In the past, NVIDIA would normally release Ti versions as incremental updates mid-launch. This can be due to many things but given the release cycle, its a smart way of filling in holes that AMD may be targeting. Recently though, NVIDIA has released the NVIDIA SUPER series, particularly for the RTX series graphics card. While they never really acknowledged it, users feel its a reaction the AMD’s new 7nm RX 5700 XT and RX 5700, both of which are compelling competitor to the RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 sans raytracing. Still, the RTX SUPER was meant with lukewarm reception as many users have already upgraded to RTX or felt the raytracing is still a fad. NVIDIA still has their mainstream GTX 16-series to fill this space for entry level with the top card for the series being the GTX 1660 Ti.
Today NVIDIA is launching the GTX SUPER series. An incremental upgrade to the GTX 16 series which will see the GTX 1660 SUPER and GTX 1650 SUPER compete with AMD’s RX 5500 series.
About NVIDIA GTX SUPER Series
The GTX SUPER Series’ hallmark improvement amongst all is the inclusion of GDDR6. The increased memory performance offering then GDDR6 offers, easily increases the capabilities of existing cards this is also on top of other technological improvement on the driver side with NVIDIA introducing increased software support for some modern trends including for streaming.
NVIDIA will launch the GTX 1660 SUPER first with a price of $229. Launch reviews will see models that retail for this price mainly and will be available once reviews go up on October 29. The NVIDIA GTX 1650 Super will be available in November and will have its price announced later on.
The GTX 1660 Ti will still be the top-end GTX 16 series card while the GTX 1660 (non SUPER) will be offered at reduced price point, coexisting with the current GTX 1660 SUPER. The GTX 1650 SUPER and GTX 1650 status is yet to be announced.
About the Palit GTX 1660 SUPER Gaming Pro
NVIDIA will be sending out SRP cards to showcase the base performance of the GTX 1660M SUPER. Our sample is the Palit GTX 1660 SUPER Gaming Pro.
The card features a dual-fan cooler with a plastic shroud. Relatively lighter cooling on this card with heatpipes visible running through the fins. Palit also has a pre-installed backplate for aesthetic.
The card uses a single 8-pin PCIe power connector for auxiliary power.
NVIDIA ReShade, Image Sharpening and Ultra Low Latency Mode
We’ve talked in detail about Ultra Low Latency Mode and how to enable it in a separate article. You can find out how to enable ultra low latency mode here. Ultra low latency mode gets a highlight in this release to further highlight NVIDIA’s improvement in input latency. Ultra Low Latency Mode now known as NVIDIA Ultra Low Latency or NULL for smart, is a way to reduce the frame render queue for a just-in-time rendering of frames which improves input latency. Perfect for esports titles which require highly price input. This mode allows higher refresh rates to benefit greatly from compatible graphics cards.
G-Sync further improves the experience by allowing hardware-based syncing of frames to the display while G-Sync Compatible displays allow Freesync monitors to be used with NVIDIA cards if capable for the same experience.
NVIDIA Image Sharpening how now migrated from NVIDIA Freestyle to the control panel allowing users to have sharper images without tuning in-game details that may hamper performance. As a filter, its an image processing technique, not a rendering technique, and NVIDIA has optimized it to work smoothly with their drivers. Upscaling is also available allowing sharper images from lower resolution images. This is in contrast to the RTX-exclusive DLSS which requires AI learning and driver support. Image Sharpening is available via NVIDIA control panel and supports all DirectX 9/11/12 games with Vulkan and OpenGL support coming soon.
Another community-driven tool embraced by NVIDIA and coinciding with the GTX 16-Series SUPER release is support for ReShade. ReShade is an extension of NVIDIA Freestyle and Ansel allowing filters to be added to the game. This includes artistic styles amongst others which allows visual improvements to be used in-game while playing. Expanding on the current filters available, NVIDIA is allowing ReShade filters to be used as well allowing a richer assortment of filters to be used for creative purposes.
Last improvement is a focus on streaming. Same PC or single PC streaming has always been the end-game for streaming setups and NVIDIA is looking to entice new streamers by allowing improved encoding performance via NVENC encoder present in OBS and Xsplit. Utilizing the Turing architecture, NVIDIA cards can performance faster without using CPU resources, enabling gamers to stream and multi-task better. We’ll dive into this segment in a future article where we’ll test real-time streaming impact on gaming on single PC setups.
Test Setup and Methodology
Processor: Intel Core i9 9900K Motherboard: ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XI EXTREME Memory: G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3600 16GB Storage: WD Blue SSD 1TB SATA PSU: Seasonic Platinum 1050w Cooling: Fractal Design Celsius S36 AIO Liquid cooler Monitor: Viewsonic VX2475smhl-4K VGA: Palit GTX 1660 SUPER Gaming Pro, ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1660 Ti, ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1060, ASUS ROG STRIX RX 480
For a full-hardware workout, visit https://benchmarks.ul.com for our system warm-up and stress test of choice.
Frame rates and frame times of a 60-second game play were recorded using NVIDIA FrameView. The test results are the average of 3 benchmark runs. Since this is a GPU review, we benchmarked the area of the games that put heavy load on the GPU.
All our test runs are repeatable, click the links below for area and details. Read our benchmarking methodology.
DOTA2 – Kiev Major Grand Finals Game 5: OG vs Virtus.Pro (54:05 – 55:05)
The Witcher 3 – Woesong Bridge
Grand Theft Auto V – Palomino Highlands
F1 2017 – Benchmark Mode (Australia, Clear Weather, Morning)
Battlefield V – Nordlys – We’re retiring Battlefield V as of this review.
Note: Some proprietary technologies of NVIDIA like PCSS, HBAO+, and HairWorks work on AMD GPU’s BUT to maintain uniformity amongst GPUs, these have been turned OFF.
DOTA 2
The most popular game on Steam and the biggest competition in eSports; DOTA 2 is powered by the Source 2 engine. The game is fairly light on low to medium settings but maxed out with heavy action on screen especially during clashes can really stress most systems especially with Reborn update. This is a game where frame times matter as responsiveness is very important in high-stakes competition.
DirectX9 (default)
Best-Looking slider setting (Ultra)
FPS_MAX 240
Vsync OFF
Set as the foundation of the Formula One eSports series, F1 2017 is a hallmark installment in the F1 sim-racing series as it expands previously introduced features and creates a great, F1 career simulation experience. The game is powered by EGO Engine 3.0 and features highly detailed cars with exceptional attention to environmental effects including those that simulate road condition and car condition.
Ultra High graphics settings
HBAO+
TAA
Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
Vsync OFF
FPS Chart
Frametime Chart
Comparable Frame Rate
Min-Mix Frame RatesVariability and Stuttering
Grand Theft Auto V
The fifth and most successful installment to date in the highly controversial Grand Theft Auto series brings a graphical overhaul to the PC version of GTA V which many have lauded as a superior approach in porting a console game to PC. Featuring large areas and detailing, GTA V is a highly challenging application in terms of scene complexity.
FXAA Off
MSAA 4x
TXAA Off
Very High settings
Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
Motion Blur disabled
Advanced Graphics enabled
Vsync OFF
FPS Chart
Frametime Chart
Comparable Frame Rate
Min-Mix Frame Rates
Variability and Stuttering
Rainbow Six: Siege
Nearly 4 years later and Rainbow Six: Siege has become a phenomenon after a lukewarm beginning. The massive shift in focus of the game sees it stepping into eSports territory and the excellent mix of gameplay mechanics, good design and a dedicated dev team has put R6: Siege in a position it couldn’t even picture during launch. Rainbow Six: Siege focuses heavily on tactical and creative gameplay and its vertical levels and highly destructible maps encourage players to be quick on their feet so the action is always going. Powered by Ubisoft’s own AnvilNext 2.0 engine which powers some of Ubi’s recent visual masterpieces, R6:Siege also feature excellent graphics and can get very taxing at high detail settings. The game also features an Ultra HD texture pack download for those that want higher resolution textures but will of course demand more from the system.
Ultra Settings
Anti Aliasing: TAA
Ultra HD Texture pack not installed
Ambient Occlusion: SSBC
Vsync OFF
FPS Chart
Frametime Chart
Comparable Frame Rate
Min-Mix Frame Rates
Variability and Stuttering
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the latest installment in the reboot run of the classic Tomb Raider franchise. The game follows the story set forth by the previous game which Shadow of the Tomb Raider short follows after. Technology-wise, the game uses the Foundation engine updated to meet the demand of developer Eidos Montreal to push the engine to its limits. The game supports DirectX 12 and is one of the launch titles to support RTX technology namely DLSS which launched a couple of months post-launch.
DirectX 12
Graphics Settings Preset: Highest
Texture Quality: Ultra
Texture Filtering: 8x Anisotropic
Anti-Aliasing: TAA
DLSS: OFF
Raytraced Shadow: OFF
Vsync OFF
We’ve noticed last minute discrepancies and are pulling the Shadow of the Tomb Raider results. We’ll update DirectX 12 results later on together with Battlefield V but will be the last appearance of that test as we replace it with Modern Warfare 2019.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
CD Projekt Red’s latest installment in the Witcher saga features one of the most graphically intense offering the company has to date. As Geralt of Rivia, slay monsters, beasts and men as you unravel the mysteries of your past. Vast worlds and lush sceneries make this game a visual feast and promises to make any system crawl at its highest settings.
Frame Rate: Unlimited
Nvidia HairWorks: Off
Ultra Settings
Motion Blur: Off
Blur: Off
Anti-aliasing: On
Bloom: On
Sharpening: High
Ambient Occlusion: SSAO
Depth of Field: On
Chromatic Aberration: Off
Vignetting: On
Light Shafts: On
VSync OFF
FPS Chart
Frametime Chart
Comparable Frame Rate
Min-Mix Frame Rates
Variability and Stuttering
Temperature and Power Draw
To measure both power consumption and heat, we stress the video card and record the peak values for heat and wattage. We use default values on the cards and stress test them using 3DMark FireStrike Ultra in 20 loops to simulate gaming loads and this is where we also base our power draw. Our AC wattmeter has a USB interface that allows logging of data which gives us a good average of what draw is during the load scenario.
We’ll just give comments on this one as we rebuild our test database. Under load, the GPU sips around 200W for the particular stress test. This reflects board power perfectly so we’re under good power draw at 130W~ or so peak. The card averages under this of course.
Temperature will vary via board partner. The Palit Gaming Pro design is very adequate for this card, peaking at 73*C. The fan does not idle so we see very good temperates and fan themselves aren’t audible even under load.
Thermal Images
Conclusion
As it stands, NVIDIA is positioning the GTX 1660 SUPER underneath the GTX 1660 Ti but as it stands, even the power of an overclocked GTX 1660 Ti seems to stand on par with the GTX 1660 SUPER. NVIDIA may have designed the card too good and is looking to cannibalize its bigger brother in the stack. What that means for consumes though is that with a $229 price tag, the GTX 1660 SUPER opens up another upgrade path which is close to peak Turing performance for the GTX sub-class of graphics cards. For anyone not interested in raytracing or just looking to stick to a budget of $229, this is definitely shaping up to be an excellent choice.
Take note that the Palit GTX 1660 SUPER is the entry level card of Palit’s stack and we’re looking at cards packed with larger, beefier cooler allowing heightened performance from factory OCs and better boost situations thanks to the improved cooling performance.
This launch doesn’t really point to a lot of talking points for NVIDIA’s tech except that we’re looking at the immediate price displacement of the GTX 1660 and imminently, the GTX 1650 SUPER. As entry level CPUs in the $100 start to offer excellent performance, GPUs are as well, making it easier to build a 1080p peak gaming PC at sub-500$ budgets.
Going back to the NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super, its going to be surprising and equally disturbing for owners of GTX 1660 cards while GTX 960 or olders cards now find themselves a similar price offer from their original purchase of their older cards with the SUPER update or the displaced 1660.
NVIDIA is also expanding G-Sync Compatible with this launch and together with ReShade and NULL, is starting to prove they are handling both software side and hardware side of their products. With AMD proving a capable competitor, NVIDIA has to really step up to keep their position in the market.
As for the Palit GTX 1660 SUPER Gaming Pro, its an excellent starting point for upgraders looking to go from the GTX 1060 or older and want a bit more performance for the buck. At lower than launch GTX 1060 price, this is definitely an enticing offer.