Nvidia rumored to be prepping a GTX 1660 Super

[onetheycallEric]

Rumor mill: The sub-$300 graphics card market could get more crowded, as fresh rumors indicate that in an attempt to get in before AMD's lower-end Navi cards, Nvidia may be planning a Super refresh for the GTX 1660. There's also talk of a GTX 1650 Ti, which would give Nvidia another weapon in which to battle AMD's rumored Navi 14.

Over the course of three generations of Ryzen, AMD has slowly -- but steadily -- clawed away market share from Intel. However, the red team hasn't fared as well against Nvidia. But, when Navi landed last July in the form of the RX 5700-series, it was widely viewed as a shot across the bows of Nvidia's mainstream GPU lineup. Nvidia would go on to release its Super-series of RTX cards, in a somewhat reactionary play at taking some shine off of AMD's Navi cards.

Also read: The Best Graphics Cards 2019

It wouldn't come as shock then if Nvidia was at least a little bit concerned regarding AMD's future Navi plans. We know a full swing version of Navi is on track, replete with ray tracing support to challenge Nvidia at the top-end. There's also rumblings of entry-level Navi GPUs, based on a supposed Navi 14. It's the latter that gives a bit of traction to the latest rumor regarding an alleged GTX 1660 Super.

Assuming a healthy dose of salt, the rumor comes from MyDrivers, by way of Fast Technology, and suggests that Nvidia is preparing a GTX 1660 Super to further flesh out Turing's low end. The card itself would recycle the TU116-300 die, with the same 1,408 CUDA core count. However, the card is said to arrive sporting 6GB of 14Gbps GDDR6 memory -- a significant upgrade over the current 6GB of 8Gbps GDDR5 VRAM. The GTX 1660 Super would still operate over a 192-bit memory bus.

A Super variant of the GTX 1660 would be awfully crowded between the original GTX 1660 ($220) and GTX 1660 Ti ($280). And yet, according to the sources, Nvidia will keep all three on the market. You can color me skeptical, as I'm more inclined to believe a GTX 1660 Super would likely replace the original GTX 1660 at a similar price point, especially given Nvidia's recent product strategy.

If that wasn't enough, the same report also mentions that a GTX 1650 Ti is in the works, bringing with it up to 1,152 CUDA cores. The current GTX 1650 boasts 896 CUDA cores across the TU117 die.

Veracity of the rumors aside, AMD likely has Nvidia's attention, and Nvidia surely wants to do everything it can to fend off a resurgent AMD from encroaching on its market share. That said, the GPU landscape should continue to be interesting in the coming months.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/81801-nvidia-rumored-prepping-gtx-1660-super.html

 

[Vulcanproject]

Eh? Nvidia are carpet bombing the GPU market. There isn't exactly a huge gap between the 1660 and Ti as the article already points out! Bizarre. You can actually OC a half decent 1660 so it's virtually as fast as the stock Ti, that's how small that gap is. Much of it is in the VRAM speed.

The biggest market gap above this is surely between the 1660Ti and the RTX2060. GTX1070Ti was in there but it is discontinued. It's not a big gap either, the same gap as Pascal 1070 v 1080.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Nvidia is absolutely spamming the GPU market.

Excellent work.

Can’t wait to see what happens to prices in NOVEMBER’s Black Friday weekend.

 

[neeyik]

However, the card is said to arrive sporting 6GB of 14Gbps GDDR6 memory -- a significant upgrade over the current 6GB of 8Gbps GDDR5 VRAM.

The 1660 has 8 Gbps GDDR5; the 1660 Ti has 12 Gbps GDDR6. So compared to the Ti version, 14 Gbps on the Super would only be a 17% increase in bandwidth. It is, though, a 75% increase on the standard 1660, so one would expect it to definitely be noticeable in those comparisons. However, direct tests between the 1660 and 1660 Ti don't show an enormous difference between the two:

https://www.techspot.com/review/1811-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060/

% increase of average fps of 1660 Ti against 1660
Fortnite - 21.2%
World of Tanks - 21.0%
Battlefield V - 18.4%
Far Cry New Dawn - 16.1%
Apex Legends - 16.0%
Rainbow Six Siege - 15.3%
Resident Evil 2 - 14.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 14.5%
Hitman 2 - 14.0%
Just Cause 4 - 12.3%
Metro Exodus - 8.8%
Forza Horizon 4 - 8.4%

Given that the TU116 is ROP-limited at high resolutions, I'm not sure where a 1660 Super would fit in here. In the above tests, the mean % difference between the two cards is just 15%, so a Super is going to need a higher GPU clock (core or boost) to really stand out. Unless...

You can color me skeptical, as I'm more inclined to believe a GTX 1660 Super would likely replace the original GTX 1660 at a similar price point, especially given Nvidia's recent product strategy.

This would seem to be the only option Nvidia really has.

 

[onetheycallEric]

However, the card is said to arrive sporting 6GB of 14Gbps GDDR6 memory -- a significant upgrade over the current 6GB of 8Gbps GDDR5 VRAM.

The 1660 has 8 Gbps GDDR5; the 1660 Ti has 12 Gbps GDDR6. So compared to the Ti version, 14 Gbps on the Super would only be a 17% increase in bandwidth. It is, though, a 75% increase on the standard 1660, so one would expect it to definitely be noticeable in those comparisons. However, direct tests between the 1660 and 1660 Ti don't show an enormous difference between the two:

https://www.techspot.com/review/1811-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060/

% increase of average fps of 1660 Ti against 1660
Fortnite - 21.2%
World of Tanks - 21.0%
Battlefield V - 18.4%
Far Cry New Dawn - 16.1%
Apex Legends - 16.0%
Rainbow Six Siege - 15.3%
Resident Evil 2 - 14.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 14.5%
Hitman 2 - 14.0%
Just Cause 4 - 12.3%
Metro Exodus - 8.8%
Forza Horizon 4 - 8.4%

Given that the TU116 is ROP-limited at high resolutions, I'm not sure where a 1660 Super would fit in here. In the above tests, the mean % difference between the two cards is just 15%, so a Super is going to need a higher GPU clock (core or boost) to really stand out. Unless...

You can color me skeptical, as I'm more inclined to believe a GTX 1660 Super would likely replace the original GTX 1660 at a similar price point, especially given Nvidia's recent product strategy.

This would seem to be the only option Nvidia really has.

Agreed.

 

[Evernessince]

Nvidia is absolutely spamming the GPU market.

Excellent work.

Can’t wait to see what happens to prices in NOVEMBER’s Black Friday weekend.

If the last few black friday's are anything to go by, it'll likely be mediocre. In fact you could have found better deals year round if you know the best value card of the time. Last holiday season it was used RX 580's, which could be had for $100 USD a pop. Gifted two of them last year, zero issues. Right now used Vega cards are very cheap as well (they have been since 5700 launch). Many of them are still in warranty as well so pick a brand that has a transferable warranty.

They had a 2080 Ti last year for $1,000 on black friday but that's still massively overpriced. There are people selling them used with warranty for $800. Still, not worth it given I bought my 1080 Ti for $580.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

If the last few black friday's are anything to go by, it'll likely be mediocre. In fact you could have found better deals year round if you know the best value card of the time. Last holiday season it was used RX 580's, which could be had for $100 USD a pop. Gifted two of them last year, zero issues. Right now used Vega cards are very cheap as well (they have been since 5700 launch). Many of them are still in warranty as well so pick a brand that has a transferable warranty.

They had a 2080 Ti last year for $1,000 on black friday but that's still massively overpriced. There are people selling them used with warranty for $800. Still, not worth it given I bought my 1080 Ti for $580.

That's a poor comparison.

The last two Black Fridays happened in the rise and the fall of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency.

During November 2017 they wouldn't even let you buy 2 GPU's simultaneously and a 1050Ti was 2070 money.

During 2018 Black Friday, Memory prices (DDR4) and SSD prices had noticebably dropped by around 25% but GPU prices were still high. Around this time RTX cards were getting released and I noticed prices on the GTX series dropped a little but not much.

This year, the 1660 and the entire line of RTX cards will be knocked down by the 1660 Super and the RTX Super cards.

Prices on the 2060, 2070, 2080 and even the 2080Ti will decrease.

They already started.

 

[retsxel]

Is Nvidia worried about Navi?

Of course they are. AMD is delivering the goods in both the CPU and GPU markets and this is great for competition.

 

[Evernessince]

That's a poor comparison.

The last two Black Fridays happened in the rise and the fall of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency.

During November 2017 they wouldn't even let you buy 2 GPU's simultaneously and a 1050Ti was 2070 money.

During 2018 Black Friday, Memory prices (DDR4) and SSD prices had noticebably dropped by around 25% but GPU prices were still high. Around this time RTX cards were getting released and I noticed prices on the GTX series dropped a little but not much.

This year, the 1660 and the entire line of RTX cards will be knocked down by the 1660 Super and the RTX Super cards.

Prices on the 2060, 2070, 2080 and even the 2080Ti will decrease.

They already started.

I'm talking about at large. In recent memory I don't remember seeing a single good deal on a graphics card that I would rush to get on black friday. If the prices on the 20xx series decrease by chirstmas time it's more likely due to their increasing age then holiday sales. Given that Ampere is slated to launch in 2020 and god knows when Big / Small Navi a reduction is more a natural progression that occurs with any GPU generation.

I don't disagree that graphics card prices might drop during that time frame, I'm just attributing it to the normal course of business for the GPU market and not to holiday sales.

 

[Karl Hungus]

I'm talking about at large. In recent memory I don't remember seeing a single good deal on a graphics card that I would rush to get on black friday. If the prices on the 20xx series decrease by chirstmas time it's more likely due to their increasing age then holiday sales. Given that Ampere is slated to launch in 2020 and god knows when Big / Small Navi a reduction is more a natural progression that occurs with any GPU generation.

I don't disagree that graphics card prices might drop during that time frame, I'm just attributing it to the normal course of business for the GPU market and not to holiday sales.

You have to start watching in October for the deals to happen. I picked up my EVGA 1070 (5173-KR) from Amazon for $288USD in mid-October last year. EVGA had the same deals on their site off-and-on. The deals were sporadic and didn't last more than a few hours, but they ended up being a lot better than Black Friday. Who knows what it will be this year.