Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 review featuring EVGA's XC Ultra: The champion - raydompen

At a Glimpse

Expert's Rating

Pros

• Excellent 1080p/60Hz gambling performance
• Quiet under load
• Same quiet
• Affordable
• EVGA's Preciseness X1 overclocking computer software is GREAT

Cons

• None fancy extra features
• Reasonable $30 agiotage puts it close to entry-level GTX 1660 Ti GPUs
• Single 1 DisplayPort and HDMI port

Our Finding of fact

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1660 and EVGA's good 90 Ultra custom design answer in a new mainstream gaming wizard. This is the graphics card you want for 1080p gaming at 60 frames per endorse.

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Herald to the new friend of the graphics card "odoriferous spot." Nvidia's $220 GeForce GTX 1660 usurps the prize from AMD's Radeon RX 580, which held the form of address for years now, and renders true the recently released Radeon RX 590 obsolete. And though Nvidia's latest GPU technically replaces the humble $200 3GB GTX 1060, information technology actually manages to outgo the more powerful (and pricier) 6GB GTX 1060 while at the same time addressing the most gross weaknesses of its predecessor.

Not too shabby, Nvidia. Not too shabby at all.

Nvidia International Relations and Security Network't creating a Founders Edition for the GPU, but its board partners wish liberate a motle of GTX 1660 models for Thursday's launching. Nowadays, we'll be reviewing the $250 EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 XC Ultra, the Sir Thomas More affordable cousin to the customised-cooled, highly overclocked $310 EVGA GTX 1660 Ti XC Ultra that we loved thus much. Let's go around!

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 spectacles, features, and monetary value

Brad Chacos/IDG

You won't find many surprises under the tough of the GTX 1660, because it uses a new-mown-down version of the TU116 Turing GPU found in the superhuman GTX 1660 Ti. That gives it all of Nvidia's modern performance benefits in traditional games, which we covered in-depth in our Turing GPU deep-dive. Arsenic a GTX model as an alternative of an RTX GPU, however, the GTX 1660 lacks the sacred computer hardware that enables ray of light-trace and AI-enhancement features so heavily promoted in many expensive Nvidia graphics cards.

Nvidia

As you can see in the chart above, the new GTX 1660 matches or beatniks both the 3GB and 6GB GTX 1060 in every relevant spec, from CUDA core counts to raw clock speeds, entirely piece sticking to the similar 120-James Watt TDP. That's a stunning testament to the superb vigour efficiency of Nvidia's architecture, which makes contende Radeon GPUs search outright power-hungry by comparison.

Speaking of comparisons, it's worth taking a endorsement to discuss the GTX 1660's memory configuration. Nvidia's new GPU fixes the most notable fault of 3GB GTX 1060: the paltry 3GB of Jampack expressed redress in its identify. When the 3GB GTX 1060 launched in 2016, that scant memory capacity resulted in occasional performance issues when acting some 1080p games with altogether the eye candy cranked. The limit rankled all the more than with the passage of time, essentially leaving the $200-ish market to AMD's major-armed Radeon RX 570 and RX 580.

Nvidia set that by giving the GeForce GTX 1660 a full 6GB of VRAM, but note that it uses traditional GDDR5 memory instead of the ultra-fast (and cutting-edge) GDDR6 variety launch in the GTX 1660 Ti and RTX 20-series art cards. It's a smart move to save money in the cutthroat mainstream market. GDDR5 offers much depress computer storage time speeds and thus a lot lower overall computer memory bandwidth than GDDR6, simply it's faithful enough for 1080p gambling, and it ensures the price stays right (although the GTX 1660 still costs $20 more than the 3GB GTX 1060 did at set in motion).

Brad Chacos/IDG

You South Korean won't find many a surprises in EVGA's execution either, but you testament find plenty to be affected with. The $250 GTX 1660 XC Immoderate uses the same custom ice chest every bit its GTX 1660 Ti counterpart. It besides comes overclocked out of the box, striking 1,845MHz kinda than the GTX 1660's rated 1,785MHz. The card runs much faster in practice, hovering around the 2GHz mountain range depending on the application.

EVGA's effective cooling answer enables Nvidia's GPU Boost algorithms to push the filaree that hard. Here's what we aforesaid about it in our EVGA GTX 1660 Te XC Ultra followup, and raider alert: The cooler runs even, well, cooler paired with the less-influential GTX 1660.

"The GeForce GTX 1660 Titanium XC Extremist includes the overhauled custom cooling design saved on many of EVGA's RTX 20-serial publication GPUs. Dual mechanics dynamic bearing (HDB) axial fans emblazoned with little 'E's sit atop a artful, dumb heat bury, and EVGA claims that the mixture of HDB fans with the tiny letters result in a 19 percentage reduction in haphazardness levels compared to competing fans with sleeve-presence fan designs."

EVGA

The EVGA GTX 1660 XC Ultra as wel mirrors its large sibling's port selection, providing one HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort apiece. That's beautiful limited, but most gamers buying graphics card game in that Price range in all likelihood have only one or cardinal monitors anyway. DVI's inclusion is a very welcome surprisal—IT's becoming a rarity. The card sticks to a standard dual-one-armed bandit design and only needs a solitary 8-PIN number power connector, so upgrading from other GPU shouldn't be a chevvy.

Despite being EVGA's high-end GTX 1660 offering, the XC Ultra skips out on both common rate-adding extras. You won't find a backplate on it, nor RGB LED illumination. Neither deletion is really a drawback—I dig a "blacked-retired" not-RGB look in many systems—but they're worth noting.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Also worth noting: EVGA's robust support system. The keep company's Precision X1 software was overhauled from the dry land up for Nvidia's latest GPU generation, and information technology's absolutely sensational—it's my favorite GPU overclocking and monitoring tool to usance, complete with one-click auto-overclocking using Nvidia's splendid OC Scanner API. The company also recently started an EVGA Associates program, which is kinda like an affiliate program for PC enthusiasts. The referred buyer receives a discount on EVGA gear, and the person whose Associate Encipher was wont to buy recent hardware gets a per centum of the net cut-rate sale as "EVGA bucks" that can be used for discounts on EVGA's website. Cracking!

EVGA will also provide a free copy ofGrasp: Combat Racing, paired with an scoop EVGA-branded pelt for your virtual car. But enough talk. On to the games!

Next page: Our test system, benchmarks begin

Our examination system

Our votive graphics identity card examine system of rules is packed with some of the fastest complementary components available to put any potential execution bottlenecks squarely happening the GPU. Most of the hardware was provided by the manufacturers, but we purchased the cooler and storage ourselves.

• Intel Core i7-8700K mainframe ($360 on Amazon)
• EVGA CLC 240 closed-loop liquid tank ($120 on Amazon)
• Asus Maximus X Poor boy motherboard ($260 on Amazon)
• 64GB HyperX Vulture RGB DDR4/2933 ($318 for 32GB happening Amazon)
• EVGA 1200W SuperNova P2 power ply ($180 on Amazon)
• Corsair Crystal 570X RGB case, with anterior and top panels separate and an extra rear fan installed for improved airflow ($160 on Amazon)
• 2x 500GB Samsung 860 EVO SSDs ($78 each on Amazon)

We're comparing the $250 EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 XC Ultra against its heroic sibling, the $310 EVGA GTX 1660 Ti Ninety Extremist, too as its predecessor, an overclocked EVGA version of the 6GB GTX 1060. Rounding out the Nvidia side, we'Re besides including the GTX 1070 Founders Edition and the light beam tracing-capable $350 GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition.

We standard our brush up sample very close to deadline and didn't have time to re-test the $200 3GB GTX 1060, just since the new GPU outclasses the 6GB GTX 1060, we'atomic number 75 comfortable omitting the slower 3GB variant from our results. (For what it's worth, Nvidia claims the GTX 1660 is "happening ordinary 30 percent faster" than the 3GB GTX 1060 at consultation clock speeds.)

To see how EVGA's graphics card stacks upwardly against the Radeon competition, we've also included performance results from the $260 Sapphire Radeon RX 590 Nitro+ (which launched at $280 in November), the $400 Radeon Vega 56, and the Asus ROG Strix version of the Radeon RX 580. Many Radeon RX 580 models can consistently be found for $200 or slightly less on sale these days, tied in 8GB variants.

Each game is tested victimisation its in-game benchmark at the highest possible graphics presets, with VSync, frame range caps, and all GPU vendor-ad hoc technologies—like AMD TressFX, Nvidia GameWorks options, and FreeSync/G-Sync—disabled, and temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) enabled to push on these high-end cards to their limits. If anything differs from that, we'll mention it. We persist each benchmark at least three multiplication and list the norm result for each examination.

We narrow our testing to 1080p and 1440p resolutions, as satisfactory 4K gaming is mostly out of the reach of this class of card.

EVGA GTX 1660 90 Radical gaming benchmarks

Strange Brigade

Let's gripe things polish off withStrange Brigade ($50 on Humble), a cooperative third-person triggerman where a team up of adventurers blasts through hordes of mythological enemies. Information technology's a technological showcase, built approximately the future-gen Vulkan and DirectX 12 technologies and infused with features like HDR support and the ability to toggle asynchronous compute on and off. It uses Rebellion's custom Azure engine. We test with async compute bump off.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The first mettlesome out of the logic gate doesn't blusher the GTX 1660 in the best light. It's merely about 9.5 percent faster than the GTX 1060, and it's actually slower than the Radeon RX 580, much less the RX 590. Simply Foreign-born Brigade loves AMD GPUs, and the GTX 1660 still delivers great framerates at 1080p resolution. Heck, it almost hits the hallowed 60 frames per second at 1440p! The ill-use-up GTX 1660 Atomic number 2 is significantly faster, notwithstandin—as it should be for $60 more.

Shadow of the Tomb Despoiler

Shade of the Grave Spoiler ($60 on Humble) concludes the reboot trilogy, and information technology's utterlygorgeous. Square Enix optimized this game for DX12, and recommends DX11 only if you're victimization experient hardware or Windows 7, so we test therewith.Shadow of the Tomb Raider uses an enhanced interpretation of the Foundation engine that also poweredAscension of the Grave Raider.

Brad Chacos/IDG

EVGA's GTX 1660 XC Ultra delivers much more eye-popping results here, beating the Radeon RX cards handily, and the last gen's overclocked 6GB GTX 1060 by a whopping 27+ percent at 1080p resolution. Games should also be playable at 1440p if you tinker with the visual settings. Again, the pricier GTX 1660 Titanium is about 20 percent faster than the new GTX 1660.

Far Cry 5

Finally, a DirectX 11 game!Far Cry 5 ($60 on Humble) is powered aside Ubisoft's long-established Dunia engine. It's meet atomic number 3 gorgeous as its predecessors, and even Sir Thomas More fun.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Nvidia's card shows up strong yet again, beating the GTX 1060 and comparable Radeon GPUs alike. The 1080p results demonstrate especially well-set, though you could make for Furthermost Cry 5 at 1440p with very few visual compromises, overly.

Next page: Gambling benchmarks continue

Ghost Recon Wildlands

Go on concluded,Crysis. If you crank all the art options up to 11, like we do for these tests,Ghost Recon Wildlands($50 connected Humble) and its AnvilNext 2.0 engine perfectlymelt GPUs.Ghost Recon Wildlandsalso prefers Nvidia's GPU architecture in the main.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The actual frame rates might seem slow here—they meliorate dramatically if you telephone dial back from the game's borderline torture-test Ultra settings—but don't be fooled: The GTX 1660 is still over 10 pct faster than the GTX 1060, and more so versus the Radeon options.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Middle-earth: Shadow of War ($50 on Humble) adds a strategic layer to the series' sacred core gameplay loop, adapting the Nemesis system to let you make an army of personalized Orc commanders. It plays like-minded a champ along PC, too, thanks to Monolith's custom LithTech Firebird engine. We use the Ultra graphics predetermined but drop the Shadow and Texture Quality settings to High to deflect exceeding 8GB of VRAM use in our testing scenario, because graphics cards that exceed 8GB of capacity are rare so. (Nvidia's "gratifying spot" graphics cards each top out at 6GB.)

Brad Chacos/IDG

The EVGA GTX 1660 XC Ultra is nearly 20 percent quicker than the GTX 1060 6GB here, and could provide a solid 1440p gaming experience with a few visual tweaks. And the GTX 1660 Cordyline terminalis is nearly 20 percent faster than that.

F1 2018

The latest in a long line of successful games,F1 2018($60 on Humble) is a gem to test, provision a ample lay out of some graphical and benchmarking options—making it a much more tried and true (and fun) option that theForzaseries. IT's built connected the 4th version of Codemasters' buttery-smooth Ego halting locomotive engine. We quiz two laps along the Australia course, with clear skies.

Brad Chacos/IDG

EVGA's overclocked, custom-cooled card outdances its predecessor to the tune of a 22 percentage performance increase. The lead over the Radeon RX 590 is slimmer, simply it's in that respect, and the AMD GPU costs more in stores.

Next varlet: Gaming benchmarks continue

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

Ashes of the Singularity ($40 on Humble) was one of the very first DX12 games, and it clay a flag-bearer for the technology to this Clarence Shepard Day Jr. thanks to the extreme scalability of Oxide Games' next-gen Nitrous railway locomotive. With hundreds of units onscreen at the same time and some earnest graphics personal effects in bet, the Dotty preset can make CPUs and graphics cards sweat.Ashes runs in both DX11 and DX12, just we lonesome test in DX12, as information technology delivers the best results for some Nvidia and AMD GPUs.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Interestingly, the GTX 1660 is only a few frames per second faster than the older 6GB GTX 1060, and the GTX 1660 Ti is only a some frames faster than its namesake. Those amount to performance differences of 10+ percent, yet. Require to see the raw ensnare rate gap widen if you're not using the radical-arduous Wild predetermined.

GTA V

We're active to wrap things upbound with few older games that aren't in truth visual barn-burners, but even so top the Steam charts Clarence Day in and day out. These are games that alot of people play. First up:Grand larceny Automobile V ($30 connected Humble) with all options turned to Very High, entirely Advanced Graphics options except outstretched shadows enabled, and FXAA.GTA Vruns happening the RAGE engine and has received substantial updates since its initial set up.

Brad Chacos/IDG

This is an older gimpy, then IT's no surprise to construe the GTX 1660 provide borderline performance uplift compared to its predecessor. The GTX 1660 Te is substantially faster if you can spend more money, though. AMD's Radeon cards are unexhausted in the proverbial dust by Nvidia's offerings.

Rainbow Hexa Siege

Finally, let's take a peek atRainbow Six Siege($40 connected Humble), a game whose audience just keeps on growing, and one that still feels care the only rightfully adjacent-gen hit man after every last these long time. IlkObsess Recon Wildlands, this game runs on Ubisoft's AnvilNext 2.0 engine, merelyRainbow Six Siege responds especially symptomless to graphics card game that lean against async compute features.

Brad Chacos/IDG

That responsiveness to async compute gave the Radeon RX 580 a clear edge ended the older GTX 1060, simply the GTX 1660 manages to draw even with AMD's graphics card. Some the Radeon RX 590 and GTX 1660 Ti are perceptibly faster—but realistically, this game delivers screaming performance on all the hardware tried and true, even at the more demanding 1440p resolution.

Succeeding page: Power, thermals, noise, and synthetics

EVGA GTX 1660 XC Ultra power draw, thermals, and noise

We also tested the EVGA GTX 1660 XC Ultra using 3DMark's extremely respected Fire Strike synthetic benchmark. Fire Strike runs at 1080p, Fire Strike Extreme runs at 1440p, and Send away Strike Ultra runs at 4K settlement. All render the same conniption, but with more intense graphical personal effects as you move up the shell, so that Extreme and Ultra flavors tenseness GPUs even more. We record the graphics score to eliminate variance from the CPU.

Brad Chacos/IDG

This is why synthetic benchmarks are good for ecumenical comparisons and for providing a level athletic field in overclocking competitions, but can't make up to the full relied upon. Fire Strike shows the EVGA GTX 1660 Cardinal Ultra lagging behind the Radeon cards, merely that simply ISN't true in the majority of real-world games.

We test power draw away looping theF1 2018 bench mark for more or less 20 minutes after we've benchmarked everything else, and noting the highest reading on our Watts Up Pro measure. The first part of the hasten, where all competing cars are onscreen simultaneously, tends to be the most demanding percentage.

Brad Chacos/IDG

The GTX 1660 offers outstanding mogul efficiency regular with EVGA's overclock and custom cooling solvent practical. It draws the unchanged come of energy atomic number 3 EVGA's overclocked GTX 1060 SSC from the last generation, but with much improved performance—a winning combination. The Radeon art cards can't justified come close to matching these results.

We screen thermals by going HWInfo's sensing element monitoring tool open during theF1 2018 quintet-lap power guide run, noting the highest maximum temperature at the stop.

Brad Chacos/IDG

Thermal results nether 70 degrees Celsius are great. In the 50s? That's ludicrous—but the EVGA GTX 1660 XC Ultra manages it while staying satisfyingly quiet (though not silent) below load. Such an formidable custom cooling resolution happening a 1080p-sort out card delivers great performance. Stay frosty.

Next page: Should you buy the EVGA GTX 1660 XC Ultra?

Should you buy the EVGA GTX 1660 XC Immoderate?

If you're looking an affordable graphics scorecard for 1080p gambling at 60 frames per second—the monitor specs for the majority of gamers—then the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 is the card you want.

The GTX 1660 rips the Radeon RX 580 from its years-long lockdown as the go-to "mellifluous spot" nontextual matter calling card. Nvidia's card trails its AMD counterpart in a twain of games that heavily favor Radeon architecture, but thoroughly triumphs over the competition in the other titles. With 6GB of memory, the capacity and longevity concerns that plagued the 3GB GTX 1060 are gone. And per usual, Nvidia's new GPU proves very business leader-economical. In real time that Nvidia GPUs play skillful with FreeSync adaptive sync monitors, that's no more an AMD advantage, either.

Brad Chacos/IDG

EVGA's custom cooling design and down-of-the-box overclock impresses yet again in the GeForce GTX 1660 XC Ultra, delivering great performance and downright frigid temperatures. It's meriting the $30 premium the card costs o'er the GTX 1660's $220 starting MSRP, especially if you have no desire to overclock your nontextual matter calling card manually.

But for Eastern Samoa much as we love the $250 EVGA GTX 1660 XC Ultra, market pressures prevent us from awarding it an Editors' Choice award like EVGA's pricier GTX 1660 Ti cousin. That $30 premium, while reasonable, puts the card within spitting distance of entry-charge $380 GTX 1660 Ti models, and as you saw in our benchmarks, the GTX 1660 Si is significantly quicker than the GTX 1660 non-Ti. A $30 agiotage is a significant markup per centum-wise for a GPU that starts at $220. I'd fence information technology's worth the investing, but this is a very price-painful section of the commercialise, and there's a expert chance that entry-storey GTX 1660 models will be able to deliver fine gameplay results while still holding temperatures from getting too white-hot. (They South Korean won't run anywhere near as cool operating theatre quiet As EVGA's XC Ultra, though.)

AMD's Radeon RX 580 still plays well at 1080p/60, and we've seen sales drop 8GB versions of those cards well infra $200 at times, often bundled with a pair of loos triple-A games. The GTX 1660 is a amended GPU whol around, but if you're on the hunt for a new graphics card, the economics of a particularly juicy Radeon RX 580 sale could sway you to Team up Coloured. Don't buy up a Radeon RX 590 though—at $260, it costs more than tied this overclocked EVGA GTX 1660 90 Ultra despite being outclassed in power efficiency and in-game performance (usually).

Brad Chacos/IDG

Don't Army of the Righteou all that grocery positioning talk dissuade you though. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 is the primo "sugary spot" 1080p artwork card you can buy, priced considerably, and EVGA's XC Ultra spin on information technology is spectacular. They're passing to sell a ton of these.

If you game happening a higher freshen plac 120Hz, 144Hz, or 240Hz monitor, spend the extra cash on the GTX 1660 Ti instead—you'll deficiency the special legroom it provides. And while the EVGA GTX 1660 XC Ultra can maneuver games at 1440p with a a couple of visual compromises, consider opting for a $380+ GTX 1660 Ti or (more ideally) a $350+ GeForce RTX 2060 alternatively if you want to push all those pixels well.

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Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/403426/nvidia-evga-geforce-gtx-1660-xc-ultra-review.html

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