NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M is an upper mid-range, DirectX 11.1 compatible graphics card that was announced in the first quarter of 2012 for laptops. As of this writing, it is the fastest Kepler-based GPU built on the GK107 architecture and is manufactured in 28nm at TSMC. The graphics card uses a 128-Bit wide memory interface with GDDR5-VRAM.
Architecture
The Kepler architecture is the successor to the Fermi architecture that first appeared in laptops with the GeForce 400M series. The GK107 Kepler core offers two shader blocks, called SMX, each with 192 shaders for a total of 384 shader cores that are clocked at the same speed as as the central core. Although more shader cores are available in the Kepler architecture as compared to the Fermi design, the Kepler shaders are still expected to be up to twice as power efficient. However, due to the missing hot clock of the shader domain, two shaders of a Kepler chip are of similar speed to one shader of a Fermi chip (as the latter was clocked twice as fast). PCIe 3.0 is now supported by the mobile Kepler series and an optional Turbo mode can automatically overclock the Nvidia card by a theoretical 15 percent if the laptop cooling system allows it. The implementation of this boost mode is done in the BIOS, but it is ultimately dependent upon the manufacturer of the laptop.
Performance
Thanks to the GDDR5-VRAM, the gaming performance of the GeForce GTX 660M is well ahead of the GT 650M DDR3 and on par with the AMD Radeon HD 6950M. Even the older high-end Fermi-GPU GTX 570M is only slightly faster. Therefore, current games as of 2012 run moderately well in 1080p resolution and high details. Only a few very demanding games, such as Metro 2033 or Crysis 2, may need reduced graphical settings for smoother gameplay.
Features
The improved feature set now includes support for up to 4 active displays. Furthermore, high resolution monitors of up to 3840x2160 pixels can now be connected using DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a if available. HD-Audio codecs, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, can be transmitted via bitstream mode through the HDMI port. However, as most laptops will feature Optimus, the integrated GPU will likely have direct control over the display ports and may limit the feature set available by the Nvidia Kepler cards.
The 5th generation PureVideo HD video processor (VP5) is also integrated in the GK107 core and offers hardware decoding of HD videos. Common codecs such as MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264 and VC1/WMV9 are fully supported up to 4K resolutions while VC1 and MPEG-4 are supported up to 1080p. Two streams can be decoded in parallel for features such as Picture-in-Picture. Another novelty is the inclusion of a dedicated video encoding engine similar to Intel QuickSync that can be accessed by the NVENC API.
The power consumption of the GeForce GTX 660M should be best suited for notebooks 15-17 inches or greater.
| Manufacturer | NVIDIA |
| GeForce GTX 600M Series | |
| Codename | N13E-GE |
| Architecture | Kepler |
| Pipelines | 384 - unified |
| Core Speed | 835 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 4000 MHz |
| Memory Bus Width | 128 Bit |
| Memory Type | GDDR5 |
| Max. Amount of Memory | 2048 MB |
| Shared Memory | no |
| DirectX | DirectX 11, Shader 5.0 |
| technology | 28 nm |
| Features | Optimus, SLI, PhysX,
Verde Drivers,
CUDA, 3D Vision, 3DTV
Play |
| Notebook Size | large |
| Date of Announcement | 22.03.2012 |
Benchmarks
Performance Rating - 3DMark 11 + Fire Strike + Time Spy
10.5 pt (11%)
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NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 -7%
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3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Score
10200 Points (14%)
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NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 0%
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3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
12861 Points (6%)
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NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 -3%
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3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Score
1703 Points (4%)
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB 12%
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3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
1751 Points (3%)
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3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Graphics
113363 Points (15%)
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3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Score
min: 2307 avg: 2545 median: 2543 (6%) max: 2727 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti -3%
ATI Radeon HD 5770 6%
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3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance GPU
min: 2087 avg: 2327 median: 2369 (4%) max: 2414 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti -2%
ATI Radeon HD 5770 4%
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3DMark Vantage
3DM Vant. Perf. total +3DMark Vantage - 3DM Vant. Perf. total
min: 9659 avg: 11016 median: 10971 (11%) max: 12698 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti -7%
ATI Radeon HD 5770 6%
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3DM Vant. Perf. GPU no PhysX +3DMark Vantage - 3DM Vant. Perf. GPU no PhysX
min: 8725 avg: 9666 median: 9803 (9%) max: 10028 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 3%
ATI Radeon HD 5770 3%
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3DMark 2001SE - 3DMark 2001 - Standard
46020 Points (48%)
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ATI Radeon HD 5570 -4%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 10%
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 13%
ATI Radeon HD 5670 18%
ATI Radeon HD 5770 25%
AMD Radeon HD 6790 26%
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3DMark 03 - 3DMark 03 - Standard
min: 35347 avg: 39387 median: 39449 (21%) max: 41898 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 2%
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3DMark 05 - 3DMark 05 - Standard
min: 18640 avg: 20551 median: 19535 (28%) max: 23933 Points
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3DMark 06 3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 +min: 13893 avg: 15020 median: 14704 (27%) max: 16085 Points
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ATI Radeon HD 4850 -6%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 4%
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Unigine Heaven 2.1 - Heaven 2.1 high
min: 31.3 avg: 32.6 median: 32.5 (6%) max: 33.4 fps
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti -2%
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 2%
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SPECviewperf 11
specvp11 snx-01 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 snx-01
min: 3.38 avg: 3.8 median: 3.8 (3%) max: 4.3 fps
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specvp11 tcvis-02 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 tcvis-02
1.1 fps (2%)
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specvp11 sw-02 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 sw-02
9.1 fps (11%)
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specvp11 proe-05 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 proe-05
min: 1.06 avg: 1.2 median: 1.2 (5%) max: 1.29 fps
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specvp11 maya-03 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 maya-03
min: 12.06 avg: 12.3 median: 12.3 (9%) max: 12.6 fps
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 -88%
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ATI Radeon HD 5770 5%
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specvp11 lightwave-01 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 lightwave-01
min: 12.49 avg: 13.6 median: 13.6 (15%) max: 14.67 fps
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specvp11 ensight-04 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 ensight-04
min: 22.24 avg: 23.3 median: 23.3 (11%) max: 24.43 fps
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specvp11 catia-03 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 catia-03
min: 5.01 avg: 5.6 median: 5.6 (7%) max: 6.22 fps
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ATI Radeon HD 5850 -7%
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Windows 7 Experience Index - Win7 Gaming graphics
min: 6.8 avg: 7.2 median: 7.2 (91%) max: 7.3 Points
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Windows 7 Experience Index - Win7 Graphics
min: 6.8 avg: 7.2 median: 7.2 (91%) max: 7.3 Points
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Cinebench R10 Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) +Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit)
min: 4425 avg: 6075 median: 6317.5 (30%) max: 6574 points
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Cinebench R11.5 Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit +Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit
min: 30.55 avg: 39.8 median: 40.6 (17%) max: 48.07 fps
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ComputeMark v2.1 - ComputeMark v2.1 Result
566 points (1%)
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- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
Game Benchmarks
The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
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