GIGABYTE GV-N66TOC-2GD Pro Reviews

Bringing the review to a close, it should come as no surprise that the launch of the GTX 660 Ti has ended up being a lot like the launches before it. Yet at the same time it’s not truly identical, as there’s a lot going on that makes it nothing like the launches before it. Distilled to its essence, the GTX 660 Ti is yet another fine addition to the GTX 600 series thanks to the GK104 GPU. Compared to the GTX 670 it’s a bit slower, a lot cheaper, and still brutally efficient. For buyers who have wanted to pick up a Kepler card but have found the high-end GTX 670 and GTX 680 out of their price range, at $300 the GTX 660 Ti is at a much more approachable point on the price-performance curve, offering about 88% of the GTX 670’s performance for 75% of the price. Given the price of Kepler cards so far this is definitely a better deal, though it’s still by no means cheap. So in that respect the launch of the GTX 660 Ti is quite a lot like the launches before it. What’s different about this launch compared to the launches before it is that AMD was finally prepared; this isn’t going to be another NVIDIA blow-out. While the GTX 680 marginalized the Radeon HD 7970 virtually overnight, and then the GTX 670 did the same thing to the Radeon HD 7950, the same will not be happening to AMD with the GTX 660 Ti. AMD has already bracketed the GTX 660 Ti by positioning the 7870 below it and the 7950 above it, putting them in a good position to fend off NVIDIA.

Live in the US? Got a few hundred dollars to spend on a graphics card? Then you might want to consider bagging a GeForce GTX 660 Ti - it's a hundred bucks cheaper than the GeForce GTX 670 and, in some instances, is almost as quick at a full-HD resolution. While you're at it, pay close attention to Gigabyte's WindForce OC model. It may look ungainly and the aggressive fan profile won't satisfy quiet-computing aficionados, but a blazing clock speed of 1,033MHz makes this one of the fastest GeForce GTX 660 Ti graphics cards that money can buy. And, for a limited time only, it'll come bundled with a free copy of Gearbox's eagerly-anticipated first-person shooter, Borderlands 2. The free game should be the icing on the cake, but the GeForce GTX 660 Ti's real raison d'etre is to offer almost everything that's good about the GeForce GTX 670 at a more palatable price point. In parts of the world, Gigabyte's WindForce OC manages that. Unfortunately, if you live in the UK, you'd have to be off your rocker not to pay a penny more for the excellent GeForce GTX 670.

Of the four GeForce GTX 660 Ti cards we looked at, it’s difficult to point to a clear winner. Each card performed well and remained quiet throughout testing. We really like MSI’s GeForce GTX 660 Ti Power Edition due to its competitive price and excellent cooler and we have to give ZOTAC props for including a game coupon with their card, clocking it the highest, and keeping its form factor as svelte as possible. Gigabyte’s card ran the coolest, however, and EVGA offers the best warranty coverage, so each card stands out in one way or another. Ultimately though, we think anyone looking for a graphics card in the $300 price range would be well served by the GeForce GTX 600 Ti. NVIDIA’s got another winner on their hands and continues to push the price/performance envelope with Kepler.

While we aren’t necessarily picking a winner in this roundup, Gigabyte’s showing was quite surprising since –on paper at least- it doesn’t have the highest clock speeds. What it has though is consistency. Unlike ASUS’ DirectCu II TOP, when the OC’s Boost values hit a certain level, they typically stayed there without much variance from one game scene to the next. As a result, it was in a statistical dead heat with a card that’s slightly more expensive. Some may argue that ASUS’ feature set and impressive overclocking headroom have Gigabyte on the defensive and we would have to agree on that front. However, it is impossible to make a clear and concise recommendation of one card over another due to the similarities involved. While the lack of overclocking software is a notable exclusion from Gigabyte’s offering and the heatsink assembly feels a bit cheap, it still provides a cool, quiet and composed gaming experience while usually matching a GTX 670’s performance.

The GeForce GTX 660 Ti lives up to expectations by bringing the high-performance Kepler architecture to a more affordable bracket. In fact, we think it's the best value going right now, exceeding the GTX 670's price-to-performance ratio. According to estimates we've seen, by the time you read this, the GTX 660 Ti should be hitting shelves for approximately $300, making it roughly 33% cheaper than the GTX 670 while being only 13% slower on average in the 16 games we tested. That's a heck of a bargain and the GTX 660 Ti only becomes more impressive when you consider that it's about 6% faster than the GTX 580, Nvidia's previous-generation single-GPU flagship that launched less than two years ago for $500.

When we had heard that a new midrange 560 Ti replacement would be on the scene soon, we were excited. We love overclocking and playing with cards. We were eager to see how well a performance-level Kepler card would do, and once we got our hands on a few of these cards we can definitely say that these cards handle and even clock like their big brothers and with the ability to triple SLI they really don’t feel anywhere near the performance segment at all. The GIGABYTE variant is a simple card, it just works. It adorns its oversized custom cooler proudly and it performs right there neck and neck with the best 660 Ti has to offer. The custom cooler is silent and performs really well as even our overclocked and overvolted testing netted temps not exceeding 72C. The memory overclock was the highest in the group at a strong 7020 QDR a 1GHz clock over the default clock. All in all the GIGABYTE GTX 660 Ti is a great board and pending price point could definitely be a value contender for an excellent gaming card to carry you for another few years until the next significant upgrade.

Every game that is currently available on the market, as well all the games that are currently scheduled to be released this year will play absolutely fine at the recommended resolutions you can bet the farm on that one. NVIDIA wants your money and with back to school around the corner what better way to get Mom, Dad and every PC gaming junkie looking for a new card to buy yours than price it out at the lower end and make it compete with all takers at the performance counter. Gigabyte brings their own flavor of cooling in the form of WINDFORCE technology that allows the fans to run at high speeds and still not create excessive noise. Gigabyte has done a very solid job here and the card ran absolutely fine through all tests even the dreaded Furmark stress test that taxes the cards ability to run under extreme TDP loads. The Gigabyte GEForce GTX 660Ti maintained a 60 Degree Celsius temperature throughout the testing of the card. At the end of the day NVIDIA and their partner Gigabyte have developed a winner of a product and the new Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660Ti wins a well-earned Hot Product Award well worth your attention. Cool, quiet and efficient the Gigabyte GTX 660TI Edition has the making of a winner in the mid level gaming arena where 1920X1080 gaming is the king of the ring action.