NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Round-Up Review

Next up we have the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC Version with Windforce “Triangle-Cool” cooling and the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition.

  
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC Version with Windforce "Triangle-Cool" Cooler

Although the card’s GPU is overclocked, the real attraction with Gigabyte’s offering is the Windforce “Triangle-Cool” cooler. Underneath a pair of oversized fans sits an array of aluminum heatsink fins, linked to a copper base via copper heat-pipes. The cooler’s dual fans blows air directly onto the heatsinks, where some is diverted into the case and some exhausted outside through the vents in the case bracket. The base of the cooler has a triangular shape that reportedly helps minimize turbulence and better direct the airflow. As you’ll see a little later, the Windforce cooler also does an excellent job of keeping temperatures in check, and it’s nice and quiet too.

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC with Windforce cooler ships with its 2GB of memory clocked at the same 6008MHz (effective data rate) of reference cards, but with a base GPU clock of 1033MHz and a boost clock of 1111MHz. Outputs on the card are the same as the reference version as well (dual DVI, HDMI, DP), and Gigabyte’s offering requires the same dual 6-pin supplemental power connectors of stock GTX 660 Ti cards.

Included with the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC with Windforce cooler were a quick installation guide, driver / utility CD, and a couple of power adapters. Nothing fancy in terms of the bundle, but the essentials are there.

  
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition

Here we have the small-fry of the group, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition. Make no mistake though; while the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition may be physically smaller than the other cards we’re featuring here, its clocks are the highest overall.

Although the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition actually utilizes a PCB similar in size to NVIDIA’s reference design (and the EVGA card); its cooler doesn’t protrude past the end of the card, giving the illusion that it is larger. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition instead has a relatively petite array of heatsinks that sit just above the card’s components. The cooler is comprised of large aluminum heatsinks, linked together by an array of thick copper heat-pipes. Two large fans sit above the heatsinks in an angular shroud, blowing air down on the heatsinks and PCB. The cooler does its job fairly well and it’s relatively quiet too.

Like the other cards featured here, ZOTAC has done some factory overclocking as well. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition’s base and boost GPU frequencies are 1033MHz and 1111MHz, respectively, and its memory is pushed way above NVIDIA’s reference specifications--1652MHz (6608MHz effective) to be exact. With those frequencies, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition should be the fastest of the bunch, especially in situations where memory bandwidth comes into play, like in AvP for example. Despite its higher clocks (and hence higher power requirements over reference cards), ZOTAC still outfitted the card with only a pair of 6-pin power connectors. It's got the same display output configuration of the other cards too.

ZOTAC went a step further than the other manufacturers feature here with their 660 Ti’s bundle as well. Included with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition, we found a user’s manual and quick installation guide, a coupon for the game TrackMania 2 Canyon, a driver utility disc, a ZOTAC case badge, a few peripheral to 6-pin adapters and a DVI to VGA adapter.