I am finding that there is a lot to like about the 20-series graphics cards, despite their rather lukewarm reception following the sensational 10-Series cards. Whilst they might not always beat their 10-series counterparts on raw performance, they do add very welcome gains in terms of refinement and the addition of GDDR6 VRAM. The 16 series cards in particular can be a great budget choice for HD gaming and the Super versions of both 16 and 20 series cards are just that, super. I haven’t worked on that many yet, but VRAM issues appear to be a theme on the 20-series.
GTX 1600 Cards
The 16-series cards are budget HD champions. If you liked the classic GTX 1060, then you should really like the 1660 range, the GTX 1660 Super is probably the sweet spot of the lineup! If you like the more budget GTX 1050 TI, the GTX 1650 and especially the Super version, will seem great too.
Example Resistances
- Vcore – 0.8Ω
- Vmem – 27.5Ω
- PEX – 15.1Ω
- 5V – 10.5KΩ
- 1.8V – 4.1KΩ
- 3.3V – 95KΩ
- 12V PCI – 2MΩ+, PCI-E 8 pin – 636KΩ
Cards Worked On
- MSI GTX 1660 Super (Suspected dead core, all voltages, PEX reset present, no BIOS activity, potentially a good scrap card)
- Gigabyte 1660 6Gb Super (Card A) (Not sure what’s wrong yet, have reflashed the BIOS, MATS passes, appears to crash on driver load, if it is the memory I am not sure how to confirm that, could be GPU or maybe VRM related? Have seen it crash to a blue screen)
- Gigabyte GTX 1660 Super OC (Card B) (REFURBISHED, WORKING– fitted replacement cooler, patched up physical damage to an inductor, new thermal pads and paste)
- HP GTX 1660 Super 6Gb L83322-001 (Likely SCRAP – has quite widespread PCB stretches and missing minor components)
- Zotac GTX 1650 4Gb Low Profile OC 4GB (Missing VMem, have a working similar card)
RTX 20XX Cards
These cards are lovely, with great speed and efficiency compared to earlier generations. These build further on the 16-series. Here again, the Super versions can be very close to the next model up in the case of the RTX 2060 Super and the RTX 2070. The RTX 2080 TI is some way ahead of the entire pack at the top of the range!
Example Resistances
- VCore – 0.5Ω
- VMem – 20Ω
- PEX – 10.7Ω
- 1.8V – 3.4KΩ
- 5V – 5KΩ
- 3.3V – High, KΩ++
- 12V – Very high, KΩ++
Cards Worked On
- MSI RTX 2080 VENTUS OC (No POST, not detected)
- MSI Ventus RTX 2070 8Gb (WORKING WITH ISSUE – I thought it was a lucky fix when I flashed the BIOS, it works very well in my main PC, but seemingly not on older chipset motherboards. I need to do more tests. Seemingly some kind of detection issue is present, also I notice the fan initially running fast for a second after powering the PC on. Could still be a BIOS chip issue.)
- ASUS RTX 270 SUPER (WORKING WITH ISSUE – Basically seems in excellent condition with box and warranty sticker intact. Has a seeming unusual issue that it’s fan remains at a fixed RPM of around 700. Hopefully something fixable, but expect it’s possibly more than a simple fan replacement)