Seven GeForce GTX 660 Ti Cards: Exploring Memory Bandwidth

[FormatC]

Seven GeForce GTX 660 Tis landed in our lab. Today, we're benchmarking them, measuring their noise and temperatures, and conducting a more in-depth analysis of the impact a 192-bit memory interface has on performance. The results are enlightening!

Seven GeForce GTX 660 Ti Cards: Exploring Memory Bandwidth : Read more

 

[scotthulbs]

I'd Like to know which 2GB model 660ti you used in this comparison? I would like to see how if perhaps the Zotac memory overclock has much of an effect on performance. If you used the Zotac in this comparison that may very well be the reason it outperforms the 3GB Galaxy card? Maybe run this same test overclocking the memory, it seems as though the 660ti with its memory overclocked can nearly reach GTX670 Bandwidth. I'd like to see how much that helps overcome the narrow bus.

 

[mayankleoboy1]

The problem with wider memory interface is that it exponentially increases the chip's die-size. Hence, cost per wafer and power consumption will increase a lot.

IMO both AMD and Nvidia should use the XDR2 memory in the next series of cards. That would give the same bandwidth at half the interface size.

 

[Guest]

[citation][nom]iknowhowtofixit[/nom]This review reinforces what I have been saying for weeks. The GTX 660Ti is overpriced at $300. Since you can easily find a HD7950 for $300 or less after rebates, it makes the 660TI irrelevant. To me, the 660Ti needs to be $60-$75 cheaper before it can achieve bang for the buck status.[/citation]
it is because of the 660ti that the 7950 prices dropped to $300 or less with MIR: so tell me how irrelevant they are now?

 

[ahrensy]

For the Batman Arkham City tests on the 670 and 660ti, was the PhysX setting set to Off, Low or High?

 

[EzioAs]

it is because of the 660ti that the 7950 prices dropped to $300 or less with MIR: so tell me how irrelevant they are now?

The 7950 has been our for months now compared to the 660ti and the price drop happens before the release of the 660ti. Nvidia should really have predicted that the 7950 prices should come down even more so it makes almost no sense that they release the 660ti at $300.

The 7870 performs just slightly slower compared to the 660ti but beats it once you crank up the AA really high and it costs $50 less. On the other hand the 7950 is overall faster than the 660ti and even surpass the the $60+ 670 once you crank the AA really high as well. For the 660ti to sell, Nvidia should really lower it to $260 imo.....or they could just rely on fanboys

 

[Guest]

The 7950 has been our for months now compared to the 660ti and the price drop happens before the release of the 660ti.

AMD cuts HD 7000 series price even further
Tuesday, 21 August 2012 08:57 (after the 660ti release)

AMD has already dropped the HD 7970 from US $479 to US $429, HD 7950 from US $399 to US $349 and the HD 7870 down from US $349 to US $299. The new price cut skips the HD 7970 graphics card but includes the HD 7950, HD 7870 as well as the 1 and 2GB versions of the HD 7850.

The most important is probably the price cut for the 3GB HD 7950 which battles it out with Nvidia's recently released GTX 660 Ti. The HD 7950 3GB is, according to the report, will receive a US $30 price cut placing it at US $320. The HD 7870 2GB graphics card got another US $50 price cut pushing it down to US $250 which probably makes it one of the most interesting mid-range graphics cards on the market.

cheers!

 

[FormatC]

For the Batman Arkham City tests on the 670 and 660ti, was the PhysX setting set to Off, Low or High?

PhysX was off, because it affects the overall performance. PhysX is dead - ok, not quite, but almost

 

[EzioAs]

AMD cuts HD 7000 series price even further
Tuesday, 21 August 2012 08:57 (after the 660ti release)

AMD has already dropped the HD 7970 from US $479 to US $429, HD 7950 from US $399 to US $349 and the HD 7870 down from US $349 to US $299. The new price cut skips the HD 7970 graphics card but includes the HD 7950, HD 7870 as well as the 1 and 2GB versions of the HD 7850.

The most important is probably the price cut for the 3GB HD 7950 which battles it out with Nvidia's recently released GTX 660 Ti. The HD 7950 3GB is, according to the report, will receive a US $30 price cut placing it at US $320. The HD 7870 2GB graphics card got another US $50 price cut pushing it down to US $250 which probably makes it one of the most interesting mid-range graphics cards on the market.

cheers!

If you check the price of the 7950s before this news at most online retailer (Newegg, NCIX), you'll know that the price drop happens already although the official news from AMD was a couple of weeks later

 

[Guest]

If you check the price of the 7950s before this news at most online retailer (Newegg, NCIX), you'll know that the price drop happens already although the official news from AMD was a couple of weeks later

now you are talking complete nonsense unless you do not understand there were two price drops and the latter of which is because of the 660ti; as the article stated.
so you want to see pricing history . .
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card

now how much sense does it make to drop prices and not tell anyone?

 

[Cryio]

Tom's, I want to make a request article. Where should I post it?

 

[EzioAs]

now you are talking complete nonsense unless you do not understand there were two price drops and the latter of which is because of the 660ti; as the article stated.
so you want to see pricing history . .
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4546/capturecns.png

now how much sense does it make to drop prices and not tell anyone?

I'm not talking nonsense, yes they were 2 price drops and the latter one was due to the 660ti BUT it happens before the official release of the 660ti. I've check newegg prices almost everyday so I know I'm not talking nonsense. The official news was weeks later or it could be that I read news that was reported late. However, my point still stands that the price drops before the 660ti was released

 

[Guest]

I'm not talking nonsense, yes they were 2 price drops and the latter one was due to the 660ti BUT it happens before the official release of the 660ti. I've check newegg prices almost everyday so I know I'm not talking nonsense. The official news was weeks later or it could be that I read news that was reported late. However, my point still stands that the price drops before the 660ti was released

http://videocardz.com/nvidia/geforce-600/geforce-gtx-660ti
RELEASE DATE:August 16h, 2012
and as you can see the price drop to ~$300 was announced august 21st and hit the market around that time, after the 660ti was released and the pricing history in the graph obviously shows the announcement wasn't late but happened at the same time.

maybe your price checking wasn't as thorough as you thought . . . my point of those great prices on the 7950 because of the 660ti still holds. (thumb that)

 

[WILDLEGHORN]

But I'm still confused...

After reading everything & from the conclusion which 660 Ti's are people supposed to go with?
There are so many out there, but which ones are recommended by Toms???

Someone plz clear this up as there's no clear cut recommendations made in the conclusion, thanks!

 

[americanbrian]

^^ none of them...

They quite clearly state that it is poorly designed to take advantage of the GPUs power and that other competing configs (7870 and 7950) are better choices at that price point.

 

[americanbrian]

Also the fact that none have the toms hardware recommended logo attached should be a clue...

 

[EzioAs]

http://videocardz.com/nvidia/geforce-600/geforce-gtx-660ti
RELEASE DATE:August 16h, 2012
and as you can see the price drop to ~$300 was announced august 21st and hit the market around that time, after the 660ti was released and the pricing history in the graph obviously shows the announcement wasn't late but happened at the same time.

maybe your price checking wasn't as thorough as you thought . . . my point of those great prices on the 7950 because of the 660ti still holds. (thumb that)

How many times do I have to remind you that the price drops was announced by AMD late? Or it could be the fact that at a week or two before the 660ti was released, all graphics card manufacturer(Asus, MSI, Saphhire, etc) drops the price of the 7950 themselves since you could find most 7950 at $320-330, but I find that hard to believe so AMD themselves must've lower the MSRP and had not yet announce it to the public.

The same thing happens today (although I don't know whether it's AMD or the card manufacturer), where if you browse Newegg right now, you can find the 7950 at $310 or even below $300. As far as I know, the MSRP hasn't changed yet from $320 and there's been no word from AMD about this either.

My conclusion about this, is that the 660ti is still overpriced considering the fact that once you take high resolution, higher AA settings, multi-GPU+multi-monitor setup and higher overclocking headroom, the 7950 pretty much trumps the 660ti in every way for a card that can be found at the same price or just slightly more expensive.

 

[pharoahhalfdead]

With the cpu clock so high, relative to the performance I can only imagine that those like myself with an AMD system would have atrocious performance. That 2500K probably gives 35% better performance than my oc'd X4. Haha, good thang you stuck with Intel for this article.

 

[trumpeter1994]

any idea why Tom's never seems to include EVGA cards? I'd really like to see some in the reviews, is EVGA stingy about sending them out for testing or something?

 

[Katsu_rap]

it is because of the 660ti that the 7950 prices dropped to $300 or less with MIR: so tell me how irrelevant they are now?

Umm...the 7870 performs just slightly below it and even beats it once you apply 8xAA or play at 2560x1600 while costs 50 bucks less. In the case of the 7950 vs 660ti, the 7950 costs similar (okay, maybe some of them are slightly expensive) and has the potential to even beat the 670.

Did you even read the article man?

 

[Guest]

This really is a well presented article. Good reading and very informative. Cheers!

 

[FormatC]

any idea why Tom's never seems to include EVGA cards? I'd really like to see some in the reviews, is EVGA stingy about sending them out for testing or something?

The sad truth:
No samples from EVGA available (in Germany). I have asked so many times - no response. It's their decision, not mine.

 

[Guest]

Keep an eye on Newegg and the Ice Q 7870. When they come in stock, they only last hours because for some reason they have them priced at $219. Ridiculously good deal. I'm going to pick up another one as soon as possible.

 

[ojas]

Really detailed review...i had been wanting to see what the narrower bus does for the Ti...

Pretty much confirms what i've been thinking for a while: the 670 and 7950 are excellent 1080p cards, 2x7950 is an awesome combination for >1080p crossfire, 2x7870= great for 1080p CF and the 660 Ti should be most at home at around $225 and connected to a 1680x1050 display.

I would have liked to see crysis 2 with the high res pack "on" at 1080p, so as to make a comparison...but you could maybe ask the folks doing the GTX660 review to put it in, so as to compare the 660 Ti and 660 at both 1680x1050 and 1080p.

However, i don't mean to be critical, it's a great read. two thumbs' up to you sir!

 

[ojas]

I do hope nvidia takes note of this, so that the same dumbness isn't repeated with the Kepler refresh or Maxwell cards.