The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 is lastly a factor that exists, and what a neat factor it’s, too. Available from simply £200 / $220, it’s now just about precisely the identical worth as Nvidia’s current 6GB GTX 1060, which till now has been certainly one of my prime suggestions over in my best graphics card checklist as to what you need to really purchase for 1080p gaming in case you’re seeking to hold prices down and don’t thoughts settling for, say, High settings versus Ultra.
But now that each graphics playing cards could be snapped up for a similar sum of money, which one is definitely value shopping for? Let’s discover out through the medium of some pretty graphs.
GTX 1660 vs GTX 1660 Ti: How we check
As with each comparability article I do, corresponding to my GTX 1660 Ti vs GTX 1060 and GTX 1660 vs GTX 1660 Ti items, I’ve run every card by my basic games benchmarking suite at 1920×1080 and 2560×1440 resolutions to see how they carry out throughout completely different graphics high quality settings. The purpose, as at all times, is see what it takes to get an honest 60fps, and the way far every card is ready to stretch earlier than issues begin to turn out to be too uneven for consolation.
The games in query embody Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Monster Hunter: World, Metro Exodus, Final Fantasy XV (with Nvidia’s fancy HairWorks, TurfEffects, VXAO and ShadowLibs results turned off), Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Warhammer II, Forza Horizon Four and The Witcher III.
Paired with my Intel Core i5-8600Ok CPU and 16GB of Corsair Vengeance 2133MHz RAM, I’ve seen what every card can do on each High and Ultra settings at every decision and brought a mean body fee (both from their very own built-in benchmarks or from my very own repeated guide gameplay checks) to see how they stack up in opposition to one another.
To support us in our quest, I’ve acquired Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660 OC and the 6GB Asus GeForce GTX 1060 OC 9Gbps version. The Gigabyte is on the lowest £200 / $220 finish of the GTX 1660 worth spectrum, which ought to give us a reasonably good baseline of what to anticipate from the sort of card, however the Asus (which I ought to word isn’t really out there any extra) was one of many nippier 6GB GTX 1060 round. As a consequence, the GTX 1060 figures are extra of a best-case situation for this card, and are in all probability about nearly as good because it’s going to get in comparison with the most cost effective GTX 1660s on the market.
With that in thoughts, let’s graph it on up.
GTX 1660 vs GTX 1060: 1080p efficiency
Let’s begin with how every card fares on Ultra settings at 1920×1080. In a whole lot of instances, you’re really solely a distinction of about 5-10fps right here, which contemplating the GTX 1060’s age actually isn’t too shabby for such an previous card. There are a few extra dramatic efficiency jumps, admittedly, corresponding to Shadow of the Tomb Raider with the complete brunt of its SMAA x4 anti-aliasing enabled and Forza Horizon 4, however on the entire each playing cards are fairly competent right here, with the GTX 1060 providing a minimum of 40fps generally and the GTX 1660 pushing that up nearer to 50fps.
I ought to word that the GTX 1060 can nonetheless get an honest 60fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider on Highest so long as its common SMAA anti-aliasing is enabled, however evidently the GTX 1660 will get you an identical type of velocity enhance as you see within the graph above on the identical settings.
Really, although, each of those playing cards are most snug on High at this decision, as you may see from the graph under. I haven’t included Forza Horizon Four and The Witcher III right here as a result of they had been already effectively into 60fps territory again on Ultra, however the remainder of my benchmarking suite are all pushing virtually good speeds right here, save Metro Exodus as a result of that benchmark is one robust cookie to get working easily on its built-in High preset, the small print of which yow will discover out extra about in my Metro Exodus graphics performance information.
Indeed, there’s only a single body separating my two Assassin’s Creed Odyssey scores and solely 5fps over in Metro. The GTX 1660 has the clear higher hand in games corresponding to Monster Hunter: World, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Total War: Warhammer II, however you’ll solely really see that additional 10fps or so when you’ve got a excessive refresh fee monitor at your disposal. Otherwise, you’ll simply see the utmost 60fps on an everyday 60Hz monitor, which is absolutely no completely different to averages of 55fps or 57fps once you’re them facet by facet.
The factor is, when the 6GB GTX 1060 now prices precisely the identical because the GTX 1660, there isn’t actually any purpose why you shouldn’t simply go for the GTX 1660. It can be a distinct factor completely if the GTX 1660 was costlier than the 6GB GTX 1060, however when you may decide them up for precisely the identical sum of money lately, you’d need to have an excellent purpose certainly for selecting the GTX 1060 over the newer GTX 1660.
GTX 1660 vs GTX 1060: 1440p efficiency
Indeed, the identical factor’s true once you take a look at their 2560×1440 efficiency. While there’s hardly any distinction between some games on Ultra settings, corresponding to Total War: Warhammer II and Final Fantasy XV, the good points you get in others corresponding to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, for instance, are simply too large to disregard.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s result’s notably telling right here, too. Unlike the graphs at 1080p, I’ve solely used the common SMAA x4 anti-aliasing at this decision, as a result of in any other case the GTX 1060 would gradual to a crawl. Similarly, it was solely by turning the settings proper right down to Low that I managed to get wherever close to 60fps with the GTX 1060 at this decision. The GTX 1660, alternatively, was hitting highs of 54fps on Highest, and I solely needed to decrease the standard to High to push it into 60fps territory.
Admittedly, a relatively unusual factor occurred once I dropped the standard right down to High for all the things else in my testing suite, because the GTX 1060 really carried out higher than the GTX 1660 in each Final Fantasy XV and Total War: Warhammer II. We’re nonetheless solely speaking a mean of a few frames distinction, all advised, however I’ll admit I used to be fairly shocked by the consequence however.
Again, although, this may solely be of any significance if the GTX 1660 was much more costly than the GTX 1060, however when each playing cards could be picked up for a similar mount of cash, it might be foolish to hamper your self with the in any other case inferior efficiency of the GTX 1060 simply because it may run two games ever so barely (and just about imperceptibly) sooner than the GTX 1660.
GTX 1660 vs GTX 1060: Conclusion
As a consequence, I feel the GTX 1660 is the clear winner right here, regardless of the typically minuscule enhancements (and even minor blips) to its general efficiency. Not solely is it extra able to hitting smoother body charges on max settings at 1080p, but it surely’s additionally much more snug on High settings at 1440p than its 10-series predecessor. Sure, there is perhaps instances the place they’re neck-and-neck, however when the GTX 1660 does pull forward, it pulls forward large time.
This verdict could effectively change if the GTX 1060 out of the blue drops in worth because of the GTX 1660’s launch, however proper now, anybody seeking to purchase a graphics card for 1080p ought to undoubtedly have the GTX 1660 on the prime of their checklist over the 6GB GTX 1060.
