GeForce GTX 1660 And GTX 1660 Ti Turing GPU Memory Speeds Reportedly Revealed
Oftentimes where there is smoke, there is also fire. Well, there has been plenty of figurative smoke signals suggesting that NVIDIA is readying a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card with Turing underneath the hood, but without real-time ray tracing hardware. There has also been mention of a non-Ti variant, along with some details about the memory configuration of each card.
First, let's talk about why the rumor is plausible. From our perspective, it seems like a foregone conclusion that NVIDIA will eventually release a batch of new generation GPUs that lack real-time ray tracing capabilities, for gamers who want to upgrade without paying a premium for a feature they might not be interested in.
That is where a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and GeForce GTX 1660 could come into play. Presumably, these cards would be cheaper than their RTX counterparts. If going by the model numbers (rather than sorting things by performance), NVIDIA has attached a premium to its RTX series to account for advanced features, like ray tracing and DLSS.
The folks at WCCFTech rounded up a bunch of info on the rumored GTX additions, which includes both leaks and rumors from around the web, and what the site is hearing from its own sources. Accordingly, the site reports that the non-TI variant will have 6GB of GDDR5 memory, while the TI card will sport 6GB of GDDR6 memory at faster clockspeeds. Here's a quick comparison...
- GeForce GTX 1660 Ti: 6GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus clocked at 6,000MHz
- GeForce GTX 1660 (non-TI): 6GB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus clocked at 4,000MHz
The memory on the Ti card will be significantly faster. That card will also feature the same board as the GeForce RTX 2060 (board number PG161) and have a 1,500MHz base clock and 1,770MHz boost clock. Meanwhile, the non-TI variant will reportedly feature a 1,530MHz base clock and 1,785MHz boost clock.
If this data is accurate, it means NVIDIA will likely have simply disabled the RT cores on the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, rather than have outfitted it with a new GPU.
There is also talk of there being a 3GB version of the non-TI variant with the same clockspeeds. Again, we don't know if any of this information is accurate, but if it is, then both the 6GB and 3GB GeForce GTX 1660 models will feature faster clocks than the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti.
The reason this can be done is because the Ti card will have more CUDA cores, reportedly—1,536 CUDA cores, versus 1,280. So, it will still be the overall faster card for gaming. It's also said to have more Texture Units (TUs)—96 versus 80.
Hopefully we won't have to wait long to see if these leaks are on the money. The cards are said to be launching on February 15, a day after Valentine's Day.
