Last month Nvidia released their most affordable graphics card yet based on the GK104 architecture. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti was introduced with an MSRP of $299, making it $100 cheaper than the GTX 670 and $200 cheaper than the GTX 680.

Depending on the game and the quality settings used the impact this smaller memory bus had on performance varied. However overall we found that the GTX 660 Ti was just 13% slower, which was impressive given it cost a little over 30% less.

When compared to the AMD competition the GeForce GTX 660 Ti was 11% faster than the Radeon HD 7870 at 1920x1200. This would be a problem for AMD as the GTX 660 Ti was priced to compete with the 7870. Having launched at $349 in March the 7870 was quickly discounted to $299 and last month the price was again reduced, this time to $249.

This means although we found the GeForce GTX 660 Ti to be 11% faster than the Radeon HD 7870, the new AMD pricing also means that it is 20% more expensive. By swiftly adjusting their pricing AMD has helped to neutralize the threat posed by the new GTX 660 Ti. Yet AMD didn’t stop with the 7870, as they reduced the price of the Radeon HD 7950 from $349 to $319, while the 7850 was axed from $239 to $209.

Known simply as the GeForce GTX 660, this new graphics card is based on the new GK106 architecture and although this means it will be quite different from the Ti version, it is a 28nm part. The GK106 architecture still features all the key innovations first introduced in the flagship GeForce GTX 680, such as the SMX architecture and GPU Boost.

When compared to the GTX 660 Ti this new non-Ti version has been cut down to size, featuring a much lighter core configuration which will no doubt have a negative impact on performance. The upshot of all this of course is a lower price...

Hardware - Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition (3.30GHz) - x4 4GB G.Skill DDR3-1600(CAS 8-8-8-20) - Crucial m4 512GB (SATA 6Gb/s) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 (2048MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 590 (3072MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 (1536MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 (1280MB) - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1024MB) - AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (3072MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7970 (3072MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7950 (3072MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7870 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 7850 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6990 (4096MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6970 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6950 (2048MB) - HIS Radeon HD 6870 (1024MB) - HIS Radeon HD 5870 (1024MB) - Asrock X79 Extreme11 (Intel X79) - OCZ ZX Series (1250w) Software - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - Nvidia Forceware 306.23 - AMD Catalyst 12.8

When using the performance preset the GeForce GTX 660 scored 6845pts making it 22% faster than the Radeon HD 7850. The overclocked Gigabyte GTX 660 provided an additional 4% performance reaching 7109pts, making it faster than the Radeon HD 7950 according to 3Dmark 11.

The GeForce GTX 660 managed 39fps at 1920x1200 in the Aliens vs. Predator benchmark and Gigabyte’s overclocked GTX 660 was unable to deliver any additional performance. Nevertheless as it stood the GeForce GTX 660 was 11% faster than the Radeon HD 7850 which managed just 35fps. Moreover the GTX 660 was just 7% slower than the Radeon HD 7870 and 3% slower than the GTX 660 Ti while is smoked the old GTX 560 Ti by a 22% margin.

Testing Metro 2033 at 1920x1200 saw the GeForce GTX 660 render 53fps, while the overclocked Gigabyte card was just 1fps faster. This meant that the GTX 660 was 13% faster than the Radeon HD 7850 and 5% slower than the 7870. It also meant that it was 12% slower than the GeForce GTX 660 Ti while it crushed the old GTX 560 Ti by a 29% margin.

The GeForce GTX 660 looked sharp in Battlefield 3 averaging 51fps at 1920x1200 and this time the Gigabyte overclocked card was just 2fps faster. Despite such an impressive frame rate at 1920x1200 the GeForce GTX 660 was actually 15% slower than the GTX 660 Ti. However when compared to the AMD competition the GTX 660 fared rather well, matching the Radeon HD 7870 and beating the 7850 by a convincing 21% margin.

Unsurprisingly the GeForce GTX 660 made short work of Modern Warfare 3 spitting out an easy 90fps at 1920x1200. This made it 3% faster than the Radeon HD 7870 and 11% faster than the 7850. The GTX 660 also crushed the old GTX 560 Ti by a 23% margin while it was 10% slower than the GTX 660 Ti.

The GeForce GTX 660 looked comfortable in Crysis 2 rendering 35fps allowing it to match the Radeon HD 7870 and in turn beat the 7850 by a 13% margin. Moreover the GeForce GTX 660 was just 5% slower than the GTX 660 Ti, though perhaps more surprising than that was its crushing 67% win over the GTX 560 Ti.

The Nvidia graphics cards seem to perform much better in Dragon Age II when compared to the AMD competition and this was certainly the case when comparing the GeForce GTX 660 to the Radeon HD 7850 as it was 32% faster. The GeForce GTX 660 also cleaned up the Radeon HD 7870 by a 21% margin though it was still 12% slower than the GTX 660 Ti.

The GeForce GTX 660 was found to be 20% slower than the GTX 660 Ti when testing with Deus Ex at 1920x1200 and yet despite this it was 9% faster than the Radeon HD 7870 and just 5% slower than the 7870.

The GeForce GTX 660 averaged 60fps in the Hard Reset benchmark making it 25% faster than the Radeon HD 7850 and 3% faster than the 7870. It was also 25% faster than the old GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 18% slower than the GTX 660 Ti. The overclocked Gigabyte card again only provided a modest improvement reaching 62fps.

Competition between the GeForce GTX 660 and Radeon HD 7850 was tight when testing with DiRT 3 as both graphics cards averaged 79fps. The overclocked Gigabyte card did reach 82fps making it just 1fps slower than the Radeon HD 7870. The standard GeForce GTX 660 on the other hand was 5% slower than the Radeon HD 7870 and 20% slower than the GTX 660 Ti, though it did crush the old GTX 560 Ti by a 46% margin.

DiRT 3 Showdown does favor AMD based graphics cards and as a result the GeForce GTX 660 was found to be 22% slower than the Radeon HD 7850 and 37% slower than the 7870. Furthermore it was just 5% faster than the old GeForce GTX 560 Ti and 21% slower than the GTX 660 Ti.

Playing The Witcher 2 at 1920x1200 allowed for an average of 51fps when using the GeForce GTX 660 and unfortunately this did mean that it was 6% slower than the Radeon HD 7850 and 19% slower than the 7870. That said the overclocked Gigabyte card was able to match the Radeon HD 7850 with 54fps.

The GeForce GTX 660 performed well in The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim rendering 65fps at 1920x1200 opposed to the 54fps managed by the Radeon HD 7850, making the Nvidia graphics card 20% faster. The GeForce GTX 660 also beat the Radeon HD 7870 by a 3% margin while it smashed the old GTX 560 Ti by a 51% margin.

The GeForce GTX 660 had a good showing in Alan Wake as it matched the Radeon HD 7870 with 48fps making it 17% faster than the Radeon HD 7850. The overclocked Gigabyte card was only able to render an additional frame per second taking the GTX 660 to 49fps at 1920x1200.

The GeForce GTX 660 rendered just 25fps in King Arthur II at 1920x1200 making it 22% slower than the GTX 660 Ti and 14% slower than the Radeon HD 7870. Still it did manage to match the Radeon HD 7850 while it was 39% faster than the old GTX 560 Ti.

When running the Just Cause 2 benchmark we found that the GeForce GTX 660 was capable of 51fps at 1920x1200 making it just 9% slower than the GTX 660 Ti. When compared to the Radeon HD 7870 the GTX 660 was actually 6% faster and 25% faster than the 7850.

The GeForce GTX 660 averaged 48fps at 1920x1200 when testing with Max Payne 3 while the overclocked Gigabyte card hit 51fps. Unfortunately an average of just 48fps meant that the GTX 660 was 2% slower than the Radeon HD 7850 and 16% slower than the 7870.

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 consumed 6% less power than the GTX 660 Ti under load with a total system consumption of 292 watts. Interestingly this is just 6% more power than what we found the Radeon HD 7850 to consume under the same conditions.

When compared to the Radeon HD 7850 the efficiency of the GeForce GTX 660 is quite good, as it provides on average 10% more performance while consuming just 6% more power. Moreover in the game tested (Crysis 2) the GeForce GTX 660 was 13% faster than the Radeon HD 7850.

However when compared to the GeForce GTX 660 Ti the GTX 660 doesn’t fare quite as well, at least at first glance, using 6% less power for a 14% performance hit. That said in the game tested (Crysis 2) the GTX 660 was just 5% slower than the Ti version, so really both cards seem to deliver a similar level of efficiency.

Unsurprisingly the Gigabyte WindForce 2X cooler works its magic with the GeForce GTX 660, keeping it at a cool 61 degrees under full load using FurMark. This is a few degrees cooler than the HIS Radeon HD 7850 IceQ graphics card and roughly the same temperature as the Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 WindForce 3X graphics card.

When testing with Deus Ex: Human Revolution our overclock allowed for 11% more performance when compared to a standard GeForce GTX 660 and 7% more when compared to Gigabyte’s overclocked GTX 660.

Our overclock allowed for 9% more performance in Crysis 2 at 1920x1200, which meant that it was 6% faster than the Gigabyte factory overclock.

The last game we tested our overclock out on was Max Payne 3 and here we received a 15% performance bump over the default Nvidia specification. However when compared to Gigabyte’s factory overclock our manual overclock was just 8% faster.

Therefore we can really only conclude that Nvidia has managed to do it once again. When we first reviewed the GeForce GTX 670 we declared it the best value high-end graphics card money could buy. Last month we found that the GTX 660 Ti exceeded the GTX 670’s price-to-performance ratio making it the best value performance graphics card.

Now we have the GeForce GTX 660 and it offers an even better price-to-performance ratio than the Ti version. That said the GTX 660 is considerably slower than the GTX 670 so it is unlikely you would purchase it in favor of the higher-end part. What it does mean is the further you go down the Nvidia food chain the better value deal you are receiving and this means gamers are paying a premium for higher performing graphics cards.

AMD’s answer to these new mid-range Nvidia graphics cards has been to slash prices and this has helped them to counter the new GTX 660 series quite well. The Radeon HD 7870 costs just $30 more than the GeForce GTX 660 and overall we found the new Nvidia graphics card to be around 5% slower, though we should point out it also costs 11% less.

The Radeon HD 7850 on the other hand represents the same price-to-performance ratio as the new GTX 660, just in a slightly different price bracket. The GTX 660 costs 10% more but it is also 10% faster so picking between these two graphics cards will have to come down to more than just price and performance.

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For gamers aiming to play at 1680x1050 or less we highly recommend the GeForce GTX 660 as it is one of the best value options for gaming at this resolution. However for 1920x1200 (1920x1080) we recommend spending the extra $70 or so to secure a GTX 660 Ti graphics card as the extra rendering power is really noticeable at this higher resolution.

Finally the GeForce GTX 660 can put the now 20 month old GTX 560 Ti to rest providing a little over 30% more performance for roughly the same price.