Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super: the Digital Foundry verdict

With our benchmarking complete, the GTX 1660 Super more than justifies its existence. Its impressive boost to memory clocks allows for noticeably better performance than the original 1660 in every game we tested, making the card a strong choice for 1080p gaming, while allowing the GTX 1660 Ti to (barely) hang onto its position.

The GTX 1660 was already a decent choice at this resolution, but the extra horsepower on tap here provides more leeway to cope with frame-rate drops - something particularly important in competitive multiplayer games. The faster memory also does well to increase performance in newer and more demanding titles, especially those that require high-res textures to be streamed in and out of memory.

The 1660 Super is also a decent pocket pick for a 1440p setup, as 60fps is possible out of the box on some titles and within range of graphical fidelity tweaks in others. Even 4K gaming is viable, with more power than the Xbox One X technically available here, but this time settings tweaks of all kinds are definitely required.

Beyond just being a worthwhile graphics card, the GTX 1660 Super is also part of a broader strategic play by Nvidia. As well as releasing this new model that offers better performance at the ~$225 price point, Nvidia is also reducing the price of the original GTX 1660 GPU in some territories. That should allow Team Green to better challenge AMD's upcoming RX 5500 cards, which promise to be capable 1080p performers in the same sub-$200 category. The GTX 1650 Super, which has been announced but not yet priced, should also play a significant role in that engagement.

All of that competition is ultimately good for the consumer, as strong 1080p performance is becoming increasingly attainable. That might make it a good idea to wait on a GTX 1660 Super purchase, as you may find your needs are equally well-served by a cheaper card - or perhaps an older model in the Black Friday sales. The only other point counting against the 16-series cards is the lack of any kind of real-time hardware ray tracing support, an aspect of rendering that's likely to prove increasingly important over the next couple of years. But with that being said, right now, it's a lot more money to invest to get even the 'entry level' RT support via the RTX 2060. You get what you pay for then, and if you do go for the GTX 1660 Super, we've found very little to complain about here - it's a solid product.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 1660 Super Analysis

• Introduction, Hardware Breakdown
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey/Unity, Battlefield 1 - Performance Analysis Part 1
• Crysis 3, Far Cry 5, Ghost Recon Wildlands - Performance Analysis Part 2
• Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Witcher 3 - Performance Analysis Part 3
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super - the Digital Foundry verdict [This Page]