GTX 660 TI or GTX 550 TI SLI

[coolmarquis97]

GTX 660 TI or GTX 550 TI SLI. Which is going to give me more power. I already have a single GTX 550 TI and I'm running all the high end games pretty good right now. Would it be worth spending the 300 bucks or can i get the same power by just buying another GTX 550 TI card for only about 110. [Money honestly doesn't matter cause this will most likely be my christmas gift, What I'm really looking for is power and performance

 

[oxford373]

single GTX 660ti is much more efficient and faster than gtx 550ti SLI , yes it worth spending 300$,and any CPU slower than i5-2300 will be bottleneck for SLI

 

[koudou]

660 ti. Single cards will always be less of a hassle to deal with and some games don't handle sli cards very well.

 

[coolmarquis97]

I've got a i5-3570k

 

[blazorthon]

A GTX 660 TI and a GTX 550 TI have the same memory bus type and width. The 550 TIs would have far worse GPU performance, but far higher memory bandwidth. I think that when overclocking is involved, the 550 TIs might win, but otherwise, they'd need some AA, tessellation, or advanced lighting features activated to win because the 660 TI has much lower efficiency with those common features.

Either way, the 550 TIs would probably have some noticeable micro-stutter, so it would be a trade-off, at best. If you buy a whole new card, I'd recommend a 7870 or a 7950 because they would also cope with AA, tessellation, and advanced lighting features (among others) better than a 660 TI.

However, that's not to say that the 660 TI couldn't make you happy that you bought it, maybe it could, but I don't consider it the best solution nor the best solution for the money. If you must buy Nvidia, then I recommend at least saving up and going for the GTX 670 rather than the 660 TI. It alleviates some of the issues (especially the AA issue).

The 660 TI, 7870, and 7950 would also probably all draw less power than two GTX 550 TIs, espeically the 660 TI and 7870, although the 7950 is not far behind them. The 670 draws about the same amount of power as the 7950 does, just in case you want to know.

 

[oxford373]

even if you have i5 still 660ti much faster and if you want something cheaper i suggest 7850

 

[coolmarquis97]

even if you have i5 still 660ti much faster and if you want something cheaper i suggest 7850

Whats better 660 TI or a 7850

 

[blazorthon]

even if you have i5 still 660ti much faster and if you want something cheaper i suggest 7850

Oh, good point. The 7850 is also good, except when it comes to overclocking. in which it is great, especially with the well-cooled models.

 

[blazorthon]

Whats better 660 TI or a 7850

At stock, the 660 TI is faster, but with overclocking, the 7850 can match it in high AA and tessellation settings. The 7850 is also a lot cheaper than the 660 TI. The 7870 and 7950 are more comparable to the 660 TI at stock.

 

[esrever]

A GTX 660 TI and a GTX 550 TI have the same memory bus type and width. The 550 TIs would have far worse GPU performance, but far higher memory bandwidth. I think that when overclocking is involved, the 550 TIs might win, but otherwise, they'd need some AA, tessellation, or advanced lighting features activated to win because the 660 TI has much lower efficiency with those common features.

Either way, the 550 TIs would probably have some noticeable micro-stutter, so it would be a trade-off, at best. If you buy a whole new card, I'd recommend a 7870 or a 7950 because they would also cope with AA, tessellation, and advanced lighting features (among others) better than a 660 TI.

However, that's not to say that the 660 TI couldn't make you happy that you bought it, maybe it could, but I don't consider it the best solution nor the best solution for the money. If you must buy Nvidia, then I recommend at least saving up and going for the GTX 670 rather than the 660 TI. It alleviates some of the issues (especially the AA issue).

The 660 TI, 7870, and 7950 would also probably all draw less power than two GTX 550 TIs, espeically the 660 TI and 7870, although the 7950 is not far behind them. The 670 draws about the same amount of power as the 7950 does, just in case you want to know.

550TI sli is worst than a 560ti, its much worse than a 660ti...

I agree with the 7870 over the 660 ti.

 

[Guest]

single GTX 660ti is much more efficient and faster than gtx 550ti SLI , yes it worth spending 300$,and any CPU slower than i5-2300 will be bottleneck for SLI

i doubt that. while benchmarking in BFBC2 rarely did the cpu load go over 50% except loading the game on an i32120 with an overclock (1033 core) 550ti.

Undervolting i3 2120 (the only "fun" there is)

 

[blazorthon]

i doubt that. while benchmarking in BFBC2 rarely did the cpu load go over 50% except loading the game on an i32120 with an overclock (1033 core) 550ti.
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/300/rawbfbc2.jpg
Undervolting i3 2120 (the only "fun" there is)

He specified for GTX 550 TI SLI, not a single GTX 550 TI in which case yes, an i3 should be fine. SLI has more CPU overhead than a single card does.

 

[Guest]

He specified for GTX 550 TI SLI, not a single GTX 550 TI in which case yes, an i3 should be fine. SLI has more CPU overhead than a single card does.

and would a 550ti SLI set up double the load on the cpu?
even so @ 50% with a single 550ti; a 550ti SLI would not be bottlenecked by a dual core
(i think i did understand the question)


edit: sorry i get tired of the you need a quad core to do anything "popular wisdom".

 

[oxford373]

of coarse 7870 and 660ti are faster and both graphics cards are recommended ,you wont regret any of them.

 

[mastrom101]

Unless you plan to use the 550Ti for physx, I would recommend SLI 550Ti's. For an extra $100-150, you're getting a better band for your buck than throwing away a 550Ti and getting a 660Ti.

 

[coolmarquis97]

Okay so if My limit is 300 bucks. What graphics card do i get?

 

[oxford373]

He specified for GTX 550 TI SLI, not a single GTX 550 TI in which case yes, an i3 should be fine. SLI has more CPU overhead than a single card does.

+1

 

[regina_49]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[coolmarquis97]

Well i guess the 660 Ti it is .

 

[coolmarquis97]

Best answer selected by CoolMarquis97.

 

[oxford373]

it looks like this benchmark made by nvidia and i only trust information from reviewers not from manufacturer,according to (teckpowerup) 660ti is 8% faster @1920 resolution and 5% faster@2560 resolution than 7870 but 660ti also more power hungry
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Palit/GeForce_GTX_660_Ti_Jet_Stream/28.html

 

[regina_49]

it looks like this benchmark made by nvidia and i only trust information from reviewers not from manufacturer,according to (teckpowerup) 660ti is 8% faster @1920 resolution and 5% faster@2560 resolution than 7870 but it also its more power hungry
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Palit/GeForce_GTX_660_Ti_Jet_Stream/28.html

The 660 ti is better

 

[blazorthon]

The 660 ti is better

The 660 TI is not better when tessellation, overclocking, and other things are considered. The 660 TI is pretty bad for overclocking and it can't handle tessellation nearly as well as the 7870 can. When overclocking is considered, the 7870's advantage in AA perfomrance also improves as does its minimum frame rate advantage. The 660 TI really only has a chance at all at stock and even that is still also dependent on all of the above as well as the CPU. The 7870 is far less dependent on the CPU than the 660 TI is.

Overall, the 660 TI is not better when you really put it to the test against the Radeon 7870 and especially the 7950. In fact, it is quite worse. Whether or not it is good enough to satisfy a customer is what should be considered, not whether or not it beats cards that are actually superior cards.

 

[coolmarquis97]

The 660 TI is not better when tessellation, overclocking, and other things are considered. The 660 TI is pretty bad for overclocking and it can't handle tessellation nearly as well as the 7870 can. When overclocking is considered, the 7870's advantage in AA perfomrance also improves as does its minimum frame rate advantage. The 660 TI really only has a chance at all at stock and even that is still also dependent on all of the above as well as the CPU. The 7870 is far less dependent on the CPU than the 660 TI is.

Overall, the 660 TI is not better when you really put it to the test against the Radeon 7870 and especially the 7950. In fact, it is quite worse. Whether or not it is good enough to satisfy a customer is what should be considered, not whether or not it beats cards that are actually superior cards.

http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?Ntt=7870&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

Out of those 4 which one is the best?

 

[oxford373]

when you consider 7870 is better for overclocking 7870 mach the performance of 660ti