Introduction
If you‘re in the market for a midrange graphics card in 2024, two of the top contenders from NVIDIA‘s recent lineups are the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and RTX 2060. Released just months apart in 2019, these Turing-based GPUs share some key similarities but also have crucial differences that impact their performance, features, and value. In this in-depth comparison, we‘ll delve into the architectural details, benchmarks, and real-world results to help you decide which one is right for your needs.
Specs Comparison
Let‘s start with a detailed specs table to see how the GTX 1660 Ti and RTX 2060 stack up:
| Spec | GTX 1660 Ti | RTX 2060 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | TU116 | TU106 |
| Transistors | 6.6 billion | 10.8 billion |
| Die Size | 284 mm^2 | 445 mm^2 |
| CUDA Cores | 1536 | 1920 |
| RT Cores | 0 | 30 |
| Tensor Cores | 0 | 240 |
| TMUs | 96 | 120 |
| ROPs | 48 | 48 |
| Core Clock | 1500 MHz | 1365 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1770 MHz | 1680 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 12 Gbps | 14 Gbps |
| Memory Config | 6GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 288 GB/s | 336 GB/s |
| TDP | 120W | 160W |
| Launch Price | $279 | $349 |
*Data sourced from NVIDIA
As we can see, the RTX 2060 has the edge in most categories. It uses the larger TU106 die with 4.2 billion more transistors, enabling 25% more CUDA cores and memory bandwidth. It also uniquely features RT and Tensor cores for accelerating ray tracing and deep learning workloads respectively.
The GTX 1660 Ti does have slightly higher reference clock speeds, but the RTX 2060‘s greater core count still gives it the raw performance lead. Both cards come equipped with 6GB of cutting-edge 14Gbps GDDR6 VRAM, which is plenty for 1080p gaming but may be slightly limiting at 1440p and beyond in future titles.
Gaming Benchmarks
To see how those specs translate into real-world gaming performance, let‘s look at some benchmarks from respected publications. Eurogamer‘s 11-game test suite at 1080p/ultra settings shows the following average frame rates:
- GTX 1660 Ti: 87 FPS
- RTX 2060: 102 FPS
The RTX 2060 takes a 17% lead here. Looking at TechSpot‘s 1440p numbers across 12 titles reveals a similar trend:
- GTX 1660 Ti: 58 FPS
- RTX 2060: 73 FPS
At 1440p, the gap widens to 26% in favor of the RTX 2060. If we look at more recent demanding titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Control, the 2060‘s advantage grows close to 30% at times.
Overclockers will find more headroom on the 1660 Ti though. According to testing from Hardware Unboxed, a maxed out 1660 Ti averages 87 FPS at 1080p/ultra vs. 80 FPS stock – an 8.8% OC gain. The RTX 2060 sees just a 4.5% improvement from 97 FPS stock to 101 FPS OC‘d. Silicon lottery aside, the 1660 Ti ends up just 3-4% behind a stock 2060 when comparing peak manual OCs.
Ray Tracing and DLSS
Ray tracing is one of the RTX 2060‘s trump cards, allowing for gorgeous lighting, shadow, and reflection effects in supported titles. Performance can still struggle in native resolution, but DLSS 2.0 works wonders. In Control at 1080p with ray tracing effects maxed out, the RTX 2060 averages just 48 FPS. Enabling DLSS boosts that to a smooth 72 FPS. The 1660 Ti sadly can‘t even run the game with RT enabled.
The RTX 2060‘s RT cores accelerate BVH structure traversal and intersection calculations, while its Tensor cores power the machine learning algorithms behind DLSS. DLSS renders at a lower internal resolution then intelligently upscales and anti-aliases, producing an image that looks better than native while running faster. It‘s a massive boon to ray tracing performance, and really showcases NVIDIA‘s strength in AI.
PS5 and Future-Proofing
With the PS5 and Xbox Series X sporting hardware ray tracing capabilities, that feature is only going to become more prevalent in AAA titles going forward. The RTX 2060 is well-positioned for the next few years in that regard, while the 1660 Ti may start to show its age as more games lean into RT effects.
On the rasterization side, the consoles are roughly on par with the RTX 2060 in terms of TFLOPs. The PS5‘s GPU pumps out 10.28 TFLOPs, while the RTX 2060 manages 6.45 TFLOPs. However, consoles enjoy lower-level APIs and hardware access that PCs don‘t, so PC GPUs tend to need a healthy performance lead to reliably surpass console visuals and frame rates. The RTX 2060 clears that bar for now and should age gracefully over the PS5/XSX generation. The 1660 Ti may start to struggle to keep up over time.
Both cards should be solid in terms of VRAM in the near term. 6GB is still the sweet spot for 1080p and 1440p gaming as of 2023. However, as next-gen titles push texture quality and asset complexity further, 8GB may become the new minimum. The RTX 2060 does have an 8GB variant, which would be an even safer bet if you plan to hold onto your GPU for 3+ years.
Other Features and Considerations
The RTX 2060 supports a range of other cutting-edge features that give it an edge over the 1660 Ti for non-gaming workloads:
- 7th gen NVENC encoder: Provides better performance and quality for video encoding, useful for streamers and content creators. The 1660 Ti uses the previous-gen 6th gen NVENC.
- 5th gen NVDEC decoder: Enables real-time playback and editing of 8K video files. The 1660 Ti‘s older decoder is limited to 4K.
- VirtualLink port: Allows for single-cable connections to VR headsets. However, this never really caught on and was dropped in later RTX models.
Both cards support FreeSync and G-Sync for buttery smooth, tear-free gaming experiences when paired with a compatible monitor. They can also handle multi-monitor setups for productivity.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data and comparisons, it‘s clear the RTX 2060 is the more powerful and feature-rich GPU overall. Its significant rasterization performance lead, hardware ray tracing, DLSS 2.0, NVENC/NVDEC upgrades, and greater future-proofing make it well worth the extra $70 over the GTX 1660 Ti for most users.
However, the 1660 Ti still makes sense for pure 1080p gaming on a tighter budget. If you don‘t care about ray tracing and mostly play older or esports titles, it will have you covered for years to come. It‘s also a better choice if you‘re upgrading a weak CPU system and would be bottlenecked. With some manual tuning, it can close much of the gap to a stock 2060.
As of 2023, you can regularly find both of these cards on sale well below their launch MSRPs. Barring a killer deal on the 1660 Ti, I‘d recommend saving up for the RTX 2060 if you can. It‘s simply the more balanced, capable, and forward-looking GPU that will keep you happily gaming and creating for longer.
