Is the 1660 Super better than the RTX 3050?

The RTX 3060 might be the mid-range flagship of the latest Ampere set of graphics cards, but their prices keep them out of the reach of most entry-level PC gamers. On the other hand, the RTX 3050 is closer to being reasonably affordable at a price tag of $ 200. The good news is, with the release of the RTX 3050 Ti, the RTX 3050 's price is getting more discount.

NVIDIA ’s xx50 cards have always been defined by entry-level prices with performance that knocks on the door of mid-range graphics cards – especially when overclocked. After taking the time to fully test the Ampere graphics card inside the RTX 3050, we can say without a doubt that it continues the trend. The RTX 3050 is much more expensive than the GTX 1650 as it costs a whopping $ 200. Compare this to the GTX 1650, which came originally at a price of $ 149. Meanwhile, the AMD closest equivalent card is the RX 5500 XT 4GB which costs $ 169.

Spec for spec, this RTX 3050 leapfrogs its direct predecessor, the GTX 1650, by boasting 2 % more fps. In our synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 3050 blows past the GTX 1650 and, amazingly, even the GTX 1660 as well.

Fortunately, gaming performance was quite impressive. The RTX 3050 consistently delivers great frame rate increases over the GTX 1650 and it really justifies an upgrade. For 1080p Full HD, we were able to play Borderlands 3, Anthem, Need For Speed: Heat, Just Cause 4, Battlefield 2042 at 61 fps to 75 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 69 fps.

For 1440p Quad HD, we were able to play World War Z, GreedFall, Hitman 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, F1 2019 at 63 fps to 68 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 65 fps. For 2160p 4K, we were able to play Overwatch 2, Valorant at 64 fps to 138 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 101 fps.

The good news is, with the release of the GTX 1660 Ti, the GTX 1660 SUPER 's price is getting more discount. NVIDIA ’s xx60 cards have always been defined by entry-level prices with performance that knocks on the door of mid-range graphics cards – especially when overclocked. After taking the time to fully test the Turing graphics card inside the GTX 1660 SUPER, we can say without a doubt that it continues the trend.

Unfortunately, gaming performance was not quite as impressive. Even if the GTX 1660 SUPER consistently delivers frame rate increases over the GTX 1060 6GB, the gain is not much to justify an upgrade. For 1080p Full HD, we were able to play Anthem, Need For Speed: Heat, Just Cause 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Battlefield 2042 at 62 fps to 75 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 70 fps.

For 1440p Quad HD, we were able to play GreedFall, Hitman 2, World War Z, Death Stranding, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 at 61 fps to 66 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 64 fps. For 2160p 4K, we were able to play Overwatch 2, Valorant at 63 fps to 133 fps and kept frame rates hovering around 98 fps.

Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop

vs

Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop

Why is Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super better than Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop?

  • 818MHz faster GPU clock speed?
    1530MHzvs712MHz
  • 0.7 TFLOPS higher floating-point performance?
    5.03 TFLOPSvs4.33 TFLOPS
  • 43.4 GPixel/s higher pixel rate?
    85.68 GPixel/svs42.28 GPixel/s
  • 250MHz faster memory clock speed?
    1750MHzvs1500MHz
  • 2000MHz higher effective memory clock speed?
    14000MHzvs12000MHz
  • 89.45 GTexels/s higher texture rate?
    157.1 GTexels/svs67.65 GTexels/s
  • 1.5x more VRAM?
    6GBvs4GB
  • 144GB/s more memory bandwidth?
    336GB/svs192GB/s

Why is Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop better than Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super?

  • 50W lower TDP?
    75Wvs125W
  • 640 more shading units?
    2048vs1408
  • Supports ray tracing?
  • 1.8 newer version of OpenCL?
    3vs1.2
  • 4nm smaller semiconductor size?
    8nmvs12nm
  • 1 newer version of PCI Express (PCIe)?
    4vs3
  • Supports DLSS?

Price comparison

User reviews

Overall Rating

Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super

6 User reviews

Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop

11 User reviews

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop

Features

Performance

The graphics processing unit (GPU) has a higher clock speed.

When the GPU is running below its limitations, it can boost to a higher clock speed in order to give increased performance.

The number of pixels that can be rendered to the screen every second.

Floating-point performance is a measurement of the raw processing power of the GPU.

The number of textured pixels that can be rendered to the screen every second.

The memory clock speed is one aspect that determines the memory bandwidth.

Shading units (or stream processors) are small processors within the graphics card that are responsible for processing different aspects of the image.

TMUs take textures and map them to the geometry of a 3D scene. More TMUs will typically mean that texture information is processed faster.

The ROPs are responsible for some of the final steps of the rendering process, writing the final pixel data to memory and carrying out other tasks such as anti-aliasing to improve the look of graphics.

Memory

The effective memory clock speed is calculated from the size and data rate of the memory. Higher clock speeds can give increased performance in games and other apps.

This is the maximum rate that data can be read from or stored into memory.

VRAM (video RAM) is the dedicated memory of a graphics card. More VRAM generally allows you to run games at higher settings, especially for things like texture resolution.

A wider bus width means that it can carry more data per cycle. It is an important factor of memory performance, and therefore the general performance of the graphics card.

Newer versions of GDDR memory offer improvements such as higher transfer rates that give increased performance.

Error-correcting code memory can detect and correct data corruption. It is used when is it essential to avoid corruption, such as scientific computing or when running a server.

Features

DirectX is used in games, with newer versions supporting better graphics.

OpenGL is used in games, with newer versions supporting better graphics.

Some apps use OpenCL to apply the power of the graphics processing unit (GPU) for non-graphical computing. Newer versions introduce more functionality and better performance.

The graphics card supports multi-display technology. This allows you to configure multiple monitors in order to create a more immersive gaming experience, such as having a wider field of view.

A lower load temperature means that the card produces less heat and its cooling system performs better.

Ray tracing is an advanced light rendering technique that provides more realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections in games.

7.Supports 3D

Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop

Allows you to view in 3D (if you have a 3D display and glasses).

8.supports DLSS

Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop

DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is an upscaling technology powered by AI. It allows the graphics card to render games at a lower resolution and upscale them to a higher resolution with near-native visual quality and increased performance. DLSS is only available on select games.

This benchmark measures the graphics performance of a video card. Source: PassMark.

Ports

Devices with a HDMI or mini HDMI port can transfer high definition video and audio to a display.

2.HDMI ports

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop)

More HDMI ports mean that you can simultaneously connect numerous devices, such as video game consoles and set-top boxes.

3.HDMI version

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop)

Newer versions of HDMI support higher bandwidth, which allows for higher resolutions and frame rates.

Allows you to connect to a display using DisplayPort.

5.DVI outputs

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop)

Allows you to connect to a display using DVI.

Allows you to connect to a display using mini-DisplayPort.

General info

The thermal design power (TDP) is the maximum amount of power the cooling system needs to dissipate. A lower TDP typically means that it consumes less power.

A higher transistor count generally indicates a newer, more powerful processor.

Small semiconductors provide better performance and reduced power consumption. Chipsets with a higher number of transistors, semiconductor components of electronic devices, offer more computational power. A small form factor allows more transistors to fit on a chip, therefore increasing its performance.

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) is a high-speed interface standard for connecting components, such as graphics cards and SSDs, to a motherboard. Newer versions can support more bandwidth and deliver better performance.

5.warranty period

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super)

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop)

When covered under the manufacturer’s warranty it is possible to get a replacement in the case of a malfunction. Note: This may vary by region.

The graphics card uses a combination of water and air to reduce the temperature of the card. This allows it to be overclocked more, increasing performance.

7.width

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop)

The width represents the horizontal dimension of the product.

8.height

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Super)

Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop)

The height represents the vertical dimension of the product.

Price comparison

Which are the best graphics cards?

Asus TUF GeForce RTX 4090

Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090

Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC

Gainward GeForce RTX 4090 Phantom GS

Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO

KFA2 GeForce RTX 4090 SG 1-Click OC

Galax GeForce RTX 4090 SG 1-Click OC

Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 Apocalypse OC

Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 Trinity OC

Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 Trinity

Show all

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Which is better RTX 3050 or GTX 1660 Super?

The 3050 also takes advantage of additional features like ray tracing and DLSS, which can improve visuals and offer a smoother performance. The addition of DLSS and ray tracing mean that we'd recommend the RTX 3050 over the GTX 1660 Ti, especially since they have very similar prices.

Is RTX 3050 good enough for gaming?

RTX 3050 performance: 1440p benchmarks. To the RTX 3050's credit, it can at least run most games at max-quality 1440p – it's just skirting the line on some of them. Three Kingdoms' Battle benchmark, for example, just crept to 31fps on Ultra; dropping to Medium produced a dramatically smoother 73fps.

Which card is better than GTX 1660 Super?

The GTX 1660 Ti, meanwhile, is much better equipped for dealing with those higher quality settings. Compared with the GTX 1660 Super, the 1660 Ti is still the faster card overall, but as you can see below, the 1660 Super does come pretty close to hitting 60fps on Ultra settings in a surprisingly high number of cases.

Is the RTX 1660 Super still good?

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super is a fantastic card for budget gamers. It builds on the GeForce GTX 1660 to take the power up a notch, yet, it offers that boost in performance while still staying in the budget range for graphics card that makes a card like this so attractive.