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Conclusion
GeForce GTX 1660 represents one of the best values available for gaming at 1920 x 1080. It’s certainly the most efficient, offering excellent performance per watt. And with a starting price of $220/£200, we have a hard time recommending that you spend more money on the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti.
You might say that we’re especially cost-conscious down at the mainstream price points, where even a few dollars can tip the scales in favor of one product or another. This would seemingly put Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660 Gaming OC 6G at a big disadvantage, since it’s the most opulent implementation of GeForce GTX 1660 in the company’s portfolio. But Gigabyte only charges a $10 premium for its flagship compared to the entry-level 1660 OC 6G. Stepping up gets you higher clock rates, a beefier thermal solution, and RGB lighting.
The overclocked GPU frequency didn’t do much in our benchmarks, so that’s a bit of a gimmick. However, the Windforce 3X cooler made a more appreciable difference, enabling slower-spinning fans and lower temperatures in real-world games and synthetic stress tests. Although RGB lighting is a matter of personal taste, the 1660 Gaming OC 6G has it while the 1660 OC 6G does not. So, if you own other RGB Fusion-compatible components, its inclusion undoubtedly means something to you. As we do every time we review a Gigabyte graphics card, we played with the software and verified that all of its effects, colors, and settings function the way they’re supposed to.
As of this writing, AMD’s Radeon RX 580 is quite a bit less expensive than any GeForce GTX 1660, including the 1660 Gaming OC 6G. It’s also slower and way more power-hungry. But while we’re not sure how much longer the fire sale on Radeon RX 580s will last, we’d be remiss in ignoring it. The AMD card is worth considering if you’re satisfied with its performance at 1920 x 1080 and ambivalent about its 185W TDP.
Mainstream gamers willing to pay for slightly higher frame rates and better efficiency should skip straight to GeForce GTX 1660, though. And although we’re perfectly happy recommending one of the many $220 models, Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660 Gaming OC 6G is improved enough that its modest $10 premium doesn’t bother us.
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