ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC review: Budget price, not so budget performance

Turing for the masses

NVIDIA today announced the latest piece in its line-up of superfast Turing cards. The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is the first card based on the Turing architecture to retain the GTX branding, and it’s also the most affordable model yet.

At US$279, it’s attractively priced and clearly intended to penetrate even deeper into the mainstream gaming market. The GTX designation does mean that this is also the only Turing card to not feature ray tracing acceleration capabilities or Tensor cores, so it’s shaping up to be an attractive option for gamers who want the benefits of the Turing architecture without paying extra for the RT and Tensor cores.

Furthermore, it’s priced the same as AMD’s new Radeon RX 590, so it’ll compete directly with that card for gamers who just want to game at 1080p. It's also the proper successor to the long-reigning GeForce GTX 1060, which has cornered the mainstream market for way too long. 

So what exactly are the benefits of Turing?

The Turing GPU is all about efficiency. It has dedicated cores for processing floating point and integer operations simultaneously. In addition, its CUDA cores can also take advantage of the latest techniques in programmable shading so the GPU doesn’t expend resources unnecessarily. On top of that, the Turing GPU has a new cache structure that delivers greater flexibility, higher capacity, and better bandwidth.

1) Concurrent floating and integer operations

For starters, this means that the GPU has dedicated cores for processing FP32 and integer operations simultaneously. Modern games increasingly utilize a mix of floating point operations and integer instructions. For example, for every 100 instructions in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 62 are floating point and 38 are integer instructions on average. Before Turing, the floating point data path would have to sit idle whenever an integer instruction was being executed.

Turing adds a second parallel integer execution unit next to each CUDA core that can carry out these instructions at the same, which reduces the number of instruction slots needed. 

2)Variable rate shading

Turing also introduces something called Variable Rate Shading (VRS). This comprises the Content Adaptive Shading and Motion Adaptive Shading algorithms, which let the GPU adjust the shading rate for different regions of a scene or for specific objects. For instance, if a certain patch of wall had a uniform texture, the GPU could decide that it didn't need to be rendered in full detail. It would then take fewer samples and expend fewer resources.

Motion Adaptive Shading bases the shading rate on the amount of motion present in a particular region, where fast moving objects could be rendered in lower detail without the viewer noticing anything amiss. Similarly, Content Adaptive Shading is based on the spatial and temporal color coherence across frames. So if a certain element like the sky or a wall persists between scenes, they can be rendered in lower detail as well. 

Games have to be coded to take advantage of this though, and one example of a game that can do this is Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. 

3) Unified cache architecture

On top of that, Turing features a new unified architecture for shared memory, L1, and texture caching. The L1 cache is configurable, which means it can grow larger when shared memory allocations are not using all of the shared memory capacity, thus increasing its hit bandwidth. 

According to NVIDIA, one game that benefits hugely from the new cache architecture is Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 .

4) Better encoding quality

Finally, Turing features an improved NVENC encoder unit that adds support for H.265 (HEVC) 8K encoding at 30fps. The new NVENC encoder supposedly offers up to 25 per cent in bit rate savings for HEVC and up to 15 per cent for H.264. In addition, the NVDEC decoder now supports decoding of HEVC 8/10/12-bit video streams with a chroma subsampling rate of 4:4:4. 

NVIDIA says it also worked with OBS to allow the software to take advantage of Turing's new video enhancements. The idea was to reduce the need for a dedicated streaming PC for encoding video content and also lower CPU utilization, which should help improve the quality of life for streamers.

Meet the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti

NVIDIA isn't releasing a Founders Edition version of the card, and it's launching right away with custom cards from its partners. The ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC reviewed here today has a base clock of 1,530MHz and boost clock of 1,890MHz in OC mode, but I tested the card at its reference clocks to get an idea of the baseline performance. 

Here's an overview of its specifications: 

NVIDIA says the TU116 GPU in the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti was built to deliver over 120fps in competitive titles like PUBG, Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Furthermore, when compared to the GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, it is better equipped to take advantage of the latest technologies employed by modern games. 

The ASUS card is powered by a single 8-pin power connector and features two HDMI 2.0b and two DisplayPort 1.4 outputs. NVIDIA says the VirtualLink USB-C connector is optional, and it is up to partners whether or not they want to implement it. 

Like other cards in the ROG Strix series, build quality on the card is excellent. It boasts a metal backplate and also features an additional metal brace that further shores up the structural integrity of the PCB. A 6+2-phase power design is also employed here, and ASUS says it has used quality capacitors and chokes that can last longer. 

The upgraded cooler we saw on the earlier RTX cards makes an appearance here as well. The card is cooled by three "axial-tech" fans that run really cool and quiet. A BIOS switch also lets you toggle between Quiet and Performance modes, where the former supports semi-passive operation and allows the fans to stop spinning entirely when GPU temperatures fall below 55°C.

In addition, there are two 4-pin fan headers at the front that will work with both PWM and DC fans. These are quite useful as they allow you to peg your system fans to the GPU temperature for better cooling. 

Test Setup

The detailed specifications of our new graphics card testbed system is as follows:-

• Intel Core i7-8086K (4.0GHz, 12MB L3 cache)
• ASUS ROG Strix Maximus X Hero (Intel Z370)
• 4 x 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3000 (Auto timings: CAS 15-15-15-35)
• Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD
• Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
• Acer Predator X27, 4K monitor

The full line-up of graphics cards and their driver versions are listed below:

• ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gaming OC (ForceWare 418.91)
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition (ForceWare 417.54)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Founders Edition (ForceWare 417.35)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition (ForceWare 417.35)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Founders Edition (ForceWare 417.35)
• PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 590 (Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 18.12.3)

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Benchmarks

Next up, here's a list of all the benchmarks used:

• 3DMark
• VRMark
• Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
• Far Cry 5
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Tom Clancy's The Division

We used the Fire Strike Extreme benchmark and stress test in 3DMark for our temperature  and power consumption tests respectively.

3DMark 

The synthetic 3DMark benchmark tests graphics and computational performance at different resolutions, starting at 1080p and going all the way up to 4K. A series of two graphics test, one physics test, and then a combined test stress your hardware in turn to assess its performance.

Overall, the ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1660 Ti I tested performed slightly behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition.

In the 1080p Fire Strike benchmark, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti was just under 5 per cent slower than the GeForce GTX 1070. However, it was a good 26 per cent quicker than the GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, and also 8 per cent faster than the Radeon RX 590.

VRMark

Futuremark’s VRMark benchmark is designed to assess a PC’s ability to handle high-performance headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. If a PC passes the Orange Room test, it is ready for the latter two systems. The second graph also shows how the cards fared against the benchmark's target of an average FPS of 109. 

Once again, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti performed very similarly to the GeForce GTX 1070. It was also around 30 per cent quicker than the GeForce GTX 1060 6GB. 

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

Ashes of the Singularity has long been the poster child for the performance benefits a low-level API like DirectX 12 can bring. It is based on the Nitrous engine and can be extremely punishing thanks to the huge number of onscreen units and the sheer level of detail accorded to each unit. However, the CPU does become the limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings. 

That said, there was a smaller performance differential between the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and the RTX 2060 here, although the former continued to shadow the GeForce GTX 1070. 

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Mankind Divided features just about every trick to make your game look pretty, including things like volumetric and dynamic lighting, screenspace reflections, and cloth physics. Even though it was released in 2016, the game is capable of bringing even the most powerful systems to their knees. 

Both the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and GTX 1070 continued to show how similar they are in terms of performance, but the Turing card actually has a small advantage here, coming ahead in quite a few test settings. It also handily beat the Radeon RX 590 by around 20 per cent at 1080p. 

Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 is actually an AMD launch title, so it'll be interesting to see how the green camp fares here. As it turns out, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti did quite well here, beating out the Radeon RX 590 by 21 per cent at 1080p and High settings. 

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

In Shadow of War, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti managed to inch ahead of the GeForce GTX 1070. It also proved a decent bit faster than both the GeForce GTX 1060 6GB and Radeon RX 590, coming ahead by 35 per cent and 21 per cent respectively. 

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

NVIDIA has mentioned Shadow of the Tomb Raider a lot lately, largely because it will be one of the first games to support its RTX technology through a post-release patch. At the time of writing however, the patch hasn't dropped yet, so the results still deal with conventional performance metrics. 

The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti was just behind the RTX 2060 here, and it's pretty impressive that it was closer to the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti than it was to the GTX 1070. 

Tom Clancy's The Division

The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti was again neck-and-neck with the GTX 1070 in The Division. However, it was also 8 per cent behind the GeForce RTX 2060, and 32 per cent ahead of the GeForce GTX 1060 6GB. 

Temperature and power consumption

Since there is no Founders Edition model for the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, cooling performance will vary between the custom solutions implemented by different vendors. ASUS' triple fan cooler for this generation of ROG Strix cards has fared really well in my previews reviews, and this time is no exception. The ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1660 Ti ran at a chilly 58°C, and it's quiet to boot as well. 

When it came to power consumption, the card recorded a higher than expected idle power draw, but power consumption at load was around the same as the GeForce GTX 1070. It also consumes significantly less power than the Radeon RX 590, despite being quite a bit faster. Clearly, NVIDIA continues to dominate in terms of power efficiency and performance per watt. 

As fast as a GeForce GTX 1070

NVIDIA has continued to flesh out its Turing line-up at a steady cadence. Since the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and its eye-watering price, the cards have steadily become more affordable. Today, this brings us to the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, the first Turing card to ship without dedicated RT and Tensor cores and the RTX branding. 

At US$279, it is the most accessible Turing card yet, and it once again raises the bar for mainstream performance. The GeForce GTX 1060 6GB could comfortably run most games at 1080p, but the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti wants to push enough frames for you to take advantage of high refresh rate monitors. That's pretty impressive, and it's a big quality-of-life improvement that many gamers can appreciate. It can already run many AAA games at close to a 100fps at 1080p, so it seems primed to handle many less demanding e-sports titles with ease. 

With performance that rivals, and at times exceeds, the GeForce GTX 1070, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti looks like a pretty worthy successor to dethrone the GeForce GTX 1060 6GB as the go-to card for the masses. The Radeon RX 590 looked like it might challenge the GeForce GTX 1060 for a while, but now that NVIDIA has announced the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, there seems little reason to opt for the similarly priced AMD card. After all, NVIDIA's GPU costs the same, is faster, and also consumes less power. 

NVIDIA will be anxiously watching how the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is received. Flagship cards like the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti are exciting, but they only make up a sliver of sales, and the bulk of the market is still comprised of gamers simply looking for a card that will let them game at 1080p. The mainstream segment is arguably the most important one, and I think NVIDIA has created quite an attractive card that can successfully woo these gamers.

With news that Turing GPU sales have failed to meet expectations, which honestly isn't surprising given how much they generally cost, NVIDIA will definitely be hoping that the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti will be reason enough for gamers to upgrade to Turing. And from what I've seen of it, there sure looks like there's good reason to if you're running a Maxwell card or older.

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