Following on from our launch day reviews of Nvidia's GTX 1660 SUPER, today we are reviewing another partner card, this time from EVGA. The 1660 SUPER SC Ultra is a compact, dual-fan card with a factory overclocked core, promising good levels of performance without taking up too much space in your case. Additionally, it even sports a metal backplate, when most of its competitors in this segment either have no backplate or use a cheaper plastic one. Show For GTX 1660 SUPER launch, we reviewed Gigabyte's Gaming OC 6G alongside Palit's GamingPro OC, finding both to be technically impressive cards. Today, our attentions turns to EVGA'S GTX 1660 SUPER SC Ultra. Measuring just 202mm long, this is a very compact card yet its core has still been overclocked to 1830MHz boost, the same rated frequency as the Palit GamingPro OC.  GPU RTX 2060 (FE) GTX 1660 Ti GTX 1660 SUPER GTX 1660 GTX 1060 SMs 30 24 22 22 10 CUDA Cores 1920 1536 1408 1408 1280 Tensor Cores 240 N/A N/A N/A N/A Tensor FLOPS 51.6 N/A N/A N/A N/A RT Cores 30 N/A N/A N/A N/A Texture Units 120 96 88 88 80 ROPs 48 48 48 48 48 Rays Cast 5 Giga Rays/sec – – – 0.44 Giga Rays/sec RTX Performance 37 Trillion RTX-OPS – – – N/A GPU Boost Clock 1680 MHz 1770 MHz 1785 MHz 1785 MHz 1708 MHz Memory Data Rate 14 Gbps 12 Gbps 14 Gbps 8 Gbps 8 Gbps Total Video Memory 6GB GDDR6 6GB GDDR6 6GB GDDR6 6GB GDDR5 6GB GDDR5 Memory Interface 192-bit 192-bit 192-bit 192-bit 192-bit Memory Bandwidth 336.1 GB/sec 288.1 GB/sec 336 GB/sec 192.1 GB/sec 192 GB/sec TGP 160W 120W 125W 120W 120W As a quick refresher, GTX 1660 SUPER uses the same TU116 GPU from GTX 1660, with 22 SMs and 1408 CUDA cores – nothing has changed there. The difference is that 1660 SUPER uses 14Gbps GDDR6 memory, when the vanilla 1660 uses 8Gbps GDDR5 memory. That, and a resulting 5W different in TGP (Total Graphics Power), are the only differences between 1660 and 1660 SUPER. The EVGA 1660 SUPER SC Ultra ships in a compact black box, with a cut-off image of the graphics card – along with some GeForce branding – visible on the front. Inside, the only included accessory is an installation guide. As for the card itself, the SC Ultra has a matte grey plastic shroud surrounding two black 90mm fans. I don't mind the overall look of the shroud, with the holes cut into it, but I'm not so keen on the shade of grey used, but of course that is personal preference. Despite being made from plastic, the shroud itself does feel surprisingly study so I have no complaints there. We already mentioned that this is a small card, and its full dimensions are 202.1mm x 111.15mm, while it's also a standard dual-slot thickness. That makes it 35mm shorter than Palit's GamingPro OC, so it really should fit in pretty much any case on the market. The front side of the shroud is home to the EVGA and GeForce GTX branding, but these don't light up as there is actually no RGB lighting anywhere on the card. We can also get a look at the full-length metal backplate that has been fitted to the back of the PCB, which is a definite plus for this SC Ultra. Both 1660 SUPERs we reviewed for launch day used plastic backplates, and some other models don't have a backplate at all, so a metal backplate is a very good inclusion on EVGA's part. Power requirements are standard with 1x 8-pin, while EVGA has outfitted this card with 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI and 1x DVI connectors. Opening up the card is just a case of removing the four screws around the GPU core, and the PCB pulls away from the heatsink. EVGA is using a 3+2 VRM solution here, and there are some thick thermal pads on top of the memory modules which are even double-stacked in one area. Pulling those off, we can see the chips are from Micron, labelled ‘9PA77D9WCW'. The TU116-300-A1 GPU is unchanged from the vanilla GTX 1660. Now, as for the heatsink, this uses a single fin stack with a copper contact plate to transfer heat from the GPU, and this sits above two 10mm copper heatpipes. Interestingly, there's nothing contacting the VRM so it seems cooling for the MOSFETs etc is purely from airflow. The memory, however, contacts with the fin stack and one section of the copper heatpipe via its thick thermal pads. We reached out to EVGA about the decision not to include dedicated VRM cooling with the SC Ultra, and received the following response: ‘For this card the VRM is able to stay in spec without any direct cooling on it as it is a lower wattage card'. Taking EVGA at their word that is fair enough (I don't have any means of validating the claims made) but at the very least it does feel like a cost-cutting measure from EVGA – the Palit GamingPro OC is actually cheaper than this card yet still has contact cooling for the VRM, so this is a definite negative point for the SC Ultra. Our newest GPU test procedure has been built with the intention of benchmarking high-end graphics cards. We test at 1920×1080 (1080p), 2560×1440 (1440p), and 3840×2160 (4K UHD) resolutions. We try to test using the DX12 API if titles offer support. This gives us an interpretation into the graphics card performance hierarchy in the present time and the near future, when DX12 becomes more prevalent. After all, graphics cards of this expense may stay in a gamer’s system for a number of product generations/years before being upgraded. We tested the RX Vega64 and Vega56 using the ‘Turbo‘ power mode in AMD’s WattMan software. This prioritises all-out performance over power efficiency, noise output, and lower thermals. Driver Notes
Test System We test using the Overclockers UK Germanium pre-built system, though it has been re-housed into an open-air test bench. You can read more about it over HERE. CPU Intel Core i7-8700K Overclocked to 5.0GHz Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix Z370-F Gaming Memory Team Group Dark Hawk RGB 16GB (2x8GB) @ 3200MHz 16-18-18-38 Graphics Card Varies System Drive Samsung 960 EVO 500GB Games Drive Kingston UV500 960GB Chassis Streacom ST-BC1 Bench CPU Cooler OCUK TechLabs 240mm AIO Power Supply Corsair AX1500i 80+ Titanium PSU Operating System Windows 10 1903 Comparison Graphics Cards List
Software and Games List
We run each benchmark/game three times, and present averages in our graphs. 3DMark Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for today’s high-performance gaming PCs. It is our [FutureMark’s] most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today. Initial 3DMark results have the EVGA SC Ultra scoring the lowest of our three 1660 SUPER cards. There's not much in it, but the EVGA is 3% slower than the Gigabyte Gaming OC 6G model here. 3DMark Port Royal is the world’s first dedicated real-time ray tracing benchmark for gamers. You can use Port Royal to test and compare the real-time ray tracing performance of any graphics card that supports Microsoft DirectX Raytracing. As well as benchmarking performance, 3DMark Port Royal provides a realistic and practical example of what to expect from ray tracing in upcoming games. Port Royal continues the initial trend from 3DMark Fire Strike, with the SC Ultra scoring 45 points less than the Gigabyte 1660 SUPER. Battlefield V is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts. Battlefield V is the sixteenth instalment in the Battlefield series. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 20, 2018. (Wikipedia). We test using the Ultra preset, DX12 API. In Battlefield V, all three 1660 SUPER cards perform within 2% of each other, though it is the EVGA SC Ultra coming bottom of the three. Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is an online action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. The sequel to Tom Clancy's The Division (2016), it is set in a near-future Washington, D.C. in the aftermath of a smallpox pandemic, and follows an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division as they try to rebuild the city. (Wikipedia). We test using the Ultra preset, but with V-Sync disabled, DX11 API. Thing are again very close in The Division 2, with the SC Ultra coming just 2% behind the Gaming OC 6G. Up against 1660 Ti, this EVGA 1660 SUPER is 6% slower. F1 2019 is a racing video game based on the 2019 Formula One and Formula 2 Championships. The game is developed and published by Codemasters and is the twelfth title in the Formula One series developed by the studio. The game was announced by Codemasters on 28 March 2019. (Wikipedia). We test using the Ultra High preset, with TAA and 16x Anisotropic Filtering, DX12 API. Just 1.5FPS separates the EVGA SC Ultra from the Gigabyte Gaming OC when playing F1 2019 at 1080p, so this card is still pushing over 80FPS on average. Far Cry New Dawn is an action-adventure first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game is a spin-off of the Far Cry series and a narrative sequel to Far Cry 5. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 15, 2019. (Wikipedia). We test using the Ultra preset, with the HD Textures pack, DX11 API. In Far Cry New Dawn, we see the SC Ultra again just 2% behind the Gaming OC 6G, and 1% behind the Palit GamingPro OC. Even at 1440p, the 1660 SUPER is averaging just over 70FPS. Gears 5 is a third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. It is the sixth instalment of the Gears of War series, and is the second Gears of War game not to be developed by Epic Games. We test using the Ultra preset, with Best Animation Quality (instead of Auto), DX12 API. As for Gears 5, here the EVGA SC Ultra is 5% slower than the GTX 1660 Ti, while it also sits just behind the other two GTX 1660 SUPER cards on our chart. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is a tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Paris and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide on March 7, 2017, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as the tenth instalment in the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon franchise and is the first game in the Ghost Recon series to feature an open world environment. (Wikipedia). We test using the Very High preset, DX11 API. Things are particularly close in this title, where there's just 1.3FPS between our 1660 SUPER cards at 1080p. Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter video game developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver in 2019. It is the third instalment in the Metro video game series based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novels, following the events of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light. (Wikipedia). We test using the Ultra preset, but with Hairworks and Advanced PhysX turned off, DX12 API. It's more of the same when we get to Metro Exodus, with another 2% gap between our 1660 SUPER cards. This EVGA SC Ultra is 4% slower than GTX 1660 Ti. Middle-earth: Shadow of War is an action role-playing video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the sequel to 2014’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 10, 2017. (Wikipedia). We test using the Very High preset, DX11 API. Up against 1660 Ti in Middle Earth: Shadow of War, the SC Ultra is just 2.5FPS slower when gaming at 1080p. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Eidos Montréal in conjunction with Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. It continues the narrative from the 2013 game Tomb Raider and its sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider, and is the twelfth mainline entry in the Tomb Raider series. The game released worldwide on 14 September 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. (Wikipedia). We test using the Highest preset, with AA disabled, DX12 API. EVGA's 1660 SUPER is again just 3% slower than GTX 1660 Ti in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, meaning its also 1% slower than the Palit 1660 SUPER GamingPro OC. Total War: Three Kingdoms is a turn-based strategy real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. As the 12th mainline entry (the 13th entry) in the Total War series, the game was released for Microsoft Windows on May 23, 2019. We test using the Ultra preset, DX11 API. Finally, Total War: Three Kingdoms rounds things off nicely, with this EVGA SC Ultra just 1.3FPS behind Gigabyte's 1660 SUPER when gaming at 1080p, a 2% difference. Here we present the average clock speed for each graphics card while running the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra stress test for 30 minutes. We use GPU-Z to record the GPU core frequency during the Fire Strike Ultra runs. We calculate the average core frequency during the 30 minute run to present here. While the margins are certainly not at all big, we did see the EVGA SC Ultra coming in marginally slower than our other two 1660 SUPERs throughout our game testing. This is explained when looking at the card's clock speed under load, with an average core speed of 1895MHz. This is 33MHz slower than the Palit GamingPro OC and 52MHz slower than the Gigabyte Gaming OC. Do bear in mind, however, that the card is still exceeding its rated boost clock (1830MHz) by about 65MHz. For our temperature testing, we measure the peak GPU core temperature under load, as well as the GPU temperature with the card idling on the desktop. A reading under load comes from running the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra stress test for 30 minutes. An idle reading comes after leaving the system on the Windows desktop for 30 minutes. GPU temperatures for the SC Ultra are excellent, with a peak reading of 67C. This is 3C hotter than the Gaming OC, but we have to remember this is a significantly smaller card and it also has ‘only' two fans. Either way, 67C is a fantastic temperature and nothing at all to worry about. This is reflected in the thermal gun images, with a hotspot of just 60C on the back of the PCB, from behind the GPU core. The hottest point on the side of the card was a section of the fin stack which hit just over 50C. We take our noise measurements with the sound meter positioned 1 foot from the graphics card. I measured the noise floor to be 32 dBA, thus anything above this level can be attributed to the graphics cards. The power supply is passive for the entire power output range we tested all graphics cards in, while all CPU and system fans were disabled. A reading under load comes from running the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra stress test for 30 minutes. An idle reading comes after leaving the system on the Windows desktop for 30 minutes. Now, as for noise levels, here we do see the biggest downside to this card, as the SC Ultra produced about 48dB of noise when under load. This saw the fans ramp up to 2330rpm, or 67%, producing a fair amount of noise – it's not as bad as Vega 64, sure, but this is still much louder than the other 1660 SUPER cards. Considering the GPU only peaked at 67C, I would suggest the fans have to spin this fast to provide enough cooling for the VRM – remember, the MOSFETs do not contact the heatsink at all, so their cooling is provided solely from airflow. This is likely why the fans have to ramp up as fast (and as loud) as they do. We measure system-wide power draw from the wall while the card is sat idling at the Windows 10 desktop for 30 minutes. A reading under load comes from running the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra stress test for 30 minutes. Power draw is the lowest from any 1660 SUPER card, which makes sense as this is the slowest-clocked card, while it also has no LED lighting which can make a slight difference to power consumption. To overclock the SC Ultra, we used MSI Afterburner. Our best result came with +160MHz the GPU and +950MHz to the GDDR6 memory. Average clock speed under load This pushed our clock speed up to 2022MHz on average, or 127MHz above stock behaviour. Games This overclock saw gains between 6-9%, with the biggest performance difference coming in Gears 5 with a 9% (or 6FPS) framerate boost. Here, we take a further look at the impact of our overclock, looking at the increased temperatures, acoustics and power draw. Temperatures Acoustics Power consumption Overview Things hardly changed when the card was overclocked, with temperatures rising by just 1C, and noise levels also rising by just 1dB. Power draw increased by 5W, so hardly any change over stock behaviour. Having analysed two GTX 1660 SUPER cards for launch day last week, today we have reviewed the EVGA GTX 1660 SUPER SC Ultra. This is a compact, dual-fan card that measures barely 200mm long, so it is likely to appeal to anyone with a very small chassis, perhaps those looking to build a 1080p gaming rig/HTPC for the living room. Interestingly, it is also fitted with a metal backplate which is unusual for a card at this price – both the Palit and Gigabyte 1660 SUPER cards are fitted with plastic backplates, and a number of cheaper custom cards simply won't have a backplate at all. As for how the SC Ultra performs, it proved the slowest of the three 1660 SUPER cards we have tested, but there is very little in it – framerate differences between these cards were typically just 2-3FPS, but the card proved 2% slower on average than the Gigabyte Gaming OC 6G, and just 1% slower than the Palit GamingPro OC. Up against the GTX 1660 Ti, this means the SC Ultra is just 4% slower on average, and no more than 6% slower at most. To put this card into context further, the SC Ultra is 15% faster than RX 590, 17% slower than RTX 2060 Founders Edition and 14% slower than Vega 56. If you've been hanging onto the fan-favourite GTX 1060 GB, the 1660 SUPER could be a worthy upgrade as this card is 39% faster. Even compared to the GTX 1070, which launched at £329, the two cards are essentially matched, with less than a single percentage point between the two. So while performance is just what we would expect for a GTX 1660 SUPER, the EVGA SC Ultra does suffer in one main area – noise levels. Producing 48dB in our testing, this card is a good 4dB louder than the Palit GamingPro OC. This is definitely louder than I would like, and it seems that the extra fan speed is due to the lack of VRM cooling – there's no contact from the heatsink to cool the VRM, instead it relies solely on airflow from the fans, and noise levels suffer as a result of the fans spinning to 2330rpm under load. Ultimately, that governs my opinion of this card, especially when we factor in price. I had initially been told this would be a card priced at the £209.99 MSRP, but looking online today shows SC Ultra retailing for £229.99. This is £11 more than the Palit GamingPro OC (£218.99) and while the differences between the two aren't huge, the Palit is faster, cooler and quieter, so buying that card for less money is the obvious choice. If the SC Ultra does drop down to the £209.99 MSRP, that would help, but the Palit is an all-round better card and is just £9 above MSRP, so that would be my recommendation if you're looking for a new card at this price point. You can buy the SC Ultra for £229.99 from Scan HERE. Pros
Cons
KitGuru says: The EVGA SC Ultra isn't a bad card, but it is definitely louder than I would like. When you factor in the Palit GamingPro OC, which is both cheaper and objectively better, the SC Ultra needs a price cut to remain a viable option. Is EVGA GTX 1660 good for gaming?The evga gtx 1660 is a good opction to play games at 1080p and 60fps in high and medium settings, some games even in ultra settings. Is a GTX 1660 Super better than a GTX 3060?The 3060 is about 40% to 45% faster than your 1660 Super. If you were getting 45fps with the 1660 Super, then you'd get about 64fps with the 3060. Is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6gb graphics card good?If you're on the market for the best graphics card for 1080p gaming, you're going to want the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super. The original GTX 1660 was already one of the best cheap graphics cards out there for budget builders, and Nvidia basically made it better in every single way. |
