The enthusiast market had their minds blown earlier this year with the reveals of both the GTX 1080 and 1070, but today Nvidia is talking about the more pertinent market of PC gamers. Mid-range performance is where the mainstream is always going to fall, and the likes of AMD’s RX 480 has already proven to be cards people are arguably more excited about. So by that logic the GTX 1060, which Nvidia are revealing today, should be just as entrancing, if not more.
Based on a different GP106 chip, the GTX 1060 is packing 1280 CUDA cores, 6GB of GDDR5 memory running at 8GBps over a 192-bit bus, and a boost clock of just over 1.7GHZ (which Nvidia is saying can easily be taken up to the same 2GHz levels as its bigger brothers). What this means on paper is that the GTX 1060 should be faster than once flagship GTX 980, while running with a low 120W TDP. Nvidia claims reviewers will find these results standing when reviews drop on July 19th.
Being a Pascal card the GTX 1060 will come packed with features too, including simultaneous multi-projection and Nvidia’s screenshot technology, Ansel (which is out with The Witcher 3 this month). Nvidia will also be launching their VR Funhouse demo this month on Steam, while opening up the source code to developers looking to create their own Nvidia enriched VR titles.
What it really comes down to here though is price, and this is where AMD is brought in. The more favourable RX 480 (the one with 8GB of GDDR5 memory) retails for $220. The GTX 1060 loses 2GB but boosts the clocks way further up, but comes in at around $249 (or $299 for the Nvidia Store exclusive Founder’s Edition). The RX 480 already tested around the same performance of the GTX 970, meaning that the GTX 1060 has a real chance to undercut it if it sticks to its promises. Just under $30 more for a jump in performance is something I think many would obviously choose.
We’ll have to wait until July 19th to see though, when Nvidia releases arguably their most important Pascal card to date to the market. We’ll have our very own review of the card ready and waiting for then.
Last Updated: July 7, 2016
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:05
This might be the card that moves me to team green
Ottokie
July 7, 2016 at 15:06
Only con is you can’t grill bacon on it.
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:10
That is a terrible con
Ottokie
July 7, 2016 at 15:12
it’s the price you pay for physx
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:13
Screw it, I’m getting it.
I’m super pissed about the RX480’s blunder
Greylingad[He Charges!]
July 7, 2016 at 15:15
It’s not so much a blunder, see, AMD won’t be able to beat this, the RX 480, with all of it’s power issues, is still a great card, this being a little more expensive, might turn out to be better though…
Alessandro Barbosa
July 7, 2016 at 15:17
I don’t know. I’d be mighty peeved if I had just bought a RX 480 and could’ve gotten more performance for just waiting a few weeks and paying R500 or so more (an estimate obviously)
Greylingad[He Charges!]
July 7, 2016 at 15:18
YES!! THIS!! This statement is exactly why I always wait to see what both AMD and nVidia have on offer, ALWAYS wait!
Raptor Rants
July 7, 2016 at 15:20
Yep
Ottokie
July 7, 2016 at 15:27
Just wait a little longer and see what MSi or Asus does too it.
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:39
Indeed, then going to get it at cost
Viper_ZA
July 7, 2016 at 15:36
It won’t disappoint
Deceased
July 8, 2016 at 07:20
Confirmed that the patch would fix it
Don’t be that guy – c’mon man 😐
( Even your disquss avatar is glorious red and black )
Mistake Not...
July 7, 2016 at 15:07
$249 = R3652
Add import, tax, corruption, crappy economy:
= I’ll stick with my PS4 for now.
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:10
I’ll get my supplier to get me this at cost
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
July 7, 2016 at 15:11
Not everyone has their own supplier
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:13
*has
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
July 7, 2016 at 15:14
I long for a day where disqus can show fixed comments without reloading the motherf*****g page
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:17
I’ve had it with this mf disqus on this mf site!
😛
Fox1 - Retro
July 7, 2016 at 15:44
Not much difference between supplier and Wootware prices these days unless you buying a truckload of cards 😛
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
July 7, 2016 at 15:48
I think he hijacks the truck
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:55
Shhhhhhhhhhh
Fox1 - Retro
July 7, 2016 at 16:00
Is his other name Jack?
Mistake Not...
July 7, 2016 at 15:12
Get me in touch!
Oh you mean graphics card. I thought you meant drugs…
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:13
Lol
chimera_85
July 8, 2016 at 13:53
Can we become friends? 🙂
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 8, 2016 at 15:10
Sure, will let you know what discount I get
Dane
July 7, 2016 at 15:10
Oh shit…
Raptor Rants
July 7, 2016 at 15:11
Wow
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
July 7, 2016 at 15:11
$249 O_o
Greylingad[He Charges!]
July 7, 2016 at 15:12
That’s insane…simply insane…To directly compare, the 970 is a 6k card, the 980, for long, was a 10k card, so in essence(working with the conversion and added taxes etc.), you’ll pay around 5-6k for a 10k card with 120W TDP
Raptor Rants
July 7, 2016 at 15:12
This does not sound good for AMD at all. If they can’t even compete in the mid range market they are in serious troubled water.
Yondaime
July 7, 2016 at 15:17
Flippit team read…..wtaf?! i was geared up for the rx 480…now look…
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:18
Dem feels dude. We backed the wrong horse
Jonah Cash
July 7, 2016 at 15:23
“We knowingly backed the wrong horse” *fixed
Yondaime
July 7, 2016 at 15:30
Noooo *Crying* I’ve always been team red, my current shit gcard is a team red card, I’ve grown to love them so much…..sigh damn you greener pastures!
Yondaime
July 7, 2016 at 15:31
TBH that horse was flying at the time
Fox1 - Retro
July 7, 2016 at 15:44
HAHA!
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:23
Donations for the Admiral Chief Team Green Conversion is now open
Raptor Rants
July 7, 2016 at 15:24
me first
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:40
You need to convert? LOL CLOSET TEAM RED!!!
Raptor Rants
July 7, 2016 at 15:24
I supported Team Green before Admiral thought it was cool.
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:40
Who said I think it is cool? 😛
Viper_ZA
July 7, 2016 at 15:44
At least it runs cool 😛
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:46
xD
Fox1 - Retro
July 7, 2016 at 15:46
But first you must become the GREEN in TEAM GREEN!
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
July 7, 2016 at 15:46
Well, in biking, I’m already team green
NIIIIIIIIIIINJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
HairyEwok
July 7, 2016 at 15:54
Yup, that’s the big seller right there for Nvidia. Competitive pricing at great performance.
Ghost In The Rift
July 7, 2016 at 18:00
Had my mind set on the 1060 considering the awesome performance i got from the 960, sorry team Red, not this time.
BacchusZA
July 7, 2016 at 19:13
I have a GTX 970 at the moment, which is a lovely card, and it’s obviously not worth getting one of these to replace it.
BUT.
How about getting one of these to *supplement* it, with that “mix’n’match” multi-GPU thing, under DX12?
I have an idea that when developers start putting out titles that support that feature, we’re going to see a lot of people who don’t see the new cards as enough of an upgrade to warrant replacing their existing cards, buy them to run alongside their existing 970-980, etc.
Or vice versa really, given you’d run the more powerful card as the primary one, but you know what I mean 😛
Deceased
July 8, 2016 at 07:26
Dunno what it’s like these days, but *back in my day* when I was still on team-green, you could only SLI the same GPU cards – so you’d only be able to match a GTX 8800 with another GTX 8800 ( aftermarket configuration obviously didn’t matter )
BacchusZA
July 8, 2016 at 08:28
It’s a feature of Dx12, though I’m not sure how it works. You can mix & match GPUs as you like, with the api splitting the load between the 2 cards, & you’re not limited to one manufacturer or series either. Have your Nvidea card running along with your built in mobo graphics chip, or have that RX 480 you just bought and your old GForce 760 working together.
We need to wait for developers to support it before well see titles taking advantage of it – Ashes of the Singularity is the only one I know of – but it sounds very promising
Matthew Holliday
July 8, 2016 at 12:51
mmm, Im not sure Id want to risk that just yet, you know how reliable new features can be.
AMD came out with an APU a few years back (some weird CPU which technically had a built in GPU, designed to run in tandem with your onboard GPU) and I could never get that shit working properly.
the onboard motherboard and the APU just wouldnt play nicely together.
even now, AMDs crossfire still isnt that great. a new more complicated thing just sounds too good to be true
The theory is great though, plug in new graphics card in tandem with your existing one, no matter the brand or series, and profit? winning.
ElimiNathan
July 8, 2016 at 09:22
If you sold your 970 for a couple grand and got one of these in theory you would be between 980 – 980Ti specs for a couple grand. I rate the upgrade would be worth it ? Might as well go for the 1070 though if you can
Shooter McGavin
July 7, 2016 at 22:08
If nvidia says it’s faster that means it’s slower.
chimera_85
July 8, 2016 at 13:53
But can it asynchronous compute?
Oh and can it run Crysis?