{"id":6321,"date":"2024-07-03T23:18:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T14:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/?p=6321"},"modified":"2026-11-10T17:08:55","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T08:08:55","slug":"got-my-hands-on-an-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-super","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/en\/games\/got-my-hands-on-an-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-super-6321\/","title":{"rendered":"Got My Hands on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Up until now, I've been running a setup with a GTX 1050 that handles entry-level 3D PC gaming\u2014basically matching the performance of a PS4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next step was to build a setup that can comfortably run Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, and hopefully handle the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds smoothly as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things moved a bit faster than expected, but I actually managed to snag one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had been keeping a close eye on Yahoo! Auctions like a hawk when I spotted an HP graphics card simply listed as \"1660S.\" Since nobody had bid on it, I placed a bid, and sure enough, nobody else bid after that, winning it at the starting price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was a bit worried because I thought the description might have said something about it not working, but when it arrived, it came in its box and the fan and heatsink were completely dust-free\u2014super clean. Could this be unused? It's probably an optional part meant for HP PCs. The Yahoo! Auctions title and description definitely missed the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As expected, the GTX 1660 Super easily ran Monster Hunter World: Iceborne at FHD (1920x1080) and 60 FPS without breaking a sweat. Tinkering with a PC for the first time in about 20 years is so much fun. I've basically built a super cheap gaming PC, though there's still some tough work ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before the item even arrived, I had already acquired a graphics card for the next step that required auxiliary power, so I hastily prepared an extra power supply for the auxiliary power (which is generally pretty irregular at this point) so I could test it right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had sort of anticipated this and was already trying to prep a power supply. The materials came from an ATX power supply I had stripped from an old PC case when I got the GTX 1050. I also happened to find a 6-pin to 8-pin GPU adapter cable while wandering around Hard Off; it cost 300 yen, and while I hesitated, I grabbed it just in case. I always wondered why one of the COM pins wasn't connected, but it turns out it's a wiring pattern meant to supply only 75W through an 8-pin connector, just like a 6-pin. Makes sense. Though I wish they had used yellow instead of red for the 12V wire\u2014so close!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I worried about this part, but the 1660 Super requires 125W. Since 75W is supplied through the PCI Express slot, the required auxiliary power should be 50W. Therefore, a 6-pin supplying 75W should be enough, but for some reason, the 1660 Super's auxiliary power connector is 8-pins. By that logic, it should be a 6-pin. It was a bit of a mystery, but the conclusion was that if you don't connect the COM wires for the 8-pin 150W configuration (connecting 5 out of the 8 pins to ground), it wouldn't run properly. So cards with auxiliary power probably run solely on the power coming from the auxiliary line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I removed the pesky DVD drive to make room for this extra power supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The auxiliary power supply (on the left, with the cover removed) is ready to go. Bring it on, 1660S!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The graphics card arrived in a sturdy box. Since there are no manufacturer logos or product names anywhere on it, this is likely a graphics card that HP offers as an optional upgrade for their own PCs. That probably explains why the Yahoo! Auctions description lacked any major details\u2014which is the exact reason nobody else bit and I was able to snap it up cheap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 1660 graphics card has arrived (right) and it's gorgeous\u2014not a single speck of dust on it. Could this actually be an unused item? The 1050 I got previously had its fan and heatsink completely caked in dust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Size-wise, it's a full-sized card, but it lacks depth, making it quite compact. This would be a perfect fit for a Fujitsu ESPRIMO. There was a bit of oil on it and a torn sticker\u2014wonder if that happened during handling or shipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It takes up two slots vertically, and as expected, the heatsink and fan portion overhangs the connectors below. The 1050 was a low-profile card so it barely avoided interference, but since this board is full-sized, it completely blocks the LAN port. I had anticipated this, and the only ways to avoid it are either shifting the PCIe slot position of the riser card by one notch or removing the LAN port altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I wanted to test it quickly this time, I decided to temporarily remove the fan and heatsink from the graphics card, install it into the PC, and run my tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Card installed! I took the heatsink off and placed it to the side just so the airflow would at least hit it. Is this okay? Absolutely do not try this at home. I kept touching it to check if it was getting too hot, but ultimately this setup came back to bite me\u2014while installing drivers and stuff, it suffered from thermal throttling and crashed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First, I tried booting it up without turning on the external power supply. A picture appeared\u2014score! But there was visual noise around the screen, along with a message prompting me to connect the external power supply. It actually gives you a message, which is nice and clear. I heard some graphics cards won't display anything at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Turn on the external power! To turn on an external power supply, you have to short the green wire pin and a black ground pin on the power connector. You poke precision tweezers into the connector holes like this to short them. Be careful, because if you mess up, you might hear a snap or a sizzle, fry something, and ruin everything. It takes a fair amount of courage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Supplying power to the auxiliary connector brought up the Fujitsu logo. Boom, that's a victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the image is displaying correctly. Victory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Drivers recognized successfully. The 1660SS was indeed a 1660 SUPER. Victory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because I had removed the heatsink fan, I ran into issues where it wouldn't output video due to heat, hung up, or had me running around trying to reinstall drivers via remote desktop. However, once I properly reattached the heatsink fan and supplied 150W by connecting all 5 COM pins for the auxiliary power, everything stabilized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few days later, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is running buttery smooth too. 4K at 60 FPS. Mostly hitting the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So smooth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Up until now, I've been running a setup with a GTX 1050 that handles entry-level 3D PC gaming\u2014basically matching the performance of a PS4. The next step was to build a setup that can comfortably run Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, and hopefully handle the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds smoothly as well. Things moved a bit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/175.41.248.22\/?p=5030","_lightning_design_setting":{"layout":"default"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[371],"tags":[835,836,841,847,853,854,855,385,387,391,394,397,487],"class_list":["post-6321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games","tag-gaming","tag-custom-gaming-pc","tag-graphics-card","tag-auxiliary-power","tag-monhan","tag-budget","tag-additional-power-supply","tag-385","tag-387","tag-gtx","tag-394","tag-geforce","tag-monster-hunter","en-US"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6322,"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6321\/revisions\/6322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-world-star.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}