Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G Review: Mid-Range Turing Goes Premium
Tom’s Hardware Verdict
Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G is the company’s flagship implementation, featuring overbuilt cooling, a generously-high power limit, and RGB lighting. Its price tag puts the Gaming OC 6G in contention with faster graphics cards, though, so we’d like to see it selling for less.
Pros
- +
Big thermal solution for a 120W GPU
- +
Elevated GPU Boost frequency
- +
200W power limit
- +
Operates quietly
- +
Excellent performance at 1920 x 1080
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Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G Review
Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti was the first Turing-based graphics card lacking the architecture’s signature RT and Tensor cores. Instead, it relied exclusively on performance and efficiency improvements in today’s games to stand up against AMD’s Radeon RX 590 and the previous-generation GeForce GTX 1070. With prices starting at $280, the 1660 Ti certainly offered more value than any of the GeForce RTX cards. But the subsequent introduction of GeForce GTX 1660 showed that gamers could spend even less (as little as $220) and still get great frame rates at 1920 x 1080 with quality settings cranked up.
Now, Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G challenges us to think in the other direction. Is it worth spending a bit more than the 1660 Ti’s starting price for slightly higher frame rates on high-refresh monitors, over-built cooling, a 200W maximum power limit, and a bit of RGB lighting?
Meet Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G
Our GeForce GTX 1660 Ti launch review was based on EVGA’s XC Black Gaming model, which represents the 1660 Ti’s base price and 1,770 MHz GPU Boost reference spec.
Gigabyte’s Gaming OC 6G, on the other hand, is the company’s highest-end version. Its $300 price tag pays for an 1,860 MHz GPU Boost rating.
Further down the stack, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Windforce OC 6G sells for $290. A small form factor-oriented Mini ITX OC 6G is listed at $280. And the entry-level OC 6G version sports a similar $280 price.
Aside from a more aggressive GPU Boost frequency, why else would you pay an extra $20 for the Gaming OC 6G? The most obvious reason is its oversized PCB and thermal solution. From the front, Gigabyte’s flagship GeForce GTX 1660 Ti looks a lot like its premium GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G and GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming OC 8G. They’re all more than 11” (28cm) long, 4.4” (11.3cm) tall, and 1.5” (3.9cm) thick.
Much of this design’s extra length is attributable to the familiar Windforce 3X cooler, which hangs off the PCB’s back edge by more than 2”. As you might imagine, a thermal solution designed to cope with RTX 2070’s 175W TDP and RTX 2060’s 160W power limit would be more than ample for GTX 1660 Ti’s 120W ceiling.
Under the fan shroud, however, Gigabyte does cut costs with a less dense sink that weighs 1.49lb. (674g) instead of the RTX 2060 card’s 1.79lb. (811g). And although both designs employ a multi-part configuration, the 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G utilizes three heat pipes between them, whereas the RTX 2060 employs four. Those pipes are flattened in the middle and placed directly over Nvidia’s GPU, where they draw heat away before dissipating it through the fin arrays.
On the cooler’s left side, closest to the display outputs, one part of the sink contacts voltage regulation circuitry underneath through thermal pads. On the right side, another piece of the sink doesn’t touch the board at all. It simply helps the middle section keep TU116 and its surrounding memory modules running at the lowest temperature possible.
Three 80mm fans sit on top of the thermal solution. The outside fans spin counter-clockwise, while the middle fan rotates clockwise. Turbulence is purportedly kept to a minimum, generating less competing airflow from adjacent fans.
Then, at idle, the fans stop spinning altogether by virtue of a feature that Gigabyte calls 3D Active Fan. Enthusiasts who prefer to maintain lower idle temperatures can disable 3D Active Fan using downloadable Aorus Engine software. Frankly, the fans make so little noise that we prefer to keep them spinning (even though the semi-passive mode is one of this card’s competitive advantages).
Around the fans, Gigabyte uses plastic gratuitously to form a shroud. Sharp angles and silver accents do look nice, though folds over the card’s top and bottom block air moving through the vertically-oriented fins. A freer-flowing arrangement, particularly above the heat sink, might have helped the already-impressive thermal performance. Instead, that’s where we find this card’s RGB-backlit Gigabyte logo.
Regardless, the company’s relatively light cooler performs admirably. In Metro: Last Light, we observed the Gaming OC 6G consuming about 133W. Although that’s about 9W more than EVGA’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti XC Black Gaming, Gigabyte’s card ran a couple of degrees cooler.
Moreover, it maintained between 1,890 and 1,920 MHz through our run, whereas EVGA’s XC Black Gaming demonstrated a range of 1,785 to 1,815 MHz.
Gigabyte’s 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G sports a plastic backplate. This plate doesn’t do anything for rigidity, and it certainly doesn’t improve the card’s cooling. The plate may, however, help protect the PCB in case something gets dropped on it.
We approve of Gigabyte’s display output choices. Three DisplayPort connectors and a single HDMI interface cover the most common multi-monitor configurations. Down at this level, VirtualLink support isn’t really necessary. And doing away with DVI yields a freer-flowing grille. Unfortunately, the potential benefit of additional airflow is lost since the cooler’s fins move air perpendicular to the bracket.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G | GeForce RTX 2060 FE | GeForce GTX 1060 FE | GeForce GTX 1070 FE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture (GPU) | Turing (TU116) | Turing (TU106) | Pascal (GP106) | Pascal (GP104) |
| CUDA Cores | 1536 | 1920 | 1280 | 1920 |
| Peak FP32 Compute | 5. 7 TFLOPS |
6.45 TLFOPS | 4.4 TFLOPS | 6.5 TFLOPS |
| Tensor Cores | N/A | 240 | N/A | N/A |
| RT Cores | N/A | 30 | N/A | N/A |
| Texture Units | 96 | 120 | 80 | 120 |
| Base Clock Rate | 1500 MHz | 1365 MHz | 1506 MHz | 1506 MHz |
| GPU Boost Rate | 1860 MHz | 1680 MHz | 1708 MHz | 1683 MHz |
| Memory Capacity | 6GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR5 | 8GB GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 192-bit | 192-bit | 192-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 288 GB/s | 336 GB/s | 192 GB/s | 256 GB/s |
| ROPs | 48 | 48 | 48 | 64 |
| L2 Cache | 1. 5MB |
3MB | 1.5MB | 2MB |
| TDP | 120W | 160W | 120W | 150W |
| Transistor Count | 6.6 billion | 10.8 billion | 4.4 billion | 7.2 billion |
| Die Size | 284 mm² | 445 mm² | 200 mm² | 314 mm² |
| SLI Support | No | No | No | Yes (MIO) |
What lives under the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G’s hood is already well-known. We dissected the TU116 graphics processor in Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB Review: Turing Without The RTX. Gigabyte takes the same chip, with 1,536 CUDA cores, and bumps the typical GPU Boost rating up to 1,860 MHz—a 5% increase compared to the 1,770 MHz we tested from EVGA’s XC Black Gaming board.
The Gigabyte card’s 6GB of GDDR6 memory moves data at 14 Gb/s, yielding 288 GB/s of aggregate bandwidth on a 192-bit bus.
All of Gigabyte’s graphics cards include three years of warranty coverage, and some of them add a fourth year when you register on the company’s website. The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G is not one of those special models. In its segment, however, three years of coverage is fairly standard.
How We Tested Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC 6G
Obviously, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is more mainstream than the other Turing-based cards we’ve reviewed. As such, our graphics workstation, based on an MSI Z170 Gaming M7 motherboard and Intel Core i7-7700K CPU at 4.2 GHz, is apropos. The processor is complemented by G.Skill’s F4-3000C15Q-16GRR memory kit. Crucial’s MX200 SSD is here, joined by a 1.6TB Intel DC P3700 loaded down with games.
As far as competition goes, the 1660 Ti mostly goes up against GeForce GTX 1070, though we include 1070 Ti as well.
Of course, comparisons to GeForce GTX 1060 are inevitable. All of those cards are included in our line-up, along with GeForce RTX 2060 and GeForce RTX 2070. On the AMD side, we’re mostly interested in Radeon RX 590, although Radeon RX Vega 64 and Radeon RX Vega 56 make for interesting additions, too.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Gaming 8G
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060
Our benchmark selection includes Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation, Battlefield V, Destiny 2, Far Cry 5, Forza Horizon 4, Grand Theft Auto V, Metro: Last Light Redux, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, The Witcher 3 and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.
The testing methodology we’re using comes from PresentMon: Performance In DirectX, OpenGL, And Vulkan. In short, these games are evaluated using a combination of OCAT and our own in-house GUI for PresentMon, with logging via GPU-Z.
We’re using driver version 430.39 to test Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, 418.91 to test EVGA’s competing 1660 Ti, and build 417.54 for everything else. AMD’s cards utilize Crimson Adrenalin 2019 Edition 18.12.3.
MORE: Best Graphics Cards
MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table
MORE: How to Stress-Test Graphics Cards (Like We Do)
MORE: All Graphics Content
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Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom’s Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC Graphics Card Review – AdoredTV
Now that we know that the cost of entry for AMD’s Navi-based Radeon RX 5700 series will be $379 and above, there are no doubt many of you who were holding out hope for a card that is priced in the sub-$300 market and are now looking elsewhere to fulfill your gaming needs.
Today, we’ll be looking at exactly such a card from our friends at GIGABYTE: The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC which retails for $299, a slight increase from the base MSRP of the reference GTX 1660 Ti which is $279.
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC Specifications
| Model | GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC | GeForce GTX 1070 | GeForce GTX 1060 |
| CUDA Cores | 1536 | 1920 | 1280 |
| Texture Units | 96 | 120 | 80 |
| ROPs | 48 | 56 | 48 |
| Boost Clock (MHz) | 1860 (1770 Reference) | 1683 | 1709 |
| Base Clock (MHz) | 1500 | 1506 | 1506 |
| Memory Type | 12 Gbps GDDR6 | 8 Gbs GDDR5 | 8 Gbps GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 192-bit | 256-bit | 192-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/s) | 288 | 256 | 192 |
| VRAM | 6GB | 8GB | 6GB |
| GPU | TU116 | GP104 | GP106 |
| Architecture | Turing | Pascal | Pascal |
| Manufacturing Process | TSMC 12nm | TSMC 16nm | TSMC 16nm |
| TDP | 120W | 150W | 120W |
| Launch Price | $299 ($279 MSRP) | $379/$449 FE | $249/$299 FE |
Looking at the specifications, we can see that the Gaming OC offers a 90 MHz factory overclock compared to the reference GTX 1660 Ti.
This is a roughly 5% increase in maximum clock speed. That increase should help justify the price increase, but that alone will likely not be enough to warrant a recommendation.
EDIT: corrected % increase in clock speed from 11% to 5% vs reference.
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC Overview
Now that we’ve gone over the specifications, let’s take a look at the card itself to give you an idea what you’ll be getting.
Starting with the box, you can see the normal GIGABYTE styling on the front, along with the mechanical “bird’s eye” the company likes so much. On the back, we actually get a nice look at the cooling system, and of course, a look at the card’s RGB capabilities.
Taking a look at the card itself, we can see it features a triple-fan cooling design, along with a full-cover backplate which is made of plastic and extends into the plastic fan-shroud at the back. Overall, it’s a nice looking design, although we would have preferred to see a metal backplate, especially at this pricing.
The card measures 280mm (11-inches) long x 116.7mm (4.5-inches) wide, and features a standard dual-slot design. It is also powered by a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, which is the same as the reference board. The PCB itself is actually shorter than the cooler, measuring only just 225mm or just under 9-inches. It also features 4+2-phase VRM.
RGB-lovers will be happy to know that the GIGABYTE logo on the side features full RGB illumination and the card works with GIGABYTE’s RGB Fusion ecosystem, so you can sync it with your motherboard and other GIGABYTE/AORUS products.
For I/O, you’ll find 3x DisplayPort 1.4 and 1x HDMI 2.0b ports.
The fans themselves deploy GIGABYTE’s patented “Alternate Spinning” technology. This allows the center fan to spin in the opposite direction, which is claimed to create a smoother, less turbulent airflow path and provide improved heat dissipation. Like many other cards in the market today, the fans will also remain off when the GPU is idle or not under stress.
The heatink consists of three small aluminum fin-arrays which are contacted via three copper-heatpipes, the heatpipes themselves make direct contact with the GPU, while the VRAM, and MOSFETs are contacted by the the aluminum plates which are connected to the fins.
Graphics Card Test Setup and Methodology
All game benchmarks are taken from a 3-run average either in-game or using the title’s built-in benchmark utility. Performance is recorded using OCAT: the open-source frontend for PresentMon, which itself is an open-source capture and analytics tool which supports modern APIs such as DirectX 12 and Vulkan.
For our graphics card reviews, we use a 2nd generation Ryzen-based system with some parts supplied by AMD and DEEPCOOL. Thanks to all who sponsor components in our test systems, as without them it would be very costly to source the components we need.
| Test Bench | |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 2700 @ 4. 1GHz |
| Motherboard | ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero X370 |
| RAM | 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4-3200 CL16 |
| GPU | N/A |
| Storage | 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD (OS), 480GB Patriot Burst SSD |
| Cooler | DeepCool Castle 240 RGB all-in-one liquid cooler. |
| Case | Phanteks P350X |
| PSU | DeepCool Quanta DQ1250 |
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC Overclocking
Using MSI Afterburner, we overclocked the GIGABYTE GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC even further than it came out of the box. We managed a Core Clock offset of 135MHz (bringing total to 1995MHz), and Memory Clock offset of 1000MHz bringing our memory speed up to 14Gbps. Theoretically, this should improve performance quite a bit, especially in more memory demanding titles.
We’ll find out soon enough.
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC Power and Thermals
Looking at total system power, we can see that at stock the 1660 Ti uses a little less power than the GTX 1070 FE and about the same amount once overclocked. While the 1660 Ti does have fewer CUDA cores than the GTX 1070, it does have a higher clock speed, so the the power draw similarities make sense, even despite the more refined manufacturing process.
That said, the superior cooling capabilities of the GIGABYTE card’s triple-fan cooling system are shown off here, as even while overclocked our temperature delta is significantly lower.
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC Performance
3DMark Fire Strike and Time Spy
Fire Strike
Time Spy
Starting with 3DMark Fire Strike as the GTX 1070 takes the lead by as much as 12% over the stock 1660 Ti, while the overclocked config narrows the lead by 3%.
The story changes with 3DMark Time Spy, as we see that the 1660 Ti offers a 3% higher score than the GTX 1070, while the overclocked variant barely shows any improvement.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
We test this title using the game’s built-in benchmark utility.
Looking at the above graphs, we can see that at 1080p, the GIGABYTE card does offer 9% more performance on average when compared to the GTX 1070 FE. That said, when looking at the 0.1% lows we can see that performance is actually quite a bit worse at 37% lower. This is alleviated once the card is overclocked as it gains a 7% lead in 0.1% lows and increases its overall lead to 14%.
At 1440p, the story is a little different. This time, the GIGABYTE card maintains leads in all areas with a 13% increase in average frame rate and a staggering 50% increase in the 0.1% lows. Once overclocked the card gains an additional 7% in overall performance.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
We test this title during a 60-second gameplay segment in the ‘Hidden City’ portion of the game.
At 1080p in Tomb Raider, the 1660 Ti offers the best performance at stock, we’re not exactly sure why but we ran the test multiple times to verify the results.
Nonetheless, both configurations are very similar.
Compared to the GTX 1070 FE, the GTX 1660 Ti offers 10% more performance on average and absolutely decimates it in 0.1% lows with a commanding 85% lead.
At 1440p, the story is very similar. Stock and overclocked results are nearly identical with the stock offering best performance overall. Again, the 1660 Ti leads the GTX 1070 FE, this time by 9% on average.
Far Cry: New Dawn
We test this title using the game’s built-in benchmark utility.
Far Cry: New Dawn sees a return to normalcy. At 1080p, we have all cards offering fairly similar performance, although this time we do see a 5% increase in performance from our overclocked configuration when compared to stock.
At 1440p, it’s dead even for the stock 1660 Ti and the GTX 1070 FE. That said, once overclocked the GTX 1660 Ti does come ahead by 11% on average.
Forza Horizon 4
We test this title using the game’s built-in benchmark utility.
At 1080, the GTX 1660 Ti does offer 11% more performance than the GTX 1070 FE on average. That lead is extended by a further 7% once overclocked, which allows it to break 100 FPS for the first time in this report.
At 1440p, it’s a very similar story with the GIGABYTE card offering 10% more performance when compared to the GTX 1070 FE. Once overclocked, we do get an additional 7% more performance on average, which is a fairly nice improvement.
HITMAN 2
We test this title during a 60-second gameplay segment in the ‘Santa Fortuna’ map.
HITMAN 2 again sees the GTX 1660 Ti take the lead over the GTX 1070. This time, by an average of 7%, and a further 2% once overclocked.
It’s worth noting that for this title we have the GTX 1070 running in DX11 mode, while the GTX 1660 Ti is in DX12 mode, as that is how both cards performed best and were most stable.
Upping the resolution to 1440p actually gives the GTX 1070 FE the lead for the first time in this report.
Overall, the GTX 1070 offers 13% more performance than either of the other configurations in this test.
Resident Evil 2 (2019)
We test this title in a 60-second gameplay segment at the early portion of the game in the fiery streets of ‘Raccoon City’ on the way to the police station.
Well, that didn’t last long. In Resident Evil 2, the GTX 1660 Ti takes the lead back, offering 5% more performance at stock and an additional 8% once overclocked at 1080p.
At 1440p, the GTX 1660 Ti’s lead extends to 9% on average at stock speeds. Once overclocked, the lead is furthered by an additional 8%.
Battlefield V
We test this game during a 60-second gameplay segment of the ‘War Stories’ single-player game mode on the first level of the ‘Tirailleur’ campaign.
Moving on to Battlefield V, we see that the GTX 1660 Ti offers a miniscule 3% performance increase over the GTX 1070 FE on average, but also loses by 31% in 0.1% lows. These results are not unplayable, but there will be a noticeable micro-stutter which some users may be more perceptible to than others.
At 1440p, again the the GTX 1660 Ti leads here in average FPS, first by 6% at stock and then by a further 12% once overclocked. Still, the 0.1% lows are quite a bit lower.
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
We test this title using the game’s built-in benchmark utility.
The Division 2 shows an 11% lead for the GTX 1660 Ti at 1080p. Sadly, our overclocked configuration was unable to load the game at all, and therefore has not made it on the charts.
At 1440p, the gap widens to 13% on average in favor of the GTX 1660 Ti.
Gears of War 4
We test this title using the game’s built-in benchmark utility.
Gears of War 4 gives the GTX 1070 FE another win with a 17% increase in performance compared to the stock GTX 1660 Ti, while the overclocked variant only gains a measly 1% performance overall.
At 1440p, the GTX 1070 FE again shows dominance in this older title, with an 18% gap between it and the stock GTX 1660 Ti. This is one title that clearly favors Pascal over Turing.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
We test this title during a 60-second gameplay segment on the ‘Roswell’ level of the campaign.
Would you look at that? The GTX 1660 Ti utterly smashes the GTX 1070 FE with an average FPS that is 31% higher at stock. Once overclocked, the lead is furthered by another 10%. Please note that Turing’s Variable Rate Shading or VRS is not enabled, despite it being supported by this title.
At 1440p, the margins narrow slightly, with the stock GTX 1660 Ti leading the GTX 1070 by 19% on average. One again, that lead is increased by an additional 12% once overclocked.
World War Z
We test this title using the game’s built in benchmark utility.
Our final test, World War Z has the GTX 1660 Ti leading by 6% in average frame rate, while the 0.1% lows are a blistering 52% higher when compared to the GTX 1070. Overclocking the GTX 1660 Ti sees its lead increased by an additional 5% on average.
At 1440p, the margins are narrowed quite a bit with the GTX 1660 Ti leading the GTX 1070 FE by just 2% on average.
Once overclocked, the gap is widened again by an additional 10%.
Closing Thoughts
At $299, the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC is pretty far from the most expensive GTX 1660 Ti model available, in fact it’s at least $30 cheaper than the ASUS STRIX Gaming OC model, which is also clocked 30MHz (1890MHz) from the factory. So, from that perspective, the GIGABYTE card actually seems like a good value, if you’re looking for a triple-fan cooling solution. That said, the board design found on the Gaming OC is also the very same one used on the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti WINDFORCE, which is a dual-fan card that is $20 cheaper and clocked slightly lower at 1845MHz. So, we’d imagine that card to perform fairly close to this one, and likely overclock just as well, albeit with marginally higher operating temperatures.
Of course, if you’re reading this review you may be trying to decide which 1660 Ti to buy, or maybe you’re wondering if you should buy one at all. On average, that GIGABYTE card shown in this review performs 6.
3% faster than the GTX 1070 FE at 1080p, making it a strong contender as a worthy upgrade for GTX 1060 owners, or folks with even older hardware such as the GTX 970 or R9 290 who don’t want to spend more than $300. That said, there is also the Vega 56, which we’ve not tested here, but should perform similarly, if not slightly better in most cases. You’ll also find models from PowerColor and Saphire that are priced at the same $300 as the subject of this review, and that definitely makes a recommendation a bit harder for us, but we’d still say it’s a fairly decent buy.
With great cooling performance, and rather fantastic overall gaming performance as well as fairly solid overclocking potential, we’d say that the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC is a solid choice for gamers looking to spend $300 or less on a graphics card for 1080p and 1440p gaming.
Check out the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti on Amazon
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successor to the GTX 1070 GECID.
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> GIGABYTE GV-N166TWF2OC-6GD
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After successfully capturing the upper price segment with the GeForce RTX 20 line, NVIDIA began to strengthen its position in the $200-300 range. To do this, the company released two new Turing microarchitecture products included in the GTX 16 series. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 saw the first light Ti, and a couple of weeks later came the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660.
The older NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti was the first to come to our test, so let’s first look at its features. Although it uses the NVIDIA Turing microarchitecture, like the GeForce RTX 20 series video cards, it has lost the tensor and RT cores. It is based on the NVIDIA TU116-400 GPU, which consists of 1536 CUDA cores, 96 texture units and 48 raster units.
The video memory subsystem is made up of GDDR6 chips with a total capacity of 6 GB with 192-bit bus, effective frequency 12000 MHz and bandwidth 288 GB/s.
This time around, NVIDIA has dispensed with the Founders Edition, so the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is only available in partner editions starting at $279.99 for the US market. At the moment, our price fluctuates between $310 — 480, depending on the name of the manufacturer, the quality of the element base, the cooling system and the presence of additional features such as LED backlighting.
The final table of characteristics of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 16 video cards in comparison with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is as follows:
|
Model |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 |
|
Technical process, nm |
12 (FFN) |
12 (FFN) |
12 (FFN) |
|
GPU |
NVIDIA TU116-300 |
NVIDIA TU116-400 |
NVIDIA TU106-200A |
|
Microarchitecture |
NVIDIA Turing |
||
|
Crystal area, mm 2 |
284 |
284 |
445 |
|
Number of transistors, billion |
6. |
6.6 |
10.8 |
|
Number of CUDA cores |
1408 |
1536 |
1920 |
|
Number of texture units |
88 |
96 |
120 |
|
Number of raster blocks |
48 |
48 |
48 |
|
Number of Tensor cores |
— |
— |
240 |
|
Number of cores RT |
— |
— |
30 |
|
GPU base / dynamic frequency, MHz |
1530 / 1785 |
1500 / 1770 |
1365 / 1680 |
|
Video memory type |
GDDR5 |
GDDR6 |
GDDR6 |
|
Volume, GB |
6 |
6 |
6 |
|
Effective memory frequency, MHz |
8000 |
12000 |
14000 |
|
Bus width, bit |
192 |
192 |
192 |
|
Bandwidth, GB/s |
192 |
288 |
336 |
|
Recommended cost for partner versions, $ |
219. |
279 .99 |
349.99 |
6 
99 You can read more about the NVIDIA Turing microarchitecture in the review of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 video card. Well, we will move on to a practical acquaintance with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti using the modification from GIGABYTE as an example.
The mid-range model GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti WINDFORCE OC 6G became the first sign in our testing. First, let’s take a look at its characteristics.
Specification
|
Model |
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti WINDFORCE OC 6G (GV-N166TWF2OC-6GD) |
|
GPU |
NVIDIA TU116-400 |
|
Microarchitecture |
NVIDIA Turing |
|
Technical process, nm |
12 |
|
Number of CUDA cores |
1536 |
|
Number of texture units |
96 |
|
Number of raster blocks |
48 |
|
GPU base / dynamic frequency, MHz |
1500 / 1845 |
|
Effective memory frequency, MHz |
12000 |
|
Memory size, GB |
6 |
|
Memory type |
GDDR6 |
|
Memory bus width, bit |
192 |
|
Memory bandwidth, GB/s |
288 |
|
Tire type |
PCI Express 3. |
|
Image output interfaces |
1 x HDMI 2.0b |
|
Minimum power supply unit, W |
450 |
|
Optional PCIe power connector |
1 x 8-pin |
|
Dimensions from the official website (according to measurements in our test laboratory), mm |
264.90 x 120.58 x 40.41 (277 x 120 x 40) |
|
Drivers |
Latest drivers can be downloaded from the GIGABYTE website or the GPU manufacturer’s website |
|
Manufacturer website |
GIGABYTE |
0 x16 Packaging and contents
The novelty is supplied in a cardboard box with informative color printing. On its sides, key design features and some technical characteristics of the video card are marked.
A list of system requirements for the computer where you plan to install it is located on the back of the package. Based on the recommendations, the power supply must have a power of at least 450 W and support one 8-pin PCIe connector.
We found only the standard documentation and the software CD in the package.
A modified set of interfaces is used to display the image:
- 1 x HDMI 2.0b;
- 3 x DisplayPort 1.4.
Recall that NVIDIA recommends using one HDMI, DisplayPort and DVI each. The maximum resolution is 7680 x 4320.
Appearance
GIGABYTE GV-N166TWF2OC-6GD meets us with the usual plastic casing of the cooling system, which looks strict but nice. The manufacturer tried to diversify the design with the help of various bends, irregular shapes and different textures of plastic, but in general, the appearance of the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti WINDFORCE OC 6G turned out to be quite modest, which many will like.
There is no LED backlight.
The reverse side of the video card is completely hidden from our eyes by a base plate with the manufacturer’s logo. Since this is not a flagship modification, this structural element is made of plastic and is more of a decorative character.
The novelty uses a PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot and one 8-pin PCIe connector for power. Thanks to its good location, the cooler does not make it difficult to disconnect the cable.
Other features of the internal design of the GIGABYTE GV-N166TWF2OC-6GD video card include a 4+2-phase power subsystem with an Ultra Durable VGA element base. It includes solid-state and tantalum-polymer capacitors, as well as chokes with a ferrite core.
The video accelerator is based on the NVIDIA TU116-400 GPU, which is manufactured using a 12-nm process technology. The base frequency is declared at the level of 1500 MHz, and the dynamic reaches 1845 MHz, which is 4.2% higher than the reference figure of 1770 MHz.
The video memory is made up of Micron GDDR6 chips with a total capacity of 6 GB. They operate at a reference effective frequency of 12000 MHz. Data exchange between the graphics core and memory is carried out through a 192-bit bus, which is capable of passing 288 GB of information per second.
Cooling system
The GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti WINDFORCE OC 6G video card with installed cooling system occupies two expansion slots and has a total length of 265 mm according to the official website.
The cooler consists of an all-metal radiator with longitudinal fins and two copper heat pipes with a diameter of 6 mm.
Uses heatpipe direct contact technology with graphics chip for faster heat dissipation. In turn, video memory chips and elements of the power subsystem are also in contact with the main heatsink using plates and a thermal interface.
By the way, the tubes themselves are also not simple, but composite.
They consist of an inner hollow layer and an outer one with grooves, inside of which there is a liquid for better heat transfer.
The active part of the cooling system is represented by two 95 mm fans. They are distinguished not only by the original shape of the blades, but also by rotation in different directions to optimize the air flow and increase its efficiency.
When automatically adjusting the speed of rotation of the fan blades, in the maximum load mode, the graphics core heated up to 65 ° C at a critical value of 95°C. The propellers worked at a speed of 1702 rpm (81% of the maximum). According to subjective sensations, the noise was very low and did not interfere with work at all.
In the maximum fan speed mode (2097 rpm), the GPU temperature dropped to 61°C. At the same time, the noise was at an average level and practically did not stand out against the background of other components.
In the absence of load, the frequencies of the graphics core and memory were automatically reduced, allowing to reduce power consumption and heat dissipation of the video accelerator as a whole.
In this mode, the GPU temperature did not exceed 43°C, and the cooling system worked in a completely passive mode. The cooler switched to active mode after the GPU temperature reached 53°C.
So far we can’t compare the performance of the GIGABYTE GV-N166TWF2OC-6GD video card’s cooling system with competitive counterparts, but in general it made a good impression due to the low noise level in everyday use. A little later, we’ll see if it has enough power reserve for overclocking experiments. There were no extraneous sounds in the form of a high-frequency squeak of chokes in the nominal mode of operation of the video card.
Review Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G
For a long time, the gaming world has experienced a drought of new graphics cards, and now it seems that we are in the midst of a flood. Nvidia introduced the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti just a few weeks ago and now the GeForce GTX 1660 cards are out of the game. The
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G is the standout version of this GPU as it has a decent 45MHz factory overclock and improved cooling, all at a low price of $219 / $219 / $389.
This is a fantastic graphics card for Full HD gaming, especially in a competitive environment or if you’re just starting a streaming channel.
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9000 $219 / $389 making it the cheapest Turing-based graphics card you can buy right now. We were already impressed with the value the GTX 1660 Ti cards brought to mid-range gamers at $279./ £259 / AU$469, but this card further lowers the barrier to entry into PC gaming.
What’s even more impressive is that this new graphics card is much more affordable than the $299/£249/AU$ Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 it replaces. The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G also undercuts the AMD Radeon RX 590, which typically sells for $279 / £249 / AU$425.
Specifications and Features Turing, but it lacks many of the features that its siblings have. Among the things you won’t find on this GPU when compared to other Turing cards (RTX or GTX) are ray tracing cores, Tensor cores, and even GDDR6 class memory.
That’s right — all you get is the same GDDR5 memory running at 8 Gb/s speeds as in the original GeForce GTX 1060.
equipped with shaders based on Turing. While the GeForce GTX 1660 has fewer CUDA cores — and don’t forget slower memory — than its GTX 1660 Ti sibling, it gets higher base and boost clock speeds to make up for the shortcomings.
The Gigabyte model we’re testing here also adds a bit of special sauce with a factory overclock of 1830MHz, making it noticeably a few cycles faster than the reference 1785MHz GPU clocks. Plus, this model comes with two Windforce 2X fans and a beefier heatsink that you wouldn’t normally expect to find on a low-end entry-level graphics card.
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Specification test system
CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz (hexadecimal core, 12MB cache, up to 4.7GHz)
RAM: 32GB LED Vengeance DDR4 (3200MHz)
motherboard : Asus ROG Strix Z390-E Gaming
Power Supply: Corsair RM850x
Storage: 512GB Samsung 960 Pro M.
2 SSD (NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4)
Cooling: Thermal Edition take60 FloeTTing5 Premium Case: Corsair Crystal Series 570X RGB
Operating System: Windows 10
Performance
Despite the GeForce GTX 1660 looking like it’s just a GTX 1060 with a fresh coat of paint, this card offers some amazing jumps in performance. However, the GTX 1660 doesn’t outperform the GTX 1070 in the same way that the GTX 1660 Ti does.
More importantly, the Nvidia GTX 1660 completely destroys the AMD Radeon RX 590, a GPU that currently costs significantly more.
Beyond benchmarks, the GTX 1660 can handle modern games and even QHD (1440p) resolution. Hitman 2 played at 60 to 70 frames per second (fps) without protest — and if you only play in Full HD (1080p), you can expect even smoother 90 to 100 fps playback.
4K gaming (3840 x 2160) is possible with the Nvidia GTX 1660, although Hitman 2 often drops below 30fps in our experience, resulting in uncomfortably clunky gameplay.
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Our Testing Stand, equipped with GTX 1660, collided with slightly greater difficulties during Anthem operation at 1440p and 2160p, so we saw frame rates drop to 30 and 20fps respectively. However, when we settled on 1080p, we saw Anthem running at a much more consistent 50fps.
Overall, we’d say the GeForce GTX 1660 is a graphics card primarily designed for Full HD; however, you can get it to play games at 2K and, rarely, 4K, depending on how graphically demanding they are.
Gaming and benchmarking aside, the GTX 1660 is also the cheapest way to take advantage of Nvidia’s new NVENC encoder for streaming. Between the 25% bitrate savings for HEVC and 15% for H.264, this is one graphics card we would recommend to new gamers who also want to play live streaming.
Final Verdict
When we first started reviewing the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G, we didn’t expect much.