Is the 4-year-old GTX 660 still relevant?

[oskarha]

Is the 4-year-old GTX 660 still relevant?

The GTX 660 was a very popular card of its time, and it was still the most popular dedicated GPU in steams hardware survey in early 2014. Currently the GTX 660 and other similar cards from the same era can be picked up for around 60USD used, which is about the same price as a new GT 730. So, if you are planning to build a budget system, should you get one? To find out I have built a budget-oriented system around the card.

 

 

Can’t be bothered reading? Watch my video here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

The Parts

The build uses many of the parts I used when I tested the Intel Core i7 920 here. As seen in the previously mentioned post, this CPU, motherboard and RAM combo should be more than adequate to power our GTX 660 without any bottlenecks.

 

CPU, Motherboard and Cooler

I was able to get the i7 920, ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 and Cooler Master V8 cooler seen in this build used for around 45USD, an absolute steal for the price. The CPU overclocks well and is able to reach 4.2GHz with the Cooler Master V8, although with temperatures in excess of 90c. The motherboard is slightly broken, as the two middle RAM slots do not work. This unfortunately hinders the full potential of a triple channel ram configuration, but a dual channel 1600MHz setup is in no way bad.

Spoiler

 

GPU

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Windforce 2X OC featured in this video was the GPU in my main rig from late 2013 until this summer, when I upgraded to a GTX 980Ti. This GPU has served me very well over the years last three years. The GTX 660 features a fully unlocked GK106 GPU that is based on the 28nm Kepler architecture. The GK106 GPU packs 960 CUDA cores with a 140W TDP, meaning that the card only needs one 6-pin PCIE power connector. This specific Gigabyte card has been slightly overclocked out of the box, with a 1032MHz base clock, a 5% boost over the stock 980MHz base clock. Most GTX 660 have 2GB of 6GHz GDDR5 VRAM on a 192-bit bus, but there are 3GB variants available.

 

RAM

For RAM I have installed four 4GB sticks of OEM DDR3 RAM for a total of 16GB in the system. This OEM ram is rated for 1333MHz CL9 at 1.5v, but it happily overclocks to 1600MHz CL9 at 1.65v. 16GB is plenty for gaming, and is more than adequate for 1080p video editing or four chrome tabs.

 

Storage

For storage, I have stolen the 240GB Kingston UV400 SSD and the 750GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 from my test bench. The SSD has plenty of space at 240GB, and the HDD nicely complements this with 750GB of storage for bigger games and files that do not fit on the SSD.

 

Power supply

The Corsair TX650 with its 650W is plenty for this build. Any decent quality unit over 500W should be able to power a build like this. The Corsair used Seasonic as the OEM for this PSU, so the quality is rather good.

 

Case

I found this Cooler Master HAF 922 in a dumpster, and it is not a bad chassis. It's not in perfect condition and might not have all of the creature comforts of a modern case like a black interior and USB 3, but for a budget build, it works quite well, after some cleaning that is.

Spoiler

Cleaning the frame of the case

 

 

Specs

Intel Core i7 920 @ 4.2GHz

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 (X58)

16GB (4x4Gb) DDR3 1600MHz CL9

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Windforce 2X OC

Kingston UV400 240GB (OS)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750GB (Games)

Corsair TX650 (650W)

Cooler Master HAF 922

 

 

Build and Benchmarks

A time-lapse of the building process can be found at 0:40 and benchmarks can be found at 2:41 in the video below.

Spoiler

 

 

The Finished Product

Spoiler

 

Conclusion

Overall, the GTX 660 is still a very capable card for 60USD. Paired with a good enough CPU, it can play modern titles at medium to high settings at 1080p. So back to the question I asked in the beginning of this post, if you are planning to build a budget system, should you get one? I would say yes, if you can get it for the right price and if it fits your budget. You might also want to consider other similar cards from the same era, like the 660Ti or the Radeon 7850/7870.

[saladcrack]

It is still a decent card.  My friend had a 660 ti up until about a year ago and it ran GTA V at decent settings 60 fps.

[3 Lions]

While the 660 is still very good, entry-level gaming cards like the GTX 1050Ti can now beat it due to the advances in architecture.  

[oskarha]

1 minute ago, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

While the 660 is still very good, entry-level gaming cards like the GTX 1050Ti can now beat it due to the advances in architecture.  

Very true, but the 660 can be had for less than half of the price of a 1050Ti

[DominicNikon]

9 minutes ago, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

While the 660 is still very good, entry-level gaming cards like the GTX 1050Ti can now beat it due to the advances in architecture.  

the GTX 1050  is a budget card but you cant find it as cheep as a 660 so if your poor and trying to get a gaming pc wouldn't the 660 be better?

[oskarha]

1 minute ago, DominicNikon said:

the GTX 1050  is a budget card but you cant find it as cheep as a 660 so if your poor and trying to get a gaming pc wouldn't the 660 be better?

In terms of value for money, yes.

[pwn_intended]

I had a pair of 670's until a couple months ago. A single one of those is still very capable in games that aren't pushing the 2GB frame buffer to the limit.

[RyanMacRocks]

1 minute ago, DominicNikon said:

the GTX 1050  is a budget card but you cant find it as cheep as a 660 so if your poor and trying to get a gaming pc wouldn't the 660 be better?

Depends on how much cheaper. 1050 is $109 and is superior due to better driver support and newer architecture, but if you can find the 660 for half the price than it is definitely worth it.

[kaggez]

Im running 2 msi gtx 660 in sli and i run almost everything on mid/low (its fine for me)

[Rodniz]

This motherboard awakens some feelings, hidden deep inside my heart.

[oskarha]

2 minutes ago, Rodniz said:

This motherboard awakens some feelings, hidden deep inside my heart.

"The mighty P6T Deluxe V2 with the two dead ram slots"

It's a nice board tho, currently I have it running in my server

[Rodniz]

1 minute ago, oskarha said:

"The mighty P6T Deluxe V2 with the two dead ram slots"

It's a nice board tho, currently I have it running in my server

I used to have this board in my first ever gaming board, my dad built for me ages ago. I was one of the cool kids, not having to play on daddys console. Had a broken pci slot, whatsoever. Learned all my pc skils on that pc.

[oskarha]

4 minutes ago, Rodniz said:

I used to have this board in my first ever gaming board, my dad built for me ages ago. I was one of the cool kids, not having to play on daddys console. Had a broken pci slot, whatsoever. Learned all my pc skils on that pc.

The GTX 660 has a similar affectional value for me, it was my first ever dedicated GPU.

[i_build_nanosuits]

i7-920 should handle a GTX 1060 or an RX 480 no problem especially if overclocked and in modern AAA titles on ultra should deliver a locked 60FPS if you tweak settings a bit...i would replace the 660.

[oskarha]

1 minute ago, i_build_nanosuits said:

i7-920 should handle a GTX 1060 or an RX 480 no problem especially if overclocked and in modern AAA titles on ultra should deliver a locked 60FPS if you tweak settings a bit...i would replace the 660.

This build was more to showcase the 660, see this post for what the i7 920 is capable of doing: