[H] ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II Video Card Review

[Rvenger]

Not sure if anyone seen this yet. Looks like the nod goes to the 7870 this time.

EDIT: It appears it was taken down.


http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/09/12/asus_geforce_gtx_660_directcu_ii_video_card_review/1

 

[Keysplayr]

Not sure if anyone seen this yet. Looks like the nod goes to the 7870 this time.




http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/09/12/asus_geforce_gtx_660_directcu_ii_video_card_review/1

You mean the OC'd 7870 gets the nod against the reference clocked 660?
We should also wait for more reviews before anybody gets the "nod".

"ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II

We have a full retail GTX 660 based video card for evaluation today. This is the standard model from ASUS, with reference clock speeds, but using a custom DirectCU II cooler. There will be an OC and TOP version which have higher clock speeds. The pricing for the standard version, which we are evaluating is $234.99. The high-end TOP version will be $249.99. "

 

[Rvenger]

This is what actually caught my eye. I am guessing the OC headroom on the 660 is pretty limited.

"In our testing we found that a retail custom factory overclocked Radeon HD 7870 is able to provide better than stock GeForce GTX 660 performance in games. What's more, it is more than capable at high AA settings, and even seems to pull ahead and high settings like 8X MSAA. Our HD 7870 isn't even "fully" overclocked, there is still more potential for performance out of the GPU through manual overclocking."

 

[tviceman]

This is what actually caught my eye. I am guessing the OC headroom on the 660 is pretty limited.

"In our testing we found that a retail custom factory overclocked Radeon HD 7870 is able to provide better than stock GeForce GTX 660 performance in games. What's more, it is more than capable at high AA settings, and even seems to pull ahead and high settings like 8X MSAA. Our HD 7870 isn't even "fully" overclocked, there is still more potential for performance out of the GPU through manual overclocking."

8X AA isn't even playable on either card with the benchmarks they ran:

If consistently less than 30fps is for you, then go ahead and crank up it up to 8X AA. 2560x1600 hd7870 is faster, but playability in many of those games is still questionable (with Batman being completely unplayable, IMO).

 

[sontin]

And it's offline.

 

[SirPauly]

Looks like the review was too early and taken down.

 

[Termie]

Looking forward to actually seeing the reviews. I thought Sept. 12th was the day - perhaps the NDA is up at 9am Pacific, 12 noon Eastern, as it usually is with nVidia.

By the way, given that the 7870 is overclocked, I'd say these two cards are neck-and-neck at stock, and that the 660 is potentially faster without AA, just judging from the other 600 series cards.

And for the record, Max Payne isn't playable with 8xAA on a 670 either. As HardOCP itself found, MSAA in Max Payne is a disaster and shouldn't be used (except maybe to overemphasize a point in benchmarking): http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/06/12/max_payne_3_performance_iq_review/7

 

[Hypertag]

Looking forward to actually seeing the reviews. I thought Sept. 12th was the day - perhaps the NDA is up at 9am Pacific, 12 noon Eastern, as it usually is with nVidia.

Nvidia changed the embargo date when Apple made today Iphone 5 day.

 

[Termie]

Nvidia changed the embargo date when Apple made today Iphone 5 day.

Interesting - any idea when the new date is?

 

[Rvenger]

Interesting - any idea when the new date is?

Looks like tomorrow.

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1039131400&postcount=10

 

[Crap Daddy]

Interesting - any idea when the new date is?

Tomorrow? But anyway I can't seem to understand why is this card compared to the 7870. Because of the price? When the 650Ti or whatever will be called will be launched and all the 600 lineup will be available people will understand this:

680 - 7970
670 - 7950
660Ti - 7870
660 - 7850
650Ti - 7770
650 - 7750

 

[RussianSensation]

660 doesn't look so hot against the 7 months old 7870.

Let's hope GTX700 series launches much closer to HD8000 series. Launching 6+ months late and barely matching AMD's cards is disappointing.

The 6 months opportunity cost of waiting for the 660 and not buying an HD7850 and OCing tells the story.

Waiting to see if 660 is priced at $199-219 or $229-239.

 

[Termie]

It does look like the 7870 is the superior card. The question is, will nVidia be aggressive with discounts, as are the AMD board sellers, or will they stick to MSRP? An MSRP of $235, quoted above, is too high given the discounted 7870s out there (which have an MSRP much higher than $235). nVidia is diving into a market that AMD has been very aggressive in of late.

At $200 nVidia would take the entire market, but it's probably not willing to be that aggressive.

 

[SirPauly]

660 doesn't look so hot against the 7 months old 7870.

Sure it does! It creates more choice and value for gamers. Without strong competition and choice, gamers may still be seeing HD 7870's for 349 dollars.

 

[RussianSensation]

600 lineup will be available people will understand this:

$420-$550 price level: 680 vs. 7970 GE (this is a real SKU you have forgotten even though plenty of after-market versions with 1050-1100mhz are available in this range)
$380-$420 price level: 670 vs. 7970 (New MSRP for 7970 will be $410 apparently)
$300-330 price level: 660Ti vs. 7950 800-950mhz versions
$220-240 price level: 660 vs. 7870 (unless 660 costs $199-$209)
650Ti vs. 7770 (When is Ti launching? October?)
$120-130 price level: 650 vs. 7770 since 7750 goes under $100.

Fixed.

 

[Crap Daddy]

The aggressive pricing policy of AMD and the lack of reaction until now for NV plus the fact that NV still has no competitor against the 7770 has created - for some - confusion regarding the performance of the cards.

If the 680 would be 400$, the 670 - 320$, the 660Ti - 250$ and the 660- 210$ would you understand which AMD card is the competition for those NV cards?

 

[balane]

It seems as if a lot of people just compare the cards like this;

Best vs. Best
2nd Best vs. 2nd Best
3rd vs. 3rd
etc.

without even considering the pricing. That's where the confusion lies. Looking at individual performance tiers obviously one would compare the 670 vs. 7950 and 660 TI vs. 7870 but pricing doesn't dictate those comparisons.

People have called AMD the Value line of graphic cards like that's a bad thing. I don't regret having a GTX 680 but I would definitely make a different decision if I were buying today.

 

[sontin]

But if somebody is using the age of the cards than he must consider the price, too.
The 7870 started with a price point of $349. Sure the 7870 looks for somebody better than the GTX660 but only because the card lost >30% of the value.

 

[f1sherman]

Sure it does! It creates more choice and value for gamers. Without strong competition and choice, gamers may still be seeing HD 7870's for 349 dollars.

WHAT COMPETITION?
Didn't you hear of AMD's latest price drop?

Which has nothing to do with 3 latest NV launches where AMD leadership in their infinite wisdom, stubbornly refused to back down in pricing until all the reviews had already been out.

Also, this latest AMD price drop has nothing to do with upcoming GTX 660 $229 launch.

Clearly a move out of kindness of AMD big heart.
/sarcasm off

Don't forget that GK106 has 1/6 SMX ready to be unleashed the moment the situation AND/OR yields are appropriate.

 

[blackened23]

Out of curiosity, I wonder if the 660/650 shares the throttling mechanisms and GPU boost of the GK104? IE power and temperature throttle? Does the 660 have clockspeeds that "stick" as opposed to the varying clockspeeds of the GK104 upon hitting pre-determined temperature and power thresholds?

The throttle mechanisms are garbage, hopefully that stuff is the first to go in whatever next gen part nvidia creates. Its great if you play games or benchmark in 15 minute chunks.

 

[Rvenger]

WHAT COMPETITION?
Didn't you hear of AMD's latest price drop?

Which has nothing to do with 3 latest NV launches where AMD leadership in their infinite wisdom, stubbornly refused to back down in pricing until all the reviews had already been out.

Also, this latest AMD price drop has nothing to do with upcoming GTX 660 $229 launch.

Clearly a move out of kindness of AMD big heart.
/sarcasm off

Don't forget that GK106 has 1/6 SMX ready to be unleashed the moment the situation AND/OR yields are appropriate.

Original pricing also had to do with bad yields at TSMC, or so we think.

 

[piesquared]

WHAT COMPETITION?
Didn't you hear of AMD's latest price drop?

Which has nothing to do with 3 latest NV launches where AMD leadership in their infinite wisdom, stubbornly refused to back down in pricing until all the reviews had already been out.

Also, this latest AMD price drop has nothing to do with upcoming GTX 660 $229 launch.

Clearly a move out of kindness of AMD big heart.
/sarcasm off

Don't forget that GK106 has 1/6 SMX ready to be unleashed the moment the situation AND/OR yields are appropriate.

That dog has already been unleashed. The dog that didn't bark..

 

[wand3r3r]

Tomorrow? But anyway I can't seem to understand why is this card compared to the 7870. Because of the price? When the 650Ti or whatever will be called will be launched and all the 600 lineup will be available people will understand this:

680 - 7970
670 - 7950
660Ti - 7870
660 - 7850
650Ti - 7770
650 - 7750

It does look like the 7870 is the superior card. The question is, will nVidia be aggressive with discounts, as are the AMD board sellers, or will they stick to MSRP? An MSRP of $235, quoted above, is too high given the discounted 7870s out there (which have an MSRP much higher than $235). nVidia is diving into a market that AMD has been very aggressive in of late.

At $200 nVidia would take the entire market, but it's probably not willing to be that aggressive.

Of course it should be compared to the 7870.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2270100
HD 7870 price cut
$240

660 price
$234.99 - $249.99.

It's actually right neck and neck for pricing provided both are true.
The 7870 is going for $240ish on newegg atm anyways regardless of the official price cuts.

They are in the exact same price segment as each other. (Unless nvidia changes that in the next 24hrs.)

 

[sontin]

Out of curiosity, I wonder if the 660/650 shares the throttling mechanisms and GPU boost of the GK104? IE power and temperature throttle? Does the 660 have clockspeeds that "stick" as opposed to the varying clockspeeds of the GK104 upon hitting pre-determined temperature and power thresholds?

The throttle mechanisms are garbage, hopefully that stuff is the first to go in whatever next gen part nvidia creates. Its great if you play games or benchmark in 15 minute chunks.

Buy a card with a better cooler. My Gigabyte GTX670 is not even throttlering with 1300MHz and 6660MHz memory.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Buy a card with a better cooler. My Gigabyte GTX670 is not even throttlering with 1300MHz and 6660MHz memory.

Better cooling adds more to the price making the gtx6xx cards even less worth the money...