ASUS GTX 1660 OC Phoenix Graphics Card Review

How Much Does It Cost?

For some stupid reason, ASUS are selling their own damn card for £246.94 on Amazon, which quite honestly is irritating me quite a lot right now. Because this card is just £199.99 MSRP and you can get it for that price at plenty of other stores. So, please do your research and get the best deal. Admittedly, the card competes with other £240-ish cards. However, it doesn’t look like a card in that price range, so be careful that you don’t overpay. In the US, it’s on Amazon for $284.99, which is also seeming a little higher than MSRP at the moment.

Overview

I can’t help but love this little card. Is it a good looking card? Not really, it’s a bit of an ugly duckling with a racing stripe, and that’s about it really. Is it the fastest card we’ve ever tested? Oh no, certainly not. However, it managed to beat a bunch of rival GTX 1660 cards, which being both smaller, and cheaper. Now, it’s not the fastest, but it’s quite the underdog of the bunch, and I love that.

Performance

This card is shaping up to be quite the bargain though. It’s performance matches or beats its rivals cards. Plus it’s powerful enough to play the latest games at both 1080p and 1440p without much concern. It’s not overly noisy, and while it runs a little warm, it doesn’t seem to be bothered by that fact. What I do love though, is that it’s absolutely tiny. For those building in mini-ITX based systems, it’s got the best compatibility of any GTX 1660 we’ve tested.

Should I Buy One?

It’s a bit of a no brainier to me that this is one of the best all-round GPU series we’ve had in a while. Perhaps my favourite since the GTX 660 Ti and the GTX 1070 Ti. They offer a healthy performance boost over the last gen. Of course, these are built to appeal to those who have more sense than money, and only upgrade every other gen, at a minimum. If you’re coming from a GTX 960 or older, or a Radeon R9-series card, it’s night and day. About half the power usage and about double the performance in just a couple of years is a big shift. You don’t need an RTX 2080 Ti to play CS:GO, or even Metro Exodus, £200 will get the job done pretty damn well these days.