DPennington
Posts: 88 +32
Forward-looking: Nvidia is prepping the 1660 Ti for launch next week and may be releasing a 3GB variant alongside the 6GB version. The 3GB version will cost less and likely be cut down in terms of performance as well as VRAM. While not yet confirmed, the 1660 Ti is rumored to hit shelves on February 22nd.
There may be more options coming for those looking for a mid-range Turing GPU, with a cheaper variant of the 1660 Ti potentially coming to market.
The 1660 Ti reference features 6GB of GDDR6 RAM,but given the list of variants found on the EEC website, it looks as though there may be a 3GB version coming to market as well. The list of models with 3GB of VRAM, compiled by VideoCardz, are all made by Asus and includes versions from their Turbo, Dual, and TUF product lines. 6GB variants of the same models exist as well. This revelation also follows the first shots of the TU116 die found in the 1660 Ti.
The 1660 Ti is set to release next week with an MSRP of $279 for the 6GB version. There's no word on pricing for the 3GB variant but given the pricing trend from last generation's cut down 1060 models, we can expect the price to land somewhere around $229. If that's the case, the 1660 Ti 3GB would be an interesting alternative to the RX 580, and more or less spell the end of the road for the GTX 1060 3GB.
If the 1660 Ti 3GB follows the same pattern as the 1060, we can expect performance to be cut down in addition to the VRAM buffer. While not officially confirmed by Nvidia, the 1660 Ti 6GB is expected to launch with 1,536 CUDA cores and 96 texture units. It's difficult to speculate on exactly what the launch specs of a 3GB variant would be but we will likely see a significant drop in both shader and texture units. There's also a possibility that the 3GB version would use slower GDDR5 or GDDR5X instead of the GDDR6 found in the 6GB version.
It's fair to question whether or not a 3GB frame buffer will be enough for new titles, even at 1080p, without substantially reducing graphics settings. Even back in 2016, when the 1060 3GB was released, there were questions about 3GB being a bottleneck. While 3GB will likely still give quality results at lower resolutions, those gaming at 1440p or higher would benefit from the additional VRAM in the 6GB version.
Nvidia has kept information very close to the vest on the 1660 Ti but a February 22nd launch is looking likely.
https://www.techspot.com/news/78773-gtx-1660-ti-may-launch-cheaper-3gb-variant.html
