Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti: specifications, tests and reviews. GTX 660 Ti VS GTX 660

The company NVIDIA - the supplier of video cards in the most different price segments. Among those who gained a decent popularity in the world and Russian market of graphics adapter modifications from NVIDIA is the device GTX 660 Ti. It belongs to the category of models in the price range above the average, and therefore many users, waiting for the start of sales of this device - it was introduced to the market in 2012 - counted on a serious level of its manufacturability and productivity. What are the main characteristics of the GTX 660 Ti video adapter in the ASUS version? What are the features of the manufacturer?

Basic information about the video card

The GTX 660 Ti is based on NVIDIA's proprietary graphics chip GK104. Equipped with 3 GB of video memory type GDDR5, which has 192-bit width of the bus. It is characterized by the highest performance: the graphics processor installed on the GTX 660 Ti, operates at a frequency of 1032 MHz, RAM modules - at a frequency of 1502 MHz, the bus operates at 400 MHz. The device is equipped with a powerful air cooling system, which protects it from overheating, even at maximum loads. The video card has connectors type DVI, as well as HDMI, through which it can connect external devices. In many ways, the device is close to the product GTX 670, which is also developed by NVIDIA. The closest competitors of the video card are such devices as the Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7950.

Video card from ASUS and other brands: is the difference great?

The specifics of the device in many aspects - in particular, what the device looks like, as well as what are the characteristics of its key hardware components, is largely determined by the design concept of a particular video card manufacturer. The matter is that the considered graphic adapter under license from NVIDIA can be issued by different firms - such as, for example, ZOTAC or ASUS. GTX 660 Ti to Russia can be delivered, therefore, under different brands.

In this case, despite the fact that the devices implemented in the Russian Federation can differ not only in appearance, but also in some characteristics, the difference between them is not so significant in terms of the efficiency of the devices in practice.

If we talk about the modification of the video card from ZOTAC, the Dual Silencer cooling system is among the most notable hardware components present in the corresponding delivery. It is represented by two fans, as well as an impressive size aluminum radiator. As some IT specialists note, this cooling system can provide a decrease in the operating temperature of the graphics adapter by approximately 10 degrees in full load mode. In addition, this hardware component functions, allocating significantly less noise than the one installed in the standard version of the NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti. The corresponding figure for the cooling system in question is 10 dB. The maximum temperature of the video card on which this hardware component is installed does not exceed 80 degrees.

A very unusual modification of the graphics adapter was introduced to the market by the company Colorful. First of all, we can note a variety of color shades, in which the given brand preferred to paint the video card. But not only in this you can find the originality of the device - it has installed one more version of the extended cooling system, Air Kit. Its main feature is the presence of a large radiator that exceeds the size of the actual video card. However, if necessary, it can be removed from the device. The video card in the modification of Colorful has the amount of RAM in 2 GB, otherwise - the characteristics of the device as a whole coincide with those that have other modifications of the graphics adapter.

What is the specificity of the video card in the version from ASUS? GeForce GTX 660 Ti in the corresponding modification, in general, corresponds to the characteristics of the original model. The video card from ASUS also has 3 GB of RAM, supports connections using DVI connectors, HDMI, is compatible with DirectX 11 technologies, and also OpenGL 4.3.

Thus, everything that will be discussed further on will generally be attributed to the video card under consideration in the modification from ASUS.

Characteristics

Let's study in more detail the main technological features of GeForce GTX 660 Ti. Features of the device, which can pay special attention, are as follows.

The video card functions when using the high-speed interface PCI Express X16 3.0. It is equipped, as we noted above, with a proprietary graphics processor from NVIDIA - GK104. This chip is produced within the technological process of 28 nm, in its structure there are 3.54 billion transistors. As we noted above, it operates at a frequency of 1032 MHz, but this is a regular figure - the chip can be overclocked to 1111 MHz. The total number of stream processors in the video card structure is 1344.

The device supports:

- DirectX technology in version 11.1;

- OpenGL standard in version 4.3;

- shaders in version 5.0;

- HDCP;

- proprietary technologies from NVIDIA (such as, for example, 3D Vision, PhysX, CUDA).

The GTX 660 Ti supports a maximum resolution of 4096 by 2160 pixels. The device is designed to work with a 450W power supply. The GTX 660 Ti has 112 texture blocks, as well as 24 pipelines that produce raster operations.

Features of architecture

The graphic adapter in question is equipped with a processor, which is based on the high-tech architecture of Kepler. It also produced such famous chips as the GTX 480 and also the GTX 580. The graphic chip GK, installed in the GTX 660 Ti graphics card, has 4 clusters responsible for graphic processing, 7 SMX multiprocessors, which consist of 1344 cores. In this sense, the structure of the video card is very similar to that of the device GTX 670.

The peculiarity of graphic chips based on the Kepler architecture is that they implement the GPU Boost function, which allows to automatically increase the GPU frequency in an automatic mode in order to accelerate the device. Thus, the natural overclocking of the GTX 660 Ti is implemented, which significantly improves the overall comfort of using the interfaces processed by the video card. The Kepler architecture and its capabilities can be attributed to the key technological advantages of the graphics adapter in question.

Supported technologies

Let's consider further, what possibilities are available at video card GTX 660 Ti. The characteristics of the device in terms of hardware components, we studied. Now we will examine what the given video card is capable of in terms of supporting software technologies.

Among the most notable are DirectX 11, PhysX, and TXAA. It is important that many game manufacturers at the time of the device on the market, in 2012, began to use these standards as the base. Therefore, for a gamer, the acquisition of such a device as the GTX 660 Ti was an excellent way to adapt your PC to the latest trends in the gaming industry. Actually, even now many game manufacturers are guided by the use of the marked standards, and therefore the presence on the computer of the device in question remains relevant for providing a high level of comfort for the gamer process.

It can be noted that TXAA technology belongs to the category of branded. Its developer is the brand manufacturer of the GTX 660 Ti. This technology is a special method of smoothing a picture by using special filters, as well as algorithms for processing pixels. In practice, it allows, for example, to provide the highest picture quality in dynamic scenes. As some experts note, TXAA technology slightly reduces the sharpness of the image, but in practice, many users even like this effect much. The smoothing method in question works in 2 main modes. The first involves the use of 2 multisamples, the second - 4.

As for gamer products, which involve the use of TXAA technology - one of the first such solutions, if we talk about the timing of sales of the GTX 660 Ti, was the game Secret World. In it, the developers have provided 4 levels of smoothing. In this case, if the corresponding function is disabled in the game at all, many of the elements of the game process are not displayed. Therefore, for a gamer, it is important to have a video card capable of processing graphics in the smoothing mode, - the GTX 660 Ti can be considered an appropriate option.

As for the practical efficiency of the video card in modes involving the use of the technologies mentioned above, experts estimate it as exceptionally high. Indeed, with high-quality development of graphic components by the software engine, the video card is able to display the game process on the screen, providing an excellent level of clarity and brightness of the picture.

Performance tests

How productive can the device be considered?

As we noted above, the NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti graphics card has 2 main competitors - HD 7870 product, as well as 7950 from AMD company. As shown by tests conducted by IT experts, the device from NVIDIA outperforms the speed of the HD 7870 solution, however, is inferior in speed to the second competing adapter. At the same time, all three devices are generally comparable in terms of the level of manufacturability of components, and therefore, in the course of their practical use - in games, or graphics applications, the difference in speed of work revealed in synthetic tests will not be very noticeable. It can also be noted that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti graphics card, in terms of performance, is generally close to the GTX 670 device - we noted above that these devices are similar in technology as well. True, in some modes of operation, the GTX 670 will work somewhat faster due to the fact that it has a wider interface of RAM - 256 bits, while the indicator for the device in question is 192 bits.

What are the results of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti in modes using the main supported technologies - DirextX in version 11, GPU PhysX, and TXAA? As noted by IT experts, the device provides not only high performance in the appropriate modes, but also good performance in energy efficiency. Actually, the optimization of energy consumption is one of the tasks with the aim of solving which the company NVIDIA developed the architecture of Kepler.

The GTX 660 Ti is much faster than the previous models - in particular, those that are based on the Fermi architecture. The graphics adapter is not bad in comparison not only with the Radeon HD 7870, one of the main direct competitors - it is quite comparable with the results of the device Radeon 7950. In terms of energy efficiency, the video card from NVIDIA, as IT experts say, surpasses the HD 7950.

Comparison with the GTX 660 version

It will be useful to compare the technological features of the GTX 660 Ti graphics adapter with those that have its very similar counterpart - the GTX 660 device. This device entered the market after NVIDIA released the TI version. The main difference between the GTX 660 graphics adapter and the previous model is the availability of a new chip, GK106. The video card is characterized by exceptionally high performance.

Its main characteristics are as follows. The graphic chip on which the adapter works, - GK106, is made within the technological process in 28 nm. The structure of the video card processor is 2.54 billion transistors. The architecture of the video adapter is optimized for stream processing of the widest range of graphic data. Device on the hardware level supports DirectX 11 technology, as well as shaders in version 5.0, processes graphics in tessellation mode.

The device has a 192-bit RAM bus and 3 autonomous working 64-bit controllers. The standard frequency of the core of the video card is 980 MHz, in the overclocking mode - 1033 MHz. In the structure of the device there are 5 multiprocessors, adapted for efficient floating-point calculations. The GTX 660 Ti has 80 blocks that perform texture addressing, as well as filtering, 3 ROPs. The RAM of the video card is 2 GB.

Thus, in terms of performance, the opposition of the GTX 660 Ti VS GTX 660 slightly wins the first hardware component. At the same time, the second device, in general, is not inferior to its predecessor in terms of key functions, support of modern technologies and universality. In addition, the device GTX 660 is cheaper than the older model. In this sense, in the stand-off GTX 660 Ti VS GTX 660, the second graphics card can have some advantage, because not all users need a device with such impressive characteristics as the older Ti model has.

Performance GTX 660

How productive is the GTX 660? Is it possible to say that the GTX 660 Ti significantly outperforms it in its speed? As many IT experts note, the device is very competitive against the background of the older model. In the course of practical use of the video adapter in games and graphics applications, the difference in the performance of the video cards in question can not be felt at all. If we talk about comparing the speed of the GTX 600 and direct competitors, the device also shows excellent results. In particular, the video card in many benchmarks measures performance that exceeds those that are detected when testing devices such as the Radeon HD 7850.

Reviews

We will study what users say about their experience of studying the capabilities of the GTX 660 Ti. Opinions of fans of computer electronics can be classified into the following main categories:

- reviews of IT professionals using video cards in various graphics applications;

- reviews of gamers using the device mainly in games;

- reviews of experts who examined the capabilities of the device in various tests.

As for the opinions of IT specialists using the device in their work, for example, when processing pictures, video, while programming 3D games, the NVIDIA graphics card is characterized in them as a stable and reliable device, which, first of all, Is complemented by high speed and versatility - in terms of supporting current software technologies, the ability to connect various devices, compatibility with other hardware components.

Fans of computer games are also generally satisfied with the performance of the video card. As gamers note, the adapter from NVIDIA really does an excellent job of processing graphic elements, it gives a clear picture even at the start of demanding games. Any difficulties with the organization of the game process, involving the use of high-tech standards, such as DirectX 11, according to users, are not typical for the video card.

As for the reviews of the experts who tested the GTX 660 Ti, their opinions are formed based on a comparison of the results of measuring the performance of devices and competing devices. Considering the results of the corresponding tests above, we learned that the devices are looking at the background of analogs more than worthy. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the experts' reviews regarding the evaluation of the performance of the video card are fully positive.

Summary

Regardless of the specific modification of the device - whether it's an adapter released by ZOTAC, Palit or ASUS, - the GeForce GTX 660 Ti is a video card, which can be called one of the most high-tech solutions for the relevant stage of the development of the electronic components market. The device supports all those standards that were considered as the most relevant for the gaming industry in those years when the adapter was brought to the market. The video card shows excellent results in tests, in many respects ahead of competing solutions.