NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 in 2026: Is it worth buying for 80 euros?

In 2026, the fate of the GTX 1660 in the secondary market is primarily determined by its price. It still handles Full HD in many games, but the GTX 1660 SUPER and GTX 1660 Ti often cost almost the same. The regular GTX 1660 is appealing at around 70-80 euros.

Turing Without RTX

The GTX 1660 is built on the TU116 GPU using Turing architecture. It features 1408 CUDA cores, with no RT cores or Tensor Cores. There is no hardware ray tracing or DLSS support.

However, the card does include the Turing generation NVENC hardware encoder, which allows for video recording and streaming without putting a significant load on the CPU.

The regular GTX 1660 is equipped with 6 GB GDDR5 with an effective speed of 8 Gbps and a 192-bit bus. The bandwidth is 192 GB/s. The GTX 1660 SUPER and GTX 1660 Ti have faster GDDR6 memory.

GTX 1660, SUPER, and Ti

Despite their similar names, the performance of the three models differs significantly.

The GTX 1660 SUPER has the same 1408 CUDA cores but much faster GDDR6 memory. In Full HD, the GTX 1660 SUPER typically outperforms the GTX 1660 by about 10-15%. The GTX 1660 Ti adds a few more percentage points.

If the price difference is 10-15 euros, it is better to pay extra for the GTX 1660 SUPER.

Benchmarks of Stock GTX 1660

The Palit Dual OC shows only a slight advantage.

Gaming Performance

In older and relatively undemanding games, the GTX 1660 is still capable of delivering high frame rates at 1920x1080. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the tested cards achieve around 80 FPS, while in Battlefield V, they get 77-79 FPS.

In The Last of Us Part I, the result drops to about 40 FPS at 1080p on high settings.

In newer AAA games, settings often need to be lowered to medium at 1080p.

The card does not support DLSS, but FSR and other scaling technologies can be used in compatible games.

6 GB of Memory Already Limits Settings

In 2019, 6 GB was sufficient for the GTX 1660 class, but modern games do not always have enough memory.

Problems more frequently arise with high texture settings. Reducing texture quality from max to medium decreases video memory usage and can eliminate frame drops.

For many games at Full HD, 6 GB is still adequate, but it is not wise to expect headroom for future AAA titles.

Power Consumption

The typical power consumption of the GTX 1660 is around 120 watts. Therefore, the card is suitable for upgrading older systems without needing to replace the power supply, provided it has enough power capacity.

Dual-fan versions are generally quieter than compact single-fan models. One-fan versions should be checked particularly closely for noise and temperature.

How Much Should the GTX 1660 Cost

On the secondary market, regular GTX 1660 cards can be found for 75-110 euros, with GTX 1660 SUPER often priced similarly. GTX 1660 Ti is usually more expensive.

New unsold GTX 1660 cards are sometimes listed at several times their actual value. At such prices, buying a GTX 1660 is pointless.

What to Check Before Buying

On the secondary market, the condition of a specific card is more important than the brand or factory overclocking.

Before purchasing, it is advisable to check:

• stability under load;
• GPU temperature;
• video memory errors and artifacts;
• condition and noise of the fans;
• functionality of the video outputs.

The GTX 1660 has been actively used in both gaming systems and mining. The fact that it was used for mining does not automatically indicate the card's condition. More important are temperature, stability, and the state of the fans after prolonged load.

Conclusion

The GTX 1660 is still capable of handling many games at Full HD and consumes around 120 watts.

However, in 2026, it is only justified at a low price.

For 70-80 euros, a functioning GTX 1660 can be purchased. Above 90 euros, it is better to look for the GTX 1660 SUPER, and at around 100 euros - the GTX 1660 Ti.

If the GTX 1660 is already installed in a computer and its performance is sufficient, there is no need to replace it solely due to its age. When buying from scratch, the GTX 1660 should be significantly cheaper than the GTX 1660 SUPER and GTX 1660 Ti.