Normal temperature of nvidia gtx 660 card. Video cards
Released in 2012, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 graphics card was considered one of the best budget options for graphics adapters of its time. Enough of its capabilities to launch modern games, although the model is no longer installed on gaming PCs. For the entire time of release, two modifications of the card were created: with 2 GB and 3 GB of memory, however, the 3 GB version was not as popular as the younger one.
The main specifications of the GTX 660 are as follows:
- number of CUDA processors: 960;
- number of texture blocks: 80 pcs.;
- memory bus width: 192 bits;
- CPU clock speed: 980-1033 MHz;
- GDDR5 memory: 2048 or 3072 MB.
Among other characteristics of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660, it is worth noting the power consumption level (TDP), which is 140 watts. The model supports simultaneous operation of three monitors. And the resolution of a monitor connected to a PC with this card can reach 2048×1536 pixels for an analog port and 3840×2160 pixels for DisplayPort.
Video card overview
The Nvidia GTX 660 model with 2 GB of video memory is connected to motherboard to the PCI-E slot and allows you to connect peripheral devices via 2 DVI ports, one DisplayPort and HDMI. The digital audio playback device is also part of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 GPU, providing support for HD Audio.
The board also has an SLI connector that allows the card to be used with another video adapter. This makes it possible to increase fps in games and get a better image when playing videos.
The average operating temperature of the Nvidia GTX 660 video card is 60-70 degrees, in idle mode it is about 30-32 degrees. For cooling, in most versions of the adapter, 2 coolers are used, in the Palit brand model - one.
What power supply is needed for the GTX 660
The declared power consumption of the GTX 660 is quite high - even without overclocking the TDP of the video adapter is 140 watts. Although in normal mode (without running resource-demanding games), the card consumes no more than 115-127 watts. However, even such consumption cannot be provided by a PCI-E slot - an additional 6-pin connector is provided in the device design to supply additional power.
The manufacturer recommends using a power supply unit with a capacity of at least 450 W for a computer with such a video card. Although for a system unit that has other high-power parts, it is recommended to use at least a 500-watt PSU.
How to overclock nvidia geforce gtx 660 graphics card
By overclocking the GTX 660, you can increase its performance almost to the level of more powerful models. They do this with the help of special software - for example, the MSI Afterburner utility, the advantages of which are free and versatile. After overclocking, it is possible not only to increase fps in games, but also to mine on the GTX 660 - the extraction of cryptocurrency by participating in cloud computing.
The video card has an adjustable performance limit, which can be increased by about 10%. At a nominal frequency of 1006-1033 MHz, the overclocked GPU received a figure of 1139 MHz. Memory operating at 6008 MHz, after overclocking, was able to provide no more than 6804 MHz.
On the one hand, there is no noticeable increase in the performance of the device, on the other hand, the overclocking of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 video card occurs without increasing the noise and the number of revolutions of the cooler. Fan speed for both normal mode and overclocked card is 2400 rpm, power consumption increased by only 10 watts.
Video card test results in games
One of the most common ways to evaluate the performance of video cards is a test run of modern gaming applications. Tests performed in 2012 in games of the GTX 660 allow us to compare it with two other models of a similar level. The test results were as follows:
- In the game Batman: Arkham City, the GTX 660 showed almost the same fps level as the model (36 vs. 36.4) and better performance compared to the Radeon HD 7950. After overclocking, the performance of the card improved by another 12%.
- In the popular shooter Battlefield 3, this video card model showed 45.3 fps at the standard settings for such tests (FullHD resolution, DirectX 11). A decent level, although the 660 Ti card's performance was almost 20% better. But all AMD video adapters lagged behind in frame rate by 4-30%.
- Warhead again showed the GTX 660's lead over the Radeon HD 7850, but the HD 7870 already delivered 10% more fps. The 660 Ti video card differs for the better by the same level - 20%.
- Crysis 2, which is demanding on computer and video adapter resources, runs at FullHD settings, showing only 16 fps. The same figure for the 660 Ti is 20, for the Radeon HD 7850 - 17.
- In the game Hard Reset, the frame rate characteristics of the video adapter are average - only 40 fps. This is between the Radeon HD 7850 at 36 fps and the HD 7950 at 44 fps.
- In the fifth part of the TES series, the game Skyrim, the video adapter took the last place, providing only 50 fps. Although this indicator is more than enough for a normal immersion in the gameplay.
The video card also shows good results in such demanding games for 2012 as Max Payne 3, Metro 2033 and the second part of The Witcher. This means that at the minimum settings, the GTX 660 will be sufficient for more modern gaming applications. So, for example, the video adapter fully complies with the minimum requirements of the game Fallout 4 and GTA V.
Comparison of parameters from different manufacturers
The video card is currently out of production and out of stock. You can buy it only in the secondary market. To compare versions released by different manufacturers, the price of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2Gb at the time of its release can be used.
The range of brands under which the video adapter was produced is quite large. Among them are almost all well-known brands - from Asus and MSI to Palit and Zotac. Manufacturer Gigabyte is represented by two options with different amounts of memory.
Brand | Memory capacity, GB | Memory frequency, MHz | Processor frequency, MHz | Cost at the time of issue, rub. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Palit | 2 | 6108 | 1006 | 7500 |
Asus | 2 | 6008 | 1020 | 7400 |
MSI | 2 | 6008 | 1033 | 7000 |
Inno3D | 2 | 6008 | 1006 | 7100 |
Zotac | 2 | 6008 | 1006 | 7350 |
gigabyte | 2 | 6008 | 1033 | 7300 |
3 | 6008 | 1033 | 10500 |
Answer the question how much GTX graphics card 660 now, also easy. On sites where used components are sold, you can find it for an amount of 5 to 6 thousand rubles. A small (within 20-30%) difference from the price of a new video adapter is explained by the high service life of video cards, thanks to which they are able to work for more than 10 years.
Latest drivers for GTX 660
Control programs for a video card are usually included with it when you purchase it. However, if the disk has been lost or damaged for a long time, you can download drivers for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 video card on the official website of one of the manufacturers (for example, on the resource of Palit or Asus).
The need to update the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 drivers usually occurs during the installation of the operating system. Sometimes an update is also required when problems arise in the operation of the adapter - for example, after exposure to a virus or incorrect user actions.
Today we will continue our acquaintance with new GPU-based video cards from the “green camp”, and this time we are testing a graphics accelerator from ASUS based on the GeForce GTX 660 GPU (NVIDIA Kepler architecture). You can find detailed characteristics of the 28 nm NVIDIA GK106 chip and the GeForce GTX 660 GPU in our previous materials, and in the meantime, we will proceed directly to the review of the video card ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5.
Specification:
(ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5) |
|
Graphics core |
NVIDIA GK106 (Kepler) |
Number of universal shader processors |
|
Supported APIs |
DirectX 11 (Shader Model 5.0), OpenGL 4.3 |
Support for proprietary technologies |
GPU Boost, Adaptive V-Sync, PhysX, SLI, NVIDIA Surround, 3D Vision, CUDA |
Graphics core frequency, MHz |
1072 (1137 MHz with GPU Boost) |
Shader unit frequency, MHz |
|
Memory frequency (effective), MHz |
|
Memory size, MB |
|
Memory type |
|
Memory bus width, bit |
|
PCI Express 3.0 x16 |
|
Maximum Resolution |
Digital - up to 2560x1600 (up to 3840x2160 DisplayPort) Analog - up to 2048x1536 |
Image output interfaces |
|
Support HDCP and HD video decoding |
|
Minimum requirements for the power supply, W |
|
Dimensions, mm |
259.08 x 132.08 |
Drivers |
Fresh drivers can be downloaded from the GPU manufacturer's website. |
Products webpage |
As you can see, we have a factory-overclocked version of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 graphics adapter. So, instead of the recommended 980 MHz, the graphics core operates at a frequency of 1072 MHz, and taking into account the GPU Boost technology, the GPU frequency can reach 1137 MHz. The effective frequency of video memory is also increased relative to the recommended one, and is 6108 MHz. It is also worth noting that in addition to using an alternative PCB design, ASUS engineers also used a completely redesigned cooling system. Such changes in the design of the graphics adapter should positively distinguish it from competing solutions from other manufacturers. We will dwell on the cooling system and PCB design in more detail in the corresponding sections of the review, but for now we suggest studying the packaging and bundle of ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5.
Packaging and equipment
Graphics accelerator ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II TOP falls into the hands of the buyer in a fairly large cardboard box with standard printing for the latest ASUS products. On the front side of the box is the name of the video card, as well as the graphics processor on the basis of which it is made. At the bottom of the package there are marks about the type and volume of memory chips used, the applied DIGI + VRM digital power system, as well as the belonging of the video card in question to the TOP line, which includes only video cards with factory overclocking. In the upper left corner there is a schematic representation of the proprietary DirectCU II cooling system. Also on the package it is noted that the ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II TOP comes with a proprietary utility for overclocking the GPU Tweak in the kit.
On the back of the package, the manufacturer posted the main specifications of the video card in 12 languages, including Russian, brief scheme connecting displays with various interfaces, as well as an advertising description of the key features of the video card.
List system requirements to the computer in which you plan to install ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II TOP is located on one of the sides of the package. Based on the recommendation on the box, the power supply in such a system must have a power of at least 450 W and be capable of delivering up to 24 A along the + 12V line.
The package bundle of the ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 video card can perhaps be called corresponding to the final cost of the product. In the box, in addition to the video card itself, we found only a disk with drivers and utilities, a brief manual, and an adapter from DVI-I to VGA. To our regret, the manufacturer did not take care of the adapter from two 4-pin peripheral power connectors to one 6-pin video card power connector.
Compared to the "reference" sample, the set of ports for displaying images on the ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 video card has not changed:
1x Display Port.
The following permissions are supported:
Digital - up to 3840x2160;
Analog - up to 2048x1536.
For most operating scenarios, the configuration of the video outputs of the video accelerator in question will be quite enough. And if you want to connect an analog monitor, the user will have to use a DVI-VGA adapter, which, fortunately, is included in the kit.
Appearance and element base
As we mentioned above, the design of the printed circuit board of the ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II TOP video card differs from the reference version proposed by NVIDIA engineers. The following changes were made to the element base in the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 version from ASUS: better components were used and a redesigned power converter was used.
The power stabilization system of the ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 video card is made according to the 6 + 1 phase scheme (for the GPU and memory chips, respectively).
The core power system is implemented on the Digi+ ASP1212 controller. Interestingly, this controller is similar to that used on more expensive video cards from ASUS, for example, on the ASUS GeForce GTX 670.
In addition to the PCI-Express 3.0 connector, additional power for the ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II TOP video accelerator is provided through one 6-pin power connector installed on the side of the video card. As we mentioned above, if your power supply does not have such a connector, then try to take care of the necessary adapter before buying a video card, since you will not find it in the package.
Separately, it is worth noting that the use of this connector is very uncomfortable, we managed to disconnect the power cable from the video card only with the help of improvised means, such as a screwdriver. The problem is that the heat sink is located too close to the top edge of the connector, and it is almost impossible to get to the latch with your fingers.
Similar to other versions of video cards based on the GeForce GTX 660 graphics processor, the ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II TOP supports NVIDIA SLI technology. Accordingly, the board contains a connector for the corresponding bridge, which allows you to combine two video cards for joint calculation of graphic effects.
In addition to mounting the cooling system and several components of the power stabilization module, like the "reference" sample, four of the eight memory chips are located on the back of the board.
The ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 is based on the NVIDIA GK106 (Kepler) graphics chip, manufactured using a 28 nm process technology. As we already know, it contains 960 universal shader pipelines (or CUDA cores in NVIDIA terminology) and 24 ROPs. The frequency of the graphics core, as we have already mentioned, has been increased relative to NVIDIA's recommendations and is 1072 MHz. Thanks to the support of the GPU Boost technology in the product under consideration, in turbo mode the frequency of the graphics core can reach 1137 MHz. Data exchange between the graphics core and memory is carried out via a 192-bit bus. The rest of the characteristics are shown in the screenshot above.
Unlike more expensive video cards that use memory chips manufactured by Hynix, the memory of the ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 video card, the total amount of which is 2 GB, is recruited using 8 256 MB chips from Samsung. The chips are marked K4G20325FD-FC03 and, according to the documentation, their nominal frequency is 6 GHz.
Cooling system
As we already mentioned in previous reviews of ASUS video cards, the proprietary DirectCU II cooling system is presented by the manufacturer as one of the most important advantages of their products over competitors. And in order to make our testing more interesting, we will try to compare the performance of DirectCU II with the WINDFORCE cooling system from GIGABYTE, which, as you remember from the review of the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 660, left an extremely positive impression.
This version of the DirectCU II cooling system, installed on the ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5, occupies two expansion slots and looks quite interesting due to the corporate identity, which echoes other ASUS ROG products. Based on specifications, then such a system should cope with the cooling of the NVIDIA GK106 graphics chip without any problems, we will find out if this is so after conducting the appropriate tests. Separately, we note that the manufacturer reports a 20% decrease in temperature compared to the “reference turbine”, as well as more than three times less noise.
The cooler consists of a massive radiator, in the design of which 42 nickel-plated aluminum plates are used, and they are blown by two 75 mm fans, which are mounted on the casing.
For a more even distribution of heat over the entire area of the radiator, three copper heat pipes with a diameter of 8 mm each are used. It is worth noting separately that the heat pipes are covered with a layer of nickel, which will help prevent the rapid oxidation of copper during operation and a drop in heat transfer efficiency. Interestingly, ASUS engineers used a scheme for direct contact of heat pipes with a graphics chip through a small layer of thermal paste.
As you can see, the heat pipes are simply inserted into the radiator fins, there is no solder, which can slightly degrade the efficiency of the cooling system.
The main cooling system, unfortunately, does not come into direct contact with the power elements of the power stabilization module. As for the memory chips, two of the four chips located on the front side of the board are cooled through a special thermal interface applied to the base of the heatsink. Unfortunately, we do not have an answer to the question why only two chips are cooled, and why these particular ones.
We propose to proceed directly to testing the cooling system of the ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 video card. To do this, we will run our standard test suite using the MSI Kombustor utility.
With automatic fan speed control, in the mode maximum load the graphics core heated up to 68 degrees, and the cooler, judging by the monitoring readings, worked at only 55% of its capacity.
In mode top speed fan rotation temperature GPU drops to 60 degrees. At the same time, the noise level can be described as "above average". The results obtained are quite good, but not the best. As we remember, the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 660 cooling system was able to cool the graphics chip up to 58 degrees at maximum cooler speed and up to 61 degrees with automatic speed control, however, it should be borne in mind that the ASUS version has higher frequencies, and, accordingly, a higher temperature .
When there is no load, the frequencies of the graphics core and memory are automatically reduced, allowing you to reduce the power consumption and heat dissipation of the graphics core. In this mode, the GPU temperature does not exceed 36 degrees, and the cooling system is silent.
Testing
When testing, we used the Stand for testing Video cards No. 3
Choose what you want to compare GeForce GTX 660 2GB GDDR5 ASUS DirectCU II TOP
As you can see, thanks to higher factory overclocking, as well as a memory frequency increased by 100 MHz, ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 was able to demonstrate higher performance than the version we reviewed earlier from GIGABYTE. In comparison with competitors from the “red camp”, the new product demonstrates even more interesting results than video cards based on AMD Radeon HD 7870, not to mention the more affordable AMD Radeon HD 7850. However, it should be borne in mind that AMD solutions have a higher overclocking potential, as well as, in the future, lower cost, because Ukrainian retail has not yet had time to respond to the cost reduction and set a more humane price tag for products from AMD. Again, if you are not interested in overclocking experiments, then we advise you to get the ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5, as it is able to show much more than competing solutions in standard use.
Overclocking
Taking into account a fairly efficient cooling system, as well as the fact that the graphics accelerator comes with an overclocked graphics core, the overclocking results, as well as their comparison with the previously reviewed versions of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, are very interesting.
After raising the voltage of the graphics core, using the ASUS GPU Tweak utility, we managed to overclock it to 1130 MHz (an increase of 13% relative to the “reference”), while we managed to accelerate the video memory to a frequency of 6684 MHz (an increase of 11%). It is worth noting that the overclocking results are the best among all the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 versions we have tested so far.
You can evaluate the performance gain due to manual overclocking in the table below:
Test package |
Standard Frequencies |
Overclocked graphics card |
Productivity increase, % |
|
performance score |
||||
performance score |
||||
Crysis Warhead, DirectX 10, Maximum Quality, AA4x/AF16x, fps |
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Far Cry 2, DirectX 10, Ultra Quality, NO AA/AF, fps |
||||
Aliens vs. Predator DX11 Benchmark, Maximum Quality, NO AA/AF, fps |
||||
Aliens vs. Predator DX11 Benchmark, Maximum Quality, AA4x/AF16x, fps |
||||
Colin McRae: DiRT 2, DirectX 11, Maximum Quality, NO AA/AF, fps |
||||
Colin McRae: DiRT 2, DirectX 10, Maximum Quality, AA4x/AF16x, fps |
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As a result of manual overclocking, performance increased by an average of a little more than 5%. Separately, we note that in this mode of operation, the temperature of the graphics core was only 64 degrees at maximum cooler speed. These results confirm that the cooling system is doing its job well.
conclusions
Summing up the results of testing, we can characterize (ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5) as one of the best versions among all the video cards based on the GeForce GTX 660 graphics core that we have tested to date. If we talk about the performance of the test sample in comparison with other versions of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, then everything is simple, because it differs very slightly and depends directly on the level of factory overclocking. It is logical that if you want to buy a new video card for yourself, and opted for solutions based on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, then the choice will have to be made based on the performance of the cooling system, the quality of the element base, as well as trust or distrust for each specific manufacturer. In the case of ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5, we got a kind of pleasant cocktail from a well-known manufacturer, a redesigned and enhanced power system, and a powerful cooling system, which should have a beneficial effect on the success of the video card on the market. The only, at the moment, open question is the final cost for the consumer.
If we talk about the ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II TOP, comparing with the version we reviewed earlier from GIGABYTE, then the overclocking potential and performance quality (reinforced power system) proved to be better on the ASUS video card, while the proprietary cooling system from GIGABYTE is quieter competitor and slightly more efficient.
Of the features worth noting, perhaps, only a modest package and inconvenient connection of the power cable. No critical shortcomings were noticed during the testing process.
Advantages:
Low power consumption and heat dissipation of the graphics chip;
New universal Kepler architecture and 28 nm process technology;
Support for DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.3 and a large number of NVIDIA proprietary technologies;
High performance;
Good overclocking potential compared to other versions of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660;
Energy consumption
In the higher price segment of video cards, the spread in terms of power consumption is usually small. Map GeForce GTX 660 Ti does not greatly outperform AMD products in terms of the number of watts expended. The only caveat is Radeon HD 7950 from AMD consumes quite a lot of power during Blu-ray video playback.
Various map modifications GeForce GTX 660 Ti have different characteristics - the Zotac variant has the highest clock speed, while the Galaxy has more memory. However, in terms of power consumption, all models show approximately the same results.
Power consumption of a two-card tandem Radeon HD 7750 in CrossFire, running the game at 1920x1080 with 8x anti-aliasing enabled, MSAA is 98W (or 102W when playing Crysis). This is about 20 W less than it spends in a similar case. GeForce GTX 660 Ti(118W and 124W respectively). In addition, the GeForce card is slower. This card's effectiveness is limited. throughput memory buses. Note that when the FPS decreases, the power consumption does not decrease. So, at average FPS values, AMD cards turned out to be more economical.
Actual clock frequency under full load
The graph below shows the clock speeds of video cards under load. They are slightly different from what we saw in 3DMark 11. Let's take a closer look at the graph to determine the thermal ceiling for each card and the GPU Boost algorithm.
It is also interesting in terms of power consumption. For example, Asus card GTX 660Ti DirectCU II remains at 915 MHz, which makes you look at its acoustic and thermal characteristics from a different angle, because these indicators are much easier to manage, while the GPU of some competitors works as much as 250 MHz faster.
MSI Card N660 Ti PE 2GD5/OC behaves pretty well. , in contrast, does not benefit from GPU Boost. We can conclude that the cards of the "long" form factor, in general, show higher clock rates than those that copy the design of the model GeForce GTX 670 .
Power consumption in different scenarios
Operating Temperature and Noise Measurements
Temperature graphs for all cards when running GPGPU applications
We measured temperatures and fan speeds within 5 minutes of running a compute task. All cards showed different results, from the quiet and cold Asus card to Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition, which overclocked its fans to a very high speed to cope with the increase in temperature.
On the map GTX 660Ti DirectCU II the cooler from Asus is made especially well, but some points require clarification. There is no heat dissipation back pad on this card. Perhaps this is a good solution. However, the temperature of the back side of the card under the voltage control module rises to 80 degrees. As a result, even the chips random access memory after 15 minutes of operation under full load, they heat up to 70 degrees. In general, low noise levels are good, but the organization of cooling could still be better.
The most noisy map of those tested Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition. At the same time, in other respects, this video card outperforms its competitors, especially if you take into account its small size. Its most important advantage is well-overclocked memory. Other cards operate at roughly the same temperatures, so it's hard to pick out winners and losers.
Before watching videos that compare the noise during the operation of the tested video cards, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the graphs that show noise values in decibels. Note that the "table" data and the subjective impression can be very different from each other.
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We recently got acquainted with a non-standard GeForce GTX 660 by KFA². Despite the improved PCB design and powerful cooling, this video adapter failed to demonstrate outstanding overclocking results. And this once again confirmed our conviction about the severely limited frequency potential of the GeForce GTX 660. Let's see if the ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 adapter, which initially operates at GPU frequencies barely achievable by other GeForces during overclocking, can surprise. So without further ado, let's get to the review.
It comes in a large box with a design typical for all GeForce cards from ASUS.
The video card externally repeats ASUS GTX660 TI-DC2-2GD5. The same two-slot cooling system with thick heat pipes is used.
The printed circuit board of the younger version is slightly longer than that of the mentioned GeForce GTX 660 Ti. There is only one connector for SLI. A stiffening rib is screwed on the side.
The set of connectors on the rear panel is standard: two DVI, one HDMI and DisplayPort.
The cooler uses three heat pipes that are in direct contact with the surface of the graphics chip. But due to the small size of the GK106 GPU, the contact area with the side tubes is small. On the massive base there is a thermal pad that contacts two memory chips. It is not entirely clear why this is necessary, because all other GDDR5 microcircuits do not have radiators.
The arrangement of the plates is very tight to each other. The upper edge of half of the fins has a small notch, which should potentially create less airflow obstruction and improve the airflow across the entire surface of the fins at low fan speeds.
A pair of FirstD FD7010H12S fans with a diameter of 80 mm is responsible for blowing (the actual diameter of the impeller is slightly smaller).
Printed circuit board of non-standard design. Despite the large dimensions of the board compared to the reference PCB, there are enough empty spaces on it.
The GPU voltage regulator is reinforced to six phases. The Digi+ ASP1212 PWM controller is used.
The "heart" of the video card is the GK106-400-A1 processor. The crystal is rectangular in shape, surrounded by a protective frame.
Two gigabytes of memory are provided by eight Samsung K4G20325FD-FC03 chips.
The base frequency is increased from 980 MHz to 1072 MHz with Turbo Boost 1137 MHz. A pleasant moment is the factory overclocking of the memory, albeit quite insignificant - from 6008 to 6108 MHz. Prior to this, all senior GeForce video cards from ASUS, the memory did without factory overclocking, although this is quite relevant for 192-bit and 256-bit NVIDIA solutions.
According to GPU-Z, ASIC Quality is 71.1%.
In our standard 12-minute Crysis: Warhead test, the GPU ran steadily at 1176 MHz, which is above the overclocking results demonstrated by the KFA² GeForce GTX 660 EX and Zotac GTX 660. At the same time, the temperature did not exceed 66 °C at 23.5 °C in the room.
In most applications, the load frequency was kept at 1176 MHz. Occasionally there were drawdowns in Crysis 2 - up to 1110 MHz. In the MSI Kombustor stress test, the frequency was kept in the range of 1110-1124 MHz.
During testing, the fan speed did not rise above 2040-2070 rpm. ASUS uses such quiet fans that even at this speed you can hardly hear them.
An overstated frequency relative to the declared characteristics indicates an initially overestimated power limit, and this allows the GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 to work all the time at the maximum possible Boost. There is also a small margin for increasing this limit by 10%, which does not differ from the capabilities of the reference GeForce GTX 660. The final overclocking of the core is also not far from the results of other video cards in this series, but still turned out to be slightly higher. The achieved base frequency was 1112 MHz with a maximum frequency of 1215 MHz. In most applications, the video card worked at frequencies close to the maximum value. For example, in Warhead, the frequencies were 1204-1215 MHz, and the largest drawdowns were again in Crysis 2 - up to 1176 MHz.
The memory overcame only 6840 MHz - not an outstanding result.
Only in the MSI Kombustor stress test, the GPU frequency did not rise above the base.
For overclocking, we didn’t even have to increase the speed, we even fixed them at a slightly lower value of 1980-2040 rpm. At the same time, the temperature rose by only one degree. Excellent result. Characteristics of the tested video cards
We will compare the considered video adapter with the participants of the recent GeForce testing from KFA².
The table below shows the official specifications, the graphs show the actual GPU frequency range for GeForce. In the case of the KFA² GTX 660 Ti EX OC, one frequency is indicated in overclocking, because this value was fixed and it did not fall below 1241 MHz.
Video adapter | KFA² GTX 660 Ti EX OC | GeForce GTX 660 Ti | KFA² GTX 660 EX OC | GeForce GTX 660 | HIS 7870 Fan | HIS 7850 Fan | |
Nucleus | GK104 | GK104 | GK106 | GK106 | GK106 | Pitcairn | Pitcairn |
Number of transistors, million pieces | 3500 | 3500 | 2540 | 2540 | 2540 | 2800 | 2800 |
Process technology, nm | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 |
Core area, sq. mm | 294 | 294 | 221 | 221 | 221 | 212 | 212 |
Number of stream processors | 1344 | 1344 | 960 | 960 | 960 | 1280 | 1024 |
Number of texture blocks | 112 | 112 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 64 |
Number of render units | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 32 | 32 |
Core frequency, MHz | 1006—1085 | 915—1097 | 1072—1137 | 1106—1072 | 980—1033 | 1000 | 860 |
Memory bus, bit | 192 | 192 | 192 | 192 | 192 | 256 | 256 |
Memory type | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 | GDDR5 |
Memory frequency, MHz | 6008 | 6008 | 6108 | 6008 | 6008 | 4800 | 4800 |
Memory size, MB | 2048 | 2048 | 2048 | 2048 | 2048 | 2048 | 2048 |
Supported version of DirectX | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 11.1 |
Interface | PCI-E3.0 | PCI-E3.0 | PCI-E3.0 | PCI-E3.0 | PCI-E3.0 | PCI-E3.0 | PCI-E3.0 |
Declared TDP level, W | n/a | 150 | n/a | n/a | 140 | 175 | 130 |
test bench
The test bench configuration is as follows:
- Processor: Intel Core i7-3930K (3, [email protected].4 GHz, 12 MB);
- cooler: Thermalright Venomous X;
- motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Formula/Battlefield 3 (Intel X79 Express);
- memory: Kingston KHX2133C11D3K4/16GX (4x4 GB, [email protected] MHz, 10-11-10-28-1T);
- hard drive: Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 (1 TB, SATA2, 7200 rpm);
- power supply: Seasonic SS-750KM (750 W);
- operating system: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64;
- GeForce driver: NVIDIA GeForce 310.33;
- Radeon driver: ATI Catalyst 12.11 beta.
Test results
Let's start with . This game has always been dominated by AMD solutions. At face value, ASUS slightly outperforms the Radeon HD 7850 in terms of average frame rate, but is inferior in terms of minimum fps. When overclocked, the competitor only increases the lead over the GeForce GTX 660.
In the video adapter, ASUS demonstrates a 7% advantage over the regular GeForce GTX 660, overtaking even the Radeon HD 7870 by a minimal margin of one percent. The lag behind the older GeForce GTX 660 Ti is 6-9% and is almost completely compensated by overclocking.
Due to the high core frequency, ASUS initially demonstrates performance at the level of the extremely overclocked KFA² GTX 660 EX OC video adapter. However, ASUS gains little from its overclocking and demonstrates a modest advantage of 4-5% over its comrade. With PhysX physical effects enabled, AMD video cards in this game are quite expectedly weaker than NVIDIA representatives.
In Warhead, ASUS has a 7-8% advantage over the reference. The Radeon HD 7870 is inferior to the hero of our review by 7% in terms of the minimum fps and 2% in terms of the average game indicator. Overclocking helps to slightly overtake the GeForce GTX 660 Ti running at factory frequencies. The hero of our review is no longer capable of competing with the overclocked Radeon HD 7870. And the boosted Radeon HD 7850 slightly reduces its lag with increasing clock frequencies.
Factory overclocking provides ASUS with a tiny advantage over the Radeon HD 7870 in terms of average game frame rate, but the competitor has noticeably less fps drops. The lag behind the GeForce GTX 660 Ti is no more than 5%, and when overclocked, ASUS even slightly outperforms its older brother at standard frequencies.
Showdown is known for being heavily optimized for AMD graphics cards. GeForces look very weak here, and even the Radeon HD 7850 is an unattainable competitor for the "green" participants. Note that disabling the Advanced Lighting option will significantly increase fps without losing image quality while maintaining the same anti-aliasing.
In the game, we see a standard difference of 7-8% between the ASUS GTX660-DC2T-2GD5 and a simple GeForce GTX 660. The Radeon HD 7850 is 11-15% behind the hero of our review, and the Radeon HD 7870 is 8-10% more productive. Overclocking gives a slight increase of 5-6%, and this is not enough to beat the accelerated Radeon HD 7850.
ASUS performance at factory frequencies in
After updating our test system, we perform power consumption, temperature and noise measurements. Maximum power consumption, temperature and noise are measured under load by Crysis 2 at 1920 x 1080 pixels with AF/AA enhancement modes active. The remaining three measurements in idle mode were carried out ten minutes after the system was started. We measured the noise level from a distance of 30 cm.
Noise level in idle mode, dB(A).
Noise level under load, dB(A).
Of course, gamers are primarily interested in the pure performance of the video card, but the noise level in last years also becomes one of the important criteria when choosing a model. In this case, the partner manufacturers of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards did their best by making their cooling system quieter than the reference video card. At least this applies to MSI, Gainward, Gigabyte and KFA² video cards - even under load they did not exceed the magic bar of 50 dB(A). As for the KFA² GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC, we recorded a noise floor of 47.8 dB(A) with this card - it set the record for quietness among other models in our test lab! Models with reference cooling and Palit GeForce GTX 660 Ti Jetstream showed themselves slightly worse. The latter showed noise levels up to 50.5 dB(A), but they were still quieter than the reference video card with a level of 50.9 dB(A). In general, all manufacturers have taken a step in the right direction!
Power consumption of the entire system in idle mode, W.
Power consumption of the entire system under load, W.
Due to factory overclocking, all graphics cards in our testing showed higher power consumption than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti reference model. But if the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti with a level of 302.9 W consumed 14.3 W more than the reference model, then in the case of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC we got a power consumption of 332.6 W - although the frequencies of this video card are also much higher. In the middle are Point of View, Gainward, Palit and KFA² video cards. In the normal 2D mode, the power consumption results are much closer to each other: for different video cards, we got values from 105.7 to 108.9 W (power consumption for the entire system).
Idle temperature, degrees Celsius.
Temperature under load, degrees Celsius.
Most of the alternative cooling systems provide not only a much lower noise level, but also a reduction in temperature compared to the reference video card. Many video cards in our tests successfully coped with this task. The reference card's GPU reached 77°C, but the MSI GeForce GTX 660 Ti Power Edition, Point of View GeForce GTX 660 Ti UltraChraged, and Palit GeForce GTX 660 Ti Jetstream maxed out at 78°C, a degree higher. All other models showed a peak temperature of up to 73 ° C, that is, they cooled the GPU noticeably better. Video card KFA² GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC again showed the most low temperature- only 66 °C. Under normal Windows operation, all graphics cards produced very similar GPU heating results, between 36 and 39°C.
None of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti cards tested in the article reached critical temperatures. All video cards showed excellent results in terms of noise level, we got less volume than the reference video card, although the difference was not always significant. If you're looking for a quiet yet fast graphics card, check out models from Gainward, Gigabyte, MSI, and KFA². They provide low noise levels, although sometimes at the expense of a little more GPU heating. For some graphics cards, we got temperatures up to 78 ° C, which is a degree more than the reference model. In general, we would like to emphasize the results of KFA² GeForce GTX 660 Ti EX OC. The graphics card not only proved to be the quietest on the market, but under load it cooled the GPU 11 degrees cooler than the reference model.