nvidia specs question

risc

risc

Handle with Kid Gloves
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May 18, 2017
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I want to replace my gtx 960 2gb, looking at an rtx 2060 or 1660 ti.
MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, etc, all have 3 or more variants of each card.

Besides fan configuration, the "boost clock" is their primary differentiation. Base clocks appear the same.

So the differences are factory firmware overclocking as long as thermals are maintained?
The quality would then depend on cooling, but if they can't maintain the advertised clocks, is it a gimmick?

For reference, I was looking at the Asus 2060 gobstopper ultrion omega pulsar prime plus at $409, but leaning towards the cheaper MSI ventus 2060 for $350 or 1660 at $280.
 
Yeah, for the most part you are paying for cooling performance. If you plan on overclocking max TDP also varies. Generally higher with the better cooling solutions. But OCing is probably in the 5-10% range. Gotta wonder if you should just buy the “cheap” next card up.

Personally I like MSI as a brand.
 
I usually just get the best value with good cooling, i find that different pre overclock is so minimal, you can do it yourself.
 
with nvidia this time around all the cards are generally the same besides the useless factory overclock, and cooling solution.. other than that they're all using the same PCB, the only thing that really changes is whether they're using the short PCB or the 2070 full length PCB on the 2060. not sure if the 1660ti has the option for the full length PCB but it might. only the super expensive models have varying components, even the 2080ti uses the same exact PCB from the reference clock one to the kingpin LN2 overclocking card. i think the days of fully custom PCB/cooler designed cards are starting to die on both sides, doesn't seem the R&D cost to do it is worth it for AIB's anymore especially given that cooling has little to no effect on how high nvidia's last 2 generations of gpu's overclock, even on shitty air cooling solutions they still all hit 2015-2050mhz without breaking a sweat.

that being said just go with what ever one has the cooling solution you prefer and/or warranty/customer service you like, they all overclock within 10-15mhz of each other for the most part.
 
risc said:
I want to replace my gtx 960 2gb, looking at an rtx 2060 or 1660 ti.
MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, etc, all have 3 or more variants of each card.

Besides fan configuration, the "boost clock" is their primary differentiation. Base clocks appear the same.

So the differences are factory firmware overclocking as long as thermals are maintained?
The quality would then depend on cooling, but if they can't maintain the advertised clocks, is it a gimmick?

For reference, I was looking at the Asus 2060 gobstopper ultrion omega pulsar prime plus at $409, but leaning towards the cheaper MSI ventus 2060 for $350 or 1660 at $280.
Click to expand...
The 1660 Ti has fewer cores than the 2060. As far as I know, the clock speeds are roughly the same across most of the line, and it's the number of cores that differentiates each tier. The 20 series also has all the RTX features, which I think actually are worth a few bucks if you intend to play newer games, even on a 2060, I think. The DLSS feature, for instance, seems to be really effective in Shadow the Tomb Raider - it incurs a much smaller penalty than the other AA techniques. At least, that's my experience. It made the difference between average framerate in the 40s and just shy of 60 for me, at 4K, with the RTX shadows set to ultra, on a 2080 Ti. I haven't noticed any visual artifacts that some folks complained about in other games.

What I would do is look for a deal a full-length 2060. At that size, the cooler will likely be pretty good by brute force alone. You can do the overclocking yourself in 20 minutes using the Afterburner scan feature, which seems to be way better for casual use than hunting manually.

sirmonkey1985 said:
...even the 2080ti uses the same exact PCB from the reference clock one to the kingpin LN2 overclocking card
Click to expand...

Uhh, no they don't. I have a higher end MSI 2080 Ti in my hands, and it's very different from the reference design. It's not necessarily significantly better, but it is different. It's much larger, has more Vcore phases, RGB lighting, a different layout, and so forth.

The Kingpin card is on a whole other level. It has built in voltage read points and bunch of other hardware features for overclocking.

It mostly doesn't matter for the purpose of playing games, but they are different, and if your case is large enough, I'd argue that the extra size of the higher end cards probably does make a difference, if only in the sense that it means the heatsink can be that much larger.
 
Definitely worth waiting, see what Navi brings.

If you're dead set on nvidia (why?) then wait to see what they bring when Navi drops.
 
Just be aware there's some really strong 'super' rumors going around about new variations of the 2060, 2070, 2080 coming out soon too. Most of the rumors are indicating faster ram clocks but nothing completely confirmed yet. This is likely a response to Navi but either way I'd suggest waiting a little longer for any kind of decision in this range of GPU performance. Things are certainly going to change soon.

I totally agree about the core clock speeds between the 1660 and 2060 being close to the same but, as mentioned, DLSS can actually play a significant role in performance increases for the games that support it. SOTTR was mentioned but Metro E actually lets you use it without using RT and that made a huge difference for me with my 2080TI in 4k. With the more limited resources of a 2060 I could imagine quite a boost for 1440p.
 
Nenu said:
As above.
And the world isnt awake/having free time at the same hours as you.
Click to expand...
It actually does seem to be slower than it used to be. It seems like most forums do - I guess all the kids are on the Facetyspaces and Twiddly-Tweets these days.

Also Reddit, probably.


lostin3d said:
Just be aware there's some really strong 'super' rumors going around about new variations of the 2060, 2070, 2080 coming out soon too. Most of the rumors are indicating faster ram clocks but nothing completely confirmed yet. This is likely a response to Navi but either way I'd suggest waiting a little longer for any kind of decision in this range of GPU performance. Things are certainly going to change soon.

I totally agree about the core clock speeds between the 1660 and 2060 being close to the same but, as mentioned, DLSS can actually play a significant role in performance increases for the games that support it. SOTTR was mentioned but Metro E actually lets you use it without using RT and that made a huge difference for me with my 2080TI in 4k. With the more limited resources of a 2060 I could imagine quite a boost for 1440p.
Click to expand...

Shadow of the Tomb Raider will let you use DLSS without the ray traced shadows. I eventually settled on "Ultra" non-ray traced shadows, DLSS AA and everything else set to the highest setting at 4K/60Hz as the optimal setup on my 9900K/2080 Ti machine.
 
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RazorWind said:
It actually does seem to be slower than it used to be. It seems like most forums do - I guess all the kids are on the Facetyspaces and Twiddly-Tweets these days.
Click to expand...
There are definite phases building up to launch of new products, after which there can be a lull if it wasnt exciting or if nothing new/worthy is emerging for a while.
I expected a large drop in traffic here after Kyle sold up but that didnt happen, its like normal.
 
GotNoRice said:
So you came to that conclusion after posting a question about mid-range cards late at night and not getting a dozen instant replies?
Click to expand...
That uncle Google could have answered even faster...


OP- often times posts that go in answered do so because they are questions that can easily be found with a quick search.
 
RazorWind said:
It actually does seem to be slower than it used to be. It seems like most forums do - I guess all the kids are on the Facetyspaces and Twiddly-Tweets these days.

Also Reddit, probably.




Shadow of the Tomb Raider will let you use DLSS without the ray traced shadows. I eventually settled on "Ultra" non-ray traced shadows, DLSS AA and everything else set to the highest setting at 4K/60Hz as the optimal setup on my 9900K/2080 Ti machine.
Click to expand...
RazorWind said:
It actually does seem to be slower than it used to be. It seems like most forums do - I guess all the kids are on the Facetyspaces and Twiddly-Tweets these days.

Also Reddit, probably.




Shadow of the Tomb Raider will let you use DLSS without the ray traced shadows. I eventually settled on "Ultra" non-ray traced shadows, DLSS AA and everything else set to the highest setting at 4K/60Hz as the optimal setup on my 9900K/2080 Ti machine.
Click to expand...

They must've patched that in at some point. I've been waiting for awhile to go back and replay but I remember when it originally had RT I couldn't switch of the RT without it graying out the DLSS options.
 
Colonel_Blimp said:
Definitely worth waiting, see what Navi brings.

If you're dead set on nvidia (why?) then wait to see what they bring when Navi drops.
Click to expand...
Definitely not worth waiting for Navi, as pent up fanboy demand will be driving prices at retail well above MSRP, and retailers/scalpers/bots happily gouging in kind.

By the time supply catches up and launch novelty wears off and prices settle back down to MSRP, it'll be months later.

Meanwhile all the Nvidia cards OP is considering have already been out for a while, and can be had below MSRP with sales, rebates, game bundles, and a healthy secondary (used) market supply.
 
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