660 ti overclock: OC: Power, Temperature, & Noise

Gigabyte GTX 660Ti Overclock 2GB Graphics Card Review

Chris Hadley / 10 years ago

We’ve seen a lot from NVIDIA over the last few months, especially with the launch of the mighty GTX 680 and its trimmed version the GTX 670. Whilst both of these have been eagerly awaited and have taken the markets by storm, there is one other chip in NVIDIA’s arsenal that we have yet to see – the GTX 660 Ti. Before we get tucked into some Gigabyte VGA goodness, its worth while looking over the general specifications of the GTX 660Ti in its own right.

Built around the GK104 Kepler GPU core, the 660Ti features 1344 Cuda cores and 2GB of GDDR5 memory on a 192-bit interface. Fresh from the NVIDIA factories, the stock boards will have a core clock speed of 915MHz, boosting to 980MHz and a TDP of 150W. As it stands, that is what NVIDIA are shipping out to their partners and any variations that you see on this card, whether it be higher clock speeds or a SKU with a 3GB memory capacity are solely down to each individual parter.

During a recent product briefing, NVIDIA have stated that the GTX 660Ti is directly comparable to their earlier GTX 470 and GTX 260 with a ~1.8x performance upgrade over the 470 and a 3.3x increase over the much older 260. They have also claimed that the 660Ti is going to be able to directly take on the popular 7950 over from the red team AMD with the possibility that in some small cases it will be able to take on a 7970 as well. This latter statement is quite a bold one at that and one that we should aim to prove in this review and subsequent reviews from other partners.

Getting back on track with the card we have to look at today, Gigabyte have taken the 660Ti and given it a little extra poke meaning that as the card is launched today (16th August 2012), they will have both stock and overclock versions available on the shelves to buy. The OC version that we have here to look at features the popular Windforce designed cooler with a twin fan design and a patent pending cooler design with “Triangle Cool” technology.

Support eTeknix.com

Review of video card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti

NVIDIA today introduced another video card based on a 28-nanometer Kepler architecture GPU. Previously, those wishing to experience the benefits of the new developments of Californians had to allocate a tidy sum to purchase the appropriate device. The GeForce GTX 660 Ti will be of interest to those who do not miss iconic gaming hits, but are not ready to spend more than $400 on a graphics adapter. What is the novelty capable of and is it destined for the role of another hit? Let’s figure it out.

Transition to the new graphics architecture Kepler NVIDIA started with older models, first introducing the flagship GeForce GTX 680 , and then the dual-chip GTX 690 and GTX 670 . The bet on top solutions with the maximum price tag turned out to be successful in the end — according to the results of the last quarter, the company managed to double its profit. In many ways, this was facilitated by the active position of NVIDIA in the segment of devices for mobile solutions, but the direction of discrete video cards also showed growth.

However, the company’s worthy financial results are certainly good, but users are frankly waiting for more affordable, and at the same time, productive video cards based on Kepler architecture chips.

Course

POBUDOVA BUSINESS PROCESS

Learn how to lead business processes appropriately to new company goals.

REGISTER!

Zmist

• 1 GeForce GTX 660 Ti
• 2 Price
• 3 MSI N660Ti Power Edition 2GD5/OC
• 4 Acceleration
• 5 Results of testing
• 6 Results
  • 6.1 MSI N660TI Power Edition 2GD5/OC provided for testing by MSI, UA. MSI.MSI.com

  GTX 660 TIS 9007 9 660 Ti, the company needed to take into account several factors that could affect the success of this decision. On the one hand, it obviously should be less productive than older adapters in the series. At the same time, it is desirable (for the developer, of course) to reduce the effect of overclocking, so that tuned modifications, as well as video cards overclocked at home, do not have too much influence on sales of top adapters. Obviously, the developer needed to maintain the performance gradation in its line of devices, while not forgetting about potential rivals from the camp of the main competitor, which presented its solutions in the medium-high price segment six months ago and has already managed to gain a foothold there. So what happened to NVIDIA in the end?

  At first glance, the technical characteristics of the new product are very similar to those for the GeForce GTX 670. In this case, the same graphics processor is used as for NVIDIA’s top solutions — GK104 with a crystal area of ​​294 mm² and 3. 5 billion transistors on board . The base frequency of the chip, containing in this case 1344 computing units, is 915 MHz with a typical forcing using GPU Boost up to 980 MHz. The video card has on board 2 GB GDDR5, which, like the older models, operates at 6008 MHz. What are the differences from the top solutions? First of all, this is a reduced memory bus width — from 256 to 192 bits The result is a drop in throughput from 192 GB/s to 144 GB/s. Obviously, this will affect the performance of the video card, especially in high resolution modes and quality settings. However, for the GeForce GTX 660 Ti , the simplifications did not end there. Recall that the «full» GK104 contains 8 SMX modules, totaling 1536 computing units. It is these chips that are equipped with the top GeForce GTX 680, while in the GK104 used for the GeForce GTX 670, one SMX module with 192 stream processors. The same modification of the chip is also used for the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, however, in this case, the number of rasterization units (ROPs) has been reduced by a quarter — from 32 to 24, while the number of texture units (TMU) has remained at the same level — 112. The reduction in ROPs is somewhat will reduce the filling and rendering speed of pixels, which will also partly affect the overall performance of the video card.

  As for the power consumption level, the video card claims TDP at the level of 150 W , which is 20 W less than the GTX 670. At the same time, the requirement for the power supply recommended by the PSU developer is 450 W instead of 500 W. However, two six-pin 12V connectors are still used to connect additional power. The standard interface panel will contain two DVI (Dual-Link), HDMI and DisplayPort (1.2) connectors.

  Video card specifications:

  	GeForce GTX 670	GeForce GTX 660 Ti	GeForce GTX 580	Radeon HD 7950	Radeon HD 7870
  Crystal name	GK104	GK104	GF110	Tahiti XT	Pitcairn
  Manufacturing process, nm	28	28	40	28	28
  Chip area, mm²	294	294	520	365	212
  Number of transistors, billion	3. 54	3.54	3	4.31	2.8
  GPU clock speed, MHz	915/980	915/980	772	800	1000
  Number of stream processors	1344	1344	512	1792	1280
  Number of texture units	112	112	64	112	80
  Number of ROPs	32	24	48	32	32
  Memory (type, volume), MB	GDDR5, 2048	GDDR5, 2048	GDDR5, 1536/3072	GDDR5, 3072	GDDR5, 2048
  Memory bus bit	256	192	384	384	256
  Memory frequency, MHz	6008	6008	4008	5000	4800
  Memory bandwidth, GB/s	192	144	192	264	154
  Energy consumption, W	170	150	244	200	175
  Recommended price	$399	$300	$350-450*	$349	$299

  * — according to the hotline. ua catalog

  Special PCB design for GeForce GTX 660 Ti was not developed. Given the use of GK104 and the similarity of the main technical characteristics, PCBs from the GeForce GTX 670 are suitable for these adapters. Video card manufacturers, of course, will not fail to take advantage of this opportunity. NVIDIA partners have already presented their adapter options, which are similar in appearance to the GeForce GTX 670.

  It is curious that among the models announced at the start, there are no modifications with recommended clock frequencies. Video card manufacturers, at any opportunity, use the potential of the GK104, which is capable of operating at frequencies significantly higher than 1 GHz. Therefore, without great fear, higher values ​​\u200b\u200bare set as the base ones.

  Price

  Now about the important thing — about the price. The cost of models on the reference design and recommended clock speeds is declared at level $300 . Obviously, the original models with factory overclocking and alternative COs will be slightly different in price and will rather lie in the range of $ 300-350 . The most nimble sellers will certainly want to skim the cream off the first deliveries, but they will not have much room for maneuver. For $400, faster GeForce GTX 670s are already offered, so GeForce GTX 660 Ti with a similar price tag will be doomed to wait on the shelves for the moment when the price matches the recommended one.

  MSI N660Ti Power Edition 2GD5/OC

  We studied the capabilities of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti using the MSI N660Ti Power Edition 2GD5/OC as an example. This modification of the video card uses the original printed circuit board, identical to that of the GeForce GTX 670 from the Power Edition line. Compared to the reference, this PCB has a reinforced seven-phase power supply subsystem (5 + 2) and converter components that comply with the Military Class III classification.

  In the case of the «OS» variant, the base clock frequency of the chip has been increased from 915 to 1020 MHz (11.5%) while the average value of dynamic acceleration is also increased to 1098 MHz. 2 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at the recommended 6008 MHz (1502 MHz).

  The video card is equipped with the Twin Frozr IV cooler, which has a familiar heatsink design with four nickel-plated heat pipes (2×6 mm + 2×8 mm). The structure is blown by two 80 mm axial fans.

  The efficiency of the cooling system in this case was a pleasant surprise. Despite the fact that the forced modification of the Power Edition has an increased TDP of up to 190 W. The cooler does an excellent job of dissipating heat. In rest mode — 27 degrees and 1080 rpm, in heavy gaming mode — 61 degrees and only 1470 rpm, well, FurMark was able to warm up the chip to 67, while the fan speed increased to only 1590 rpm. Excellent results, especially considering that the noise level emitted by the video card during operation is below average.

  Overclocking

  Exploring the potential of the graphics chip, we managed to further increase the base clock frequency by 50 MHz — from 1020 MHz to 1070 MHz . At the same time, the memory worked stably at 7132 MHz (1783 MHz).

  It is important to note that thanks to GPU Boost technology, the operating clock frequency of the chip under load almost always exceeds the base one. For example, with the declared nominal 1020 MHz, in most cases in games the core functioned at 1162 MHz. And these were not short-term bursts, but long time periods during which the implemented technology adjusted the parameters to obtain maximum performance. After increasing the nominal frequency from 1020 to 1070 MHz, the chip was automatically accelerated to 1228 MHz quite often.

  The memory subsystem is perhaps not the strongest place even in top NVIDIA video cards. In the case of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, you can try to compensate for the reduced bus width by increasing the frequency. The theoretical memory bandwidth in normal mode (1502 MHz) is 144.2 GB / s, and after overclocking the memory to 1783 MHz, it increases to 171.2 GB / s, although this is still less than the GeForce GTX 670 (192 .3 GB/s). Let’s see how this affects performance.

  The overclocking results of one video card are not enough to generalize about the potential of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. Nevertheless, the data obtained suggests that the novelty on the GK104 has good opportunities for further acceleration.

  Test results

  GeForce GTX 670 was chosen as a benchmark for evaluating the capabilities of the new product. The level of performance in relation to that of this video card will be a good indicator of the capabilities of the youngest modification based on the GK104 chip.

  If we talk about the performance of the GTX 660 Ti in normal mode (915/6008 MHz), then, depending on the application, the lag behind the GTX 670 at a resolution of 1920×1080 is 5–25% (~15–18% on average). The increase in clock frequencies can significantly reduce the gap. After overclocking the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, in most cases it is possible to demonstrate results similar to the GTX 670. And, we must admit that a very decent level. Let’s not forget that the cost of the GTX 670 starts at $400, while the recommended price of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti is much lower. With the announcement of the novelty, you can release top-end video cards with chips based on Fermi — GeForce GTX 580/570 without a twinge of conscience. Even in stock mode, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti often has the advantage. The flagship on the GF110 in some cases can still compete with a daring newcomer, but considering the price it is given to him in all respects, it is obvious that the time has come for new heroes.

  Comparing the performance of direct competitors from AMD and NVIDIA is traditionally not an easy task. Much here depends on the games used, the features of the engines of which may give preference to one or another graphic architecture. Against the closest devices in price, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti performs very well even in GCN-loyal applications — almost parity with the Radeon HD 7870 in Metro 2033 and 8% behind in AVP. If we consider the situation in other games and synthetic applications, then the younger model on the GK104 has an advantage even over the more expensive Radeon HD 79fifty.

  Results

  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti leaves a good impression. Decent level of performance at a very attractive price. Certain simplifications, of course, affected the performance in comparison with older video cards based on the GK104, however, when comparing the bars on the diagrams, one must also take into account the cost of the devices. The GeForce GTX 660 Ti significantly lowers the price of entry into the world of the latest graphics adapters — fast, functional and economical. And this is very good news for those who expected to re-equip their PC on the eve of the start of a hot gaming autumn, having spent about $300 on a video card.

  AMD, although it has made a preemptive move, reducing the recommended price of the Radeon HD 7870 to $299, and the Radeon HD 7950 to $349, will not stop there. In particular, the company intends to revise the frequency formula for the Radeon HD 7950 by increasing the GPU frequency from 800 to 850 MHz. Moreover, the Power Tune algorithm will be activated, which, depending on the nature of the load, will automatically increase the frequency up to 925 MHz. The corresponding BIOS for video cards on the reference design is already available to everyone. As a result, all those who like to play comfortably will win, regardless of which video cards with chips from which developer they prefer.

  MSI N660Ti Power Edition 2GD5/OC graphics card provided for testing by MSI, ua.msi.com

  Test bench configuration

  Processor	Intel Core i7-3770K @ 4.5 GHz	Intel, www. intel.ua
  Cooler	Thermalright Archon Rev.A	«1-Incom», www.1-incom.com.ua
  Motherboard	MSI Z77A-GD65 (Intel Z77 Express)	MSI, www.msi.com
  RAM	Team Xtreem TXD38192M2133HC9KDC-L (2×4 GB DDR3-2133)	DC-Link, www.dclink.com.ua
  Accumulator	Intel SSD 520 (SSDSC2CW240A3, 240 GB)	Intel, www.intel.ua
  Power supply	Thermaltake Toughpower Grand TPG-1200M (1200 W)	Thermaltake, www.thermaltakeusa.com

  characteristics, overclocking, tests in games

  Author Alexey For reading 11 min. 955 views Published 06/06/2020 Updated 12/23/2020

  The GeForce GTX 660 video card is based on the Kepler architecture, the equipment was introduced in early autumn 2012. The manufacturer used an original microprocessor in the design, which differs in design from the Ti version chip. The new die supported DirectX 11 1, Physx TXAA, and Adaptive V protocols, providing improved performance in gaming applications.

  Content

  1. Characteristics
  2. Design features
  3. Acceleration
  4. Tests in games
  5. Check in the games of the 2019 sample
  6. AMD

  Characteristics

  ACCEL 221 mm. out of 2.54 billion transistors. The microcircuit is assembled according to a 28-nanometer technological process, which made it possible to reduce temperature and power consumption. The nVidia GPU microprocessor used in the card includes 3 graphics processing clusters and 5 multiprocessor modules containing

  Ti model from ASUS

  The Asus GTX 660 Ti adapter, according to reviews and tests, has improved characteristics. For example, the performance in FP32 applications reaches 2459.5 gigaflops versus 1881. 6 gigaflops for the standard modification. The advantage is maintained in the FP64 processes (102.47 and 78.4 gigaflops, respectively). It should be noted that the Ti series video card is based on the GK104 microprocessor, borrowed from the «older» GTX 670 and 680 models.

  The GK106 chip architecture is based on 5 SMX multiprocessor modules, which are assembled into 3 GPC clusters. The manufacturer used 3 memory controllers (64 bits each), which resulted in an asymmetric circuit. The reference GeForce GTX 660 2 GB sample was equipped with 6008 MHz RAM, which has overclocking potential. To improve performance, Boost Clock technology is used, which allows you to automatically increase the operating frequency of the chip up to 1032 MHz.

  6 phases are used to power the processor, an additional pair of phases is connected to the memory chips. The design of the power circuits provides 1 more phase for supplying current to additional structural elements. The element base depends on the manufacturer of the card, for example, Asus uses a digital power system with an ASP1212 controller. Through the use of Super Alloy Power technology, it was possible to reduce power losses and reduce radio frequency interference.

  Design features

  The GeForce GTX reference card is equipped with a cooling system with 1 turbine-type fan located on the rear edge of the heatsink. From above, the cooling system is closed with a decorative casing that provides improved cooling. The maximum temperature of the microprocessor is +97°C, the design includes a sensor to control the speed of the fan impeller. A separate aluminum plate with fins is used to cool the elements of the voltage converter.

  Reference model

  Manufacturers of cards based on the 660 chip used cooling systems of their own design. For example, Gigabyte GTX660 is equipped with a combined design heatsink. The device consists of copper heat pipes on which aluminum fins are mounted. To reduce the temperature, 2 fans with the opposite direction of rotation are used, which are installed on a plastic removable platform. The cooling system covers the adjacent slot on the motherboard, which should be considered when purchasing additional devices.

  Dual Link DVI D, HDMI and 1 x Displayport and 1 x DL DVI I ports for connecting external devices (both DVI connectors are Dual-Link compatible), 4 monitors can be used simultaneously (adapters are required for switching analog equipment) . On the end plate there is a grill for the removal of warm air. Some manufacturers (for example, EVGA) use additional slots to improve air circulation conditions.

  Model from Gigabyte

  Because of the increased power consumption, 6-pin plugs are used in the design of the adapters. Graphics adapters based on the meringue of the 660 series chip support the DirectX 12.0 and OpenGL 4.3 APIs, as well as the Adaptive VSync adaptive synchronization protocols. The card is compatible with 3D Vision Ready and 3D Gaming protocols, and supports Blu Ray 3D hardware decoding. 3D Vision Surround technology allows you to broadcast a stereoscopic image to multiple monitors simultaneously (without an SLI bridge), G-Sync More synchronization is supported.

  Overclocking

  To check the overclocking potential, use the MSI Afterburner utility, which allows you to adjust the supply voltage and displays the operating parameters of the video card. The equipment is equipped with an original power supply system that limits the power to 146 watts. Limiting the parameter allows you to slightly increase the frequency of the graphics core and memory or increase the frequency range of one of the elements, leaving the characteristics of the other unchanged.

  Before overclocking an nVidia GeForce GTX 660 video card equipped with 2Gb of RAM, you should remove dirt from the surface of the fans and radiator fins.

  The results of increasing the frequency depend on the manufacturer of the adapter and the characteristics of the chip used in the video card. For example, the product GTX660 FTW Signature 2 from EVGA managed to overclock to 55 and 660 MHz (parameters for the graphics core and video memory, respectively). Further growth of parameters leads to the appearance of artifacts on the screen and emergency shutdown of the adapter.

  Evga’s FTW Signature 20 MHz, and for RAM, the parameter was increased by 760 MHz. Thanks to the original cooling system, the overclocked card warmed up to only +61°C, but the fans were spinning up to 2000-2100 rpm (the rotational speed of the EVGA product was 1800-1850 rpm at a stable core temperature of up to +72°C).

  Game tests

  Game tests were conducted in mid-2012 using an Intel Core i7-2600K processor and Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard. The computer was equipped with 8 GB of RAM (in 2-channel mode), a 30-inch DELL 3008WFP monitor (resolution up to 2560 * 1600 pixels at a refresh rate of 60 Hz) was used to display a graphic image. AMD Catalyst 12.9 drivers were used to ensure the performance of adapters from AMD and nVidia0005

  102 fps

  Kingdoms Of Amalur Reckoning (2560*1600)

  59 fps

  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920*1080)

  75 fps

  S. T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (2560*1600)

  43 FPS

  World of Tanks (1920*1080)

  91 FPS

  World of Tanks (2560*1600)

  89 FPS

  Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning (1920*1080)

  87 FPS

  KingDoms (2560*1600)

  53 FPS

  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920*1080)

  81 FPS

  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: 2560*1600) 50 FPS

  World of TANKS (1920) World of Tanks (1920) World of Tanks (1920) World of Tanks (1920)

  World of Tanks (2560*1600)

  78 fps

  Kingdoms Of Amalur Reckoning (1920*1080)

  80 fps

  Kingdoms Of Amalur Reckoning (2560*1600)

  50 fps

  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920*1080)

  77 fps

  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (2560*1600)

  47 FPS

  World of Tanks (1920*1080)

  93 FPS

  World of Tanks (2560*1600)

  9000 78 78 FPS 9000 GB of RAM, the video card based on the HD7950 microprocessor is distinguished by the use of 3 GB of RAM. Kingdoms Of Amalur Reckoning achieved over 80 fps at 1080p with anisotropic filtering enabled and high settings. When the image quality is increased to a maximum resolution of 2560 * 1600 pixels, the frequency drops to 50-63 FPS. When overclocked, the HD79 comes out on top50, which provides a frame rate of 76 FPS (thanks to additional memory).

  In the game Call of Pripyat with a resolution of 1920*1080 pixels, the HD7950 and 660Ti take the first positions, the standard 660 processor loses to the leaders by 5-7%. When overclocking or increasing the resolution, the picture does not change, AMD products keep the leading position, the card based on the GTX660 remains at the 4th position in the rating. In the World of Tanks application, the capabilities of the adapters are on the same level, with an increase in resolution to 2560 * 1600 pixels, nVidia products are ahead.

  Tested in 2019 games

  For example, running Apex Legends (2019 in development) at FullHD resolution and high graphics quality (using FXAA or TXAA anti-aliasing algorithms) results in a frame rate of 62 FPS (with dips) in dynamic scenes up to 55 frames). The Metro Exodus (2019) app has high graphics card requirements, with a refresh rate of 50 FPS under similar conditions, but when the graphics settings are reduced to the average level, the parameter reaches a comfortable 72 frames per second.

  When you increase the resolution to 1440p, it is recommended to lower the graphics quality settings to medium. For example, Far Cry New Dawn will launch at 65.8 FPS (temporarily reduced to 52 FPS in action scenes, which does not affect gameplay). The test in games at a resolution of 2160p and medium settings shows insufficient processor power. To ensure a comfortable frame rate value, it is necessary to reduce the image quality to a minimum.

  Rage 2 can only be launched with minimal graphics settings and effects disabled, but even with these settings, the frame rate is below a comfortable level. When moving objects appear on the screen, the FPS drops to 10-12 frames per second, which leads to the division of streaming video into separate frames. The developer of the game application recommends using adapters based on GTX 780 processors with 3 GB of memory (minimum level) or GTX 1070 with 8 GB of memory (enough for a comfortable game).

  By 2019, the 660 chip card has become obsolete, but the graphics chip is powerful enough to run games at lower settings. If the quality of the image at high resolution is important for the user, then it is recommended to purchase a gaming computer with a video card based on the RTX2080 chip with support for ray tracing technology. For workstations used in 3D graphics processing, adapters based on Radeon Pro Duo microprocessors (consists of 8192 shader elements) are used.

  Analogue from AMD

  AMD produced graphics cards based on the HD 7870 chip, which corresponded in terms of performance to the 660 series of processors from nVidia. The Pitcairn XT microprocessor is built using a 28nm process technology. The chip is characterized by increased up to 1280 pcs. the number of shader units, the core frequency is 1000 MHz.