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On the example of Zotac GeForce GTX 660 2048MB 192-bit GDDR5 (993-1053/6000 MHz).

Features:

• GPU: GeForce GTX 660 (GK106)
• Interface: PCIe 3.0 x16
• GPU clock rate (ROPs/shaders): 993-1075/993-1075 MHz (the standard is 980-1033/980-1033 MHz)
• Memory clock rate, physical (effective): 1500 (6000) MHz (standard)
• Memory bus: 192-bit
• Stream processors: 960
• Texture units: 80 (BLF/TLF/ANIS)
• ROP units: 24
• Dimensions: 180x112 mm, dual-slot
• Board color: black
• Power consumption (3D peak/2D/idle): 141/48/25 W
• Display connectors: Dual-Link DVI-I, Dual-Link DVI-D, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.2
• Multi-GPU mode: hardware SLI

This card has two 6-pin supplementary power connectors.

How does one make a graphics card with a 192-bit bus and yet with 2GB of video memory? Usually, 2048MB are provided by 8 x 2Gbit chips handled by a 256-bit bus. To use a 192-bit bus and still have 2GB video memory, one would need something like 12 memory chips of different capacity. However, in this case we see 8 x 2Gbit memory chips, yet two of the three 64-bit memory controllers work as usual, each with 2 memory chips (2 x 32-bit = 64-bit), and the third controller works with 4 memory chips (4 x 16-bit = 64-bit). This is obviously cheaper than going with 12 memory chips.

GeForce GTX 660 is based on a different GPU than GeForce GTX 660 Ti. The PCBs are different, too, so while the latter can be equipped with up to 3GB of RAM, the maximum for GeForce GTX 660 is 2GB. (A 1536MB configuration is possible with a 192-bit bus if you remove 2 of the memory chips with the halved bus width.) Anyway, Zotac tried to keep the card small and succeeded. Also, the VRM has 4 phases.

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