Introduction

NVIDIA today released the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and with it splits its client-segment discrete graphics lineup into the GeForce GTX series and GeForce RTX series. The RTX 20-series starts at the $350-mark with the RTX 2060, while models below it are relegated to the GTX brand. The best part? Both are based on NVIDIA's latest 12 nm "Turing" architecture. What sets the two apart is right in the name—RTX real-time raytracing technology.

NVIDIA probably figured that getting RTX to work even at 1080p requires a minimum number of RT cores and CUDA core horsepower, which cannot be scaled down beyond a certain point because enabling RTX features already exacts a roughly 30 percent performance tax, and NVIDIA wouldn't want $200–$300 graphics cards being unable to play RTX-enabled games at 1080p with acceptable frame rates. The RTX 2060 appears to be positioned on that limit. In games without raytracing, the RTX 2060 has enough muscle for 1440p, but on games with RTX-enabled, playability swings halfway between 1080p and 1440p.

The easiest way out of this problem for NVIDIA would be to not bother with RTX below the $350-mark and instead focus on making the GPU as cost efficient as possible. With RTX out of the way, NVIDIA could physically remove RT cores that add billions of transistors to the silicon, making the chips smaller. Interestingly, NVIDIA also decided to axe tensor cores, specialized hardware that accelerate deep-learning neural net building and training, shedding even more transistor load. The remaining CUDA cores are very much from the "Turing" architecture and benefit from the increased IPC and higher clock-speed headroom obtained from the switch to 12 nm. The largest such GTX Turing chip is the new "TU116."



The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is the largest implementation of the TU116 and is being offered at US$279, which is about $60 higher than what the GTX 1060 6 GB "Pascal" is being sold at. In that sense, it's not a successor. It's endowed with 1,536 "Turing" CUDA cores, 96 TMUs, 48 ROPs, and a 192-bit wide memory interface, but the memory is 50% faster. NVIDIA is using 12 Gbps GDDR6 memory, which belts out 288 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory amount is still 6 GB.

With this endeavor, NVIDIA is targeting two very distinct classes of PC gamers across its lineup: the GTX "Turing" series products, such as the GTX 1660 Ti, are intended for gamers who play online multiplayer titles such as "Anthem," "Fortnite," or even "Battlefield V" with its eye-candy dialed down in favor of responsiveness and agility, while the RTX 20-series is targeted at people who play AAA games rich in eye-candy, real-time raytracing, and resolutions between 1440p and 4K.

This review covers the MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Ventus XS, which is a cost-optimized design by the company. Priced at $279 MRSP, the Ventus XS still manages to include a backplate, fits two large fans on to its PCB, and features a small overclock out of the box.