Today we are going to talk about the long awaited GeForce GTX 1660 Super graphics card, specifically the GTX 1660 Super Gaming OC from Gigabyte.

The SUPER series from NVIDIA took us by surprise with the launch this summer. At that time, it offered three interesting alternatives for three RTX series graphics card: RTX 2060, RTX 2070 and RTX 2080. This time, however, NVIDIA focused on those with lower budgets, so the GTX 1660 and the GTX 1650 received a SUPER variant as well.

What’s New with the NVIDA GTX 1660 Super?

We used to talk about the NVIDIA 1660 Super in the past, but all those talks were based on rumours and leaks, but now that we have the real deal we know for sure what’s under the hood.

Compared to the GTX 1660, the Super version does not make massive changes, using the same core and the same frequencies. Instead, the GTX 1660 Super comes equipped with 6GB of 14Gbps GDDR6 memory instead of the GDDR5 memory.

This change offers a bandwidth of up to 336 GB/s, an amount 75% higher compared to the 192 GB/s offered by the GTX 1660. In practice, this change would bring a performance increase of 20% compared to 1660. As games use increasingly complex shaders, the faster memory on the new GTX 1660 Super comes as a much-needed addition to keep up with new features.

With the launch of the new GTX 1660 Super and GTX 1650 Super models, NVIDIA will introduce some new software updates. These include ReShade, a tool that creates post-processing effects for PC games.

Included in the latest GeForce Experience update, gamers can apply a lot of filters to their favorite games with NVIDIA Freestyle and Ansel. This makes the job a lot easier, because before that, these shaders had to be "injected" into the game for them to actually work.

Also, with ReShade, NVIDIA also introduces a new filter called Image Sharpening. Initially, part of the NVIDIA Freestyle, now introduced in the control panel, this new filter allows you to make any game clearer, finishing pixelated edges better. It can be adjusted for each game, so some games can be left as they are, while others can be "sharpened" to the maximum.

So What’s The Deal With The Gigabyte GTX 1660 Super Gaming OC?

Ok, so with the introduction out of the way, let’s have a look at the card from Gigabyte. The graphics card we received for testing is not a reference model, but it is an aftermarket video card from Gigabyte.

This implementation offers a custom cooling solution based on three fans, under which we find a fairly consistent radiator. The board comes with a neutral color, gray and black combinations, and on the side of the plate, the GIGABYTE logo offers RGB lighting that the user can change as he pleases.

On the noise and temperature side there were no problems, the card having a 0db mode that deactivates all three fans when in idle or low load, and in games, it was noticeable as noise, and the temperatures never passed from 70C.

We can't say we’re a fan of Gigabyte Gaming OC cards. This version has a plastic case that feels cheap to the touch and doesn't give me any confidence, so I would urge anyone interested in this board to look at AORUS versions of the same manufacturer, or maybe at a MSI Gaming X, ASUS Strix or EVGA.

Testing and Conclusions

To test this card, we chose the following config for our testing gaming rig:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X overclocked at 4.3 GHz

• RAM: 16GB of Corsair Vengence at 3000Mhz in Dual Channel config

• STORAGE: a 256GB HyperX Fury SSD for the OS and a 2TB HDD from Western Digital

• MOTHERBOARD: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero x570 (this is a trully magnificent motherboard, not cheap but worth the price, we will talk more about it in our future reviews)

We chose the Ryzen 5 3600X instead of the Ryzen 3900X because we think that this graphics card will almost never see itself running alongside with a higher-end processor than the Ryzen 5, and let’s be honnest the 3600X is the perfect CPU for gaming (you can read more about why is it so here). So putting these out of the way let’s have a look at the results:

• Borderlands 3, 1080p, High: – 66 FPS

• Borderlands 3, 1440p, Medium: – 71 FPS

• Forza Horizon 4, 1080p, Ultra: – 109 FPS

• Forza Horizon 4, 1440p, Ultra: – 94 FPS

• Gears 5, 1080p, Ultra: – 68 FPS

• Gears 5, 1440p, Ultra: – 60.3 FPS

• FIFA 20, 1080p, Ultra: – 164FPS

• FIFA 20, 1440p, Ultra: – 141 FPS

If you are an E-sports fan we can tell you this, there is no E-sports game that this card can’t handle. DOTA 2, LOL, Counter Strike Global Offensive are meare toys for this card, all of them max-ed out at 2K resolution run butter smooth at over 144 FPS.

NVIDIA did an awesome job with the new Super Series board and managed to offer a very good alternative, at a competitive price for the "what's to come" board from AMD, namely the RX 5500. The latter threatens the low budget market by offering expected performance, somewhere between GTX 1650 and GTX 1660.

This vacant place has now been populated by 1650 Super and the NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super has probably become the best looking gaming video card, on a pretty tight budget. Of course, if Ray Tracing technology doesn't appeal to you and you prefer to stay true to the old technologies that are doing very well.