GTX 1660, 1650 Super boost speeds for Nvidia's cheapest gaming cards
The last of Nvidia's Turing-based GeForce graphics get the Super step up, with the GTX 1650 Super promising a much better entry-price experience.
AMD's aggressive strategy for its latest Navi-generation graphics cards like the Radeon RX 4700 and RX 5500 lines has been the best thing to happen to Nvidia fans in years: It's pushed Nvidia into upping its mainstream game. The latest in the leapfrogging are the GeForce GTX 1650 Super and GTX 1660 Super, which, like the RTX Super cards before them, bump the 1650 and 1660 up a performance class while keeping them in the same price class.
GTX 1660 Super-based cards from the usual third parties are slated to ship today starting at $229. The lower-end GTX 1650 Super-based cards will be coming in the third week of November, and the pricing is still up in the air.
Comparative specifications
| GeForce GTX 1650 | GeForce GTX 1650 Super | GeForce GTX 1660 | GeForce GTX 1660 Super | GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memory | 4GB GDDR5 | 4GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR5 | 6GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bandwidth | 128GB/sec | 192GB/sec | 192GB/sec | 336GB/sec | 288GB/sec |
| Base/boost GPU clock (MHz) | 1,485/1,665 | 1,530/1,725 | 1,530/1,785 | 1,530/1,785 | 1,500/1,770 |
| Memory data rate/Interface | 8Gbps/128-bit | 12Gbps/192-bit | 8Gbps/192-bit | 14Gbps/192-bit | 12Gbps/192-bit |
| CUDA Cores | 896 | 1,280 | 1,408 | 1,408 | 1,536 |
| Texture mapping units | 56 | 80 | 88 | 88 | 96 |
| Est. price | $150 | n/a | $220 | $229 | $280 |
The 1660S' performance bump should predominantly come from its increased memory bandwidth, which now surpasses the 1660 Ti and pretty much erases the distinction between the two. But the 1650S may bring the base level of performance closer to current 1660 levels for less than $200 with an upgrade to the same TU116 processor, higher-bandwidth GDDR6 memory, faster clock speeds and more CUDA cores. The new processor also adds a couple of important capabilities: the streaming-optimized NVENC encoder and VR support. All of those should make the entry-level card feel like more of a real 1080p gaming card you'd want instead of the cheap compromise you settle for.
Nvidia also rolled out a couple of updates to its Game Ready driver: ultralow latency mode support for G-Sync-compatible monitors and improvements to its image-sharpening algorithms, with more fine-turning options. Plus, the ReShade filter tool is now integrated into GeForce Experience.
