.::TeCh PoRTaL::.
AUDIO PLAYER
21 June 2013
Four days away from its official release, the mainstream GeForce GTX 760 has finally been tested.
With the estimated price and the performance of the card, we'll take a look at which is better out of the 760 and the 660 Ti; and it's not clear cut...
Surprisingly or not, the GeForce GTX 760 will replace the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. The card is only slightly faster but I would risk saying it's a much better purchase. Keep reading to find out why.
Let's start by analysing the final specifications of the GeForce GTX 760.
As you can see, the GeForce GTX 760 packs one less SMX than the GeForce GTX 660 Ti and comes higher-clocked to compensate the loss, which is rather inefficient behaviour.
It features 25% more bandwidth thanks to the extra 64-bit bus width and so will perform undeniably better than the GeForce GTX 660 Ti at higher resolutions.
What we are seeing here is pretty much identical to what happened with the upgrade from the GeForce GTX 650 Ti to the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost Edition.
Now, a factory overclocked the GeForce GTX 760 has been benchmarked; here is what we saw:
The much needed bandwidth that the GeForce GTX 660 Ti needs, the GeForce GTX 760 OC has, making the GeForce GTX 760 OC around 14% faster than the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, considering synthetic benchmarks.
These 3 gaming benchmarks indicate a 15% improvement over the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. Still, nothing that would make an unplayable game playable.
Now, we are looking at a factory overclocked GeForce GTX 760 - and with both overclocking in central unit and memory clock. Still, it's safe to say that the GeForce GTX 760 is at least 7% faster than the GeForce GTX 660 Ti and so at least 6% faster than the Radeon HD 7950 Boost Edition, and over 10% faster than the Radeon HD 7950.
Therefore, the GeForce GTX 760 will compete with the Radeon HD 7950/Radeon HD 7950 Boost Edition, until AMD comes up with a new card.
In terms of pricing, here is what the market currently offers:
GeForce GTX 660 Ti - $280. Likely to go down with the release of GeForce GTX 760.
GeForce GTX 760 - $299. Not yet confirmed, but most likely!
Radeon HD 7950 & Radeon HD 7950 Boost - $299. Has to go down or both will become obsolete.
GeForce GTX 670 - $345. The almighty GeForce GTX 670 is expected to still be better than the GeForce GTX 760. Will consumers prefer it over the GeForce GTX 760 if this price remains unchanged?
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The GeForce GTX 760 is not a disappointing card, but it doesn't add anything new either. It leaves a very small gap between it and the GeForce GTX 670, meaning it's less likely a GeForce GTX 760 Ti will be ever be released.
However, with the extra bandwidth it provides, all the memory problems that GeForce GTX 660 Ti are gone and the card is a perfect fit for 1080p - pretty much like a GeForce GTX 670.
Still, NVIDIA has been disappointing me by releasing inefficient cards (GeForce GTX 670 - 170W - » GeForce GTX 770 - 250W) and now the GeForce GTX 760, which consumes 20 Watts more than the GeForce GTX 660 Ti.
What do you think? If everything said here is true, which of these cards would you buy?
