Дорогие видеокарты не нужны? Проверяем на практике.

You have no idea how long ago I wanted to record this video. The thing is that 4 months ago we released a video - why buying expensive versions of video cards is money for wind. Today we will test it in practice. I have on my table 2 absolutely identical graphic chip, this is 1660 Super made by Asus - DUAL version and more expensive Strix. So this is the point today we will test these cards in absolutely the same conditions and check whether it makes sense to overpay about 10% of the price for Strix or you can save money and buy either RAM or SSD or more expensive processor. This video will be useful not only for those who are looking for the optimal map for FHD games in 2020, but also for those who are thinking.

Does it make sense to overpay for three fans, 00:55 - backlight, some kind of screen on the case, or better to really save. And this does not apply only Asus, this applies to absolutely all vendors, they all have some kind of gaming line, overclocked rulers. So we will check it today. Let’s test these video cards under the same conditions in modern games, synthetics and work tasks. Let’s look at the overclocking and their noise, heating and conclude - does it make sense to overpay? I think it will be interesting - let’s go! The cooling of the DUAL version looks impressive: two 88 mm fans that blow a radiator with two heat pipes. From video connectors only one HDMI, DP and DVI. The more expensive ROG Strix has two 100mm fans and a slightly smaller heatsink with heatpipes.

To connect to a PC, there are already two HDMI and DP - apparently, 01:52 - ASUS believes that buyers of top-end versions of video cards no longer use monitors with DVI, and in general, who now use monitors with DVI. Well, one more top- ranking attribute - two switches on the board that allow you to adjust the backlight and select one of two VideoBIOS. Both cards need 8 pin for power supply. The simpler DUAL version has only four power phases wired, while the STRIX has all 6. In theory, this should help overclocking, we’ll see. In general, the STRIX version of the card looks more solid, but is it so important? We’ll find out now! I constantly test a huge number of video cards and carry they are not convenient with me in a bag of five, so I use a backpack.

But putting the RTX 3080 02:34 - in a simple backpack is a sin, the Bobby Pro backpack from XD Design helps me with this. AT compartment for a 15.6-inch laptop easily fits 4 top-end video from Asus. The backpack is thieves-proof, has no external pockets, so 3080 hunters won’t bother you. Water-repellent material will keep your cards from rain. And high- quality YKK fittings will not come out of building.

According to canon, there is a port for charging the phone with protection from moisture, a pocket with RFID protection in the shoulder strap 03:08 - with a zipper, as well as a retractor with a metal line, which will not let you pull out 3080 from you hands. Now there are a lot of low-quality and cheap fakes. Buy only original backpacks Bobby from official distributors such as https://xd-design.ru/. 20% discount on all backpacks and bags under the COMPUTER promo code - valid for 2 weeks, link in the description. Let’s move on to the software part. Simple DUAL version has a frequency of 1530 MHz with a boost to 1830 - overclocking relative to the reference values ​​is about 2.5%, which is why the card received the OC prefix.

03:43 - STRIX has the same base frequency, but the boost is already 1845 MHz - the difference with DUAL is ridiculous 15 MHz is less than 1%. The GDDR6 memory of both video cards is not overclocked and runs at the standard 14 GHz for this model. The default thermal package for both video cards is 125 W, the maximum is 150 W. all games and benches were run with Kingston KC2500 NVMe SSD. It works across 4 PCIe lanes and shows read speeds up to 3500 MB / s, which is more than enough for comfortable work and games. It also boasts a good 300 terabyte resource for a 500 GB model and a 5-year warranty. To begin with, let’s run fairly heavy benches, namely Unigine Heaven on ultra-settings. graphics in FHD. The final result - the DUAL version was able to render 1810 frames, and the more expensive STRIX - 1909, that is, the difference was about 5%. The next benchmark is 3Dmark Time Spy, which we also ran in FHD resolution. Here at ASUS GTX 1660 Super version DUAL 9037 graphic points, and the top-end STRIX 9337, that is, the difference is about 3%.

04:52 - So far, an overpayment of several thousand rubles for STRIX looks doubtful - it is simply impossible to feel a difference of several percent with live gameplay, even with the conclusion You will not see FPS. But maybe STRIX has excellent cooling, and DUAL is on the verge of throttling? Launch FurMark. This is a brutal test that sucks all the juices out of your graphics card and will do just fine. to show the maximum difference between video cards. The result surprised us - the cheaper version of DUAL warmed up two degrees less than the STRIX - 72 versus 74 degrees, at both figures are far from critical.

But in terms of frequencies, the DUAL version slightly lost - its 05:33 - The GPU eventually settled at 1860 MHz versus 1920 MHz for STRIX - a difference of 3%, which is comparable to that what we saw in the benchmarks. Noise level of the more expensive ASUS version GTX 1660 Super was 35 dB, cheaper - 37. Synthetics showed that the difference between video cards is extremely SMALL. But some will say that synthetics do not reflect real performance. Well, at times this is true, so let’s move on to real tests, namely, rendering an image on a GPU. To do this, we took a free scene from BMW for Blender, which heavily loads any video card. As a result, ASUS GTX 1660 Super in STRIX version coped with the task in a minute and 37 seconds, and DUAL - one second longer. The difference is again at the level of error, so for work tasks there is no point in chasing the ROG version. nevertheless, such video cards are taken in mainly for games - maybe STRIX can prove itself here? We will see. Let’s start with a recent port of PlayStation 4 that has yet to be brought to playability - namely Horizon Zero Dawn.

You can run around the wild America of the future with the “priority 06:43 - quality “in FHD, if you are an undemanding gamer - in this case STRIX shows 81 FPS on average with heating up to 67 degrees, and DUAL - 80 FPS with heating up to 71 degrees. And while the FPS seems completely playable, in fact, the game is noticeably freezing at times. 6 GB of memory is sorely lacking, which is why as much as 20 GB is taken from RAM. However, This is only in this game - thanks to the porters who forgot about the optimization. If you want to know about this more in the description will be a link to our video - the truth and myths about the growth of system requirements for games.

07:22 - Let’s move on to Shadow of Tomb Raider - the last part of the new trilogy about Lara Croft. The game has excellent optimization and runs even on integrated graphics, so the GTX 1660 Super It feels comfortable in it: in FHD on Strix you can get 84 FPS when heated to 69 degrees, and on DUAL 72 degrees at 83 frames per second. Again, the difference is minimal and invisible to the eye. And what will Far Cry New Dawn show us, whose developers were lazy in the end and just slightly altered the map from Far Cry 5? Yes, everything is the same as in other games: at maximum graphics settings, the GTX 1660 Super has no problems: Strix produces 93 FPS, DUAL is a couple of frames per second less. The temperature of both cards did not rise above 69 degrees. Okay. Heavy artillery is used - a remaster of Crysis.

At one time, this game raped 08:19 - all video cards - let’s see how our pair of GTX 1660 Super cope with it. And I must say the video cards coped perfectly: at maximum graphics settings in FHD you can get on average, about 45-50 FPS, while STRIX traditionally warmed up 3 degrees less. Let’s go into another novelty - a remaster of the first Mafia. Here, unlike Crysis, the developers have really reworked the game from scratch, and reworked it quite well. And let the graphics up to level 2020 slightly falls short and is rather comparable to the graphics of Mafia 3, but the FPS is very pleasing: on average, it hovers around 55-75, and that’s at high graphics settings in FHD.

Wherein 09:00 - video cards were heated up the same way, up to 69 degrees. Next on the test was Borderlands 3 - one of the nominees for the “Worst Optimization of the Year” award. Despite the frankly cartoonish graphics, the game on crazy graphics settings makes the owners of many video cards suffer. Fortunately, GTX 1660 Super users are not there - on STRIX you can get about 93 FPS at 68 degrees, at DUAL 91 FPS and 71 degrees. So the difference is again in the margin of error. Well, to complete our extensive list of test games in the latest Metro Exodus.

The toy came out 09:32 - pretty and heavy enough, so to reach 60 FPS you will have to play at a high preset of settings: in this case, STRIX produces about 59 frames per second, and DUAL - 58. And yes, the cheaper version warmed up 3 degrees higher again. Now let’s run some overclocking tests. Yes, we know that very few do these, but it’s still interesting how much the performance of such video cards can be raised. For both versions, we stopped at an increase in the GPU frequency of 100 MHz and video memory at 800 MHz. Of course, the TDP was raised to a maximum level of 120%. And first, let’s see how video cards started to warm up in FurMark. So, STRIX began to go up to 2 GHz at 78 degrees. The DUAL frequency is an insignificant 50 MHz lower, but the temperature is 4 degrees lower, which cannot but surprise: we expected STRIX to perform better in overclocking but it turned out that the simpler cooling system of the DUAL version showed itself from the best side. Let’s see how things are in synthetics. In 3Dmark Time Spy, overclocking allowed STRIX score 9872 points - an increase of almost 6%. DUAL scored 9573 points in overclocking, thereby increasing its result by a similar 6%.

Moreover, the gap between 10:53 - it and the more expensive STRIX remained at the same insignificant level of 3%. In the Heaven benchmark, the DUAL version scored 1941 points in overclocking, heating up to 73 degrees, thereby increasing the result by 7%. But STRIX has become unpleasantly surprising: she warmed up a degree higher, and improved the result by only 4%, to 1980 points. At the same time, the difference between the video cards was reduced to a ridiculous 2%. Okay, synthetics are synthetics, but what’s in games? In Horizon Zero, Dawn STRIX warms up to 70 degrees issuing 83 FPS - an increase of about 2%.

DUAL warmed up one degree more, but got 1 FPS less. In total, the same 2% gain from overclocking and the same insignificant difference between the versions. In lazy Far Cry New Dawn, the STRIX warmed up to 69 degrees, showing 98 FPS - the largest increase we recorded overclocking performance in the case of the GTX 1660 Super, as much as 5%. The DUAL version got hot as well, showing a result of 96 FPS - the same 5% increase and again an insignificant difference between the models. Well friends - 1660 super has shown itself in FHD games just fine.

All modern 12:06 - games go without any problems at all. As for the more expensive versions of video cards, it only makes sense to take them if you need more ports, dual video BIOS, backlight, maybe some kind of screen. In general, beauty and additional amenities. But if you save money - take cheaper versions of video cards. In the Asus version it is DUAL, Strix will be more expensive I remind by about 10% on average. As for overclocking - the point in it I don’t see it at all, + 5-6% maximum, and Strix showed itself from the worst side, it got hot more than the cheaper DUAL.

Yes, there is not such a high-quality plastic, in my opinion, than on the 12:53 - Strix, but overpaying 10% for this… it is better to add it to RAM, SSD or a more expensive processor. .