get the GigaByte OC model, 8gbs of 12800 kingston hyper RAM, and a coolermaster 212+ for less than what I paid for the card.

The only reason I am not getting the HD 7950 is that I think with my MOBO, CPU I have it will probably be bottleneck.

thats not a real reason. I would still strongly suggest against the 660 ti if you can get anything else, even a 660 would be a better buy.