MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ventus XS 6 GB

W1zzard · Apr 9, 2019

The MSI GTX 1660 Ventus XS is MSI's answer for people looking to maximize cost efficiency. Priced at the NVIDIA MSRP of $220, the card offers much better price/performance than AMD's RX 590 and even RX 580. Also included is an overclock out of the box and a backplate.

Show full review

Fluffmeister · Apr 9, 2019

Great little card, I do like MSI's Ventus range and this 1660 is no exception. This card packs nice performance whilst sipping power, and again a 15%+ overclock too.

Looks like a winner.

jabbadap · Apr 9, 2019

Fluffmeister said:
Great little card, I do like MSI's Ventus range and this 1660 is no exception. This card packs nice performance whilst sipping power, and again a 15%+ overclock too.

Looks like a winner.

Well yeah sure it's a good card, but all Ventus cards are quite hideous by the looks. I prefer old Armor look over it.

Caring1 · Apr 9, 2019

jabbadap said:
Well yeah sure it's a good card, but all Ventus cards are quite hideous by the looks. I prefer old Armor look over it.

Looks are subjective, I like the look of Ventus and thought the Armor were hideous.
Doesn't really matter as the MSI Gaming X beats this card in O.C. Temps, and Noise.

natr0n · Apr 9, 2019

MSI has a bad habbit of always leaving a few chips uncooled.

letho · Apr 9, 2019

natr0n said:
MSI has a bad habbit of always leaving a few chips uncooled.

asus as well

notb · Apr 9, 2019

Caring1 said:
Doesn't really matter as the MSI Gaming X beats this card in O.C. Temps, and Noise.

Gaming X is long.

bug · Apr 9, 2019

I wonder why you keep saying "no support for RTX or DLSS". Now that support for these is (about to be) open all the way down Pascal cards, I believe you should reword that.
I'm pretty sure we're not talking about usable level of performance here, but still, support is technically there.

And more on topic, I'm a little bummed about the noise. Is that a feature of the entire XS line?

syrup · Apr 9, 2019

Good to see a lower-end variant being sent out for review. Looking for info on the 2070 Ventus recently led to a very vague and confused picture because there were no decent reviews of it, but heaps of great yet redundant reviews of the more expensive 2070 variants.

Caring1 · Apr 10, 2019

notb said:
Gaming X is long.

That only matters in an mItx case.

kastriot · Apr 10, 2019

Well it seems that RX 590 loses with actual pricing, nice review BTW.

jabbadap · Apr 10, 2019

bug said:
I wonder why you keep saying "no support for RTX or DLSS". Now that support for these is (about to be) open all the way down Pascal cards, I believe you should reword that.
I'm pretty sure we're not talking about usable level of performance here, but still, support is technically there.

And more on topic, I'm a little bummed about the noise. Is that a feature of the entire XS line?

DXR sure but not DLSS, that needs tensor cores which 16 -series lacks.

bug · Apr 10, 2019

jabbadap said:
DXR sure but not DLSS, that needs tensor cores which 16 -series lacks.

You're right, of course.

ltkAlpha · Apr 11, 2019

Okay, so it "could be quieter", it's the hottest running card out of all reviewed so far, it's power locked and has a plastic backplate (?!) and you give it an Editor's Choice Award, because it's ... cheap? Cool.

W1zzard · Apr 11, 2019

ltkAlpha said:
because it's ... cheap?

Yup.

Why do you want a metal backplate? What actual effect does 60°C vs 76°C have?

ltkAlpha · Apr 11, 2019

I don't care about backplates, unless they help w/ structural stability or thermals (in combination w/ thermal pads). A plastic one only helps with optics (arguably) and it actively worsens cooling, which in my book is a minus. The actual effect of better cooling would be minimal in practice, granted, but a fair way to summarize the particular result would be "the worst cooling of any 1660 we've tested despite the dual fan config", so again - a hardly a pro. So, the way I see it, you have a list of "adequate" marks on one side and only price on the other (and that matches MSRP, so "adequate" again, maybe?). I'd expect a part presented with an Editor's Choice award from a reputable tech site to delight in some way, whereas the model in question just passes muster, hence the comment.

Casecutter · Apr 11, 2019

ltkAlpha said:
Okay, so it "could be quieter", it's the hottest running card out of all reviewed so far, it's power locked and has a plastic backplate (?!) and you give it an Editor's Choice Award, because it's ... cheap? Cool.

No it's not cheap... well only in cost of components!

Sure it's 'Gussied up' and looks like something, but hardly a value! They give it a lubb of aluminum extrusion with one heat-pipe pinched into it, the PCB is as lackluster, as are the two fans and all that translate in to the ugliest load temps/fan noise by a huge margin. The 12 nm "TU116" silicon is a nice part, but MSI is skimping hard on value because they can.

At least the Zotac GTX 1660 Twin Fan 6 Gb has a real fin-stack 2 heat pipe cooler, what appear to be a more competent PCB, and run much cooler and less noise, all for $220. That got an Editors Choice this MSI Ventus isn't that.

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK
Cooling	AMD Wraith Prism
Memory	Team Group Dark Pro 8Pack Edition 3600Mhz CL16
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 FE
Storage	Kingston A2000 1TB + Seagate HDD workhorse
Display(s)	Samsung 50" QN94A Neo QLED
Case	Antec 1200
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus GX-850
Mouse	Razer Deathadder Chroma
Keyboard	Logitech UltraX
Software	Windows 11

System Name	Black Box
Processor	Intel Xeon E3-1260L v5
Motherboard	MSI E3 KRAIT Gaming v5
Cooling	Tt tower + 120mm Tt fan
Memory	G.Skill 16GB 3600 C18
Video Card(s)	Asus GTX 970 Mini
Storage	Kingston A2000 512Gb NVME
Display(s)	AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
Case	Corsair 450D High Air Flow.
Audio Device(s)	No need.
Power Supply	FSP Aurum 650W
Mouse	Yes
Keyboard	Of course
Software	W10 Pro 64 bit

System Name	natr0n-PC
Processor	Ryzen 5950x/5600x
Motherboard	B450 AORUS M
Cooling	EK AIO 360 - 6 fan action
Memory	Patriot - Viper Steel DDR4 (B-Die)(4x8GB)
Video Card(s)	EVGA 3070ti FTW
Storage	Various
Display(s)	PIXIO IPS 240Hz 1080P
Case	Thermaltake Level 20 VT
Audio Device(s)	LOXJIE D10 + Kinter Amp + 6 Bookshelf Speakers Sony+JVC+Sony
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III ARGB 80+ Gold 650W
Software	XP/7/8.1/10
Benchmark Scores	http://valid.x86.fr/79kuh6

Processor	Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard	Asus H670 TUF
Cooling	Arctic Freezer 34
Memory	2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage	500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s)	Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case	Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s)	Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply	Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse	Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard	G.Skill KM780R
Software	Arch Linux + Win10

MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ventus XS 6 GB

W1zzard

Administrator

Fluffmeister

jabbadap

Caring1

natr0n

letho

New Member

notb

bug

syrup

Caring1

kastriot

jabbadap

bug

ltkAlpha

W1zzard

Administrator

ltkAlpha

Casecutter

System Name	My PC
Processor	4670K@4.4GHz
Motherboard	Gryphon Z87
Cooling	CM 212
Memory	2x8GB+2x4GB @2400GHz
Video Card(s)	XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS Black Edition 1425MHz OC+, 8GB
Storage	Intel 530 SSD 480GB + Intel 510 SSD 120GB + 2x500GB hdd raid 1
Display(s)	HP envy 32 1440p
Case	CM Mastercase 5
Audio Device(s)	Sbz ZXR
Power Supply	Antec 620W
Mouse	G502
Keyboard	G910
Software	Win 10 pro

System Name	ROU-Think-Fast
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Motherboard	B550 AORUS PRO V2 (rev. 1.0)
Cooling	Custom (2 x Alphacool NexXxoS XT45, front/top, Alphacool Eisblock Aurora Acryl GPX-N RTX 3090/3080 )
Memory	4x8 GB Kingston Hyper X KHX3466C16D4/8GX (B-Die) @ 3600, C16-16-16-32
Video Card(s)	RTX 3080 10GB
Storage	ADATA SX8200 Pro 1 TB
Display(s)	Acer Predator XB271HU
Case	Fractal Design Meshify 2
Power Supply	EVGA 750W Gold