ZOTAC GTX 660 2GB Review

Nvidia’s ‘Kepler’ onslaught continues with two newly launched GPUs – the GTX 660 and GTX 650. The GTX 660 is a mid-range card that will eventually replace the GTX 560 Ti whereas the GTX 650 sits in the range of the HD 7770 and GTX 560. ZOTAC has sent us its standard edition of the GTX 660 2GB, which is based mostly on Nvidia’s reference design. Let’s see how much of a performance difference there really is between this and the more potent, GTX 660 Ti and if it really offers good bang for the buck.

Design and Build 

The card looks very similar to the GTX 660 Ti both in terms of size and design. ZOTAC has used the basic design from Nvidia for the PCB along with its custom cooler, which is something we can expect on all its cards from here on out. It’s nice to see OEMs going the extra mile in offering end users some value-added features without slapping a premium on them. The card is small enough to easily fit inside any mid-tower chassis. The open design of the cooler will blow air directly into the case rather than channel it out the back, so it helps if you have a good cross-ventilation system inside your cabinet.

Great design and build

Connectivity includes two dual-link DVI ports, HDMI and DisplayPort. The ZOTAC GTX 660 supports 3DVision Surround for up to four monitors via a single card. It also uses less power as compared to the GTX 660 Ti, so you only need a single 6-pin PCIe power connector. With a 140W TDP, Nvidia claims that you can easily power the GTX 660 with a good 450W PSU. ZOTAC’s solution is a dual-slot card. so you will lose one expansion slot on your motherboard. The bundle includes a DVI-VGA adapter, coupon for a game called TrackMania Canyon and a PCIe to Molex power adapter.

Not very power hungry

The overall build and design of the card is very good, something we’ve come to expect as a given from ZOTAC. The addition of copper heatpipes in the cooler should ensure lower operating temperatures as well.

Features 

Unlike the existing Kepler GPUs, the GTX 660 is the first to be based on the new GK106 silicon, a scaled down version of the GK104 silicon used in the GTX 660 Ti, GTX 670 and GTX 680. While the primary features remain pretty much intact, the GK106 die has a lower transistor count, which is why the power draw is less. You get a total of 960 shaders or CUDA cores instead of 1,344 while the ROPs remain the same at 24. Nvidia has made 2GB of GDDR5 RAM as standard on the GTX 660, which runs at an impressive 6,008MHz (effective speed). The memory bus remains at 192-bit, just like the GTX 660 Ti. ZOTAC has tweaked the frequencies just a little bit so the core now runs at 993MHz (980MHZ stock) while the memory is kept the same. It’s not much, but a boost nonetheless.

Good set of connectors

Features found in the GK104 are also present here in the GTX 660. You get GPU Boost, Adaptive V-Sync and new Anti-Aliasing (AA) modes. GPU Boost is similar to Turbo Boost in the sense that the GPU will dynamically increase its own clock speeds and voltages in a game, if and only if it does not go beyond the set TDP. TXAA is a new antialiasing mode that combines MSAA, temporal filtering and post processing for better edge quality in games. Next, let's see how this stacks up against the competition.

Testbench

• Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz
• Motherboard: GIGABYTE P67A-UD3R
• Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB (4GB x 2) @1600MHz
• Hard drive: Intel SSD 520 240GB (Boot Drive), WD Velociraptor 300GB (Secondary Drive)
• GPU: ZOTAC GTX 660 2GB 
• PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
• OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit