Upgrade to 1 GTX 660Ti from 2 GTX 460's in SLi?

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Should I upgrade from my current setup of 2 460's in SLi to a single GTX 660 Ti***?

EVGA GTX 660Ti from Amazon

Cost is not an issue (fortunately), so just wondering if people think this is a worthwhile upgrade? Or should I just ride out the 460's some more?

Would I even see any real improvement in performance?

Or would performance be more or less the same, just power consumption would be less, I would get a few of the newer features of the 600 series? And also just have one card rather then two.

The specs of the GTX 660 Ti are as follows...

• 2048MB GDDR5 Memory
  
• PCI-E 3.0 16x
  
• 980Mhz GPU Clock Speed
  
• 6008Mhz Memory Clock Speed
  
• NVIDIA SLI ready
  

The specs of my GTX 460's are...

• 1024MB Memory
  
• PCI-E 2.0 16x
  
• 867Mhz GPU Clock Speed
  
• 4050Mhz Memory Clock Speed
  
• NVIDIA SLI ready
  

So yeah, what does everyone think?

If I do wind up upgrading, I will (probably) have the 2 GTX 460's for sale, and I can transfer over the lifetime warranty. (Y)

TIA,

DL

***Please Note - I am a Nvidia person. Just my preferred video card vendor, so please no "you should go with an AMD 7950." Just will never happen, as I said that is my preference.

[+PeterUK MVC]

In games that don't do SLi yes but not so must for games that support SLi for two GTX 460 in SLi vs GTX 660 Ti as its even for most games.

[neo1911]

If cost is not a concern, get GTX670. It's more futureproof with better bus width.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

In games that don't do SLi yes but not so must for games that support SLi for two GTX 460 in SLi vs GTX 660 Ti as its even for most games.

Just curious, where are you seeing it is more or less even? I literally spent a good 30 minutes last night trying to find benchmarks with 460's in SLi and then benchmarks for 660 Ti, and could find hardly any for the same games. So are you just going purely on specs? If you have any benchmarks to share, please share away. (Y)

If cost is not a concern, get GTX670. It's more futureproof with better bus width.

Well, maybe I should have said the cost of $300 is not really an issue. When you jump up to between $400-$450, yeah that starts getting to be to much IMO, and the reason I am considering the 660 is currently it holds its own pretty damn well with the 670. I have indeed read that future games would be an issue because of the bus, which at that point I was thinking then I could just maybe get another 660 and SLi those?

So really not sure what to do. Right now Borderlands 2 is free with any 600 series cards, which was also part of the reason I was considering it, as I see it as the card is almost then $250

[Detection]

I haven't had an SLi setup, but I have had a lot of CFX setups and 1 powerful card would win over 2 medium cards any day purely because of absolute shoddy drivers for CFX setups / lack of ability for create CAPs for many games

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

A factory OC'd 660 is within 5-10FPS tp the 670 (according to Guru3D) but with either the 660 or 670 there won't be that much of a difference to what you have now, you will experience the same performance more or less, maybe slightly better than the SLi you have now.

Best option is to SLi 2x 660's then you have close to 690 performance.

That's what I am doing, it wil cost ?450 or so for two 660's, a 680 is around that price so basically NVidia have done what they did with the 400 series and made the '60 version the best to get in SLi format.

Hope that helps, as I know you did the 460 SLi around the same time as me, and that's what I'm doing this time around.

[+PeterUK MVC]

Just curious, where are you seeing it is more or less even? I literally spent a good 30 minutes last night trying to find benchmarks with 460's in SLi and then benchmarks for 660 Ti, and could find hardly any for the same games. So are you just going purely on specs? If you have any benchmarks to share, please share away. (Y)

The only way to compare the two is to not compare the two in the same banchmark.

GTX 460 1GB SLI

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/314

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/25498-zotac-geforce-gtx-460-1gb-sli-beating-gtx-480/

GTX 660 Ti

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/647

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/43865-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-660-ti-oc-gv-n66toc-2gd/

Metro 2033 - 1920 x 1200 - DX11 Very High Quality + Analytical AA/16xAF

GTX 460 1GB SLI 40 FPS

GTX 660 Ti 47.5 FPS

Crysis: Warhead - 1920 x 1200 - Frost Bench - Gamer Quality + Enthusiast Shaders + 4xAA

GTX 460 1GB SLI 61.9 FPS

GTX 660 Ti 47.5 FPS 38.8 FPS

Aliens vs. Predator 1080p 1920 x 1200

GTX 460 1GB SLI 54 FPS

GTX 660 Ti 47.5 FPS 45.4 FPS

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I haven't had an SLi setup, but I have had a lot of CFX setups and 1 powerful card would win over 2 medium cards any day purely because of absolute shoddy drivers for CFX setups / lack of ability for create CAPs for many games

Yeah luckily, SLi is much more widely supported then CFX. But I still did encounter a few games that did not have an SLi setup at launch.

A factory OC'd 660 is within 5-10FPS tp the 670 (according to Guru3D) but with either the 660 or 670 there won't be that much of a difference to what you have now, you will experience the same performance more or less, maybe slightly better than the SLi you have now.

Best option is to SLi 2x 660's then you have close to 690 performance.

That's what I am doing, it wil cost ?450 or so for two 660's, a 680 is around that price so basically NVidia have done what they did with the 400 series and made the '60 version the best to get in SLi format.

Hope that helps, as I know you did the 460 SLi around the same time as me, and that's what I'm doing this time around.

Yeah, that sounds like a pretty solid plan. Meaning getting the two cards instead of the one. When do you plan on doing it?

The only way to compare the two is to not compare the two in the same banchmark.

GTX 460 1GB SLI

http://www.anandtech...nch/Product/314

http://hexus.net/tec...eating-gtx-480/

GTX 660 Ti

http://www.anandtech...nch/Product/647

http://hexus.net/tec...-gv-n66toc-2gd/

Metro 2033 - 1920 x 1200 - DX11 Very High Quality + Analytical AA/16xAF

GTX 460 1GB SLI 40 FPS

GTX 660 Ti 47.5 FPS

Crysis: Warhead - 1920 x 1200 - Frost Bench - Gamer Quality + Enthusiast Shaders + 4xAA

GTX 460 1GB SLI 61.9 FPS

GTX 660 Ti 47.5 FPS 38.8 FPS

Aliens vs. Predator 1080p 1920 x 1200

GTX 460 1GB SLI 54 FPS

GTX 660 Ti 47.5 FPS 45.4 FPS

Nice thanks, i was having issues finding the 460 SLi benchmarks for the same games that had the 660 benchmarks.

So actually these benchmarks say it all to me right now. I think I am going to hold off until I can either get 2 660's as BeLGaRaTh said above, or perhaps even one higher end card.

So truly thanks for finding these, it has saved me spending $310 right now. (Y)

[ahhell]

Just the power savings alone would be worth it. The Nvidia 4 series weren't exactly very efficient.

[dcghost]

Not sure...I know I will be upgrading to it from a 260 GTX...a bit less of a debate :)

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Simple Logic:

2x GTX 460 in SLi >= GTX 580 but limited to 1 GB VRAM

GTX 660 Ti > GTX 580 with more VRAM

So go ahead...

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

Yeah luckily, SLi is much more widely supported then CFX. But I still did encounter a few games that did not have an SLi setup at launch.

Yeah, that sounds like a pretty solid plan. Meaning getting the two cards instead of the one. When do you plan on doing it?

Nice thanks, i was having issues finding the 460 SLi benchmarks for the same games that had the 660 benchmarks.

So actually these benchmarks say it all to me right now. I think I am going to hold off until I can either get 2 660's as BeLGaRaTh said above, or perhaps even one higher end card.

So truly thanks for finding these, it has saved me spending $310 right now. (Y)

SLi profiles are generally easy to make though, as you know :)

Plan on either end of this month or middle of next, dependng on bank sorting some issues out :)

There wasn't a lot of comparisons I could find either, but reading 660/670 Benches and rreading between the lines for the 460 SLi I found that the single card performance was ever so slightly better on the OC'd 660/base 670 cards.

Best bet is the SLi 660's I can see NVidia dropping the 670 now that the 660 is out as they are so close in Benches etc. Also 2x660's are about the price of a 680 and half the prie of a 690 which SLi would bring the performance too. A no brainer IMO like the SLi 460's in the day :)

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Well, I forgot I owed my wife exactly $300 towards my brother in laws wedding gift from his wedding last weekend, and when I was doing my banking this past Friday and realized I had an extra $300 I will give you one guess what that $300 was going towards? :/

I should have realized I usually just do not have an extra $300 for no reason. :laugh:

So think I will be holding off for the immediate future, should be able to pull it off in 2 weeks once my next paycheck comes in.

Thanks again for the replies all.

[Detection]

Well, I forgot I owed my wife exactly $300 towards my brother in laws wedding gift from his wedding last weekend, and when I was doing my banking this past Friday and realized I had an extra $300 I will give you one guess what that $300 was going towards? :/

I should have realized I usually just do not have an extra $300 for no reason. :laugh:

So think I will be holding off for the immediate future, should be able to pull it off in 2 weeks once my next paycheck comes in.

Thanks again for the replies all.

Just tell her you lost $3000 on the horses, wait for her to go mad, then calm her down with "Only jokin love, actually I only spent $300 on a GPU" then she won't be half as mad as she would otherwise :p

[Manarift]

also the 660Ti is the first mainstream GPU to support tri-sli or quad not sure on quad...

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I did the math, and I was still okay purchasing it, so I should have an EVGA 660Ti SC Edition on Wednesday. :punk:

Comes with a free copy of Borderlands 2 as well. (Y)

If I need to down the road, will just order another and SLi them out. Do not think I will need to do that for at least 6 months, if not longer.

Thanks again to all those replied.

[xendrome]

Can you still transfer the warranty, they made some changes recently to their warranties... did you check into this fully first?

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Can you still transfer the warranty, they made some changes recently to their warranties... did you check into this fully first?

Nope, and honestly does not really concern me one way or the other. At this point I have zero interest on the 460's, and I imagine it would be the same case if and when I ever want to get rid of the 660, which as I said if and when the time comes I need an upgrade, I would just pick up another one and go SLi, so by the time I would be ready to get rid of it, I doubt there would be any interest.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

It does however look like I can still trade the warranty over on the 460's, just in case anyone is interested. At this point I am willing to let go of the pair pretty damn cheap.

A 460 new costs $159 (from EVGA, may even be cheaper), so I will get rid of the pair for $125-ish, and that price includes the shipping to wherever.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

Bank just came good on my money so ordered 2 of these babies ...

And their review of the things :)

They are out of stock currently but will be in stock shortly according to my email. Sadly the pricing in the UK is shocking, but they do mention that in the review, the pair together cost me ?548.78 which is $865.96 (Now you see how us in the UK pay more for our stuff than the US :() The cheapest I could get 2x 670's was ?600 so the ?50 saving is enough incentive for me.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Bank just came good on my money so ordered 2 of these babies ...

And their review of the things :)

They are out of stock currently but will be in stock shortly according to my email. Sadly the pricing in the UK is shocking, but they do mention that in the review, the pair together cost me ?548.78 which is $865.96 (Now you see how us in the UK pay more for our stuff than the US :() The cheapest I could get 2x 670's was ?600 so the ?50 saving is enough incentive for me.

Nice man, enjoy. Going to be sick, no doubt.

It is crazy how much more stuff costs in the UK compared to the US though. In the future not sure if it breaks any laws or what have you, but considering we are friends, I would definitely order whatever components you wanted and ship it. That is not a problem so keep it in mind. Even if shipping was $100, and that sounds crazy to me and do not think it would be that much, you would still save $150 USD.

And just a general observation, I find it pretty funny that AFTER I posted I picked it up, 2 people decide to Vote No. I cannot help but think people do that strictly just to be negative, which makes me chuckle people have that much negativity in them. :laugh:

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

Thanks Larry, something to remember for the future, or if these aren't in stock within the next few weeks :) No monies goes from my account until they are in stock and shipped so that should be okay. If need be I can PM you later if I have issues with them :)

Either way I cannot wait to try these out :)

[threetonesun]

Even if shipping was $100, and that sounds crazy to me and do not think it would be that much, you would still save $150 USD.

FWIW, when shipping internationally, there's always a chance of getting dinged by customs, at which point they'll hit you with a duty tax which could make the entire enterprise not worth it.

You can always attempt to go around it by declaring the value of what you're shipping as less than what it is, or saying it's used, or um, other things, but you're SOL if they find out that's not true.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i was one that voted 'no' originally based on the benchmarks. however, i love buying new hardware! plus, you get the copy of Borderlands for free. btw, you can use Physx in Borderlands. it looks spectacular.

in the near future, i'd save up some money and SLI that thing!

[Razorwing]

I know I'm late on this, but .... 660Ti. lol. Sorry Larry. hahah