NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Video Card Review w/ MSI and EVGA

EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SuperClocked

EVGA is launching six NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 video cards today with half coming with the standard 2GB of GDDR5 memory and the other half having 3GB of memory.

• EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked 2GB – $229.99
• EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SC Signature 2 2GB – $229.99
• EVGA GeForce GTX 660 FTW Signature 2 2GB – $239.99

• EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked 3GB – $269.99
• EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SC Signature 2 3GB – $269.99
• EVGA GeForce GTX 660 FTW Signature 2 3GB – $279.99

EVGA said that there is absolutely no difference between any of the cards in regards to their physical design or the components used on the cards. The difference between the models is the clock speeds and the GPU cooler being used. The Superclocked cards use the NVIDIA reference design cooler and the Signature series cards use a custom GPU cooler that has dual fans.

We received the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked 2GB video card from EVGA to review today. This card is similar to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 reference design as it features the same PCB and GPU cooler. It is a little different though as it is factory overclocked. The Superclocked version that we have here has a base clock of 1046MHz and a boost clock of 1111MHz on the 960 CUDA cores. The 2GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 1502MHz (6008MHz effective).

The EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked comes with a DVI to VGA video adapter, a 4-pin MOLEX to 6-pin PCIe power adapter, the setup guide and driver disc. The picture above does not show it, but we have been told that NVIDIA will be providing game keys for Borderlands 2 when retail cards are purchased. Borderlands 2 comes out on September 18, 2012, so obviously it will be a game key that you’ll be able to use later month.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SC is 9.5″ in length and is a dual-slot card. EVGA went with the NVIDIA reference design cooler, which keeps things simple and it liked by many as it exhausts pretty much all of the hot air out of your PC case through the exhaust bracket.

Flipping the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SC graphics card over we can see that it is pretty bare with the exception of four GDDR5 memory chips that make up part of the 2GB of on-board memory. The overall length of the card is 9.5″, but if you look close you’ll notice that the black PCB measures just 6.875″ in length! If you wanted to watercool your video card the EVGA cards should be on your radar as these cards would be under seven inches in length with a full coverage GPU water block.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclock 2GB GDDR5 graphics card has a total of four display connectors. You have a dual-link DVI-I, dual-link DVI-D, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs. All of the video outputs are standard size, so no adapters are needed, which is nice. The only downside to using full size connectors is that the exhaust fan outlet is small, but EVGA is uses a custom high-flow exhaust bracket that has more openings than the reference design. This also helps reduce air restrictions, which could possibly help out when it comes to noise.

From this angle you can see how air comes in the fan at the end of the video card and is pushed across the GPU heatsink and then out the exhaust bracket. There are no real ‘holes’ in the fan shroud, so most of the hot air should exit the case.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti supports 2-way SLI, so you’ll find a single SLI connector along the top of the PCB for multi-GPU systems.

EVGA uses one 6-pin PCIe power connectors on the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclock video card and recommends at least a 450 Watt power supply with a minimum +12V current rating of 24A.