580 vs 660

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Combined performance score

GTX 660
10.32

580 outperforms 660 by 14% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in performance ranking402373
Place by popularity60not in top-100
Value for money2.328.17
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code nameGK106GF110
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date6 September 2012 (11 years old)9 November 2010 (13 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$229 $499
Current price$172 (0.8x MSRP)$14.89 (0x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 580 has 252% better value for money than GTX 660.

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores960512
CUDA cores960512
Core clock speed980 MHz772 MHz
Boost clock speed1033 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,540 million3,000 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)140 Watt244 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data97 °C
Texture fill rate78.4 billion/sec49.4 billion/sec
Floating-point performance1,981 gflops1,581.1 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportPCI Express 3.0PCI-E 2.0 x 16
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length9.5" (24.1 cm)10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm)
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsOne 6-pinOne 6-pin and One 8-pin
SLI options++

Memory

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1536 MB
Memory bus width192-bit GDDR5384 Bit
Memory clock speed6.0 GB/s2004 MHz (4008 data rate)
Memory bandwidth144.2 GB/s192.4 GB/s

Video outputs and ports

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsOne Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPortMini HDMITwo Dual Link DVI
Multi monitor support4 displays+
HDMI++
HDCP+no data
Maximum VGA resolution2048x15362048x1536
Audio input for HDMIInternalInternal

Technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

3D Blu-Ray+no data
3D Gaming+no data
3D Vision+no data

API support

List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (11_0)12 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.34.2
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan1.1.126+
CUDA++

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 660 10.32
GTX 580 11.76
+14%

580 outperforms 660 by 14% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

GTX 660 4000
GTX 580 4558
+14%

580 outperforms 660 by 14% in Passmark.

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

GTX 660 5040
+1.4%
GTX 580 4970

660 outperforms 580 by 1% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

Benchmark coverage: 9%

GTX 660 11225
GTX 580 15466
+37.8%

580 outperforms 660 by 38% in GeekBench 5 OpenCL.

Octane Render OctaneBench

This is a special benchmark measuring graphics card performance in OctaneRender, which is a realistic GPU rendering engine by OTOY Inc., available either as a standalone program, or as a plugin for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and many other apps. It renders four different static scenes, then compares render times with a reference GPU which is currently GeForce GTX 980. This benchmark has nothing to do with gaming and is aimed at professional 3D graphics artists.

Benchmark coverage: 4%

GTX 660 33
GTX 580 67
+103%

580 outperforms 660 by 103% in Octane Render OctaneBench.

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p45−50
−17.8%
53
+17.8%
Full HD47
−109%
98
+109%
1200p65−70
−20%
78
+20%

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 10.32 11.76
Recency 6 September 2012 9 November 2010
Cost $229 $499
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1536 MB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 140 Watt 244 Watt

The GeForce GTX 580 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 660 in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
GeForce GTX 660
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580
GeForce GTX 580

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Questions and comments

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