It’s definitely a case of a cut too far for
the GK104 GPU that Nvidia is using to pad out its Kepler line-up. The weaker
GPU and memory bus combo means that this Asus GTX 660 Ti DCU II Top card can’t
compete with similarly priced GTX 670 or the cheaper AMD HD 7950.
The
weaker GPU and memory bus combo means that this Asus GTX 660 Ti DCU II Top card
can’t compete with similarly priced GTX 670 or the cheaper AMD HD 7950.
Even the extreme overclock on the GTX 660
Ti GPU – going from 915MHz up to 1,059MHz on the base clock alone – can’t push
the performance up to GTX 670 speeds, or even AMD HD 7950 pace.
The EVGA GTX 660 Ti SC is also slightly
overclocked, but is significantly cheaper than the Asus card. That puts it in
the same price bracket as the HD 7950, which goes to show how solid the
performance of the AMD chip is, even eight months or so since it first
launched.
DirectX
11 tessellation performance
Heaven
2.5
(FPS: higher is better)
·
Asus GTX 660 Ti Top: 24.3
·
Evga GTX 660 Ti SC: 23.7
·
Nvidia GTX 670: 28.5
·
AMD HD 7950: 24.9
DirectX
11 gaming performance
DiRT
(FPS: higher is better)
·
Asus GTX 660 Ti Top: 22
·
Evga GTX 660 Ti SC: 20
·
Nvidia GTX 670: 22
·
AMD HD 7950: 29
DirectX
11 gaming performance
Sniper
Elite V2
(FPS: higher is better)
·
Asus GTX 660 Ti Top: 9.9
·
Evga GTX 660 Ti SC: 9.4
·
Nvidia GTX 670: 10.6
·
AMD HD 7950: 13.2
DirectX
11 1080p performance
Metro
2033
·
(FPS: higher is better)
·
Asus GTX 660 Ti Top: 25
·
Evga GTX 660 Ti SC: 24
·
Nvidia GTX 670: 31
·
AMD HD 7950: 33
DirectX
11 gaming performance
Batman:
AC
·
(FPS: higher is better)
·
Asus GTX 660 Ti Top: 49
·
Evga GTX 660 Ti SC: 48
·
Nvidia GTX 670: 60
·
AMD HD 7950: 52
“Nvidia needs to step outside and smell the
global recession”
Sad face
You know, sometimes it can be really fun
writing a negative review of a product, but occasionally a product is so
disappointing there’s not an ounce of enjoyment to be had from hoofing it like
a lame beggar. We’d expected the GTX 660 Ti to be a serious contender for our
favourite GPU of all time. After all, when you combine the goodness of the
Kepler architecture (GPU boost, impressive power juggling, and pretties like
TXAA and Adaptive Vsync) with a mainstream price tag, how could it fail?
Well, talk to Nvidia and you’ll find out.
It can certainly fail if you don’t bother designing a GPU aimed at the
mainstream and instead just hack up the existing chip you’ve been using for
your top-tier gaming cards since March.
We’d
expected the GTX 660 Ti to be a serious contender for our favourite GPU of all
time.
The ageing GK104 is a fine GPU when it’s
being fed with a decent memory bus and hasn’t been pared to the bone. Hacked
up, as it is in the GTX 660 Ti, it’s not much good anyone unless it’s
significantly cheaper than we’re seeing at launch.
At $300 this overclocked Asus Top edition
would be a great graphics card, but when it costs the same as the far superior
GTX 670, it’s completely irrelevant. Even the EVGA GTX 660 Ti SC with is $390
tag is too expensive, losing out to the slightly faster HD 7950 at the same
price.
It’s not like this is a new precedent
either. I’m referring again to the familiar situation that arose when Nvidia
was getting into the mainstream segment of its first generation Fermi cards.
After the GTX 470 came the GTX 465. It was
using the same GF100 GPU Nvidia was putting in its top-end cards, but with a
lot of the chip’s innate goodness cut out. Nvidia also positioned it only
slightly cheaper than the much faster GTX 470. It was roundly panned as a
pointless release and was superseded in around a month by the fantastic GTX 460
and its new GF104 GPU.
We can only hope the same thing happens
here and we’ll see a new Kepler GPU, specifically designed for the mainstream
segment, in a GTX 660 without the Ti moniker – and for a more mainstream price.
Seriously, when did $375-$450 become the mainstream pricing for graphics cards?
After a run of really very good graphics
cards, Nvidia need to step outside and smell the global recession. Bring me my
real mainstream Kepler card, not this pretender to the throne.
|
Vital statistics
|
|
Price:
|
$450
|
|
Manufacturer:
|
Asus
|
|
Web:
|
http:// uk.asus.com
|
|
GPU:
|
Nvidia GK104
|
|
Base clock:
|
1.059MHz
|
|
Boost clock:
|
1.137MHz
|
|
CUDA cores:
|
1,344
|
|
ROPs:
|
24
|
|
Memory bus:
|
192-bit
|
|
PCFormat Verdict
|
2.5/5
|
|
Features:
|
3.5/5
|
|
Performance:
|
3/5
|
|
Value:
|
1/5
|
|
Asus has stepped up and produced the
fastest GTX 660 Ti we’ve seen. But sadly, the price renders it irrelevant.
|
