Is GTX 660 compatible with my motherboard ?

[Pellumb Hasani]

Hello guys,

I want to buy the GeForce GTX 660 (GTX660-DC2-2GD5, 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP) , but would like to be sure if its compatible with my motherboard and other parts of my pc. Here are all the info that i think you need ( and probably a lot more :p ) : http://pastebin.com/Aqjgc2Nz .

Thanks/

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

Going by the specs of the pc... im gunna say no. The hardware is that of a 5+ year old machine, I would say you are better off saving for a whole new computer.

Also this: Power Supply 280W

The 660 has a draw power of about 195W alone, you would be lucky to power a USB keyboard if you did get one

[Pellumb Hasani]

About the power supply. A few days ago bought one - 620W. I think that should be ok.

And thanks for the fast reply.

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

Well then ure good in that area, the other thing id be concerned about would be the length in ure case - 660's would require about 10 inches of breathing room to house it.

if you are good there, then id wait for more knowledgeable people to come on and reply so you get a definite answer :)

[Phouchg]

It is. It's also fairly small (unless it's Asus) and cool.

Except GTX 660 can't possibly draw 195W even under Furmark. Most review sites state total system consumption, that's what it is. Sometimes they even are so lazy to show only total pull from the wall, where PSU efficiency needs to be counted. TDP of 660 is 140W, peak in-game about 120W. I hope you got a fair quality PSU, still. Hope it's not Modecom. I remember they had 620W unit, and no Modecom thing is any good whatsoever.

[Pellumb Hasani]

Great to hear that its compatible, as i wasn't sure.

The PSU i got is Antec and if i'm not mistaken its this one : http://www.antec.com/product.php?id=704483&fid=339 . So i think i'll get that and hope everything goes ok.

[djdanster]

Hi Pellumb,

You currently have an Intel CPU in a 775 socket. Do you know the model of the CPU? I'd imagine with a Nvidia 660, your biggest bottleneck may well be the CPU.

Honestly, it might be worth while saving up for a new PC all together. Prices are coming down rapidly on 3rd gen (IvyBridge) Intel i series (which will still be great performers for years to come). What country as you in? That might help us get some prices if you're interested :)

Also to note, your motherboard is not PCIe 3 compatible. Now, that doesn't mean it won't work; it just means it won't be using it's full potential!

The Antec Power Supply is also fine. I can't find the actual page in question, it gives me a 404, however assuming it has the necessary power pins (2x8pin - I think) for your graphics card, it should be fine.

I know it's not exactly what you asked for, but just my 2 pennies.

Dan

[Phouchg]

I'm having trouble with the Antec link as well, but it leads to HCG-620M. If that's the correct one, High Current Gaming series stands good on its own. This one is built by SeaSonic - those guys rarely do it bad, too.

All GTX 660 kinds that I know of require only one 6-pin PEG, so no worries there. Might be a little unwiedly for small, cramped cases. Their design is really weird - heatsink goes a fair bit longer than PCB (Asus, Gigabyte WindForce).

Only Veyron GTX 690 can currently saturate PCI-E 2.0 16x link as such, so link speed wise it's all ok.

PCI-E 3.0 has a very small chance to throw off some buggy BIOS, but generally it has happened so far only with new boards with their first unpolished UEFI releases.

Q6600 might be a bottleneck, but it depends on the game, really. I figure, it's a good idea to get a powerful graphics card now (we won't get anything new in this field at least until next year) and enjoy the eye candy, then upgrade the rest when the choice becomes easier and dust prices of new Haswells and Richlands settle down.

My 2 candies >.<

[Pellumb Hasani]

I checked the Power Supply and it seems to have the need pin for GPU. So there i think its ok.

Read bit more about if 660 GTX on PCI-E 2.0 can be a problem, and in many forums they say that is should be ok on PCI-E 16x.

About the CPU, if possible i am thinking about Overclocking it. Currently its 2.4Ghz, and according to some should be alright going up to 3.4Ghz. But because i have never done any OCing before, i wont do it myslelf, will try to find someone who knows more about it.

Hopefully today i will get the GPU. Will keep you updated.

[Pellumb Hasani]

I tried the GTX 660, but it was too big for my case. Actually most of higher end GPUs seem to be big.

So today went to a computer shop and asked what is the best GPU i can get that fits my in my case. And he recommended the Gigabyte GTX 650 OC ( 128-bit, 2Gb ), which seems to be pretty good. I think this is the last upgrade that can be done to this PC. The next step will be building a new PC, but it can be a few years latter.

What do you think about the GTX 650 ? Does anyone have experience with that ?

[Luc2k]

I tried the GTX 660, but it was too big for my case. Actually most of higher end GPUs seem to be big.

So today went to a computer shop and asked what is the best GPU i can get that fits my in my case. And he recommended the Gigabyte GTX 650 OC ( 128-bit, 2Gb ), which seems to be pretty good. I think this is the last upgrade that can be done to this PC. The next step will be building a new PC, but it can be a few years latter.

What do you think about the GTX 650 ? Does anyone have experience with that ?

GTX 650 is pretty crap because it has less than half the performance of the 660Ti. This Asus 670 would be the most powerful card that would fit in a tiny case, but like previously mentioned, it will be bottlenecked by the CPU.

[abysal]

I think it (GTX 660) will be a decent upgrade from your current GT 630.

Your CPU will slow you down a bit, and I don't think overstocking it will help much. Your next step could be to plan on upgrading to a newer motherboard / cpu / ram combo in the future.

I tried the GTX 660, but it was too big for my case. Actually most of higher end GPUs seem to be big.

So today went to a computer shop and asked what is the best GPU i can get that fits my in my case. And he recommended the Gigabyte GTX 650 OC ( 128-bit, 2Gb ), which seems to be pretty good. I think this is the last upgrade that can be done to this PC. The next step will be building a new PC, but it can be a few years latter.

What do you think about the GTX 650 ? Does anyone have experience with that ?

Oh never-mind, just seen this.

Consider also upgrading your case to something like an Corsair 200r or Cooler Master n200. Both are inexpensive and under $50.

[Phouchg]

As much as I might be Nvidia fan, you'd better go with Radeon 7770 (most are small, except Asus again) or 7790 (there are some small models) then.

GTX 650 doesn't deliver for the price - underperforming low-end has been a problem of Nvidia since the beginning of time.

Besides, what models of 660 did your computer shop had in stock?

Check Gainward Golden Sample model - doesn't have that over-the-top cooling solution for the hefty factory OC it runs, but might just fit. It's the smallest of them all, I think.

Otherwise, might want to look for another case. Cable management aside and general good looks, cheap ones aren't that bad. Say, mentioned Corsair 200R or my own mentions - Zalman ZM-T1 or CM Elite 342 are fairly good bets that go ridiculously cheap, but offer quite a lot of space and won't fall apart when touched.

[LaP]

I checked the Power Supply and it seems to have the need pin for GPU. So there i think its ok.

Read bit more about if 660 GTX on PCI-E 2.0 can be a problem, and in many forums they say that is should be ok on PCI-E 16x.

About the CPU, if possible i am thinking about Overclocking it. Currently its 2.4Ghz, and according to some should be alright going up to 3.4Ghz. But because i have never done any OCing before, i wont do it myslelf, will try to find someone who knows more about it.

Hopefully today i will get the GPU. Will keep you updated.

PCI-E 16x gonna be ok. I run a 670 on PCI-E 2 16x and this is not a problem.

The CPU gonna be a bottleneck though. My Core iE 750 is a bottleneck for my 670. Still better than nothing. There wont be a real gpu upgrade until 2014. So the 660 is not wasted. If you find the cpu is too much of a bottleneck in some games you can look at replace the mb and the cpu later this year.

[edit]

Just saw the gpu doesn't fit in your case. Yeah the nVidia cards are rather long. My 670 barely fit in my Antec ninehundred and this is a mother f****** big case. I had to unscrew a disk bay and leave it laying a little bit out of the case to fit the gpu inside it.

Check at ATI cards. My old 6950 was lot smaller than my 670. Maybe a 7850. Maybe you should buy used. A 6950 would be a perfect fit for your computer. It's still a good card and it's small. The cpu should not be too much of a bottleneck for it. I was still able to run all games last year when i sold it but it was too much border line at 1080p. But for lower resolution it was still perfectly fine.

[Phouchg]

It's ones like Gigabyte who put their huge double-fan Windforce (not that they're bad - just very, very unnecessary) and Asus, whose DirectCU is just batsh*t stupidly oversized. Take their 650 Ti OC, for example - what the hell, people? You could cool 4870 X2 or Fermi with that!

Some like Palit and Gainward, on the other hand, don't go crazy for budget models.

[PGHammer]

Hi Pellumb,

You currently have an Intel CPU in a 775 socket. Do you know the model of the CPU? I'd imagine with a Nvidia 660, your biggest bottleneck may well be the CPU.

Honestly, it might be worth while saving up for a new PC all together. Prices are coming down rapidly on 3rd gen (IvyBridge) Intel i series (which will still be great performers for years to come). What country as you in? That might help us get some prices if you're interested :)

Also to note, your motherboard is not PCIe 3 compatible. Now, that doesn't mean it won't work; it just means it won't be using it's full potential!

The Antec Power Supply is also fine. I can't find the actual page in question, it gives me a 404, however assuming it has the necessary power pins (2x8pin - I think) for your graphics card, it should be fine.

I know it's not exactly what you asked for, but just my 2 pennies.

Dan

Depends on the CPU.  A dual-core will almost certainly be a bottleneck; however, a quad-core, especially an overclocked quad, is unlikely to bottleneck much of anything except *maybe* BF3/CoDMW3 or later - and even that is only at high levels of detail with AA.  Because I typically game at the same resolution as my desktop (1920x1080 - which is also my monitor's ceiling) I generally turn AA off, and that is with a GTX550 Ti (which has half the RAM of the 660) paired with a bone-stock Q6600.

 

And a GTX660 mostly requires ONE 6-pin power plug - even a factory-overclocked one.  Case in point - http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-2662-KR

 

And while that's the lower-end factory-OC card, the top-end card differs ONLY in RAM loadout - power requirements are absolutely unchanged.  The evidence - http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-2667-KR

 

The shocker was the lack of power requirements - neither GPU requires greater than a 450W PSU (basically identical to the GTX550 Ti).