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PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC: A compact GPU for small form factor PCs with caveats

The PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC: A compact GPU with 1080p capabilities. (Image source: Notebookcheck)
The PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC: A compact GPU with 1080p capabilities. (Image source: Notebookcheck)
Are you looking for your next graphics card for your small form factor PC? Well, the PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC could be the card for you. Setting aside its long-winded name, the XLR8 Gaming OC offers 1080p triple-A gaming at a pinch. It is not all plain sailing though, as we shall discuss in this review snippet.

NVIDIA may have already raced ahead with SUPER versions of its GeForce GTX 16 series, but the original models remain good enough for 1080p gaming. The GTX 1660 can even handle 2160p in less demanding titles like FIFA 20. Moreover, the PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC is a good option for those who prefer small form factor PCs too, as we discovered in our recent review.

The XLR8 Gaming OC packs the might of the GTX 1660 into a compact chassis that measures just 233.68 x 111.76 x 40.64 mm. The GPU requires an 8-pin power connector as all GTX 1660 cards do, but it does have a slightly higher boost clock than NVIDIA's reference frequency. Our review unit impressed us during our gaming tests, with it matching the AMD Radeon RX 570 while easily outperforming the GTX 1650.

Overall, the XLR8 Gaming OC will handle all modern triple-A games in at least 1080p on high graphics settings. However, the card has hardly any overclocking potential, so it may not be suitable for those who like to tweak their components for optimal performance. Additionally, the single fan runs comparatively loudly under sustained load, something that could only be mitigated by running the card at reduced frequencies or by buying a different GPU with a dual-cooler instead.

Finally, our tests demonstrated that the GTX 1660 Ti offers more performance per watt than the GTX 1660 does. While the two cards operate on the same TDP, the former has more shader units and texture units than the latter, while it also has GDDR6 VRAM rather than the GDDR5 that the GTX 1660 uses.

Nonetheless, the PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC remains an excellent choice for those who are after a compact and affordable desktop GPU that can cope with 1080p gaming. The XLR8 Gaming OC can be purchased for around US$225 on Amazon and other retailers.

Please see our PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC review for our full thoughts on PNY's latest compact GPU.

Buy PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 now on Amazon

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 11 > PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC: A compact GPU for small form factor PCs with caveats
Alex Alderson, 2019-11-21 (Update: 2019-11-21)