Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER graphics card is now official following several weeks of rumors. Most of its specifications are in accordance with the leaked reports we had seen over the past few days.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Specifications – More Bandwidth

When it comes to the specifications, the GTX 1660 SUPER is quite similar to its non-SUPER counterpart. Nvidia has used the same TU116 GPU with the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER that was also seen on the non-SUPER variants of the card. It has the same 1408 CUDA cores and exact base and boost clock speeds of 1530MHz and 1785MHz respectively.

However, the GeForce GTX1660 SUPER will boast of 6GB of DDR6 memory having 14Gbps memory speed as compared to the  6GB DDR5 memory (8Gbps) on the regular GTX 1660. While both the cards have the same 192-bit memory bus, the GTX 1660 SUPER will have a higher memory bandwidth of 336GB/s as against the 192GB/s of its counterpart. A thing to note is that the GTX 1660 SUPER now has faster memory as compared to even the GTX 1660Ti that comes with 12Gbps memory modules with a memory bandwidth of 288GB/s. (A GTX 1660 Ti upgrade incoming?). The TDP rating of the card has only increased by 5W from 120W to 125W.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Performance – Solidifying Nvidia’s Position

Performance-wise, the GTX 1660 SUPER performs better than expected. Most people didn’t expect much improvement considering most of its specifications are the same as the standard GTX 1660. However, the card does show significant gains in quite a few titles.

The original GTX 1660 graphics card was a decent performer and managed to edge pasts its competition. GTX 1660 SUPER further extends the lead and solidifies Nvidia’s position in the $200-300 price segment, at least for the moment.

On average, the GTX 1660 SUPER is 9% faster as compared to the non-SUPER model. From a value perspective, it is a significant performance bump considering its price. It beat the AMD RX 590 by 14% as well. In games that are dependent on memory bandwidth, the performance difference is in double digits, with titles such as Monster Hunter World and Witcher 3 showing 20% or higher gains. It even managed to come within touching distance of the higher-priced GTX 1660 Ti on quite a few occasions. At the worst, the GTX 1660 SUPER is 2 to 4% faster than the GTX 1660. Overall, the GTX 1660 SUPER manages to pose significant gains in a majority of games.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Price – Prepping For The Competition

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER has been launched at $229 (USD), which is only 10 bucks more than the launch price of the non-SUPER variant. Only the custom variants of the graphics card will be available, and there will be no Founder editions. The cards may cost ten or fifteen bucks more depending on the cooling solution used.

Buyers who are looking to spend $200 to $250 on a GPU will find the GTX 1660 SUPER to be a lucrative option. It manages to beat the $200 RX 590 by a good margin and costs only slightly more. Sometimes it even comes close to the $270 GTX 1660 Ti.

Nvidia already has an adequate lineup of Turing graphics cards. It didn’t need a new card considering its GTX 1660 was ahead of AMD’s RX 590. However, Nvidia is prepping for AMD’s upcoming RX 5500 series, and the GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is a byproduct of the same. It is a pre-emptive strike by Nvidia in preparation for AMD’s Navi-based RX 5500 lineup of graphics cards. Now the ball is in AMD’s court. Let’s wait and see how their RX 5500 graphics cards perform in comparison.