GTX 660/650 discussion

[Sunius]

Since the original Kepler discussion thread was closed, I'm starting this one.

As most of you probably know, GTX 660 and GTX 650 is supposed to launch tomorrow. There are some leaked reviews, like tweaktown one:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4922/nvidia_geforce_gtx_660_2gb_reference_video_card_review/index.html

However, there are no official ones. Tom's hardware's Best Graphics Cards For The Money: September 2012 article even said:

What's next from Nvidia? 3dcenter.org (a German site) is reporting information about upcoming GeForce GTX 660 (not Ti) and GeForce GTX 650 cards. Naturally, if we know anything about those cards, we can't say. But according to them, the GTX 660 is expected to center on a new GK106 GPU with 960 shaders, 80 texture units, 24 ROPs, and a 192-bit memory interface.

I suppose they already testing the cards, just don't have legal rights to leak the results.

However, there's strange thing I've noticed: GTX 660 and GTX 650 yesterday appeared in shops in my country. I'm not sure if it's common to Europe, or just where I am from, Lithuania, but the prices are already known and you can buy them today.

A few links (sorry, not english):

GTX 660 2GB:
http://www.kilobaitas.lt/PCI-E_16x/Gigabyte/GIGABYTE_GV-N660OC-2GD_/_GeFor/GV-N660OC-2GD/CatalogStoreDetail.aspx?CatID=PL_433&ID=448609
http://www.electronics.balticmart.eu/index.php?mact=Products,cntnt01,details,0&cntnt01productid=291745&cntnt01returnid=56&hl=en_US
https://www.skytech.lt/gvn660oc2gd-gigabyte-gvn660oc2gd-geforce-gtx-660-pcie-2gb-gddr5-192bit-core-980--p-130538.html
http://www.rebuild.lt/kompiuteriai-ir-ju-komponentai/pagrindiniai-komponentai/vaizdo-plokstes/099547_gv-n660oc-2gd_gigabyte-gv-n660oc-2gd-geforce-gtx-660-pci-e-3-0-2gb-gddr5-192-bit-core-980-mhz-dvi-i-dvi-d-hdmi/


GTX 650 2GB:
http://www.kilobaitas.lt/PCI-E_16x/Gigabyte/GIGABYTE_GV-N650OC-2GI_/_GeFor/GV-N650OC-2GI/CatalogStoreDetail.aspx?CatID=PL_433&ID=448610
https://www.skytech.lt/gvn650oc2gi-gigabyte-gvn650oc2gi-geforce-gtx-650-pcie-2gb-gddr5-128bit-core-1110-p-130539.html
http://www.rebuild.lt/kompiuteriai-ir-ju-komponentai/pagrindiniai-komponentai/vaizdo-plokstes/099549_gv-n650oc-2gi_gigabyte-gv-n650oc-2gi-geforce-gtx-650-pci-e-3-0-2gb-gddr5-128-bit-core-1110-mhz-d-sub-2xdvi-d-hdmi/


GTX 650 1GB:
http://www.kilobaitas.lt/PCI-E_16x/Gigabyte/GIGABYTE_GV-N650OC-1GII_/_GeFo/GV-N650OC-1GI/CatalogStoreDetail.aspx?CatID=PL_433&ID=448611
https://www.skytech.lt/gvn650oc1gi-gigabyte-gvn650oc1gii-geforce-gtx-650-pcie-1gb-gddr5-128bit-core-111-p-130540.html
http://www.rebuild.lt/kompiuteriai-ir-ju-komponentai/pagrindiniai-komponentai/vaizdo-plokstes/099550_gv-n650oc-1gi_gigabyte-gv-n650oc-1gii-geforce-gtx-650-pci-e-3-0-1gb-gddr5-128-bit-core-1110-mhz-d-sub-2xdvi-d-hdmi/

Notice that none of them have photos. Prices:

GTX 660: 215-230 euros :: 170-185 pounds
GTX 650 2GB: 130-140 euros :: 105-115 pounds
GTX 650 1GB: 110-120 euros :: 89-95 pounds

Anyway, GTX 660 is priced same as GTX 560 Ti, while GTX 650 1 GB is priced as reference/budget HD 7770 and GTX 650 2 GB is priced around the same as factory overclocked HD 7770s.

Thoughts?

 

[thently]

Nice card for an HTPC with a little gaming be a fun card for my projector setup.

Thent

 

[Sunius]

You're talking about GTX 650? .

 

[thently]

Either way 660 might last a bit longer or even allow me to upgrade to a 1080p projector and still have a little fun.

Thent

 

[blazorthon]

The 660 and the 650, at those prices, are far better deals than the GTX 660 Ti, especially if they perform as close to it as I suspect that they do. I would go for the 7850 and 7870 over the 660 at that price, but if the 650 reaches the 7770's price range, then that could easily be a great price for that card and the 7770 might lose out to it.

EDIT: Well darn, the 650 is a little underwhelming in most games. At least the 660 held up to expectations.

 

[spentshells]

660 looks amazing honnestly it seems to outpace the 580 at half the price

 

[Sunius]

It looks nice. Can't wait for benchmarks . GTX 560 Ti stood way too long at that price point, last year when I built my PC it cost same as it does today. Finally something to take over .

 

[Sunius]

Looks like GTX 660 is a really successful card according to benchmarks. GTX 650, however, is not...

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Any expected price drop for the 560ti ? No one is gonna buy them anymore for the same price.

 

[blazorthon]

Anyone who was still buying them with the 7850 and some discounted 7870s at about the same price or sometimes ever cheaper was almost definitely making no less of a mistake than someone who buys them now that the 660 is also at that price point. Even for Nvidia users who care about PhysX and were looking for an upgrade prior to the 660's launch, simply buying a Radeon 7850 or 7870 and using their older Nvidia card for PhysX processing would let them do about as well as the 660 would with the old card again acting as a PhysX processor.

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

Good point, forgot about that. ( if you have 2 pci-e slots )

But true ; you have to be a incurable Nvidia fan to go for the 560ti in the last couple of months, even i would have gone for AMD i think. ( oh bah )

Still they are being bought

 

[78oldscutlass]

The GTX 650 is a let down for me. I was expecting a card that would perform as well as the 560/560 Ti, but it only manages to trade blows with the 550Ti (poorly at that). Also, there is no option for SLI.

In other words, no offering for a card in the $150-175 range.

 

[blazorthon]

AMD also doesn't have a card in the $150-175 range for their Radeon 7000 cards either unless you count some highly factory overclocked and/or 2GB versions of the Radeon 7770 (personally, I like to count them). Not that I'm justifying it, I also think that AMD should throw out a Radeon 7850 such as the 768 core Pitcairn card that Tom's tested and Nvidia should throw out a GK106 card with one or two SMXs disabled.

 

[78oldscutlass]

AMD also doesn't have a card in the $150-175 range for their Radeon 7000 cards either unless you count some highly factory overclocked and/or 2GB versions of the Radeon 7770 (personally, I like to count them). Not that I'm justifying it, I also think that AMD should throw out a Radeon 7850 such as the 768 core Pitcairn card that Tom's tested and Nvidia should throw out a GK106 card with one or two SMXs disabled.

I agree. They need a card with 3 SMX's with a 192 bit memory bus. That would defiantly hit the sweet spot for me and many others who just want a good priced card with good performance. It would beat the old 550Ti but not overtake the 660.

But now I see AMD has dropped the prices of there 7850 card to at or less than $200 with 2 gigs of DDR5 (check NE). That is a really nice card now for the money and No Nvidia card that can compete that performance to the price.

The area between the 650 and the 660 is a little too wide in my opinion. I like Nvidia, but I feel like they missed the mark.

Just now thought of this, but maybe they are planning a 650Ti?

 

[blazorthon]

I agree. They need a card with 3 SMX's with a 192 bit memory bus. That would defiantly hit the sweet spot for me and many others who just want a good priced card with good performance. It would beat the old 550Ti but not overtake the 660.

But now I see AMD has dropped the prices of there 7850 card to at or less than $200 with 2 gigs of DDR5 (check NE). That is a really nice card now for the money and No Nvidia card that can compete that performance to the price.

The area between the 650 and the 660 is a little too wide in my opinion. I like Nvidia, but I feel like they missed the mark.

The gap between the stock 7770 and the stock 7850 is comparable to the stock 6850 to the stock 6970 and the stock 650 to the stock 660 is more like the GTS 450 to the GTX 580

I don't understand why AMD and Nvidia are making such large gaps between their cards (especially Nvidia) because it's quite literally giving many people little choice but to stick with older cards rather than upgrade.

Also, nitpicking, but it's GDDR5, not DDR5. Anything that says DDR5 on a graphics card is lying. There is no such thing as DDR5 yet and there probably won't be until 2018-2022.

 

[spentshells]

As a huge ATI fan AMD is OK 660 reg looks to be the best bang for buck ever

 

[Ironslice]

I read somewhere that nVidia is actually holding back the new drivers for the GTX 650 and that's why there's literally no review online (except tomshardware's of course). Makes me wonder how toms did it; also still gives me hope that the 650 will actually be better than currently reviewed.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I read somewhere that nVidia is actually holding back the new drivers for the GTX 650 and that's why there's literally no review online (except tomshardware's of course). Makes me wonder how toms did it; also still gives me hope that the 650 will actually be better than currently reviewed.

So what were the driver released on the 13th for then?
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-306.23-whql-driver-uk.html

 

[amuffin]

GTX 650 looks good for a slightly lower F@H card....

 

[paddys09]

So what were the driver released on the 13th for then?
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/win8-win7-winvista-64bit-306.23-whql-driver-uk.html

Thanks Mousemonkey, completely missed this! Up to date now

 

[Mousemonkey]

Thanks Mousemonkey, completely missed this! Up to date now

You're most welcome.

 

[Sunius]

It seems strange that Nvidia prices their cards so randomly. GT 640 was too expensive on release, GTX 670 was too cheap (at least when comparing performance/price ratio to HD 7970/GTX 680), now GTX 650 is too expensive and it seems that GTX 660 does really well at that price range, which forced AMD drop prices again.

 

[paddys09]

It is a strange form of leapfrog marketing.... My guess is they are anticipating the future and over pricing the cards that they think are going to have the most significant price cuts later on.