nVidia 1660ti video cards/UPDATED with short review

[Rjel]

Is anyone else considering grabbing one of these cards when released, assuming the rumors of performance and price prove true? VR isn't in my immediate future and the 2070/80s are far out of my price range. The 1660ti looks like a good performance vs.price point video card based on supposed pre-release samples. I'm eager to read a couple of reviews of the cards when they're released but I am definitely leaning towards grabbing one. 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

It looks like a relatively good value, though not by a huge margin. Trading blows with the 1070 for somewhat less. Can't complain. It'll be interesting to see the price trends over the next few weeks, as there are many cards with fairly similar performance.

 

Personally, I'm not too interested because the 1660 Ti doesn't bring any dramatic changes. 1080p60 is still handled quite well by the cheaper 1060, particularly in Il-2. I suppose it will make solid 1440p performance a bit more attainable.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by Mitthrawnuruodo

[TWC_Ace]

6 hours ago, Rjel said:

Is anyone else considering grabbing one of these cards when released, assuming the rumors of performance and price prove true? VR isn't in my immediate future and the 2070/80s are far out of my price range. The 1660ti looks like a good performance vs.price point video card based on supposed pre-release samples. I'm eager to read a couple of reviews of the cards when they're released but I am definitely leaning towards grabbing one. 

You forgot gtx 2060....

I would definitely buy 1660 once its price settles (btw here in central EU the prices are 30-40% higher than in the USA). For now 1060 6GB will do (1200p screen). 1660 should be somewhere near or equal to 1070 but with less power demands.

BTW looking at your CPU, RAM and PSU....your card is by far the weakest spot. 2060 or at least 1660 would fit perfectly into that build. But tbh for IL2 at 1080p 1050Ti is enough. Should maintain 60fps.

 

Quote

 

Mitthrawnuruodo said:

Personally, I'm not too interested because the 1660 Ti doesn't bring any dramatic changes. 1080p60 is still handled quite well by the cheaper 1060, particularly in Il-2. I suppose it will make solid 1440p performance a bit more attainable.

 

 

Yes and no. 1060 can run IL2 without probs up to 1440p (at 1200p im having fixed 60FPS - my monitor refresh rate is 60 max) but anything more than 2x distance landscape is a bit problematic as I learned. So, yeah, I would need to upgrade my GPU soon. Other games are even more demanding.

Edited February 23, 2019 by blackram

[Rjel]

1 hour ago, blackram said:

You forgot gtx 2060....

I would definitely buy 1660 once its price settles (btw here in central EU the prices are 30-40% higher than in the USA). For now 1060 6GB will do (1200p screen). 1660 should be somewhere near or equal to 1070 but with less power demands.

BTW looking at your CPU, RAM and PSU....your card is by far the weakest spot. 2060 or at least 1660 would fit perfectly into that build. But tbh for IL2 at 1080p 1050Ti is enough. Should maintain 60fps.

When I built my system last year, it was when the mining craze was driving video card prices. I settled for the 1050 as I was able to snag one on sale. I think it was still around $270 but considering the over valued higher end cards, it was a bargain. It's served me well and I will migrate it to my old machine when replaced. 

 

Still waiting to read a few more reviews on production 1660s then I'll have to compare price points between that and the 2060 cards you mentioned before making a decision. 

[TWC_Ace]

Gtx 1060 ti sits between 1060 6gb and 2060...saw the tests..

[Rjel]

I got my new card installed. Beside an old Voodoo card way back when, I've never owned anything but EVGA nVidia cards. My "old" 1050Ti served me well but it just didn't have much stretch in it. Beyond that it was a screamer. Under load it sounded like a jet engine. Most annoying.

 

This time I went with an MSI 6 gig GTX 1660Ti Ventus XS OC card. So far, I'm very impressed. I really only fly IL-2 BoX so I'm not worried about the ray tracing that isn't featured in this card. I've maxed out all of the ingame settings short of grass, leaving that as Normal as they suck up the FPS. I also maxed out the nVidia panel settings just to see what this card could do at 1080p. 8x on AA, AA transparency and ansiotropic filtering. I left DSR off for now. This card did well with these setting while flying a couple of Stalingrad campaign missions. With a descent amount of air and ground activity, the uncapped FPS only went below 70 when I was on the ground looking at the grass under my plane. In the air it was from 70-80 to 150FPS or more depending on who was nearby or where I was looking.

 

I need to play around with MSI Afterburner to really find some solid numbers. I also need to experiment with settings as I don't need the nVidia control panel maxed out to the extent I'm at now. Best of all, this card ran very, very quiet. I'm more than pleased with it so far. At $279 it is an absolute steal, IMO. If I had deeper pockets, a 20 something card would be in my machine. As it is now, this will serve me well for the next year or two until a new build. Anyone who's struggling with what to purchase as a new video card I'd feel comfortable recommending this MSI card, expecially if BoX is your primary game.

[TWC_Ace]

20 hours ago, Rjel said:

I got my new card installed. Beside an old Voodoo card way back when, I've never owned anything but EVGA nVidia cards. My "old" 1050Ti served me well but it just didn't have much stretch in it. Beyond that it was a screamer. Under load it sounded like a jet engine. Most annoying.

 

This time I went with an MSI 6 gig GTX 1660Ti Ventus XS OC card. So far, I'm very impressed. I really only fly IL-2 BoX so I'm not worried about the ray tracing that isn't featured in this card. I've maxed out all of the ingame settings short of grass, leaving that as Normal as they suck up the FPS. I also maxed out the nVidia panel settings just to see what this card could do at 1080p. 8x on AA, AA transparency and ansiotropic filtering. I left DSR off for now. This card did well with these setting while flying a couple of Stalingrad campaign missions. With a descent amount of air and ground activity, the uncapped FPS only went below 70 when I was on the ground looking at the grass under my plane. In the air it was from 70-80 to 150FPS or more depending on who was nearby or where I was looking.

 

I need to play around with MSI Afterburner to really find some solid numbers. I also need to experiment with settings as I don't need the nVidia control panel maxed out to the extent I'm at now. Best of all, this card ran very, very quiet. I'm more than pleased with it so far. At $279 it is an absolute steal, IMO. If I had deeper pockets, a 20 something card would be in my machine. As it is now, this will serve me well for the next year or two until a new build. Anyone who's struggling with what to purchase as a new video card I'd feel comfortable recommending this MSI card, expecially if BoX is your primary game.

Which cpu you have?

[Rjel]

1 hour ago, blackram said:

Which cpu you have?

i8700K. I'm going to upload a video in a few minutes that I made yesterday of the campaign mission I mentioned so people can see my settings and the frame rate this card produced. So far, I'm more than pleased with this card.

[Rjel]

I uploaded this video from a recorded track from an AI flown mission. I capped my FPS at 120 for this. I left the MSI Afterburner info on screen so everyone could get an idea of what this card can do at 1080p.

 

 

[kestrel79]

Wow that's pretty good performance for a lower end card, I like it. Might throw one of these in the new build and upgrade to something bigger down the road thanks.

[TWC_Ace]

58 minutes ago, kestrel79 said:

Wow that's pretty good performance for a lower end card, I like it. Might throw one of these in the new build and upgrade to something bigger down the road thanks.

Its midrange card...1660ti is on par with 1070, sometimes even slightly faster...dont forget he has a very good cpu also...

[Rjel]

9 hours ago, kestrel79 said:

Wow that's pretty good performance for a lower end card, I like it. Might throw one of these in the new build and upgrade to something bigger down the road thanks.

I don't typically voice many opinions publicly about computer gear. Not an expert. However, watching several videos and reading reviews, this MSI card just seemed like a perfect fit for my needs. I'm not sure I'd consider it a low end card, especially for play at 1080p. I don't think you'd be disappointed with it.

 

OTOH, as you said, I feel I can pass up the expense of the 2080Ti and still get very solid performance playing BoX. I'm no longer one who needs (or can afford) to be an early adopter much any more. Who know where CPUs and graphics cards will be in a couple of years? If I start planning on the upgrade now, it won't sting so much when I do. I hope.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Rjel