gtx 660 question

[wakeandgame]

I have a limited budget and I have this already

A fx 6350
corsair 600
1tb harddrive
8 gb ddr3
aoc 1600 x 900 20 inch monitor

and Now I barely have enough left for a graphics card

But is the gtx 660 still a good card? will it last for a couple years being able to play games?

 

[Swartz55]

It depends on what games you're playing. If you're playing things like Skyrim, Empire: Total War or any other 2010-2012 games, it should work excellently. It should also be able to keep up with the newer games, such as Battlefield 4, but probably not on the highest settings. You'll eventually have to replace anything, but I'd say the 660 will hold it's own for a while.

 

[photonboy]

Agreed.
The GTX660 is a pretty nice card. However, you'll get the optimal experience by learning how to TWEAK the graphics quality properly to maintain a good frame rate.

In general, tweak to either:
1) VSYNC OFF @40FPS average (unless screen tearing bothers you), or

2) VSYNC ON @60FPS (is locked to 60FPS)

Learn how to use Adaptive VSYNC as well (force on per game in NVidia Control Panel). For example, tweak with VSYNC OFF to monitor frame rate, then adjust quality to maintain above 60FPS about 80% of the time or greater. Then force on Adaptive VSYNC. More info online.

Get a card like ASUS that has good customer feedback.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx660dc2o2gd5

 

[1N07]

I had GTX660 a little while ago. It can run any game, but obviously it can't run newer games on Ultra/very high.
I even played the new Thief on it. It can run Thief at about medium with AA stuff turned off.

I don't have time to look in to it for you right now, but I think you might find a better card for the same price from AMD though. (not sure)
Anyway, GTX660 is a good entry-level card.

 

[photonboy]

I had GTX660 a little while ago. It can run any game, but obviously it can't run newer games on Ultra/very high.
I even played the new Thief on it. It can run Thief at about medium with AA stuff turned off.

I don't have time to look in to it for you right now, but I think you might find a better card for the same price from AMD though. (not sure)
Anyway, GTX660 is a good entry-level card.

I just priced the AMD cards and they weren't cheaper. I prefer the NVidia due to Adaptive VSYNC, Shadowplay (recording), PhysX, and G-Sync (new monitor required for G-Sync).

 

[wakeandgame]

Doesn't sound like the 660 is worth ti though if it isnt going to play new games well.

 

[Swartz55]

It can play them well. Like 1N07 said, it ran a new game (that game out days ago, mind you) on medium settings. It's about what you'd get from a console. So a year or two old graphics card gives the same quality as a brand new console, approximately. If you want to run them on high/ultra, you're going to need to sink $300-$400 in on a card, and you'll need a better CPU.

 

[wakeandgame]

It can play them well. Like 1N07 said, it ran a new game (that game out days ago, mind you) on medium settings. It's about what you'd get from a console. So a year or two old graphics card gives the same quality as a brand new console, approximately. If you want to run them on high/ultra, you're going to need to sink $300-$400 in on a card, and you'll need a better CPU.

Ahh ok I see, I don't really care about the settings I just want to be able to play it with no lag

 

[photonboy]

It can play them well. Like 1N07 said, it ran a new game (that game out days ago, mind you) on medium settings. It's about what you'd get from a console. So a year or two old graphics card gives the same quality as a brand new console, approximately. If you want to run them on high/ultra, you're going to need to sink $300-$400 in on a card, and you'll need a better CPU.

Ahh ok I see, I don't really care about the settings I just want to be able to play it with no lag

There's no noticeable difference in "lag"; it's really just a difference in the quality of graphics. The GTX660 is still a fine card; you don't need the latest card to have a great experience.

My HD5870 could play ANY modern game nicely provided I tweaked it properly. Even Crysis 3. If I turned up the quality too high I got lots of stutter though.

Other:
The term "lag" means different things to different people. The only place I think it's significant would be "pop in" which relates to how close objects appear or transition to higher detail. For the most part, I think a GTX660 could usually choose the highest settings there for any game; it's probably OTHER graphical features that need to be dialed down that are more significant like Anti-Aliasing, Shadows, PhysX etc.

Again though, remember what I said above about tweaking towards a GOAL, and my comment about using Adaptive VSync. You may wish to save that for future reference.

Other types of "lag" are:
1) VSYNC sluggishness:
A product of using VSYNC and should be about the same regardless of the card. FYI this is a main thing that G-Sync monitors fix.

2) Network delay:
For example, the delay from pressing a button to the action on the screen being shown.

3) Game stutter:
General stutter for various reasons.