Over the last few weeks we have seen lots of rumors about the alleged Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super. Today, we found the last bits of information that we needed to know, which includes the card’s specifications and pricing. The latest rumor (via VideoCardz) includes that Nvidia will officially launch the GeForce GTX 1660 Super on October 29th, which means that by this time next week, we will finally know how much truth there is to all these rumors.
As such, it’s time for a ‘Here is all we know’ post, detailing all the information we know about the GeForce GTX 1660 Super to date.
Nvidia GTX 1660 Super TLDR
· The GTX 1660 Super’s only upgrade will be from GDDR5 to GDDR6 memory, thereby increasing the memory bandwidth from 192 GB/s to 336 GB/s – a 75% increase
· The GTX 1660 Super is rumored to cost $10 more than the non-super variant.
· The GTX 1660 Super is expected to be announced on October 29
Nvidia GTX 1660 Super Specifications
As far as the rumors are concerned, the GTX 1660 Super will be identical to the ‘ordinary’ GTX 1660, with only one exception: instead of GDDR5 memory, it will come with GDDR6 memory.
This one change can have quite the impact, however. The GDDR5 memory on the standard card ran at an effective speed of 8,000 MHz, whereas in the GDDR6 configuration it will run at an effective speed of 14,000 MHz. This change presents a 75 percent increase in memory clock, and given that both cards run over a 192-bit memory interface, also a 75 percent increase in memory bandwidth, jumping from 192 GB/s to 336 GB/s. This figure is higher than the GTX 1660 Ti’s 288 GB/s memory bandwidth.
| Graphics Card | GTX 1660 | GTX 1660 Super | GTX 1660 Ti |
| CUDA Cores | 1408 | 1408 | 1536 |
| Base / Boost Clock | 1530 MHz / 1785 MHz | 1530 MHz / 1785 MHz | 1500 MHz / 1770 MHz |
| Memory Size & Type | 6 GB GDDR5 | 6GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Speed | 8000 MHz | 14000 MHz | 12000 MHz |
| Memory Bandwidth | 192 GB/s | 336 GB/s | 288 GB/s |
| MSRP | $219 | $229 | $279 |
Exactly what this change will mean for performance is unclear. Despite the higher memory bandwidth, we still expect the GTX 1660 Super to perform between the GTX 1660 and the GTX 1660 Ti. Where on the spectrum the performance difference will be will depend on two primary factors: the extent to which the GTX 1660’s GPU was bottlenecked by the memory bandwidth, and the application’s need for high memory bandwidth.
High-resolution gameplay with larger textures and more complicated graphics will benefit more from the increase in memory bandwidth than games with simpler graphical features. Because of this, we expect to see the biggest performance gains from today's demanding AAA titles.
The GTX 1660 Super’s GPU is said to be the same 12nm Turing-based TU116 chip with 1408 CUDA cores, running at between 1530 and 1785 MHz in the reference specification – identical to the standard GTX 1660. Of course, these clocks might be slightly higher from the board partner’s cards.
Spotted Board Partner Models
Thus far, we’ve seen leaks of GTX 1660 Super graphics cards from the makes of MSI, Zotac, and Maxsun. VideoCardz.com has also leaked two EVGA cards. All are pictured below.
The thing to note about these AIB card leaks is that there often isn't anything new that happens to their design, and the same is the case here. The cards from the AIBs come with the usual design offered by their manufacturers in their segment -- for example, MSI's Gaming X card (the first card pictured), is the company's higher-end offering in terms of cooling, and it comes with addressable RGB. The second MSI card pictured is the Ventus XS OC, which doesn't come with the fancy Twin Frozr cooler or RGB, bringing it closer to Nvidia's recommended price point.
The most interesting thing about the card leaks is often specifications that are visible on the box art, such as the memory capacity, type, and on the rare occasion, clock speeds.
Nvidia GTX 1660 Super Pricing & Release Date
As mentioned, Nvidia is expected to announce the GeForce GTX 1660 Super on October 29th – this time next week. Rumor has it that the Super variant of the GTX 1660 will cost $229 --$10 more than the standard version. The higher-end offerings from Nvidia, the RTX 2060 Super, RTX 2070 Super, and RTX 2080 Super, all kept their pricing identical or lower than the non-Super variants, which led to the non-Super cards being phased out.
Consequently, it’s a little odd that Nvidia might be raising the price of the GTX 1660 Super from its non-Super counterpart, but there is a simple explanation for this: The higher-end offerings had been on the market for a much longer time than the GTX 1660, meaning it was time for a price drop anyway. This, paired with the arrival of AMD’s very competitive Navi cards, likely prompted Nvidia to drop the prices of its higher-end chips.
It’s also well-known that the higher-end cards, although not sold in huge volumes, have higher profit margins, meaning Nvidia has more room to play with their pricing or to absorb slightly higher production costs. This is not the case in the mid-tier segment, where the manufacturer’s goal is to sell the cards in large volumes, accepting lower profit margins per card.
Moreover, AMD’s RX 5500 is also coming soon. With AMD expecting its performance to beat the GTX 1650 by a solid margin, we expect the RX 5500 to rival the GTX 1660 – which is probably why Nvidia is launching its GTX 1660 Super – so that Nvidia comes out on top of the performance charts.
