speaking, in games where the 1600
boasts higher fps figures, the 590 only
narrowly loses out. Both are capable
of hitting 60fps at 1440p, too, if you’re
willing to lower the graphical settings.
Variation between average fps and
minimum fps (in the 97th percentile)
differs between the cards, too. The 1660
varies by 47 percent on average, while
the 590 only varies by 39 percent, and
the 1060 by 37 percent, making them
both more stable than the 1660. This
could be written off as driver maturity,
however; the 1660 will likely perform
within tighter parameters once it’s
been around for a while. Overall, we
have to give it to the newer card.Performance
On average, the GTX 1660 is the best
card here, but only by a small margin.
Unsurprisingly, the 1060 doesn’t
perform too well, but it does the job.
Performance across our benchmark
games is very varied. The RX 590
dominates in some games, but lags
behind both GTX cards in others. This
is primarily due to AMD or Nvidia
preference from developers in game
design, and shouldn’t really be a factor
when deciding on a card—unless you
plan to only ever play one or two games.
The GTX 1060 lags behind in this
department due to its age, although the
RX 590 puts out reliable figures despite
its two-year-old architecture. BroadlyThe numbers don’t lie: Right now, the
GeForce GTX 1660 rules the roost
when it comes to 1080p gaming. Were
it not for the price drops on Nvidia’s
cards, though, we’d really consider
giving it to the RX 590. It’s a solid all-
arounder of a GPU, with a reasonable
price point. If you want to go with
Radeon right now, it’s definitely the
card we’d recommend for 1080p
gaming. We can’t really find it in our
hearts to recommend the poor GTX
1060, though—it’s a good unit, and if
you’re already rocking one, there’s
no real need to upgrade just yet, but
it can’t compete with the current
generation of $200 cards.
The 1660 isn’t a mind-blowing card
by any means, but if you’re looking for
mid-range gaming that won’t hurt
your wallet, it’s the best option right
now. If you’re using anything older
than a 970, it’s an excellent choice of
upgrade. However, with the first Navi
cards closer than we thought, it might
be best to weather the storm for a few
more months to see what AMD will
bring to the table. At this point, we
wouldn’t even rule out seeing
something like a Radeon 5600 in the
not-to-distant future. So, the 1660
wins—but watch this space, folks.And the
Winner Is...
ROUND 4
From left to right: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, Zotac Gaming
GeForce GTX 1660, and Sapphire Radeon Nitro+ RX 590.GTX 1660 6GB GTX 1060 6GB RX 590 8GBTom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Avg/Min fps) 62/42 57/45 69 / 53
Deux Ex: Mankind Divided (Avg/Min fps) 55/43 47/37 56 / 45
Far Cry 5 (Avg/Min fps) 82 /62 71/60 80/ 70
Grand Theft Auto 5 (Avg/Min fps) 64 /40 57/ 42 50/37
Middle Earth: Shadow of War (Avg/Min fps) 61 / 41 52/36 58/37
Metro Exodus (Avg/Min fps) 46 / 26 40/22 44/24
Total War: Warhammer II (Avg/Min fps) 65 / 49 60/48 56/44Best scores are in bold. Our test bed consists of an Intel Core i7-7800K, 16GB of G.Skill DDR4-3200, a Gigabyte
Z370 Aorus Gaming 7, and a 1TB Samsung 970 Evo M.2. All games are tested at their highest graphical profile with
AA turned on at 1080p. Figures provided are an average and a minimum (97th percentile) respectively.
Winner: GTX 1660maximumpc.com aug 2019 MAXIMUMPC 21