GeForce RTX 2060 vs. GTX 1660 Ti: Which graphics card should you buy?



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At first, Nvidia was perhaps a little disappointed by the type of high-end players who would be willing to pay for features that are not yet widely adopted. This is why sales of its GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, 2080 and 2070 graphics cards have not met the expectations of the company. as she candidly admitted recently. Then comes the GeForce RTX 2060, a more affordable entry into the world of real-time ray tracing and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). For players requiring upgrading, the GeForce RTX 2060 is one of the best graphics cards to consider and clearly outperforms the GeForce GTX 1070 at a similar price point.

Now the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti arrives, however, and the choice suddenly becomes a bit more blurry for anyone with a few hundred dollars to spend on a graphics card. It does not have the same features as Nvidia's RTX cards, but it stands out from the previous generation of GeForce GTX 1060 at a reasonable price.

The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a wise choice: it costs around $ 70 cheaper. As often, however, there are more things to consider. The question is not which card costs the least, but is it better to buy the GTX 1660 Ti or should you spend a little more for the RTX 2060? Let's go.

RTX vs GTX

Shakespeare once wrote that "a rose under another name would smell as sweet," but even though the RTX 2060 and GTX 1660 Ti are optimized by the latest generation of Nvidia GPU Turing architecture, the RTX and GTX nomenclature counts.

All GeForce RTX cards support real-time ray tracing and DLSS processing, while the GTX 1660 Ti does not have the RT and Tensor cores required for these tasks. We do not know if they are completely absent or if they are disabled, but whatever it is, the GTX part can not do the same thing as the RTX cards.

At the present time, this does not matter. Battlefield 5 and Metro Exodus are the only games to support both features. So it's not as if RTX players were dancing in a field of advanced visual effects and all the others were missing out on entertainment. We expect this to improve over the course of the year, but for now, RTX is largely a promise for the future.

Technically they are different

Although both cards are based on Turing and make "60" parts (2060 and 1660), more than the RT and Tensor cores alone, separate the GeForce RTX 2060 and GTX 1660 Ti.

The GeForce RTX 2060 is the most robust card. Here is an overview of the relevant specifications:

  • Flow Processors (CUDA cores): 1920
  • POR: 48
  • Tensor nuclei: 240
  • RT cores: 30
  • Basic clock: 1365 MHz
  • Boost Clock: 1680MHz
  • Memory: 6 GB GDDR5 to 14 Gbps
  • Memory interface: 192 bits
  • Memory bandwidth: 336 GB / s
  • Single precision performance: 6.5 TFLOPs

And here is an overview of the specifications of the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti:

  • Flow processors (CUDA cores): 1536
  • POR: 48
  • Tensor nuclei: N / A
  • Cores RT: N / A
  • Basic clock: 1500 MHz
  • Boost Clock: 1770 MHz
  • Memory: 6 GB GDDR5 at 12 Gbps
  • Memory interface: 192 bits
  • Memory bandwidth: 288 GB / s
  • Simple precision performance: 5.4TFLOPs

The GTX 1660 Ti has fewer CUDA cores and slower memory, which reduces the bandwidth of memory. We have not yet explored the overclocking of this model, but in the beginning we could reach about 15 Gbps, against almost 16 Gbps on some RTX cards.

Performance

How these cards really work is what everything comes down to. As expected, the RTX 2060 is the fastest card, as it should be due to additional CUDA cores and faster memory. Here are the overall performance of graphics cards at different resolutions and settings.

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In 1080p, both cards slide well above 60 frames per second in most games with Mid and Ultra quality settings. It's more of a feat for the GTX 1660 Ti, which slightly outperforms the previous generation GTX 1070. The RTX 2060, on the other hand, is more of a tie with a GTX 1070 Ti.

We start to see a significant separation when we increase the resolution to 1440p with Ultra settings. This is often a bit too much for mid-range GPUs like the GTX 1660 Ti and other graphics cards at under $ 300 in general. Of course, our average of 19 games shows that the GTX 1660 Ti crosses pleasantly at 61 fps, but note that half of the games we tested have dropped. below 60fps. Games like Anthem, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Deus Ex and Metro Exodus have come close to 40 fps for average throughput.

The 4K performance comparison is largely an academic exercise – neither card is equipped to handle games at this resolution, especially with Ultra quality settings. The ranking is similar to the other charts, but the average fps for both cards is in the 30s, and about half of the games fall. below 30fps on the 1660 Ti.

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Price and value

At $ 279, the GTX 1660 Ti is the only Turing-based card to go under $ 300. The value proposition is quite high, especially considering that the GTX 1070 was launched at $ 379. The GTX 1660 Ti offers roughly the same performance, with a lower introductory price of $ 100.

The RTX 2060, for its part, starts at $ 349, unless you can catch a model with a mail-in rebate. This is the cheapest RTX card available, although $ 70 more expensive than a GTX 1660 Ti. The higher price buys you more graphical power, real-time ray tracing and DLSS support, and in many cases you have the choice between Anthem or Battlefield 5 added for free.

If you plan to spend a minimum per dollar (or per pound, euro, etc.) spent, the GTX 1660 Ti is a little better at the moment. On the other hand, build a complete midrange computer and the RTX 2060 (or even potentially faster and more expensive cards) gets on top. There is no single answer as to the amount of the price of the factors, however, the above graphs are therefore more indicative than a definitive statement.

Last word

So, what is ultimately the best buy? The GTX 1660 Ti is the Turing card expected by many players, and Nvidia has finally delivered. We do not hesitate to recommend it if your GPU budget simply can not exceed $ 300.

If it canHowever, the RTX 2060 is about 10 to 15% faster on average and sometimes about 20%, while costing 25% more, and it has RTX features to boot. Admittedly, a $ 70 price difference is not surprising, but if you can replace it, these extra funds are not wasted for features that are barely used at the moment. For the most part, you pay for more performance, with RTX. the features being a bonus.

It makes more sense to choose the RTX 2060 than the GTX 1660 Ti if you're building a new PC, as opposed to just upgrading your GPU. For example, if your total version costs 780 USD with a 2060 RTX versus 700 USD with a GTX 1660 Ti, you are planning an increase of about 11% in the cost of a high end card that will still be 15 to 20% faster.

In summary: there is no obvious winner here, but if you can move it aside, the GeForce RTX 2060 remains the best midrange top card (or lower high end card) we've seen since the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti. This is especially true if you plan to play at 1440p. However, if you plan to only play in 1080p and / or if you want to keep the GPU budget under $ 300, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a very close second.

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