Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Twin Fan 6 GB Review

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Introduction

Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Twin Fan 6G review
Compact, versatile and cooling all at 219,-  

We review the Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Twin Fan, it is priced spot on 219 USD, the MSRP of the new non-Ti model, meet the petite GeForce GTX 1660 Twin Fan edition. Based on a dual fan and a small form factor it performs as expected.

We mentioned this a couple of times before, but initially, when the first rumors on the GeForce GTX (yes, with a G) surfaced, speculation was everywhere and we had doubts NVIDIA would actually release a new GTX while moving forward towards it's RTX branding. But yes, NVIDIA is now injecting a Turing based GPU into the mainstream called TU116. To make it more affordable NVIDIA stripped away the RTX and DLSS features, that means there are no RT and Tensor cores on this GPU. It's a fall back towards the original shader design model. And that's where we land today with this review. The TU116 based 1660 GPU has 1536 shader for the Ti model and 1408 shader cores (aka CUDA cores / Stream processors) tied to 6GB of memory for the regular 1660 (non-Ti). So you can choose two video card series based on the same chip, the GTX 1660 and the 1660 Ti. The Ti variants we have seen in the first launch wave and thus will get GDDR6 graphics memory, the non-Ti is fitted with GDDR5 graphics memory as well as offering 6GB and 3GB configurations. In the year 2019 we, however, could never advise a 3GB graphics card. The 1660 series is making use of the Turing architecture but will not have Raytracing and Tensor cores, this is why NVIDIA dropped the RTX suffix back to GTX. The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti cards are to occupy the 250 to 300 USD price domain where the GTX 1660 will sit in a 200 to 250 USD pricing level, currently occupied by the AMD Polaris 20-based Radeon RX 580 and RX 570 series.


Img_8086
GTX 1060 GTX 1660 GTX 1660 Ti RTX 2060
GPU GP106 12nm FF TU116 12nm FF TU116 12nm FF TU106
Shader cores 1280 1408 1536 1920
Memory 6 GB / 3GB GDDR5 6GB GDDR5 6GB GDDR6 6GB GDDR6
Memory bus 192-bit 192-bit 192-bit 192-bit

The reference frequencies for the GTX 1660 series are spicy, with a reference Base and boost clocks at 1,530 and 1,785 MHz respectively. The new cards, (if priced right) can become NVIDIA's new money maker, as they should offer very decent gaming performance in the 1080p and 1440p resolutions. NVIDIA is not distributing a reference design card to the media. Ergo, the reviews you'll see are based on AIB designed partner cards. Will there be a GeForce GTX 1650 card? Yes very likely, we expect that somewhere in April.


Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Twin Fan 6G

The 1660 series graphics cards are based on Turing architecture, offering just that fundamental shading engine. The GPU has been cut-down, the available memory configurations will be 6GB GDDR6 for the Ti models and 3 or 6GB GDDR5 for the non-Ti models. Our tested card has been fitted with 6GB of GDDR5 memory (8 Gbps) running a 192-bit wide bus. This 120 Watt rated graphics card has 1408 active shader processors (that value is 1536 on the GTX 1660 Ti and 1920 on the RTX 2060). It has a proper boost clock and there will be no differentiation for the reference values compared to the AIB partners.  

Having smaller TU116 silicon with close to 6.6 Billion transistors it doesn't run too hot and in fact, is really energy efficient. The cooler is a dual-slot design. The card comes fitted with just one rear positioned power header (8-pin). Zotac applies a more simple cooler for the GeForce GTX 1660 which makes use of a single fan. It might not have any RGB embedded, but it still is an attractive product with good cooling and even the acoustic performance is decent. This Turing 116-300-A1 GPU empowered product keeps that GPU at roughly 65 Degrees C marker depending on game load. This compact card is based on reference frequencies for the non-OC model, meaning a stock 1785 MHz Boost clock.The GDDR5 memory has been not been tweaked.

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