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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 review: Performance for the masses

By Koh Wanzi - 19 Jul 2016

Conclusion

Not quite a GeForce GTX 980, but a decent budget performer nonetheless

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060

The GeForce GTX 1060 is really just the logical conclusion to what NVIDIA has been doing with the rest of its Pascal series. The company effectively introduced new levels of performance at all-time-low price points, and it’s safe to say that its new cards are winners through and through.

In fact, the marketing pitch for the GeForce GTX 1060 closely parallels what NVIDIA did with the GeForce GTX 1070. Just as NVIDIA said the latter card would offer similar performance to the GeForce GTX Titan X, it trotted out the GeForce GTX 980 as a new yardstick for the GeForce GTX 1060.

The Titan X was the undisputed king of the last generation of cards, which meant it was also woefully out of the reach of many a buyer. Similarly, the GeForce GTX 980 reigned as the single-GPU king for a while, and at that point in time, the level of performance it offered was unthinkable in a mainstream card that a far larger swath of the market would be able to afford.

With the GeForce GTX 1060, a slice of that sort of performance is now available to the masses. We say a slice, because despite NVIDIA’s claims, its newest Pascal card doesn’t quite measure up to the GeForce GTX 980. It comes close, but it’s unfortunately not really there yet.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060

Having said that, we’re not going to be judging the card based on whether or not it lives up to NVIDIA’s claims. Taken on its own, the GeForce GTX 1060 delivers performance at a price that was just a dream only a year ago. In the way of competitors, the most obvious candidate is the AMD Radeon RX 480, and the two cards trade blows throughout our benchmarks.

But if we were to pick a winner, we’d have to give an edge to the AMD card because of the lead it takes in some of the newer games and the performance boost it nets in DirectX 12 mode. It also supports CrossFire, and while we thought that it wasn’t that wise of an investment, it’s still nice to see that the option is open. And to cap it all off, it’s also cheaper.

That’s not to say that the GeForce GTX 1060 is a bad card. It’s impressive what NVIDIA has done with the card, and all at the same 120 watt TDP as the vastly weaker GeForce GTX 960. Maybe it doesn't entirely out muscle the competition, but it is a huge step forward nonetheless.

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8.0
  • Performance 8
  • Features 9
  • Value 8.5
The Good
Has all the same features as the GeForce GTX 1070 and 1080
A huge step up from the GeForce GTX 960
Low power consumption and runs cool
The Bad
No support for SLI
Doesn't quite outperform the AMD Radeon RX 480 despite being more expensive
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