NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 vs AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 and AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 videocards for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Technical info, Video outputs and ports, Compatibility, dimensions and requirements, API support, Memory, Technologies. Benchmark videocards performance analysis: PassMark - G3D Mark, PassMark - G2D Mark, Geekbench - OpenCL, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps), 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660

AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2

Differences

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660

Videocard is newer: launch date 11 month(s) later
Around 23% higher core clock speed: 980 MHz vs 800 MHz
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running videocard: 28 nm vs 40 nm
Around 81% lower typical power consumption: 140 Watt vs 254 Watt
Around 59% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 4017 vs 2534
Around 31% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 487 vs 373
2.9x better performance in Geekbench - OpenCL: 11364 vs 3977
3.9x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s): 3.085 vs 0.789

Specifications (specs)
Launch date	6 September 2012 vs 19 September 2011
Core clock speed	980 MHz vs 800 MHz
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm vs 40 nm
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	140 Watt vs 254 Watt
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	4017 vs 2534
PassMark - G2D Mark	487 vs 373
Geekbench - OpenCL	11364 vs 3977
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	3.085 vs 0.789

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2

3x more texture fill rate: 2x 38.4 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 78.4 billion / sec
2x more pipelines: 2x 960 vs 960
Around 55% better floating-point performance: 2x 1,536.0 gflops vs 1,981 gflops
2x more maximum memory size: 2x 2 GB vs 2 GB
700x more memory clock speed: 4200 MHz vs 6.0 GB/s

Texture fill rate	2x 38.4 GTexel / s billion / sec vs 78.4 billion / sec
Pipelines	2x 960 vs 960
Floating-point performance	2x 1,536.0 gflops vs 1,981 gflops
Maximum memory size	2x 2 GB vs 2 GB
Memory clock speed	4200 MHz vs 6.0 GB/s

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
GPU 2: AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

4017

2534

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

487

373

Geekbench - OpenCL

GPU 1

GPU 2

11364

3977

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3.085

0.789

Name	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660	AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2
PassMark - G3D Mark	4017	2534
PassMark - G2D Mark	487	373
Geekbench - OpenCL	11364	3977
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)	30.505
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)	705.293
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	3.085	0.789
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)	35.416
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)	62.69
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)	3581
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)	3690
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3365
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)	3581
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)	3690
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3365
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score	1307

Compare specifications (specs)

	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660	AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2
Essentials
Architecture	Kepler	TeraScale 2
Code name	GK106	Barts
Launch date	6 September 2012	19 September 2011
Launch price (MSRP)	$229
Place in performance rating	740	741
Price now	$349.99
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Value for money (0-100)	14.35
Technical info
Boost clock speed	1033 MHz
Core clock speed	980 MHz	800 MHz
CUDA cores	960
Floating-point performance	1,981 gflops	2x 1,536.0 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Pipelines	960	2x 960
Texture fill rate	78.4 billion / sec	2x 38.4 GTexel / s billion / sec
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	140 Watt	254 Watt
Transistor count	2,540 million	1,700 million
Video outputs and ports
Audio input for HDMI	Internal
Display Connectors	One Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI..., 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
G-SYNC support
HDCP
HDMI
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536
Multi monitor support
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Bus support	PCI Express 3.0
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	9.5" (24.1 cm)
Supplementary power connectors	One 6-pin	2x 8-pin
API support
DirectX	12.0 (11_0)	11.2 (11_0)
OpenGL	4.3	4.4
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	2x 2 GB
Memory bandwidth	144.2 GB / s	2x 134.4 GB / s
Memory bus width	192-bit GDDR5	2x 256 Bit
Memory clock speed	6.0 GB/s	4200 MHz
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Technologies
3D Blu-Ray
3D Gaming
3D Vision
Adaptive VSync
CUDA
FXAA
GPU Boost
SLI
TXAA