Performance tests

Testbed:

• Intel Core i7-3960X (o/c to 4 GHz) CPU
• ASUS Sabertooth X79 motherboard on the Intel X79 chipset
• MSI X79A-GD45(8B) motherboard on the Intel X79 chipset
• 8GB of 1866MHz DDR3 SDRAM from Corsair
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 3TB SATA2 HDD
• WD Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1TB SATA2 HDD
• Enermax Platimax 1200W PSU
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, DirectX 11
• 30" Dell UltraSharp U3011 monitor
• VSync disabled
• AMD Catalyst 12.8; NVIDIA Drivers 305.37/306.23

Benchmarks:

• 3DMark 11 (FutureMark) — DirectX 11.0, Performance settings.
• Nexuiz (2012) (IllFonic/THQ) — DirectX 11.0, built-in benchmark, maximum quality settings.
• Sleeping Dogs (United Front Games/Square Enix) — DirectX 11.0, built-in benchmark, maximum quality settings.
• Aliens vs. Predator (Rebellion/SEGA) — DirectX 11.0, Shaders 5.0, Very High settings, run from in game.
• Crysis 2 Maximum Edition (Crytek/EA) — DirectX 11.0, Very High settings, Central Park level, launched with the Adrenaline Crysis 2 Benchmark Tool.
• DiRT: Showdown (Codemasters) — DirectX 11.0, Ultra High settings, launched as follows: dirt showdown.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml.
• F1 2010 (Codemasters) — DirectX 11.0, Ultra High settings, run as follows: "formulaone.exe -benchmark example_benchmark.xml". Game provided by NVIDIA.
• Hard Reset (Flying Wild Hog) — DirectX 10.0, built-in benchmark, maximum quality settings.
• Heaven Benchmark 2.0 (Unigine) — DirectX 11.0, High settings.
• Metro 2033 (4A Games/THQ) — DirectX 11.0, Super High settings, PhysX disabled, run from in game.
• Total War: Shogun 2 (Creative Assembly/SEGA) — DirectX 11.0, maximum quality settings.

In our i3D Speed GTX 660 was tested both at reference GPU clock rate (915 MHz) and increased GPU clock rate (1058 MHz). The Gigabyte adapter fits right between those.

Final Thoughts

The capability rating compares each graphics card with GeForce GT 430, which is considered a baseline, or 100%. The rating is based on both synthetic and gaming results and shows, as the name implies, what a product is capable of.

The usability rating is obtained by dividing each card's capability rating by its price. It basically shows whether a given product is over or underpriced, considering what it can do, and thus how reasonable it is to buy it.

The complete ratings can be found in our i3Dspeed. Below are just the parts relevant to today's review.

Sorted by capability (high to low)

As you can see, the overclocked GeForce GTX 660 Ti is the leader in its segment. Nevertheless, the overclocked Radeon HD 7870 is right on its heels, so we can expect the same from today's Gigabyte adapter. Note that at nominal clock rates the GeForce GTX 660 outperforms not only its direct competitor, Radeon HD 7870, but even the higher-class HD 7950!

Sorted by usability (high to low)

The story repeats itself: the overclocked GeForce GTX 660 Ti is the leader and the overclocked HD 7870 is the closest pursuer. Overall, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti looks a better deal at the moment. Now let's return to our graphics adapter.

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Overclock Edition is an excellent upper-middle range graphics card, with a perfect cooling system, medium in size, and all the necessary outputs—certainly the leader in its class.

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