The GTX 1060 is NVIDIA’s response to AMD’s RX 480. Built on the 16nm GP106 Pascal architecture, it offers better performance compared to the previous gen $300 GPUs at a price point of close to $250. GIGABYTE has their own versions of the card, the G1 Gaming Edition and the Xtreme Gaming Edition, the latter being the company’s most powerful rendition with 6 GB VRAM and factory overclocks for both the base clock speed and the memory clock.
Tech Specs
| Chipset | GeForce GTX 1060 |
| Core Clock | Boost: 1873 MHz / Base: 1645 MHz in OC Mode Boost: 1847 MHz / Base: 1620 MHz in Gaming Mode |
| Process Technology | 16 nm |
| Memory Clock | OC mode: 8316 MHz Gaming Mode: 8164 MHz |
| Memory Size | 6 GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 192 bit |
| Card Bus | PCI-E 3.0 |
| Digital Max Resolution | 7680 x 4320 @ 60 Hz |
| Multi-view | 4 |
| Card Size | 59 x 281 x 137 mm |
| PCB Form | ATX |
| DirectX | 12 |
| OpenGL | 4.5 |
| Power Requirement | 400W |
| I/O | Standard Mode (Dual-link DVI-D x 1, DP 1.4 x 3, HDMI 2.0b x 1) VR Mode (DP x 3, HDMI x 3) |
The card looks exactly like the other GIGABYTE Xtreme Gaming GPUs, albeit a little shrunk down. It has a mostly black finish, with silver highlights and a logo in the middle. It has a metal backplate, which is black in colour as well. Though it’s a bit smaller than other Xtreme Gaming cards, you still need up to 3 slots in your system to plug it in.
The GTX 1060 Xtreme Gaming makes use of a triple slot, dual fan cooler to keep the temperature in check. The thermal solution consists of four heatpipes to keep it cool, accompanied by thermal plates on the backplate to ensure that the internal circuit stays protected. The standard GTX 1060 comes with a 6-pin power connector, but GIGABYTE upgraded it to an 8-pin in the Xtreme Gaming Edition to take care of the overclock.
It comes with a variety of display options to make sure you don’t run into problems. There are three DisplayPorts, one HDMI port and one DVI port on the main panel, while two additional HDMI ports are provided on the back. NVIDIA has updated the DisplayPort to 1.2 certified and 1.3,1.4 ready, which is able to support 4K @ 120 Hz and 5K @60 Hz or 8K @ 60 Hz with the use of two cables. The HDMI port is HDMI 2.0b compatible, which supports HD audio and blu-ray 3D movies. On the downside, it does not support SLI.
Benchmarks
Our benchmarks for the GTX 1060 Xtreme Gaming were based on realtime testing, including in-game tools to test the card’s performance in Directx 12 and Directx 11 on the latest games.
Running Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, we were able to run the game at the Ultra Preset. Here card performed quite well, providing an average framerate of 41.8 FPS on Directx 11 and 44.2 FPS on Directx 12.
The next title in line was Rise of the Tomb Raider. Again, running the game on ultra settings (Very High preset in the game), the GPU’s performance was more than satisfactory, with an average of 68.3 FPS on Directx 11 and 72 FPS on Directx 12.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt still proves to be a strong benchmark game with its vibrant open world, and the GTX 1060 Xtreme Gaming continued to impress us, with an average framerate of 58.1 FPS on the Ultra preset, with the Hairworks and Anti-aliasing turned off.
Finally, to test another open-world title, we ran Watch Dogs 2 on Ultra settings preset with Extra Detail at 0%. We got an average framerate of about 44.7 FPS, which is still quite great, as the game’s dynamic shadows, water effects and lighting can put a strain on the processing power.
One of the cool features that it offers is the automatic Fan Stop, which turns the fans off in the idle state and the LED indicator lights up to let you know that the fans aren’t spinning. This reduces the power consumption and makes sure the card runs silently. Even while gaming, the GPU doesn’t run relatively cool and silent.
The Verdict
The GIGABYTE GTX 1060 6GB Xtreme Gaming is a fully customized version of the GPU with factory overclocks that give you a performance boost right out of the box. The thermals are great and make sure the card doesn’t heat up, and the benchmarks speak for themselves. Whether you want to play games on the desktop or the VR, the GPU provides you multiple options to set up your gaming experience the way you want. At the price of about INR 25,000, it provides an incredible choice for gamers who want a high quality gaming experience, but do not have the budget for a GTX 1070.
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Darren Rodrigues
I’d like to know what the other specs of the system were. Would like to see some information on the temperature and overclocking abilities of the card. And also would prefer more benchmarks in games like Ashes of the Singularity, Assassin’s Creed Unity( due to the optimization issues), Crysis 3 (Don’t really need to say why), GTA V, DOOM and maybe even Battlefield 1 along with Overwatch. I know that’s too many games but I feel it would give a broader and better understanding of how the card performs.