NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti SLI Performance Analysis

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti SLI Performance Analysis

We were very impressed with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 660 Ti, an upper mid-range graphics card priced at US$299, utilizing the same GK104 core found in NVIDIA's GTX 670 and flagship GTX 680 cards. In our performance tests the GTX 660 Ti performed much better than its competitor from AMD, the Radeon HD 7870, and even beat AMD's upper-tier HD 7950 on the majority of tests. In NVIDIA's lineup, the GTX 660 Ti's overall performance put it just behind NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 670.

Thanks to its reasonable price point compared to high-end cards, we reckon many enthusiasts would be considering the basic GTX 660 Ti for a two-way SLI configuration. To fulfill that desire, today we're going to find out just how well a pair GTX 660 Ti cards can perform.

Test Setup

To evaluate the GeForce GTX 660 Ti’s performance in a 2-way SLI configuration, we will be using our same Intel X58 setup which has the following specifications:

• Intel Core i7-975 (3.33GHz)
• Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P motherboard
• 3 x 1GB DDR3-1333 G.Skill memory in triple channel mode
• Seagate 7200.10 200GB SATA hard drive
• Windows 7 Ultimate

As no reference design is available for the GTX 660 Ti (at the point of our test), we'll be using custom cards downclocked to reference specs, which should give you an idea of the bare minimum performance you can expect out of a GTX 660 Ti 2-way SLI configuration.

 

The full list of cards tested and driver versions used:

• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB GDDR5 2-way SLI (ForceWare 305.37)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 305.37)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB GDDR5 2-way SLI (ForceWare 301.33)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 301.33)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 4GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 301.33)
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 2-way CrossFireX (AMD Catalyst 12.2 Preview Version)
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 (AMD Catalyst 12.2 Preview Version)
• AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB GDDR5 2-way CrossFireX (AMD Catalyst 12.3)
• AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB GDDR5 (AMD Catalyst 12.3)

We did not include NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680 as its single card performance is quite close to the GTX 670, while its SLI performance is very close to the GTX 690.

 

The list of benchmarks used:

• Futuremark 3DMark 11
• Unigine Heaven V2.1
• Far Cry 2
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• Crysis Warhead
• Crysis 2
• Batman: Arkham City
• Dirt 3
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Benchmark Results

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 660 Ti continues to impress. Performance scaling was good, with the SLI configuration scoring about 20-50% better on lower settings and at the resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, and between 80% and 105% better with higher settings and at 2560 x 1600, compared to the single-card setup. As expected, the GTX 660 Ti was much better than AMD's Radeon HD 7870 2-way CrossfireX configuration, averaging between 20-30% better on most tests. 

Against the higher-tier GTX 670 SLI, the GTX 660 Ti SLI trailed by about 5-10%, which mirrored its single card performance. Surprisingly, it also competed with AMD's flagship Radeon HD 7970 in 2-way CrossfireX configuration, with only about 3-5% difference between them in many benchmarks.

Benchmark Results (contd.)

Temperature Results

Temperature performance on the GTX 660 Ti will obviously depend on which custom cooler(s) you're set of graphics cards are using. Case in point, for our system, we chose MSI and Gigabyte (which were down-clocked to reference clock speeds). To keep our result chart clean, the 'reference' GTX 660 Ti single card temperature result is based on the MSI model. Take note that it's overclocked out of the box, but it had the best temperature performance among the premium GTX 660 Ti graphics cards (and thus a closer representative to the non overclocked reference model).

As you can see from the compiled temperature test results while at load, the pair of GTX 660 Ti cards registered a significant increase in heat, although this was expected and is in-line with the rest of our SLI and CrossfireX setups. Your own mileage will vary depending on which pair of graphics cards you've SLI'ed and if they are overclocked, they will register much higher temperatures too.

Power Consumption Results

Power consumption will also differ from model to model, but it shouldn't vary as much as temperature results. Compared to our other 2-way configuration setups, the GTX 660 Ti par was fairly good, losing only to the HD 7870 CrossfireX setup. This is to be expected since the GPUs used on the GTX 660 Ti are identical to those used in GTX 670 and GTX 680.

Twin Titans

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti is a very enticing candidate for dual-GPU setups providing near to top-of-the-line performance at a much better price than other dual-Kepler GPU setups.

Performance scaling was best at the resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, with game quality settings turned up, the SLI pair cranking out between 80-105% more performance than the single card alone. At lower resolutions (full HD) and settings, we saw only a 20-50% increase in performance compared to the single card performance, and as such, we would only recommend the GTX 660 Ti SLI setup to gamers that really require the extra power, such as those running multi-display setups, those with huge, high-resolution monitors, or those planning on playing graphically demanding games at completely maxed out settings. Additionally, the added firepower will also come in handy if your're keen on running games in 3D using the GeForce 3D Vision glasses and transmitter.

In fact, for most gamers without such high demands, the actual tangible improvement with the SLI setup will go unnoticed. On many of our benchmarks, most notably the less demanding games and those run at 1920 x 1200 pixels resolution, the GTX 660 Ti SLI config was exceeding 100 FPS output, which is definitely an overkill in terms of actual user experience. Most people won't be able to tell the difference between 60 FPS and 120 FPS.

Having said that, if you do require (and appreciate) the extra horsepower, the GTX 660 Ti SLI setup does offer great value. At an SRP of US$598 for a pair of GTX 660 Ti cards, you're looking at a saving of US$200 against a pair of GTX 670s, with only an average 10-15% performance loss. If you compare two GTX 660 Ti cards against a single dual-GPU GTX 690, which retails for a whopping US$1000, or a pair of GTX 680 cards (which will cost you a similar US$998), you're looking at an even bigger savings of US$400, for only a 10-20% loss in performance.

All things considered, we think the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti SLI combo will please a lot of users who can't afford to fork out a four-figure sum for the top-end GPUs, while enjoying most of their performance capabilities. Of course, nothing beats having the true horsepower of the top tier cards to handle any and all situations like 3-way SLI, triple-monitor gaming with 3D Vision capabilities, but if you're not going over the top, the GTX 660 Ti SLI would do fine for most enthusiasts.

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