Which GTX 660 Ti is the best out of the box?

[ArcaneGlyph]

I am looking to buy a 660 ti. Out of all the cards in the 660 ti family from all manufacturers which is the best out of the box? Price is no worry in this category of the card.

I have done a bit of research and it looks to me like the EVGA FTW LE is the best of the best, but I may be wrong.

Please just list 660 ti cards, the 670s are out of my price range and I don't want a standard 660 either.

Please help!

PS. ATI / AMD cards are not an option. I have a personal dislike for them and would never run one in a system.


Forgot to add: I am looking for power here. All the warranties are comparable and I'm not worried.

 

[bull22]

From what I've read, all the EVGA FTW models have the same core clock @ 1046mhz; the highest I could find. That being said, the different versions have more or less RAM and should be considered especially if you're running higher resolutions.

 

[photonboy]

I don't see any advantage to the EVGA FTW LE card. The cooling is basically reference and cards like the MSI I recommend run faster and are still quiet.

My recommendation is one of THESE two:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127696

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121656

*My advice is the MSI card. Watch the VIDEO.

**GTX660Ti's have a narrow memory interface. Keep in mind that going from 4xAA to 8xAA at 1920x1080 can cause a big drop in performance so tweak your games with that in mind. (There's also NO scenario where 4GB on a GTX660Ti makes sense. These cards cost more, nor can you really use more than 2GB anyway. And, as mentioned, you don't want to raise the Anti-Aliasing too high at 1920x1080 anyway due to the memory interface. I have a GTX680 and have NEVER found a game that used all of the 2GB.)

 

[17seconds]

Here's a few roundups of GTX 660 Ti's:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/56432-gtx-660-ti-roundup-asus-evga-gigabyte-galaxy-msi.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/asus-evga-gigabyte-inno3d-galaxy-msi-palit-zotac-geforce-gtx-660-ti.html
http://hothardware.com/Reviews/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-660-Ti-Round-Up-MSI-EVGA-Gigabyte-Zotac/

The fastest ones out of the box have the best cooling, which allows for higher more consistently sustained Turbo Boosts. I'd go for Asus DirectCU or MSI PE/OC.

Don't worry about the memory bandwidth, that issue has been way overblown.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/08/27/nvidia_geforce_gtx_660_ti_at_high_aa_settings_review/8#.UTt_DhPTmUk

 

[ArcaneGlyph]

The reason I was looking at the FTW LE was due to the 192 mb interface vs the 144 on the other cards

 

[17seconds]

660ti FTW+ is the cream of the crop. That being said all fanboyism aside AMD Radeon HD is faster at every price point including that price point of the 660ti the radeon HD 7950 is just a superior card that performs and OC better price/performance.

All fanboyism aside, why would you even feel compelled to mention that in a thread where the OP has clearly stated he has no interest in AMD cards?

The reason I was looking at the FTW LE was due to the 192 mb interface vs the 144 on the other cards

I'm not sure what numbers you are referring to, all GTX 660 Ti's have that memory interface. By the way the "LE" version means "Low End", i.e cheaper, a little slower, probably lower binned chips.

 

[ArcaneGlyph]

I did the comparison tool on their site, LE had the 192 mb memory bandwidth, all the other cards had a 144. Not sure what this would javascript:%20validform(this);mean to me as a gamer though.

 

[17seconds]

I did the comparison tool on their site, LE had the 192 mb memory bandwidth, all the other cards had a 144. Not sure what this would javascript:%20validform(this);mean to me as a gamer though.

For all GTX 660 Ti's:
Memory Interface Width: 192-bit GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth: 144.2 GB/sec
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-660ti/specifications

 

[ArcaneGlyph]

that was what I had thought as well but it was right on EVGAs website which I found odd.

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-3665-KR

 

[17seconds]

Checking out Newegg, for the "best out of the box", the best would have the highest factory overclock with the best cooler. I would take a good look at the EVGA FTW+ Signature 2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130837

It comes with custom cooling, and has the highest out of the box factory overclock at 1046 MHz, with an 1124 MHz Boost clock.

 

[ko888]

The reason I was looking at the FTW LE was due to the 192 mb interface vs the 144 on the other cards

You're under the mistaken assumption that the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti FTW LE [02G-P4-3665-KR] has a 192.26 GB/s Memory Bandwidth. It doesn't. Don't believe everything you read on EVGA's webpage for that card. They reused webpage code from the EVGA GeForce GTX 670 FTW LE [02G-P4-2676] and got it wrong.

Look at the PDF document instead. At least it's correct.

http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/02G-P4-3665.pdf

That card uses NVIDIA reference design clocks so it's not "the best out of the box". Find one with the highest Core Clock. At least the card manufacturer will guarantee that the card will operate at the factory overclocked clock rates.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130816

 

[ArcaneGlyph]

ahh sweet that was what I was looking for.. I didn't think the 192 could be true, but you never know.

 

[ArcaneGlyph]

Best answer selected by ArcaneGlyph.