Technical characteristics of video cards based on the chip.
The lower the price, the more valuable the product, although this rule does not apply indefinitely, because video cards, for example, costing about $100 can demonstrate all the capabilities of 3D graphics in a limited version and at low resolutions. Therefore, it somehow happened on the Russian market that accelerators priced from 150 to 200 dollars are in greatest demand. This review is dedicated to a more expensive product, the recently released Geforce GTX 660 Ti, but it differs in that it has a much more attractive price than the top-end GTX 680/670, and at the same time, its performance is not much weaker than its brother GTX 670. In general, The utility of the 660 Ti is clearly higher than that of the 670/680.
So, today we will examine Gigabyte's commercially available product based on the above GPU. I don’t think there’s any need to talk about the manufacturer - this is the world’s most famous and oldest IT brand. All the Gigabyte cards we've looked at over the years have had both excellent CO and good value for money.
Pay
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| Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 Ti OC 2048 MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI-E (GV-N660TOC-2GD) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The card has 2048 MB of GDDR5 SDRAM memory located in 8 chips (6 on the front and 2 on the back of the PCB). The card requires additional power, and two 6-pin connectors. About the cooling system.
We conducted a temperature study using the EVGA PrecisionX utility (author A. Nikolaychuk AKA Unwinder) and obtained the following results: Next up is consideration of the packaging. Installation and driversTest bench configuration:
VSync is disabled. Test results: performance comparisonWe used the following tools:
All our explanations are aimed, as a rule, at beginners or inexperienced users who, however, want to upgrade their computer or simply build a new one. For those who don’t even understand what a kernel is, why there are so many processors in it, what threads are, etc., it makes sense to read our short guides to the families of modern video cards and the processors on which they are based. It should be noted the operating frequencies, support for modern technologies (shaders), as well as the pipeline architecture. Now let's look at the tests. We present tests of the GTX 660 Ti in two modes: at nominal frequencies and at core frequencies increased to 1100 MHz. The Gigabyte product has intermediate frequencies, so you can easily estimate its location.
conclusionsLet's start with analysis Accelerator rating website, which shows us the functionality of video cards relative to each other and is normalized by the weakest accelerator - Geforce GT 630 (that is, the combination of speed and functions of the GT 630 is taken as 100%). Here is a selection from this rating. Rating of 3D accelerators website
Actually, as we see, the overclocked version of the GTX 660 Ti leads the ranking within its group. Yes, the equally overclocked version of the competitor HD 7870 is pressing on its heels, so we can assume that our case with the Gigabyte product may concede primacy, but nothing more. Look how even the GTX 660 Ti running at standard frequencies outperforms not only its rival HD 7870, but even the more expensive HD 7950! Usefulness rating (features/price)
As one would expect, in this case we see that the GTX 660 Ti, operating at higher frequencies, is in the lead. Yes, the competitor in the HD 7870 is pressing again, but still the GTX 660 Ti looks preferable. Now on to the map itself. Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 Ti OC 2048 MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI-E (GV-N660TOC-2GD)- an excellent option for a new product in the mid-price range (gravitating, so to speak, towards the top levels). The accelerator has excellent CO, is relatively small in size and has all the output sockets needed today. Well, let me remind you once again that within its group, the GTX 660 Ti looks like a clear leader. The final decision traditionally remains with our readers. We only provide information about the products reviewed, but do not provide direct instructions on the choice of a particular product. |
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The previous review talked about three new GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards from MSI, EVGA and ASUS. However, along with video cards from these manufacturers, graphics cards from GIGABYTE are also very popular. This company presented its own version of the GTX 660 Ti, which will be discussed.
The review, prepared by TechSpot expert Steven Walton, takes a closer look at the specifications and performance of the factory overclocked GIGABYTE GV-N66TOC-2GD graphics card. It would be more correct to compare this modification with overclocked video cards from ASUS, EVGA and MSI.
The main competitors of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti are video cards based on the Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7950. However, as we already know from the results of testing the GXT 660 Ti given in the last article, the Radeon HD 7870 is almost always inferior to the GeForce GTX 660 Ti in performance. Even the “basic” Radeon HD 7950 often shows worse results compared to video cards from nVidia, and only the Radeon HD 7950 Boost with a very significant overclocking of the graphics processor activated in the video card BIOS can with varying degrees of success resist the GTX 660 Ti.
You can read more about the comparison of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti with its main rivals Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7950, as well as the features and characteristics of the GK104 chip itself, on which the GTX 660 Ti is based. In this review, we will focus on the video card from Gigabyte.
Gigabyte's GTX 660 Ti specifications
nVidia did not create a full-fledged reference (reference) video card with the GTX 660 Ti GPU, thus inviting partners to independently choose the design for their products. Therefore, video cards from different manufacturers differ markedly from each other in PCB design: some companies decided to use the PCB from the GeForce GTX 680 as the basis, while others rely on the PCB design intended for the GeForce GTX 670.
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The GV-N66TOC-2GD model from Gigabyte turned out to be quite compact: the length of its board does not exceed 21.5 cm, however, the radiator to some extent increases the dimensions of the video card - up to 25 cm, which approximately corresponds to the length of the Radeon HD 7870, but at the same time significantly falls short of the length of top video cards like the Radeon HD 7970. The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti can easily be placed in most ATX cases.
The GTX 660 Ti graphics chip contains 1344 CUDA cores (shader units) and 7 SMX units, which is 192 CUDA cores and 1 SMX unit less compared to the GTX 680, but equal to the same indicators for the GTX 670 (however, the number of rasterization units was reduced from 32 to 24 compared to the GTX 670).
As for graphics memory, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory with a nominal frequency of 1502 MHz (effective memory frequency is 6008 MHz) and a bandwidth of 144.2GB/s. However, the memory bus width has been reduced from 256 bit to 192 bit, which leads to a slight decrease in the performance of the GTX 660 Ti when compared with the GTX 670.
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However, the most important feature of the Gigabyte video card is the operating frequencies of its graphics processor: the manufacturer overclocked the GPU by more than 10 percent. If the standard frequencies of the GTX 660 Ti are 915 MHz in normal mode and 980 MHz in boost mode (performance mode), then in the specifications of the Gigabyte video card we already see 1032 MHz and 1111 MHz for normal and boost modes, respectively.
The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti is notable for its unique active cooling system: the GV-N66TOC-2GD model is equipped with a proprietary WindForce 2X cooling system, including two 75 mm fans. The fans are mounted on a massive radiator consisting of three main segments interconnected by heat pipes with a diameter of 8 mm. One of the radiator blocks is responsible for effective cooling of the graphics memory. Triangle Cool technology, which determines the configuration of the cooling system elements, is based on the use of triangular modules, which, due to their shape, contribute to better heat dissipation from the radiator. Gigabyte claims that Triangle Cool can reduce graphics card operating temperatures by 10 percent compared to conventional heatsink designs.
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To power the video card, two 6-pin PCIe connectors are placed on its board - the same number as the Radeon HD 7870 and GeForce GTX 670. The recommended power supply unit (PSU), based on nVidia's explanations, should be no less than 550W (although the minimum value is 450-500W; in real conditions, using such a “weak” power supply will lead to unstable operation of the system with frequent reboots).
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti supports 3-way SLI technology: there are two SLI connectors on the board. On the back of the video card there are two DVI connectors (one dual-link DVI-I and one DVI-D), an HDMI 1.4a port, and a DisplayPort 1.2.
Test bench and list of tested video cards
The system configuration used for testing video cards includes: Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition processor operating at 3.30GHz, 8 GB of G.Skill DDR3-1600 RAM with CAS timings 8-8-8-20, motherboard Asrock X79 Extreme11 based on the Intel X79 chipset, Crucial m4 512GB SSD and OCZ ZX Series 1250W power supply.
The following video cards participated in testing:
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 (2048MB)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 (2048MB)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti (2048MB)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 590 (3072MB)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 (1536MB)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 (1280MB)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1024MB)
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (3072MB)
HIS Radeon HD 7970 (3072MB)
HIS Radeon HD 7950 (3072MB)
HIS Radeon HD 7870 (2048MB)
HIS Radeon HD 7850 (2048MB)
HIS Radeon HD 6990 (4096MB)
HIS Radeon HD 6970 (2048MB)
HIS Radeon HD 6950 (2048MB)
HIS Radeon HD 6870 (1024MB)
Testing was carried out on the Windows 7 x64 operating system. To test nVidia video cards, we installed Nvidia Forceware 301.42 drivers and a newer version of Nvidia Forceware 305.37, optimized for working with the GTX 660 Ti. Tests of Radeon HD video cards were performed on a system with AMD Catalyst 12.7 drivers installed.
For synthetic performance tests of video cards, the 3Dmark 11 Pro Edition program was chosen. Testing was carried out in Performance and Extreme modes. The standard version of the GTX 660 Ti scored 2755 points, and the video card from Gigabyte was 5 percent faster, showing a result of 2903 points. This is very close to the results of both the GTX 670 and one of the top video cards from AMD - 7970 GHz Edition. And the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti outperformed its direct competitor, the Radeon HD 7870, by 33%.
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Battlefield 3
The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti shows excellent results in the online first-person shooter Battlefield 3: 62 frames per second at a resolution of 1920x1080, which is 20% more than the HD 7870 and 8% higher than the HD 7950.
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Crysis 2
In another first-person shooter, Crysis 2, in DirectX 11 mode at a resolution of 1920x1200 with high-resolution textures activated, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti demonstrates performance on par with the Radeon HD 7950: 38 frames per second (7% faster than the HD 7870).
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Metro 2033
In the very resource-demanding game Metro 2033, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti is several percent ahead of the HD 7870, but is behind the HD 7950 by 12 percent (and 10 percent of the GTX 670). A noteworthy fact: in this test, the 660 Ti was faster than the previous generation single-chip flagship nVidia video card.
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The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim
In the role-playing game The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (resolution 1920x1200), the new product from Gigabyte outperforms its rivals HD 7870 and HD 7950 by almost 10 percent, but is noticeably inferior to the GTX 670. However, 70 frames per second is more than enough for a comfortable game.
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Energy consumption, temperature conditions and noise levels
The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti consumes almost the same amount of power as its “bigger” sister GTX 670. This is apparently explained by the fact that there is no significant difference between the two video cards in terms of the component base. Despite the fact that the version of the Gk104 chip intended for the GTX 660 Ti is somewhat “simplified,” factory overclocking of the GPU in the tested Gigabyte video card model led to an increase in energy consumption. Additionally, the GTX 660 Ti consumes 11 percent more power compared to the HD 7870.
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Under load, the GPU temperature of the Gigabyte video card reached 77 degrees Celsius (the maximum value for the entire testing period), which is slightly higher than that of the Radeon HD 7870 IceQ from HIS, but is within acceptable limits. As for the average temperature level in games, it usually does not exceed 65-70 degrees. Approximately the same values were observed for MSI and ASUS video cards.
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The noise level under load can be called moderate: 43 dB(A) at close range. Let us remember that for MSI this value is 40 dB(A), and for ASUS it is about 37 dB(A). However, it is worth noting that the maximum fan speed level for the Gigabyte video card reaches 52%, while for MSI it does not exceed 41%. However, using special software you can manually reduce the maximum fan speed.
Noise level under typical non-gaming load
Noise level under load (in the game Metro 2033)
Conclusion
The Gigabyte GV-N66TOC-2GD video card showed its best performance in most of the tests: it turned out to be faster than the equal-priced Radeon HD 7870 video card and confidently competes with the more expensive Radeon HD 7950. However, the relatively high power consumption is somewhat confusing - at the level of the GXT 670 , so do not forget to purchase a powerful power supply (we recommend a power level of 550 W). The WindForce 2X cooling system effectively copes with its tasks, maintaining acceptable temperatures under load. If you have a “quiet” system, you may need to reduce the fan speed to 45% so that the video card does not stand out from the general background with the noise it produces.
We rarely have the opportunity to review and test several interesting new products at once, and we have never had the opportunity to conduct a large-scale test of video cards of one model from almost all manufacturers. Today’s material is intended to correct this annoying misunderstanding, since in this article we will study and comprehensively test eight original GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards on the GK104 graphics processor of the “Kepler” architecture, produced by ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, Inno3D, KFA2, MSI, Palit and Zotac. And if this method of presenting information and making comparisons seems interesting to you, then in the future we will try to make just such large-scale materials on serial video cards. We are waiting for your feedback in the comments to the article, and immediately move on to getting to know the testing participants.Specifications
The characteristics of all eight original GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards are shown in the following table:Well, now let's study each of them in detail.
ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II TOP 2 GB (TI-DC2T-2GD5)
The new ASUS TOP series video card comes in a large and colorfully designed box with traces of someone's claws on the front side:
It also contains basic information about the video card, expanded on the back of the box. The package contents are surprisingly poor - only quick installation instructions and a DVI-to-D-Sub adapter:
Probably, the cables for connecting additional power and the CD with drivers and ASUS proprietary utilities were lost somewhere along the way. ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II TOP is released in China and costs $309, which is only $10 more expensive than the reference GeForce GTX 660 Ti. The video card comes with a three-year warranty period.
The design of ASUS video cards is easily recognizable by the DirectCU II cooling system, which covers the entire front side. The card looks stylish, but strict:
Due to the cooler extending beyond the border of the printed circuit board, the length of the video card is 269 mm, and this is the longest GeForce GTX 660 Ti in today's testing. At the same time, the thickness of the ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II TOP is 38 mm, that is, it does not block any three slots, like, for example, the flagship GTX 680.
The video card is equipped with a standard set of outputs: DVI-I and DVI-D (Dual-Link), HDMI and DisplayPort, combined with a grille for partial exhaust of air heated by the video card outside the system unit case:
Two MIO connectors for creating 2-, 3- and 4-way SLI configurations and two six-pin connectors for connecting additional power are installed in places familiar to the GeForce GTX 660 Ti:
Looking ahead, we note that almost all other video cards in today's review have the same configuration of these pairs of connectors, with the exception of one product, which we will definitely talk about separately. Therefore, in the vast majority of cases, we will not dwell on this point any further. Let us add that the recommended power supply power for a system with one such video card is 450 watts.
ASUS traditionally pleases overclocking enthusiasts and provides its product with a unique printed circuit board with an enhanced power supply system:
The graphics processor is allocated six phases at once, the memory – two, and the power circuit – one phase:
The proprietary digital power system DIGI+, coupled with Super Alloy Power technology, which involves the use of only high-quality and durable components, allows to reduce interference by 30%, increase energy efficiency by 15% and extend the service life by 2.5 times in comparison with reference products. It's great that technologies previously used by ASUS only in Hi-End products are gradually becoming more accessible and moving to video cards in the mid-price segment.
The graphics processor of our ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II TOP was released in Taiwan in the 18th week of this year (early May), and belongs to revision A2:
Since we have already studied the GK104 configuration on the GTX 660 Ti earlier, in today’s article we will focus your attention on changes in terms of frequencies of graphics processors of video cards. And here ASUS did not lose face - its graphics processor operates at 1059 MHz in normal 3D mode and at 1137 MHz in forced mode. This, let’s say right away, is a record GPU frequency not only among the eight video cards of the material, but also among all mass-produced GeForce GTX 660 Ti.
ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II TOP is equipped with eight GDDR5 memory chips in FCBGA packaging with a total capacity of 2 GB, manufactured by Hynix Semiconductor Inc.:
The marking of the microcircuits is H5GQ2H24AFR R0C, the theoretical effective operating frequency is 6000 MHz, at which the memory operates. Thus, with a bus width of 192 bits, the memory bandwidth is equal to the reference for the GeForce GTX 660 Ti and is 144.2 GB/sec. All video cards tested today are equipped with chips with the same markings, but not all operate at the same effective frequency.
Final specifications of ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II TOP:
In addition to the unique printed circuit board, ASUS is ready to please fans of efficient and, importantly, quiet cooling. We are, of course, talking about the proprietary ASUS DirectCU II cooling system:
It consists of an aluminum radiator on three copper 8-mm heat pipes with direct contact and an aluminum casing with two fans:
An additional aluminum radiator with a thermal pad is installed on the power elements, blown by the air flow of one of the fans.
Two 75 mm impellers are manufactured by FirstD and are equipped with PWM control:
Their rotation speed is adjusted automatically by the video card in the range from 1000 to 3500 rpm. The maximum power consumption of each fan should not exceed 4.2 W.
Here and below, to check the temperature conditions of the video card as a load, we used five test cycles of the very resource-intensive game Aliens vs. Predator (2010) with maximum graphics quality in a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels with 16x level anisotropic filtering, but without using anti-aliasing to load the GPU to the maximum. The program was used to monitor temperatures and other parameters MSI Afterburner version 2.2.3 and GPU-Z utility version 0.6.4. All tests were carried out in a closed system unit case, the configuration of which you can see in the next section of the article, at room temperature 20 degrees Celcius. All video cards were disassembled before testing, so after assembly they were tested on the same thermal interface on the graphics processor - Arctic MX4 thermal paste.
Let's look at the operating temperature of ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II TOP:
Result: 69 degrees Celsius in automatic fan mode and only 54 degrees Celsius at their maximum speed. These are excellent results, especially considering the increased GPU clock. In addition, we recommend paying special attention to the maximum fan speed with automatic adjustment - only 1440 rpm. But we'll talk about noise level a little later.
We studied the overclocking potential of all video cards at the nominal voltage of the graphics processor. When overclocked, the ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU II TOP did not demonstrate any outstanding results. Without loss in stability and image quality, the base frequency of the GPU was increased by only 50 MHz, and the video memory by 960 effective megahertz:
As a result, the frequencies of the ASUS video card were 1109/1187/6968 MHz:
Not the best, but not the worst overclocking result among all eight video cards tested. But the temperature conditions of the video card and the noise level can be the envy of any other manufacturer:
Only 70 degrees Celsius at peak load with fan speeds of 1410 rpm. Note that the peak frequency of the GPU according to monitoring data was 1239 MHz.
Let's see what other manufacturers can surprise us with.
EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked 2 GB (02G-P4-3662-KR)
EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked sealed in a small cardboard box designed in the style of EVGA products and therefore easily recognizable:
Among the packaging features, we highlight the plastic window, with which you can check the serial number on the packaging and directly on the printed circuit board of the video card:
The package is much richer than the ASUS product and includes everything necessary to connect and operate the video card, as well as bonuses in the form of stickers and a huge calendar poster:
The video card is produced in China and costs $309. Warranty – three years.
Even taking a quick look at the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked, you understand that this is a copy of the reference product:
Only the inscription on the plastic casing indicates that the video card is produced under the EVGA label. The outputs, of course, are standard, but are closed with plastic caps, and the grille is sparse and supplemented to the maximum with additional slots:
A short printed circuit board produced according to the reference design is well known to our regular readers:
Under the tall aluminum radiator are hidden batteries according to the “4+2+1” scheme (GPU+Mem+PLL) controlled by the ON Semiconductor NCP5392P controller:
The GPU crystal protected by a steel frame was released a week later than the GPU of the ASUS video card - week 19 of 2012:
Revision, marking and configuration are no different. The base frequency in 3D mode is 980 MHz, in boost mode – 1059 MHz. This is the most modest overclocking among all other video cards in testing. By the way, while we were preparing this material, EVGA discontinued the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked video card, replacing it with a faster FTW version with frequencies of 1046/1124 MHz, that is, barely lower than ASUS. Perhaps she will also come to us for testing.
The memory chips and its capacity are exactly the same as those of all other video cards in the article:
The effective frequency in 3D mode is not increased relative to the reference and is 6008 MHz, and in general the characteristics of the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked are as follows:
A standard cooling system is hidden under the plastic casing:
It is based on an aluminum radiator with a copper base and thick fins, through which a radial fan drives air flow, cooling the GPU and the radiator on the power switches:
It's simple, inexpensive, and all the hot air is thrown out. But is it effective? We check:
Automatic modeMaximum power
I think no one expected the same results as ASUS DirectCU II from the reference cooler, however, we cannot help but note the fact that the EVGA cooling system copes with its task quite well: 75 degrees Celsius in automatic mode at 1770 rpm and 54 degrees Celsius at a maximum of 3780 rpm.
The overclocking of the GPU did not impress us - we managed to add only 60 MHz to the base frequency, but the memory frankly pleased us, adding an effective frequency to the nominal 1220 MHz:
After overclocking, the frequencies of the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked video card were 1040/1119/7328 MHz:
In high load mode, the GPU frequency after overclocking reached 1197 MHz, and its maximum temperature was 78 degrees Celsius:
Obviously, EVGA turned out to have a very ordinary video card with a reference printed circuit board, a cooling system and not very high frequencies. Perhaps Gigabyte will please us with something more attractive?
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Ultra Durable 2 GB (GV-N66TOC-2GD)
The Gigabyte box again depicts the Decepticon's eye, next to which is information about the video card model, cooling system, video memory and overclocking:
On the reverse side there is information about the product features, system requirements and technologies used. Inside the thin colorful shell is an additional thick cardboard box. A separate compartment in it is reserved for the video card, and in another, smaller compartment, there are two adapter cables for connecting additional power, a CD with drivers and brief installation instructions:
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Ultra Durable is being produced in Taiwan and is already on sale for $299. The video card comes with a three-year warranty.
What differs Gigabyte from the two previous products is the blue PCB and, of course, the cooling system:
The length of the video card, taking into account the cooling system extending beyond the printed circuit board, is 252 mm, thickness – 39 mm.
The outputs are the same as the connectors for SLI and additional power:
The PCB is quite interesting. It would seem that the increased length of the PCB indirectly tells us about the original design:
But, if you take a closer look, Gigabyte uses a reference PCB with a “4+2+1” power supply, just like EVGA, for example:
On the empty rear part of the PCB there are only two power connectors, a fan connector and a couple of small elements. However, Gigabyte talks about the use of Ultra Durable technology in this video card model, thanks to which the GPU temperature is 5-10% lower, the overclocking potential is 10-30% higher, and energy savings can reach 30% compared to reference GeForce samples GTX 660 Ti. Marketing?
The GPU of the Gigabyte video card was released in the same week as ASUS - in early May:
Its base frequency in 3D mode has been increased from the nominal 915 MHz to 1033 MHz, and in boost mode it can increase to 1111 MHz. In addition, we note that despite the GPU frequency not being the highest, according to monitoring data, it was the Gigabyte video card that we observed the largest increase in frequency during testing - up to 1229 MHz.
Two gigabytes of GDDR5 memory are equipped with the same Hynix chips as those of the two previous test participants:
Their effective frequency in 3D mode is 6008 MHz, that is, not at all increased relative to the reference for the GeForce GTX 660 Ti.
Let's look at the specifications of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Ultra Durable and move on to studying the cooling system:
The original Gigabyte WINDFORCE 2X cooling system is a lightweight version of the top-end Gigabyte “Triangle Cool” cooler installed on video cards upper price segment:
The cooler consists of a three-section aluminum radiator on two copper heat pipes with a diameter of 8 mm and a lightweight plastic frame with two 100 mm fans. The fins are soldered to the tubes and base, and a separate copper plate is allocated for the power elements, which is part of the small section of the radiator:
The fan rotation speed is adjusted automatically using the PWM method in the range from 1200 to 2550 rpm (according to monitoring data). The original manufacturer of the turntables, bearing type and electrical characteristics are unknown.
In automatic fan mode, WINDFORCE 2X did a good job of cooling the GPU at peak load to 68 degrees Celsius. At the same time, the fan rotation speed increased only to 1620 rpm:
Automatic modeMaximum power
At a maximum of 2550 rpm, the cooler cools the graphics processor of the video card 8 degrees better with a final 60 degrees Celsius.
When testing the overclocking potential of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Ultra Durable, the GPU frequency was increased by 65 MHz, which is higher than the two previous test participants, but still not impressive. But the memory pleased me, setting the record for today’s article and accelerating by 1460 effective megahertz:
As a result, the frequencies of the overclocked video card were 1098/1176/7468 MHz:
According to monitoring data after overclocking, the GPU frequency under load reached 1293 MHz, which is also a record among the participants in today’s material:
As for the GPU temperature, after overclocking it increased only by 3 degrees Celsius, and the speed of the cooling system fans remained at the same level.
Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti HerculeZ2000S
Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti HerculeZ2000S sealed in a small vertically oriented box:
There is little useful information on it and all of it, it seems to us, was borrowed from the NVIDIA website. Together with the video card, one adapter cable for connecting additional power, a DVI-to-D-Sub adapter and a CD with drivers are supplied:
Country of manufacture: China, warranty: 1 year, retail price: $299.
The entire front side of the video card is covered by a cooling system that extends slightly beyond the edge of the short printed circuit board:
The total length of the video card is 203 mm, and the thickness is 42 mm.
The printed circuit board is made according to the reference design:
Therefore, nothing new or special can be said about the video card’s power system:
But Inno3D is equipped with the latest graphics processor, released at the turn of June and July of this year:
The base frequency of the graphics processor in 3D mode is 915 MHz, in boost mode – 980 MHz, that is, completely standard for the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. The same is with the video card memory; its volume and frequency are identical to the reference ones and are equal to 2 GB and 6008 MHz, respectively.
Thus, the Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti HerculeZ2000S is the only testing video card whose frequencies are not higher than the nominal GeForce GTX 660 Ti:
Therefore, the only thing of interest in this video card is the proprietary HerculeZ2000S cooling system. Compact and lightweight, it consists of a two-section aluminum radiator on four copper heat pipes with a diameter of 6 mm, two fans in plastic frames, decorative fan covers, as well as a metal plate with thermal pads on memory chips and power elements:
Note that the radiator fins are soldered to the heat pipes:
Two 75mm fan impellers are mounted in plastic frames, the edges of which engage with slots in the sides of the radiator. The fans are manufactured by Colorful and are based on plain bearings:
The fan rotation speed is adjusted automatically using pulse-width modulation in the range from 1260 to 3240 rpm. The maximum power consumption of each fan should not exceed 3.4 W.
Let's see how effective the HerculeZ2000S is:
Automatic modeMaximum power
The GPU warmed up to 71 degrees Celsius in automatic fan mode, when their speed increased to 1680 rpm, and to 59 degrees Celsius at a maximum of 3240 rpm. These are average results for today's test takers.
The low base frequency of the GPU allowed the Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti HerculeZ2000S video card to demonstrate good overclocking potential. Thus, the core frequency was increased by 105 MHz, and the video memory by 980 effective megahertz:
At the same time, the final frequency of the Inno3D GPU turned out to be even lower than the base frequency of ASUS and Gigabyte products - only 1020 MHz:
The maximum core temperature after overclocking the video card was 72 degrees Celsius, and the fan speed increased to 1770 rpm:
Not a bad result, considering that Inno3D is not so noisy compared to some other test participants. Let's move on to the next video card of the review.
KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC 3 GB
The fifth alphabetical participant in today's testing was the KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC video card. The box differs from Inno3D only in size and design on the front side, but everything else here is exactly the same:
Together with the video card, two adapter cables for additional power, a DVI-to-D-Sub adapter, a CD with drivers, installation instructions and an advertising booklet are supplied:
The China-made graphics card, which costs $299, comes with a two-year warranty.
Compared to the three previous KFA2 video cards, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC looks grandiose, more like the GeForce GTX 680 than the GTX 660 Ti. Its length is 255 mm:
On the panel with outputs we can only note a sparse lattice:
The MIO connectors for SLI connections here are the same as on all other testing cards, but KFA2 decided not to skimp on power supply and installed eight- and six-pin connectors instead of two six-pin connectors:
At the same time, the power supply requirements for a system with one such video card remain the same - 450 watts.
Having removed the cooling system, it becomes clear that this is a printed circuit board from the original KFA2 GeForce GTX 680 EX OC:
Five phases are allocated to power the graphics processor, and two more to video memory:
The Richtek RT8802A controller is responsible for managing the power of the GPU. Obviously, the power supply circuit enhanced in this way should contribute to more successful overclocking and stability at high frequencies. Let's check.
Externally, the graphics processor of the KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC video card differs from those discussed above only in the release week marking:
Internally - only by frequency, which in the basic mode is 1006 MHz, and in the forced mode - 1085 MHz. This is an average result among other video cards in the material.
The KFA2 memory decided not to overclock, leaving the standard 6008 MHz, but increased its capacity from two to three gigabytes. At the same time, the same Hynix chips are used here as on all other video cards:
Thus, the specifications of the KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC are as follows:
The original cooling system of the video card does not have its own name, but this in no way detracts from its advantages. It's a massive nickel-plated design with a copper base, four 8mm heatpipes and thin aluminum fins:
All interfaces are soldered, and even just visually it is not difficult to determine that the area of the KFA2 radiator is the largest among all today’s cooling systems:
Two 92 mm impellers are installed in plastic frames, which are screwed to a metal casing. The fan manufacturer is Everflow:
The fans use extended life sleeve bearings (EBR). Depending on the temperature of the GPU and the load on the video card, PMW adjustment can change the fan speed in the range from 1100 to 3100 rpm.
KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC demonstrated the highest cooling efficiency both in automatic fan speed control mode and in maximum speed mode:
Automatic modeMaximum power
The GPU warmed up to only 60 degrees Celsius at a fan speed of 1620 rpm and only to 49 degrees at a maximum of 3090 rpm. This is the best result among all eight video cards in the article.
Unfortunately, such an effective cooling system and a reinforced printed circuit board did not contribute to the high overclocking potential of the video card. We were able to overclock the GPU by only 50 MHz, and the video memory by 1300 MHz:
The final frequencies were 1056/1135/7308 MHz:
According to monitoring data, after overclocking the video card, the frequency increased to 1187 MHz, but the operating temperature of the KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC, thanks to the highly efficient cooling system, did not change:
Still the same 60 degrees Celsius with automatic adjustment of fan speed. KFA2 has an interesting product, now let's take a look at MSI's offer.
MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC TwinFrozr IV 2 GB
MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC TwinFrozr IV– the first video card of the Power Edition series that came to us for testing. It will be all the more interesting to find out how it differs from both reference products and more advanced versions.The front side of the very bright packaging contains all the basic information about the product, including support for triple voltage control and improved PWM control:
The back of the package contains detailed specifications of the video card, minimum system requirements and key features in two dozen languages.
The video card comes with two adapter cables for additional power, one DVI-to-D-Sub adapter, a CD with drivers and utilities, installation instructions, and an MSI promotional brochure:
The video card is produced in China and costs $299. The warranty period is three years.
Like ASUS, MSI video cards are easily recognizable in appearance, thanks to the proprietary TwinFrozr cooling system and stylish design:
Note that the MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC TwinFrozr IV is the second longest video card in testing – 257 mm. This must be taken into account if you plan to build a gaming system in a cramped case. The thickness of the video card is only 37 mm.
A standard set of outputs in the form of DVI-I and DVI-D (Dual-Link), HDMI and DisplayPort gives the GeForce GTX 660 Ti simultaneous support for four monitors, and the MSI video card is no exception in this sense:
The additional power and SLI connectors are identical to the reference ones, but MSI has its own printed circuit board:
In the power part we can see five phases of power supply to the GPU, two phases to the video memory and one to the power circuit:
Moreover, only high-quality durable Military Class III components are used in the design of the printed circuit board, using Hi-c CAP capacitors with a tantalum core, SFC chokes and capacitors with Dark Solid CAP solid-state electrolyte. All this, according to MSI, will allow overclockers to squeeze “all the juice” out of the GK104.
The GPU was released in the same week as ASUS and Gigabyte video card dies:
The nominal frequency for 3D mode is 1020/1098 MHz, but according to monitoring data it increased to 1176 MHz. That is a pretty good factory overclock. But the memory capacity (2 GB) and its frequency (6008 MHz) are standard, as are the Hynix chips used:
Let's look at the specifications of the MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC and move on to the TwinFrozr IV cooling system:
The original MSI cooler is already well known to our regular readers, since the company installs it on many of its other video card models that we tested earlier. It is based on an aluminum radiator on four nickel-plated copper heat pipes with a diameter of 8 mm emerging from the copper base:
It has two fans, covered with a metal casing on top. A metal plate with thermal pads is used to cool memory chips and power switches. The radiator uses soldering.
Fans with a diameter of 80 mm are manufactured by Power Logic (model – PLD08010B12HH) and are based on a double rolling bearing:
This is not the best choice in terms of noise level, but it is ideal in terms of durability. However, MSI claims a 17.1 dB gain in noise level and a 14-degree advantage in temperature compared to the reference cooler. TwinFrozr IV really copes well with temperatures:
Automatic modeMaximum power
70 degrees Celsius with automatic adjustment (1620 rpm) and only 55 degrees Celsius on the core at maximum fan power (4170 rpm). We will find out a little later what the noise level is like for this and other coolers.
When checking the overclocking potential of the video card, it turned out that without loss in stability and image quality, the GPU frequency can be increased by 90 MHz, and the video memory frequency by 1160 MHz:
As a result, the MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC took second place out of eight testing video cards in GPU overclocking, and the final frequencies were 1110/1188/7168 MHz:
After overclocking, the core temperature under load increased by 3 degrees Celsius with a final 73 degrees and 1740 rpm for two TwinFrozr IV fans:
The peak core frequency during tests, according to monitoring data, reached 1266 MHz. It cannot be said that the MSI product evokes a “storm of positive emotions,” but overall it is a very good video card that is attractive to the buyer. However, don’t rush to run to the store, we have the next participant and comparative charts next.
Palit GeForce GTX 660 Ti JetStream 2 GB (NE5X66TH1049-1043J)
Palit video cards are regulars in our tests, and today we'll take a look at the GeForce GTX 660 Ti JetStream. If the choice of the best video card depended on the size of its box, then Palit would immediately take this “nomination” - its box is the largest among all test participants:
Today we are seeing the design of the back of the box for the third time - not all designers bother with imagination. But with Palit, the top cover of the box opens, revealing to the potential buyer both the video card itself and comprehensive information about it:
The package contains no frills: two adapters, a power cable and a driver disk:
The birthplace of the product is the Celestial Empire, the cost is $299 and one year warranty.
The JetStream design of Palit products is also easily recognizable. A plastic casing with two transparent fans and a hieroglyph between them is memorable at first glance:
The length of the video card is small - only 245 mm, but the thickness is greater than that of the other seven video cards and is 49 mm. Thus, it will not be possible to use this model in SLI mode if the PCI-Express slots are arranged “one after another” on the motherboard.
Two six-pin connectors for additional power, two MIO connectors and outputs are standard here:
Today we see the printed circuit board of a video card for the fourth time - this is a copy of the reference design:
At the same time, Palit has slightly different batteries installed than EVGA or Inno3D, although the phase configuration remains the same: “4+2+1”:
The GPU revision A2, like all other GPUs, was released in Taiwan using a 28 nm process technology and dated week 13 of 2012 (March-April):
Its base frequency is 1006 MHz, the boost frequency is 1085 MHz, which, according to monitoring data and under high load, reaches 1150 MHz.
Unlike all the testing video cards discussed above, Palit decided to overclock its two gigabytes of memory. True, they were modest with overclocking and added only 100 MHz to the nominal frequency of 6008 MHz for a final 6108 MHz. Of course, there was no need to use any other microcircuits for this - here are all the same Hynix H5GQ2H24AFR R0C chips:
Palit GeForce GTX 660 Ti JetStream specifications are shown in the GPU-Z screenshot:
The video card has exactly the same cooling system as the Palit GeForce GTX 670 Jetstream with an aluminum radiator on three copper heat pipes with a diameter of 6 mm and a plastic casing with two fans:
A tall aluminum radiator with a thermal pad is installed on the power elements.
The fans, like those from MSI, are manufactured by Power Logic and are marked PLA09215S12H:
Thanks to the support of PWM control, they can rotate at speeds from 900 to 2900 rpm.
The operating temperature of the video card is not much different from other test participants: 71 degrees Celsius in automatic fan mode and only 55 degrees Celsius at their maximum speed:
Automatic modeMaximum power
Despite the use of a reference printed circuit board, the absence of new-fangled technologies and a cooling system that is not record-breaking in efficiency, our copy of the Palit GeForce GTX 660 Ti JetStream overclocked the core by 135 MHz (the best result), and the video memory by 1200 MHz, which is also quite good:
The video card frequencies after overclocking were 1141/1220/7308 MHz:
Moreover, in a 3D load, the peak frequency of the GPU remained at 1285 MHz, which is only lower than that of Gigabyte:
But the temperature after overclocking the video card, in our opinion, is still a bit high - 77 degrees Celsius at 1470 rpm.
Let's move on to the last participant in testing - the Zotac product is next in line.
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition 2 GB (ZT-60804-10P)
We have already studied the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti in the basic article about GTX 660 Ti, now it’s time to get acquainted with the accelerated version - ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition.The video card is sealed in a medium-sized cardboard box, on the front side of which the model, memory capacity, support for DirectX 11 and other technologies, extended warranty and Dual Silencer cooling system are indicated:
On the back of the box there is a schematic drawing of the video card itself and individual pictograms indicate that its cooling system is 10 degrees Celsius more efficient and 10 dB quieter than the reference GeForce GTX 660 Ti cooler, plus the fact that AMP! Edition is 10% faster. Below we still list the key features of the graphics card, various NVIDIA technologies and the minimum system requirements.
The video card package includes two adapter cables for connecting power, a DVI-to-D-Sub adapter, a CD with drivers, utilities and software, short and complete installation instructions, as well as a coupon for downloading the game TrackMania 2:
The video card is produced in China and is recommended for sale for $299, that is, exactly the same money as the reference GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2 GB. Zotac provides a so-called extended warranty for its video card for a period of 3 years.
Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition is the most compact video card in testing - its dimensions are only 191x100x37 mm:
We have the fifth and final reference PCB design:
Here, as in the other four cases of “references”, there are four phases of GPU power supply and two phases of video memory power supply:
The GK104 GPU revision A2 was released again in Taiwan, and again in the 18th week of 2012:
The base frequency of the Zotac GPU in 3D mode is 1033 MHz (1111 MHz in boost mode), which is immediately 118 MHz higher than the base frequency of the reference GeForce GTX 660 Ti. According to monitoring data, the GPU frequency increased to 1215 MHz under load. We add that when switching to 2D mode, the frequency drops to 324 MHz at a voltage of 0.987 V.
Hynix memory chips with exactly the same markings as all other video cards in testing:
However, unlike the other participants, the Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition effective memory frequency is 6608 MHz. This should give the Zotac product a head start in resource-intensive modes using anti-aliasing. Let's check with tests.
Let's look at the characteristics of this video card:
On Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition, like the regular version of this video card, has an original Dual Silencer cooling system with three copper heat pipes with a diameter of 6 mm:
The compact aluminum radiator with thin fins houses two 70 mm fans covered with a metal casing:
The fans are released under the Apistek label and are marked GA81S2U. Their rotation speed is adjusted automatically using pulse width modulation (PWM) in the range from 1100 to 3500 rpm.
The maximum power consumption of each such fan should not exceed 4.6 W.
Testing the effectiveness of Dual Silencer on a factory overclocked Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition:
Automatic modeMaximum power
Overall not bad, although it is far from the records of today's test: 71 degrees Celsius in automatic mode and 65 degrees Celsius at maximum fan power.
Like all other test participants, the overclocking potential of the Zotac video card was studied at the maximum Power Limit value, which for this video card is 123%. The GPU frequency of the video card was raised by 65 MHz, and the video memory by only 260 effective megahertz, which, alas, is the worst test result:
The final frequencies of the video card were 1098/1176/6868 MHz:
The maximum GPU frequency in 3D mode after overclocking, according to monitoring data, was 1280 MHz:
The GPU temperature increased to 72 degrees Celsius with a fan speed of 2490 rpm. It's time to talk about the noise level of all video cards tested, and also look at the summary temperature diagrams and the frequency table.
Noise level, temperature summary charts and frequency table
The noise level of video card cooling systems was measured using an electronic sound level meter CENTER-321 after one in the morning in a completely closed room of about 20 m² with double-glazed windows. The noise level was measured outside the system case, when the only source of noise in the room was the cooling system and its fans. The sound level meter, fixed on a tripod, was always located strictly at one point at a distance of exactly 150 mm from the fan rotor/cooler turbine. The motherboard, into which a video card was inserted with a cooling system installed on it, was placed at the very corner of the table on a polyurethane foam backing. The lower measurement limit of the sound level meter is 29.8 dBA, and the subjectively comfortable (not to be confused with low) noise level when measured from such a distance is around 36 dBA. The fan rotation speed was varied over the entire range of their operation using a special precision controller by changing the supply voltage in 0.5 V steps.Let's see what happened according to the graph and table:
Obviously, the DirectCU II cooling system of the ASUS video card is the quietest, and this is confirmed by a subjective assessment of the noise level. In second place is the Zotac Dual Silencer cooler, but it won very little compared to the general group of other video cards. We also note the Palit JetStream cooling system and the reference EVGA video card cooler for the very high noise level. The remaining video cards are approximately the same in noise level.
However, do not forget that when automatically adjusting the rotation speed of cooler fans, they reached different speeds, so it would be useful to mark their operation limits on the graph, which is what we always do in articles about video cards. But since today we have eight video cards at once, the graphics would turn out to be an unreadable mess. Therefore, we acted a little differently, adding the noise level in the automatic mode of operation of the coolers and at their maximum speed to a separate diagram and supplementing these results with data on the maximum temperature of the graphics processor. The video cards on the diagram in each testing mode are sorted in ascending order of noise level. Let's look:
In automatic mode, the ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II TOP video card operates the quietest of all, which is not surprising given its maximum 1440 rpm. At the same time, the ASUS video card took third place in terms of maximum GPU temperature. Impressive result! Next, with a decent difference in noise level, comes a dense group of video cards Inno3D, MSI and KFA2, among which the latest video card stands out for its cooling efficiency. Its cooler overall is the best among all eight video cards in the article. Next, with a slight lag, are video cards from Gigabyte and EVGA, and the reference cooler is quite naturally an outsider in terms of efficiency. Well, the loudest products in automatic mode are Palit and Zotac.
At maximum fan speed the picture changed. In terms of noise level, the Gigabyte video card took the lead, and ASUS moved into second place, at the same time beating Gigabyte by 6 degrees Celsius in terms of peak GPU temperature. Zotac is turning from an outsider into one of the leaders, although the temperatures of this video card are the highest at maximum fan speed. Trailing the Zotac by only 0.1 dBA, the Inno3D graphics card's cooling system cools the GPU 6 degrees Celsius better. However, here you should not forget about the difference in GPU frequencies. The KFA2 product is again located “in the middle of the peloton”, and again leads in temperature. The remaining three from EVGA, MSI and Palit demonstrate practically identical results in noise levels and temperatures.
Next, we have compiled into a separate table all the frequencies of video cards in their nominal operating mode and after overclocking. The best results are marked in red, the worst – in blue:
It is interesting that despite the highest factory frequencies, the ASUS video card did not demonstrate the maximum frequency under load (according to monitoring data). The leader in this indicator was the Gigabyte video card. The Palit product demonstrated the highest core overclocking potential, but under load the Gigabyte frequency was again slightly higher. Note that Gigabyte's Power Limit is by no means the highest, however, it is this card that raises the GPU frequency under load higher than the others. In addition, Gigabyte has the best memory overclocking. The Inno3D video card turned out to be the worst in core overclocking, and Zotac in video memory overclocking.
Now let’s bring together the temperatures of the GPUs of video cards during overclocking and the noise level of their cooling systems during automatic adjustment mode into one diagram, sorting the video cards from top to bottom in order of increasing noise level:
As before, the leader in noise level after overclocking video cards remained the ASUS product, and it also holds second place in terms of GPU temperature. But the first one with a huge 10-degree advantage is the KFA2 video card. This video card truly has the most efficient cooler, and thanks to it, KFA2 was able to rise to second place in terms of noise level. Next comes a dense group of products from Inno3D, MSI and Gigabyte. They demonstrate not only almost the same noise level, but also the temperatures of the GPUs. True, we should not forget about the frequencies, which are higher for MSI and Gigabyte than for Inno3D. The remaining trio of Zotac, Palit and EVGA video cards make noise above 50 dBA, but if Zotac keeps the GPU temperature at the level of other higher-level test participants, then Palit and EVGA fail to do this, they lose 5..6 degrees Celsius. Go ahead.
Energy consumption
The energy consumption of the system with various video cards was measured using the Zalman ZM-MFC3 multifunctional panel, which shows the system consumption “from the outlet” as a whole (excluding the monitor). The measurement was carried out in 2D mode, during normal work in Microsoft Word or Internet surfing, as well as in 3D mode, the load in which was created using a three-time test from the game Metro 2033: The Last Refuge in a resolution of 2560x1440 at maximum settings graphics quality but without using anti-aliasing.Let's see what we got:
The difference in power consumption of systems with eight original GeForce GTX 660 Ti is not significant. The only thing that stands out from the crowd is the Zotac, apparently due to the increased frequency of the video memory. In all other cases, the difference is within 10-12 watts, which, given the total system power consumption of about 400 watts, does not play any role. We dare to suggest that all manufacturers’ statements about the efficiency of their video cards compared to competitors are nothing more than marketing ploys. As for the overclocked GeForce GTX 660 Ti made by Gigabyte, the power consumption of the system with it is 14 watts higher than in the nominal operating mode, and almost reaches the level of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670. The maximum consumption is demonstrated by the system with the Sapphire Radeon HD 7950, still falling within 450 watts.
Test configuration, tools and testing methodology
Testing of video cards was carried out on a system with the following configuration:
Motherboard: Intel Siler DX79SI (Intel X79 Express, LGA 2011, BIOS 0537 dated 07/23/2012);
CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition 3.3 GHz(Sandy Bridge-E, C1, 1.2 V, 6x256 KB L2, 15 MB L3);
CPU cooling system: Phanteks PH-TC14PE (2x135 mm, 900 rpm);
Thermal interface: ARCTIC MX-4;
RAM: DDR3 4x4 GB Mushkin Redline(2133 MHz, 9-10-10-28, 1.65 V);
System disk: SSD 256 GB Crucial m4 (SATA-III, CT256M4SSD2, BIOS v0009);
Disk for programs and games: Western Digital VelociRaptor (SATA-II, 300 GB, 10000 rpm, 16 MB, NCQ) in a Scythe Quiet Drive 3.5" box;
Archive disk: Samsung Ecogreen F4 HD204UI (SATA-II, 2 TB, 5400 rpm, 32 MB, NCQ);
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred (front wall - three Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe S-Series MF12-S2 at 1020 rpm; back – two Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentPRO PL-1 at 1020 rpm; top – standard 200 mm fan at 400 rpm);
Control and monitoring panel: Zalman ZM-MFC3;
Power unit: Seasonic SS-1000XP Active PFC F3(1000 W), 120 mm fan;
Monitor: 27" Samsung S27A850D (DVI-I, 2560x1440, 60 Hz).
In addition to the video cards from the review, we added two more video cards to testing: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Ultra Durable 2 GB and Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Dual-X 3 GB with the latest BIOS version:
As you can see, the frequencies of these video cards are increased relative to the nominal ones, but we did not reduce them to the reference level, since almost all GeForce GTX 660 Ti tested today also have increased frequencies.
To reduce the dependence of video card performance on the platform speed, the 32-nm six-core processor with a multiplier of 37, a reference frequency of 125 MHz and the Load-Line Calibration function activated was overclocked to 4.625 GHz while the voltage in the motherboard BIOS was increased to 1.49 V:
Hyper-Threading technology is activated. At the same time, 16 GB of RAM operated at a frequency of 2 GHz with timings of 9-11-10-28 at a voltage of 1.65 V.
Testing, which began on September 14, 2012, was carried out under the Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 operating system with all critical updates as of the specified date and with the installation of the following drivers:
motherboard chipset Intel Chipset Drivers – 9.3.0.1021 WHQL from 07/27/2012;
DirectX End-User Runtimes libraries, release date: November 30, 2010;
Video card drivers for AMD GPUs – Catalyst 12.8 (8.982.0.0) from 08/15/2012+ Catalyst Application Profiles 12.8 (CAP2);
Video card drivers for NVIDIA GPUs – GeForce 306.23 beta from 08/27/2012.
Since we have 10 video cards in our tests today, we tested their performance only in one resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. However, for the tests, two graphics quality modes were still used: “Quality + AF16x” – texture quality in the drivers by default with anisotropic filtering of 16x level enabled, and “Quality + AF16x + MSAA 4x (8x)” with 16x anisotropic filtering and 4x or 8x full-screen anti-aliasing in cases where the average frames per second remained high enough for comfortable gaming. Anisotropic filtering and full-screen anti-aliasing were enabled directly in the game settings. If these settings were missing in games, then the parameters were changed in the control panels of the Catalyst and GeForce drivers. Vertical sync was also disabled there. No further changes were made to the driver settings.
The list of test applications was reduced to one semi-synthetic package and 7 of the most recent and resource-intensive games, updated to the latest versions (as of the start date of tests). Here's what it looks like:
3DMark 2011(DirectX 11) – version 1.0.3.0, “Performance” and “Extreme” settings profiles;
Metro 2033: The Last Refuge(DirectX 10/11) – version 1.2, official test was used, quality settings “Very High”, tessellation, DOF enabled, AAA anti-aliasing was used, double sequential pass of the “Frontline” scene;
Total War: Shogun 2(DirectX 11) – version 2.0, built-in test (Battle of Sekigahara) at maximum graphics quality settings and used in one of the MSAA 4x modes;
Crysis 2(DirectX 11) – version 1.9, used Adrenaline Crysis 2 Benchmark Tool v1.0.1.14 BETA, “Ultra High” graphics quality settings profile, high-resolution textures activated, double demo recording cycle on the “Times Square” stage;
Battlefield 3(DirectX 11) – version 1.4, all graphics quality settings are set to “Ultra”, double sequential playthrough of a scripted scene from the beginning of the mission “On the Hunt” lasting 110 seconds;
Nexuiz(DirectX 11) – version 1.0, all graphics quality settings are set to “Ultra”, double run of the test built into the game on the “High” and “Ultra” settings profiles;
Sniper Elite V2 Benchmark(DirectX 11) – version 1.05, used Adrenaline Sniper Elite V2 Benchmark Tool v1.0.0.2 BETA maximum graphics quality settings (“Ultra”), Advanced Shadows: HIGH, Ambient Occlusion: ON, Stereo 3D: OFF, double sequential test run;
Sleeping Dogs(DirectX 11) – version 1.0, built-in test, maximum graphics quality settings for all items, Hi-Res Textures pack installed, FPS Limiter and V-Sync disabled, double sequential test run with total anti-aliasing at the “Normal” level and at the “ Extreme."
Let's add that if games implement the ability to record a minimum number of frames per second, then it is also reflected in the diagrams. Each test was carried out twice; the best of the two values obtained was taken as the final result, but only if the difference between them did not exceed 1%. If the deviations of the test runs exceeded 1%, then the testing was repeated at least once more to obtain a reliable result.
Performance test results and analysis
In the diagrams, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards are arranged in alphabetical order, as in the review, and they are “framed” by the GeForce GTX 670 and Radeon HD 7950. The results of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Ultra Durable 2 GB are marked in green, and the Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Dual in red. -X 3 GB, and dark turquoise - all GeForce GTX 660 Ti with a separate highlighting of the results of the overclocked Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti. The memory capacity is indicated only for the KFA2 product, for, in our opinion, understandable reasons.3DMark 2011
Despite the close frequencies of most GeForce GTX 660 Ti, in the “Performance” settings mode we can observe a noticeable scatter in the results. Moreover, the leaders are not the products of ASUS or Zotac, which have the highest core and memory frequencies, respectively, but Gigabyte. It is probably the maximum peak frequency of the GPU, which is the highest in the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Ultra Durable, that allowed this video card to take the lead. The last place among the GeForce GTX 660 Ti was quite naturally taken by the Inno3D product, whose frequencies are equal to the reference ones. In the “Extreme” settings mode, the difference between the video cards is leveled out, but Gigabyte and Zotac are still slightly faster than everyone else.
Metro 2033: The Last Refuge
In Metro 2033: The Last Refuge, the difference in performance between all eight GeForce GTX 660 Ti is either absent or 1-2 frames per second. Mathematically, the leadership belongs to Zotac, yet the factory overclocking of the video memory of this video card was not in vain. Note that the Radeon HD 7950 in this game is ahead of all GeForce GTX 660 Ti and even the slightly overclocked GeForce GTX 670. The additional gigabyte of video memory of the KFA2 product is of no use.
Total War: Shogun 2
The difference between the GeForce GTX 660 Ti and the game Total War: Shogun 2 is minimal. Only in the mode without anti-aliasing we can observe a slight scatter in the results. The slowest is again Inno3D, and the fastest are Gigabyte and Zotac. The overclocked GeForce GTX 660 Ti is not inferior to the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Ultra Durable, and 3 GB of video memory on the KFA2 again has no effect.
Crysis 2
The same picture is repeated in the game Crysis 2:
Battlefield 3
We can see a slightly larger spread in the results of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti in the game Battlefield 3, but the leaders and the outsider remained the same. Three gigabytes of memory on the KFA2 in these test modes do not bring additional performance gains compared to the usual two-gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti.
Nexuiz
In the Nexuiz game test, only the Zotac product was able to stand out against the general background of the results of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, and the Gigabyte results are closer to the bulk of these video cards. It is impossible not to note the overwhelming superiority of the Radeon HD 7950 in this game, created with the support of AMD, by the way.
Sniper Elite V2 Benchmark
In Sniper Elite V2, the difference between the original GeForce GTX 660 Ti can only be seen in mode without anti-aliasing, where Zotac and Gigabyte are once again slightly faster than other video cards. As for the mode using supersampling, the difference in performance does not exceed 1-2 frames per second. At the same time, all video cards tested today on NVIDIA GPUs are significantly slower than the Sapphire Radeon HD 7950.
Sleeping Dogs
The test results in the game Sleeping Dogs do not stand out from the general series either.
We attach the final one to the diagrams and move on to the conclusion.
Conclusion
Despite the noticeably different frequencies of the eight GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards reviewed and tested in today's article, the performance of the slowest of them differs from the performance of the fastest by no more than 6-8% on average. Not all players will be able to feel this difference. However, given that the cost of video cards varies by no more than $10, most of us will choose the fastest ones, which is nice at least from a psychological point of view. There are also no tangible advantages for a video card with three gigabytes of memory versus the usual two gigabytes, as tests of the KFA2 product have shown. At least this is true for a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, including modes using anti-aliasing. Therefore, characteristics such as noise level and cooling efficiency, which are closely related to overclocking potential, come to the forefront of the difficult choice of GeForce GTX 660 Ti. And if we cannot objectively evaluate the latter, having only one copy of each video card in tests, then we made an assessment of the first two characteristics today. It's time to give all the sisters small “earrings”.ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II TOP is the best choice of all tested GeForce GTX 660 Ti, in our opinion. And the point is not at all in the highest frequency of the graphics processor, but in a very quiet and fairly efficient cooling system that can satisfy both the most demanding esthete in terms of noise level and overclockers. The latter will like the reinforced printed circuit board with a high-quality element base and a three-year warranty. The poor configuration of the video card does not correspond to its status, but this point is still not critical when choosing.
EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Superclocked is a reference product in every way with a slightly increased GPU frequency. No matter how much we respect EVGA, it lost today’s round, finishing only in the last eighth place. Noisy and relatively inefficient cooler, simple reference PCB and lackluster performance in overclocking and performance tests. All this does not allow us to recommend this video card for purchase. Is this why EVGA has already discontinued this model, replacing it with a more interesting modification FTW?
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Ultra Durable – Gigabyte did not lose face in today’s review and testing. Like all the other six participants in the test, it loses in terms of noise level and efficiency to the ASUS product, but lags behind quite a bit. In addition, in tests, Gigabyte consistently outperforms all other video cards with the exception of Zotac. We would probably give Gigabyte third place in today's material.
Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti HerculeZ2000S is another model with a reference PCB. However, unlike EVGA, Inno3D engineers equipped their video card with an original cooling system, and judging by the results demonstrated by it, it turned out quite well. But they forgot to raise the frequencies at the factory, but that would have been very useful, because the Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti HerculeZ2000S turned out to be the only video card in the article with nominal frequencies.
KFA2 GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC 3 GB is, first of all, a video card with an amazingly efficient cooler. Even the reinforced circuit board, which is a copy of the flagship GTX 680 EX OC, fades into the background when the original KFA2 cooler “brings” 10 degrees Celsius to the maximum GPU temperature for all other test participants. In addition, the increased GPU frequency and moderate noise level, the final second place in the combination of noise and temperatures after overclocking video cards, allow us to give second place after ASUS to the KFA2 video card.
MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC TwinFrozr IV – we can’t say anything bad about the MSI video card. This is a very high-quality product with an expensive and reliable element base, an effective cooler, an increased graphics processor frequency, and, in addition, it looks stylish. The bonus in the form of a system for removing dust from the cooler is completely unique. If the MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC TwinFrozr IV were a little quieter, a little faster and a little more efficient, it could easily outperform Gigabyte or even ASUS. We recommend purchasing, but only if there are no test leaders.
Palit GeForce GTX 660 Ti JetStream – again a reference printed circuit board, an original cooler and increased frequencies of the graphics processor and even memory. However, it is the high noise level of the JetStream cooling system that does not allow us to recommend this model for purchase. The company's engineers should still work on the plastic casing in which the fans are mounted in order to reduce the noise they emit and make the video card more attractive from this point of view. At the same time, let us recall that it was Palit that today demonstrated the highest overclocking potential of the GPU.
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition - the smallest video card in the material turned out to be the fastest based on the sum of all tests. Thanks to significantly increased memory and core clocks on par with other manufacturers' graphics cards, Zotac was able to outperform all other GeForce GTX 660 Tis. But in terms of cooling efficiency and noise level, Zotac does not yet reach the leaders. Perhaps the just released version of AMP! Can Extreme Edition achieve this? Let's see. And that's all for today.