Nvidia GTX 1660 – Price Rs. 21,000 Launches in India
Nvidia has launched the new GTX 1660, the true successor to the GTX 1060, established more than two years ago.
The new GTX 1660 is based on the Turing architecture, similar to the GTX 1660Ti and the RTX 2060.
The GTX 1660 Ti will be available in India from 14th March 2019 and will cost a minimum of Rs. 21,500.
The price in the US is $220, which is equivalent to Rs. 15,620 (1USD= Rs. 71), add the taxes and duty to it, and we have a costly graphics card as far as the Indian market is concerned.
Most gamers have a budget of 10k to 15k in India, and unlike the Chinese smartphones, which are available cheap the gaming, hardware is super expensive for cash-strapped gamers.
You will not be able to buy the Founder’s Edition of this graphics card as Nvidia is not manufacturing that.
However, we will get the GTX 1660 from board partners such as Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Inno 3D, and Galax.
The Nvidia GTX 1660 Specs
The Nvidia GTX 1660 is based on the turning architecture and is made from the 12 Nm manufacturing process. Turing is a positive step ahead of older Pascal architecture but not a game-changer.
The GTX 1660 doesn’t come with the Tensor or the RT cores found in the more expensive Nvidia cards, such as the RTX 2060.
Further, you will not get ray tracing support in the few games that support the technology.
The GTX 1660 comes with 1408 Cuda Cores, 6 GB of GDDR5 memory with 192-Bit bus width, and has a lower TDP of 120 Watts. The memory speed is slower (8 GBPS vs. 12 GBPS of the 1660 Ti), considering it comes with the GDDR5 instead of the GGDR6.
You will require a 6 Pin Connector from the power supply to run it. You will need a typical 500 Watts SMPS in your PC to run the card and other fancy hardware.
Comparison – GTX 1660 Vs 1660 Ti Vs RTX 2060
| Specs | GTX 1060 (6 GB) | GTX 1660 | Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti | RTX 2060 FE |
| Architecture | Pascal | TU116-300 | TU116-400 | TU106 |
| CUDA Cores | 1280 | 1408 | 1536 | 1920 |
| Manufacturing Process | 14 Nm | 12 Nm | 12 Nm | 12 Nm |
| Base Clock | 1506 MHz | 1530 Mhz | 1500 MHz | 1365 MHz |
| GPU Boost | 1708 MHz | 1785 MHz | 1770 MHz | 1680 MHz |
| Memory | 6 GB GDDR5 | 6 GB GDDR5 | 6 GB GDDR6 | 6 GB GDDR6 |
| Bus-Width | 192-bit | 192-bit | 192-bit | 192-bit |
| Memory Clocks | 8 GBPS | 8 GBPS | 12 GBPS | 14 GBPS |
| TDP | 120 W | 120 W | 120 | 160 W |
| Transistors Count | 4.4 B | 6.6 B | 6.6B | 10.8 billion |
| SLI | No | No | No | No |
| Tensor Cores | No | No | No | 240 |
| RT cores | No | No | No | 30 |
| Price | Rs. 21,000 | Rs. 21,500 | Rs. 25,500 | Rs. 31,000 |
The above table clarifies many things; here are some of the things that you should know.
- We have slightly more CUDA Cores in the GTX 1660 (1408) than the GTX 1060 (1280).
- The GTX 1660 uses a more affordable GDDR5 memory instead of the GDDR6.
- Power consumption is nearly the same for GTX 1060 and the GTX 1660 (120 Watts TDP).
- The GTX 1660 is not a significant upgrade from the GTX 1060, but it is much faster than the GTX 960.
Gaming Performance Benchmarks and Details
According to Nvidia, the GTX 1660 is about 15% faster than the GTX 1060 GB and is almost 130% more quickly than the GTX 960.
Below are some of the benchmarks done by Hardware Unboxed, which are in line with what Nvidia says.
GTX 1660 Vs GTX 1060
- The GTX 1660 is about 21% faster than the GTX 1060 based on several gaming titles.
GTX 1660 Vs GTX 1660 Ti
- The GTX 1660 is about 13% slower than the GTX 1660Ti based on several gaming titles.
GTX 1660 Vs. AMD RX 590
- The GTX 1660 is about 8% faster than the AMD RX 590 based on several gaming titles.
Should You Buy the GTX 1660 in India?
US and India’s price is different, and what is good in the US may not be the right choice for Indian gamers considering the price differential.
Considering the above performance numbers, the GTX 1660 is an excellent value for the money card. I don’t see any point in buying the Nvidia GTX 1060 now, considering both are available at the same price in the Indian market.
Also, I don’t recommend buying AMD RX 580 or the 590 in India due to the higher price to performance ratio and much higher TDP and heat from these cards.
If you want a better AMD card, you may have to wait till they launch the next generation Navi GPUs.
The GTX 1660 is available at around 22k, and that is a reasonable price for this card for 1080P gaming.
Also, if you have an AMD RX 470 or lower card or even the GTX 960 or softer, it makes sense to upgrade to the GTX 1660.
Should you Buy the GTX 1660 Ti or GTX 1660?
Since there is no founders edition 1660 Ti, the GPU from board partners is expensive and comes very close to the RTX 2060 FE.
It is better to get the RTX 2060 FE with free bundled games (Battlefield V and Anthem) than spend money on the GTX 1660 Ti, especially in India.
Notably, you will not get any free games with the GTX 1660 and the GTX 1660 Ti purchase.
If I have to buy a new GPU, I will either pick the GTX 1660 and save some bucks or bite the bullet and go with the more expensive RTX 2060 for added performance, free games, and RTX support.
GTX 1660 Ti For Video Editors and Content Creators (GTX 1660)
Video editors and content creators can look at all three options and even look for some specific benchmarks to understand any impact of GDDR5 used in 1660 Vs. the GDDR6 in 1660 Ti.
However, I am sure that there will not be much impact on performance in software like Adobe Premiere or After Effects. (They are already severely optimized for Windows).
Nevertheless, If you have any queries when building a new PC or buying hardware, do let me know in the comments below.
Data and Image Source – Hardware Unboxed Youtube Channel.
