Jesper Berg
- Slightly higher TDP than the default
- Compact layout
- Good performance
- Three slots wide
The EVGA GTX 1660 XC Black is EVGA’s entry-level GTX 1660 graphics card. It has a single fan but the cooler takes up three slots, so it’s both shorter and wider than other GTX 1660 variants. Just like other NVIDIA 16-series graphics cards, this card also features the Turing architecture, which replaces Pascal and offers better performance within the same power envelope. The GTX 1660 chip (TU116) replaces the GTX 1060 at roughly the same cost but with higher performance (though not as high as the 1660 Ti).
EVGA GTX 1660 XC Black Vs. XC (Gaming) Vs. XC Ultra
EVGA’s GTX 1660 lineup consists of three different cards. The XC Black is the entry-level model with a 1785 MHz boost clock, whereas the XC (non-Black) model has a slight factory overclock and runs at up to 1830 MHz. Additionally, there is an XC Ultra model with a dual-fan design and a slightly higher 1845 MHz boost clock. All cards require a single 8-pin PCI power cable (TDP is 130 W).
| EVGA GTX 1660 XC Black | EVGA GTX 1660 XC (Gaming) | EVGA GTX 1660 XC Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image |  |  |  |
| Memory Size | 6 GB GDDR5 | 6 GB GDDR5 | 6 GB GDDR5 |
| FP32 Theoretical Performance | 5,027 GFLOPS | 5,153 GFLOPS | 5,196 GFLOPS |
| Memory Clock | 2000 MHz | 2000 MHz | 2000 MHz |
| Memory Bandwidth | 192.1 GB/s | 192.1 GB/s | 192.1 GB/s |
| Recommended Power Supply | 500 Watt | 500 Watt | 500 Watt |
| Core Clock / Boost Clock | 1530 MHz / 1785 MHz | 1530 MHz / 1830 MHz | 1530 MHz / 1845 MHz |
| Stream Processors | 1408 | 1408 | 1408 |
| Cooling layout | Single-fan/Triple-slot | Single-fan/Triple-slot | Dual-fan/Dual-slot |
| Price from* | $398.86 | $219.99 | $240.00 |
*Prices are updated automatically every few hours but are subject to change between updates. See ‘Last update’ information at bottom of the page.
Like all GTX 1660-based cards, EVGA’s lineup is equipped with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM (memory bandwidth: 192GB/s) that runs at an 8,000 MHz effective clock rate. Similarly, all TU116 cards have 1,408 CUDA cores. At launch MSRPs, EVGA’s range of GTX 1660s stands out as neither better nor worse than most of the competition in a performance/price calculation. The slight factory overclocks on the non-Black models may make them more attractive, but should be less important than the form factors. The single-fan design and triple-slot cooler combination on the XC/Black may not appeal to all users.
Performance and Features
There is no reference design of the GTX 1660 – or Founder’s Edition as Nvidia calls it – which might (correctly) indicate that it’s not one of the company’s premium GPUs. And the chip is of course far behind the RTX series in terms of performance, while also lacking these cards’ main selling point: ray-tracing hardware and tensor cores. But the prices on the GTX 1660 are also rather close to the better-performing Ti model. It has fewer shaders than its bigger brother, as well as slower GDDR5 VRAM instead of GDDR6. However, the card has received some of the same updates as its pricier cousins, including:
- More cache per CUDA core
- Concurrent FP + int compute
- Variable-rate shader rendering
- Dedicated FP 16 cores
- New NVENC Encoder
Any GTX 1660 card will perform better than the GTX 1060 6GB that it replaces in the lower mid-range segment.
The above results are averages of a cross-section of systems running these cards. It does not represent the EVGA card specifically but should serve as an indication of relative GPU performance.
It’s possible to tweak fan speeds and overclock the cards using EVGA’s Precision X1 software, which is one of the more competent overclocking tools on the market.
Reviews
By the numbers, the GTX 1660 delivers around 28% better performance than the GTX 1060 3GB it formally replaces.
Save for a couple of tests, the GeForce GTX 1660 is also faster than the Radeon RX 590 overall, though the deltas separating them are somewhat smaller.
Linus Tech Tips:
Specification: EVGA GTX 1660 XC (Black)
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