 Welcome to my unboxing and first look at the all-new GeForce GTX 660 from Nvidia. Now this is actually pretty different from the 660 Ti. In fact, they are even using different GPU cores. So let's get into what's special about MSI's Twin Frozr version of this card. This is an Osteed card. It has 2 gigs of memory, just like a GTX 660 Ti. It is PCI Express 3.0 ready, so this is using a Kepler GPU with all of the latest features from Nvidia. Full support for DirectX 11 and a 3-year warranty in US, Canada and Mexico only. Moving right along, we've got...well, what else does MSI have to say for themselves? MSI Afterburner is a fantastic utility. You should use it whether you have an MSI card or not. It's a great overclocking utility. They're using solid caps, although I don't see a military-class...any military-class branding on here. So they've at least got the solid caps going from their military-class concept. They're also using their new propeller blade fans. So these do generate more airflow than their, well, their previous generation fans. And multiple heat pipes, direct contact design, high-density heat sink. So they're talking a lot about the Twin Frozr cooler, which we will again look at more closely once we open it up. So let's just, you know what, let's dive right into it here because you guys want to see the card itself. You don't want to hear me talking about it. So Kepler. What is Kepler all about? Kepler is all about way better performance than Fermi with less power consumption than Fermi. And...well, yeah, I mean, do you need more than that? So the last generation cores were all based on the Fermi architecture, and now we have Kepler available for the masses. So Kepler started with the GTX 680, which brought all kinds of cool new features with its introduction, including their adaptive V-sync, which turns V-sync on when you need it and off when it's not going to be helping you, but rather hindering you, as well as new anti-aliasing modes. Phenomenal power consumption. I can't stress that enough. Compared to previous generation cards, you're going to need a less powerful power supply, which means instead of spending money on more wattage, you can spend money on better efficiency, which is actually going to save you money on your power bill. I mean, not a ton, especially if you live here in Canada, where power is relatively cheap. But if you're somewhere in Europe, for example, or in some parts of the US, it can actually make a difference. If you can have, you know, a slightly better gaming experience or a significantly better gaming experience, and save a few bucks a month on your power as well, and like, hey, why not, right? In terms of accessory, we have a quick user's guide. Well, yeah, see this? Download the latest version. Yeah, do that. We've also got a quick installation guide again. VVI to VGA adapter and a dual Molex to six pin PCIe connector. So here we go. Let's get into the card itself. There are the propeller blades. There's your twin frozer. You've got three heat pipes, so two smaller heat pipes, and then one big fat super pipe coming out directly over the GPU core. You can tell where the GPU core is, because you can see it on the back, and taking the heat as far away from the GPU itself as possible. So almost the entire card is covered in aluminum fins here. I'm going to go ahead and give you guys a pretty good view of it there. And then again, almost the entire card up to the end of the PCB here and up to almost the end of the PCB here is covered by these fans. So while this card doesn't have a full unisync, as we've seen on some previous MSI cards, where here, I'll try to give you guys a view of that, where all the memory chips are sometimes covered by a heat sink, by a heat spreader, it does have their rigidity enhancing piece. So I don't know what they're calling this, but the point is what it does is it keeps the weight of the card from weighing down on your slot and keeps the card from flexing and torquing like this against the PCI Express slot. So this little aluminum piece right here doesn't really contribute anything in the way of cooling, but it does make your card more stable in the slot, which can help, especially if you're buying a system. You might want to choose one of these so that it doesn't have a chance of breaking or destroying anything in the process of shipping. In terms of outputs, we've got more Kepler features. So dual DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort powers up to 3 plus 1. 3 plus 1? 3 plus 1? Ha ha ha. 3 plus 1 displays in surround gaming with a single auxiliary display. However, I would suggest that if you're going to run triple displays, especially at 1080p, you probably want to step up to its big brother, the 660 Ti, which is using a GK104 core, whereas this guy right here is using a GK106 core. Both the 660 and the 660 Ti are using 192-bit memory interfaces, which will not affect your performance that much, particularly on the 660 Ti compared to the 670, until you get into really high-resolution gaming or very large textures where it's really needing that fast data transfer on and off of the frame buffer, which you will get with a 670 or a 680. And I'll let you guys come have a look here, because you're going to see a fairly strange arrangement to the memory. So there's only four memory chips on the back, and what that... Here, compared to how many are on the front, it should be... Is there only four on the front, too? Oh, bizarre. So what Nvidia is doing in order to achieve a 2-gig frame buffer with only 192-bit memory bus, is they're doing some voodoo magic that allows them to actually mix and match the density of the memory modules... Not modules, of the memory chips that they're using on the card, so that they can get an even number, so a 1-gig, a 2-gig, or even, I guess, potentially a 4-gig frame buffer, if they come up with higher density chips for them, with a non-even memory bus width. So normally it'd be 128 or 256 in order to get an even memory amount, but they've gone with a 192-bit bus and an even memory amount. All the usual Nvidia technologies are supported, so you've got full support for SLI, although only 2-way SLI, there's only one SLI connector on the top of the card. You've also got support for 3D Vision, as well as Nvidia CUDA. PhysX is also supported, so all those new anti-aliasing technologies, TXAA, FXAA. And, oh right, power requirements. So I've talked a lot about how it's a low power requirement card. Only a single 6-pin PCIe connector is required for this card, and the performance does get pretty close to its bigger brother, the 660 Ti. So, what does it come down to? This is a great option if you're gaming at 1080p, although I'd say above 1080p, if you want to run on high details, it starts to become a less compelling option. You might want to step up to a 660 Ti. And... I think that pretty much covers it. Thank you for checking out our unboxing and first look at the GeForce GTX 660 from Nvidia, particularly the Twin Frozr edition from MSI. Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos.