ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct Cu II 2 GB

[Spartan805]

Well not sure where reign from but last week I could've picked-up the Asus HD7870-DC2-2GD5 7870 2GB Card for $255; working a $10 off with coupon code, and -$20 rebate [Exp 9/30].

Buy that and OC it to 1260 MHz core (15% overclock) and 1620 MHz Memory (30% overclock) Like W1zzard got and you're in the GTX670 range for like $155 less!

The GTX660 pricing is out of bounds, from what it see they’re feeble on games at 1920x... for $250! Nvidia need the price cuts! So what if now the price for 7870 has moved down approximately 30%, AMD has been in the market 7 months un-contested them reducing price is expected…

The worst part, AMD is good to hold-fast now... the chance of seeing that Asus 7870 for $225 shipped… again anytime soon "for-get-a-bout-it"

1250c/1310m max, on my HIS IceQ 7870 :shadedshu

 

[HumanSmoke]

The GTX660 pricing is out of bounds, from what it see they’re feeble on games at 1920x... for $250!

Yes, very feeble. A close look at benches says the 660 beats the 7870 in four of seventeen games (stock vs stock)- but I'd also note that in another four, the difference is 2.7 fps or less...and neither card is producing playable framerates. Stock vs stock- the 660 beats the 7850 in 12 -of- 17. You could probably exaggerate the differences by making the 660 choke on its reduced bus width with higher game i.q. but I don't see benchmarks producing 20 fps or less all that relevent to real world usage.

Moving on the power/performance... looking at Peak: Crysis 2 at 1920x1200 (I sure wish W1zzard had included the reference 660 numbers also it's hard to figure a baseline). The Asus 660 OC shows 129W while FPS of 50.1 divide that we get 2.57. Reference 7870 is...

And? a handful of watts/hour doesn't seem all that relevant...if it was...

You know I went and really looked at the details, and might say it not as bad as folk here see it.

(from the PC Devil 13 review)
Using your same metric:
HD 7990: 304W / 88.9 FPS = 3.42 watts-per-frame
GTX 690: 274W / 91.3 FPS = 3.00 watts-per-frame
The fact that PC are sending out shoddily prepared product (TPU and Hexus received three cards unusable without modification), Crossfire X seems to have some significant driver woes at a popular CFX resolution (2560x1600) and I'd think the forum comments are well justified overall.

Yep, super anti-climactic... being 7 months late and a $260 MSRP! It’s a turd and they’d better slash it below $200 ASAP, because there’s nice 7870 for $200-220 that yes… OC like banshee’s.

Might be tad optimistic don't you think? Or are the Egg's prices not representative ?

 

[Casecutter]

And? a handful of watts/hour doesn't seem all that relevant...if it was...
Using your same metric:

I don't worry about power for those Über Enthusiast cards they are what-they-are, and those folk have cash flow to run them... good for them, while I'm sure they use it then turn it off.

Between a 660 and 7870 and using them to game there's no difference. Sure it 7870 uses more, but you are getting on average a better experience, that what the point is. Although, here's where I'm also contending that for "the cash strap mainstream folks", they’ll use it for other things and let it go to sleep. That's where long Idle (0 watts), though small over the 5-6W pulled from a 660, means something over a few years.

You made a good point GK104 in their superlative form do fairly good, And why I said…

I get the impression as though Kepler has diminishing returns on small die size.

 

[HumanSmoke]

Between a 660 and 7870 and using them to game there's no difference. Sure it 7870 uses more, but you are getting on average a better experience, that what the point is.

Probably depends on how you define experience I suppose. Apart from W1zz's and TS's reviews (sheer number of games benched), I usually check out -and take stock of-Tech Report. Scott's bench method mirrors fairly accurately both gameplay-ability and the gaming 'experience'..

I'd largely agree that Nvidia likely priced the 660 ~$20-30 to high, but I'm also pretty sure that like AMD, they bet on a quick trawl of "it's new, I MUST HAVE IT!" consumers. The fact that factory OC'ed cards with a higher BoM than reference (Asus DCII, MSI TF3, Gigabyte OC, KFA EX OC etc.) are retailing at reference MSRP, and in volume would suggest that yields are pretty much OK. Bearing in mind that GK106 (221mm²) is, for all intents and purposes the same size as Pitcairn (212mm²)- then it would seem reasonable that Nvidia have much the same "wiggle room" as AMD on pricing. Nvidia has historically charged a premium over AMD - which most people generally parse as a tariff/trade off for driver support (Nvidia does tend to offer better launch day support for games in general) and eye candy - lest we forget that Borderlands 2 launches very shortly with TXAA support (as does Mech Warrior online) and what looks like a substantial PhysX component.

 

[Casecutter]

Tech Report. Scott's bench method mirrors fairly accurately both gameplay-ability and the gaming 'experience'..

Oh, I've been a fan of what Scott's been doing and it definitely has a ton of merit and provides a level of precision we haven't been privy to. Although flip that chart to the FpS and things change... there's no perfect winner. The real problem that scatter plot is wholly misleading they excluded DiRT Showdown. :shadedshu

Showing that MSI at like $260 (it's 240 -AR at Egg) is skewed, while I would've like to have had a reference 7870 on that also. When the 7870 are $230-240 and deals as low a $200 that I think would be a better match. A standard 7870 might have lower FpS, but in frame time per mil/sec that 99th percentile won't be all that much affected.

It's good to look at and honestly they had wins and loses ties all the way around. I personally would like to see more titles like Sniper Elite V2, STALKER: COP maybe instead of Skyrim...

IF your someone who let's your hardware dictate the titles you have, you're just sipping the Kool-aid, game should be unfettered by there hardware overlords.

 

[mediasorcerer]

I am considering the 660 for a card for my rigg i just built[on igpu etc] but the way they are priced compared to the 7870,s-7950,s, i think i will be sticking with amd probably, even tho i wanted to give nvidia a go this time, just too pricey is all.

 

[Spartan805]

I am considering the 660 for a card for my rigg i just built[on igpu etc] but the way they are priced compared to the 7870,s-7950,s, i think i will be sticking with amd probably, even tho i wanted to give nvidia a go this time, just too pricey is all.

Just wait, the GTX prices will adjust themselves in a few months. I got my 7870 for $200.

 

[ozyap]

Anyone here bought this card by chance? did your PCIe power connector litterally hit the heatsink when you connected it? and sort of rest against it?

The photo in the review demonstrates just how close it is. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_660_Direct_Cu_II/images/power.jpg

Mine hit it and I can't work out why it was designed this way. why not invert the power connector 180 degrees and have the latch on the other side

 

[W1zzard]

Anyone here bought this card by chance? did your PCIe power connector litterally hit the heatsink when you connected it? and sort of rest against it?

The photo in the review demonstrates just how close it is. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_660_Direct_Cu_II/images/power.jpg

Mine hit it and I can't work out why it was designed this way. why not invert the power connector 180 degrees and have the latch on the other side

Yeah I experienced the same. It's normal. I agree that it's not the best design choice, I reported it to ASUS back when I did the review.

It does not affect temperatures of the heatsink, it just makes unplugging a bit complicated.

 

[ozyap]

Yes, I invisage removing it is going to be a pain. Oh well. I guess rev 1.00 on the PCB explains it

Thanks W1zzard.