Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Review

Item: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Review
Author: Harry Butler

Written by Harry Butler

August 16, 2012 | 12:50

Tags: #geforce-gtx-660-ti #gtx-660-review

Companies: #nvidia

Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB amp! Editon Review

Manufacturer: Zotac
UK Price (as reviewed): £269.99 (inc VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): TBC

In comparison to MSI's massive Power Edition of the GTX 660 Ti 2GB, Zotac's GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB amp! Editon looks positively minute. Using the stock super-short PCB of the GTX 660 Ti 2GB, the card measures just 180mm, with its dual-slot cooler projecting slightly off of the card's trailing edge.

Click to enlarge - The Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB amp! Editon uses a 180mm PCB, so is incredibly compact

Don't let its diminutive size deceive though, as the amp! Edition is actually the faster of the two card's we've gotten our hands on for launch day. A base clock of 1,033Mhz is 115Mhz higher than the GTX 660 Ti 2GB's stock specification, a 12 per cent increase, Zotac's card also boasts an increased memory frequency of 1,650MHz (6.6GHz effective), a ten per cent increase over stock that bumps the memory bandwidth from 144GB/sec to 158GB/sec.

Taming the extra heat from the overclock is a 'dual-silencer' dual-slot cooler than manages to (bar its shroud) remain within the tight confines of the PCB. A pair of cooling fans in a down-draft configuration blow air down through the card's aluminium fin-stack and over the PCB, with a trio of copper heatpipes transferring heat from the GPU contact plate to the fin-stack around them.

Click to enlarge - A smaller PCB than the MSI also means a smaller cooler and fewer power phases

Despite the increase in memory frequency, there's no active cooling for the card's eight 256MB hynix GDDR5 modules. Again, we find the top-most slots of the PCb empty due to the disabled memory controller, with the lower spaced joined by a pair of chips on the back-side of the PCB.

The amp! Edition still packs all the same features into its tiny PCB too, with a pair of SLI connectors along the top edge and the standard pair of dual-link DVI, HDMi and DisplayPort outputs on the rear I/O. However, with with a smaller fin-stack surface area than the MSI the Zotac's pair of fans will have to spin faster to deliver comparable cooling.

Click to enlarge - As with every other GTX 660 Ti 2GB we've seen, the back-side of the PCB hosts the extra pair of 256MB GDDR5 modules connected to the third memory controller.

As with many Nvidia partners, Zotac has also managed to wangle a free copy of Borderlands 2 for those who buy its card; a code inside the box refers you to Nvidia's promotion site, which then grants you a steam-code for Gear-boxes upcoming shoot-everything fest.

Zotac is aiming for a £269.99 launch price today; a little more expensive than the MSI, but considering its 12 per cent GPU overclock, 10 per cent memory overclock, tiny PCB and custom-cooler looks a solid deal.