GeForce GTX 1060

Released July 2016

A 2016 Pascal graphics card originally sold with 6 GB of GDDR5, followed by a reduced-core 3 GB model and later memory revisions.

Memory: 6 GB or 3 GB
Shaders: 1,280 or 1,152
Boost clock: 1,708 MHz or –
Bandwidth: 192 GB/s or –
Power: 120 W or –

What reviewers say

Reviewers find the original 6 GB Founders Edition well suited to 1080p, with a large improvement over older midrange cards and modest power requirements. All flag the lack of SLI; PCWorld finds the Radeon RX 480 better value, while TechRadar criticises the Founders Edition premium. These assessments do not cover the 3 GB or later memory revisions.

From pcgamer.com, techradar.com, techradar.com, techradar.com and pcworld.com

Specifications

Report a wrong or missing spec

Performance

Chip maker: NVIDIA
Architecture: Pascal
Shader cores: 1,280 or 1,152
Boost clock: 1,708 MHz or –
Architecture: Main figures and photo describe the original 6 GB Founders Edition. The 3 GB card has 1152 CUDA cores rather than 1280. Later 9 Gbps GDDR5 and GDDR5X cards were partner designs; unpublished general revision figures remain blank in their configurations.
Manufacturing process: 16 nm FinFET (original GP106)
Ray tracing: No dedicated RT Cores
AI cores: No Tensor Cores
Upscaling and frame generation: No NVIDIA DLSS
Base clock: 1506 MHz base and 1708 MHz boost for the original 6 GB and stock-clock 3 GB cards. MSI GAMING X+ 6G (9 Gbps GDDR5) has 1708 MHz boost in Silent Mode, 1784 MHz Gaming Mode and 1809 MHz OC Mode. MSI ARMOR 6GD5X OC specifies 1544 MHz base and 1759 MHz boost; these factory OC figures are not assigned to every GDDR5X card.
Cache: 1536 KB L2 cache (original GP106)

Memory

Video memory: 6 GB GDDR5, 3 GB GDDR5 or 6 GB GDDR5X
Memory bus: 192-bit
Memory bandwidth: 192 GB/s or –
Memory detail: Original 6 GB and 3 GB cards have 8 Gbps GDDR5, 192-bit bus and 192 GB/s bandwidth. NVIDIA confirms the later 9 Gbps GDDR5 refresh; MSI GAMING X+ lists 9026 MHz Gaming/Silent and 9126 MHz OC memory speed. MSI ARMOR 6GD5X OC verifies 6 GB GDDR5X, 192-bit bus and 8008 MHz memory speed, but publishes no bandwidth figure. Later revisions' first-sale dates are unverified.

Connections and power

Board power: 120 W or –
Interface: PCIe 3.0
Display outputs: Original Founders Edition has 3 × DisplayPort 1.3/1.4, HDMI 2.0b and dual-link DVI; partner outputs vary
Maximum resolution: 7680 × 4320 (PNY stock 3 GB specification)
Power connector: 1 × PCIe 6-pin on the original Founders Edition and stock PNY 3 GB; MSI GAMING X+ uses 1 × 8-pin, and MSI ARMOR GDDR5X OC uses 1 × 8-pin plus 1 × 6-pin
Recommended power supply: 400 W (PNY stock 3 GB, MSI GAMING X+ and MSI ARMOR GDDR5X OC)
Slot width: 2-slot original Founders Edition; partner cards vary

Versions

Version	Memory	Shaders	Boost clock	Memory bus	Bandwidth	Board power
6 GB GDDR5 (8 Gbps)	6 GB GDDR5	1,280	1,708 MHz	192-bit	192 GB/s	120 W
3 GB GDDR5	3 GB GDDR5	1,152	1,708 MHz	192-bit	192 GB/s	120 W
6 GB GDDR5 (9 Gbps)	6 GB GDDR5	1,280	–	192-bit	–	–
6 GB GDDR5X	6 GB GDDR5X	1,280	–	192-bit	–	–

Pros and cons

Pros

120 W power rating on the original 6 GB card
Single 6-pin power connector on the original Founders Edition
6 GB configurations alongside the lower-memory 3 GB version

Cons

No dedicated ray tracing or Tensor Cores
No DLSS or hardware AV1 encoding
No SLI support

Closest rivals

Model	Memory	Shaders	Boost clock	Bandwidth	Power	Released
NVIDIAGeForce GTX 1660 SUPER	6 GB	1,408	1,785 MHz	336 GB/s	125 W	Oct 2019
NVIDIAGeForce GTX 1070	8 GB	1,920	1,683 MHz	–	150 W	Jun 2016
NVIDIAGeForce GTX 1660 Ti	6 GB	1,536	1,770 MHz	–	120 W	Feb 2019

Newer model: GeForce GTX 1660 Ti.

Sources

Photo: nvidia.com

Founders Edition reference card, front three-quarter view: nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/geforce/news/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060/GeF…

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