The GTX 1060 has been the go-to GPU for midrange 1080p gaming, but does it hold up in 2018?
Howdy howdy guys, ponchato here, and today we’re taking a look at Nvidia’s GTX 1060
3GB graphics card.
The 1060 was released back in August of 2016 at a launch price of $199 USD.
It’s equipped with 1152 shaders and runs at a core clock of 1506 MHz.
The 3GB model, as the name implies, comes with 3GB of GDDR5 VRAM running at 2002MHz
on a 192 bit memory bus, giving it a total memory bandwidth of 192.2 GB/s.
The 1060 is rated for 3935 GFLOPS of floating point performance and has a TDP of 120W.
Because of that, Nvidia recommends a 400W power supply as the minimum and this card
does require a 6 pin PCIe power connector.
The specific model we’re looking at here is the Asus DUAL-GTX1060-03G.
This one comes with a dual fan cooler with two heat pipes and is just less than 10 inches
or 255 millimeters long – a fairly large card, but still short enough that it should
fit in most non-mini-ITX cases.
This one, like most 1060s, comes with one DVI, two HDMI, and two DisplayPort connections.
The test setup today is my Tank build with an i5-7500 and 8GB of DDR4-2400 memory.
Let’s get started with the benchmarks.
First up is Battlefield 1.
On low settings the 1060 averages 172FPS with 1% lows around 90 and 0.1% lows above 50 – stuttering
is rare and almost imperceptible.
Medium settings bring the average to 136 with lows around 80 and 60, high settings average
95 with lows at 64 and 45, and finally ultra settings drop it just a bit to 87 FPS average,
1% lows at 57, and 0.1% lows at 41.
If you’re aiming for 60FPS, the 1060 can easily handle ultra settings, and if you’re
on a 120 or 144Hz monitor, medium settings will work well.
Next is CS GO.
Low settings hit 292 FPS average with lows at 152 and 74, while medium settings average
274 with lows at 140 and 72.
Maxing the game out drops the average to 242 with lows at 88 and 30, though you’d be
hard pressed to notice stuttering in-game.
Low and medium settings are so close that I’m skeptical these are limited by the CPU
rather than the 1060.
Regardless, you can run the game on max and even a 240Hz monitor won’t be held back.
Though, if you have a 240Hz monitor you probably wouldn’t be using a 1060 to begin with.
Third in line is Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and I think this is the first time I’ve
been able to get more than 60FPS in this game.
On low settings, the 1060 averages 80FPS with lows at 50 and 32.
On medium the average stays above 60FPS with a slight dip in lows at 46 and 31.
High settings average 55 and have the strange effect of bringing up the 0.1% lows; 39 on
high vs 31 on medium.
Very high averages 47 with lows in the mid-30s and even ultra settings are playable; 39 FPS
average with lows at 28 in the 1% case and 22 in the 0.1%.
DXMD is still an extremely demanding game, but if you’re looking for reliable 60FPS
gameplay, the 1060 has you covered up to medium settings.
Fourth is GTA 5 and again we have the inescapable horrific-stuttering-on-low-settings glitch.
Average FPS is 123 but the game is totally unplayable due to extreme frame drops.
On medium settings though, things get better.
Average FPS stays around 110 while lows hit 74 and 56.
High settings average just under 100FPS with lows again in the low 70s and mid 50s.
The 1060 falls just short of being a good match for 120 and 144Hz monitors, but can
easily handle GTA 5 maxed out on a 60Hz monitor.
Next we’ll look at Just Cause 3.
On low settings the 1060 averages over 140FPS with lows at 65 and 54.
Medium settings average over 120FPS with lows around 50, and high settings average 86 FPS
with lows in the 40s.
I got to say I’m pretty impressed with this performance; the 1060 basically hits 144FPS
on low, 120FPS on medium, and well above 60FPS when maxed out.
That’s not bad.
Number 6 in the lineup is Overwatch.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the 1060 can basically mash this game since even
toasters can run it well.
Low settings run into the built-in 300FPS cap which can’t be bypassed, so the “real”
average would be somewhere north of 300.
Until you hit epic settings, there’s really not much to say since the averages are well
above 144FPS.
Even maxed out on epic, average FPS is still above 120FPS with 1% lows over 100, though
0.1% lows take a bit of a nosedive down to 77.
Though, it should be noted, 0.1% lows at 77FPS would be extremely difficult or just impossible
for most people to notice.
Even if you’re shooting for 120 or 144FPS, the 1060 can pretty much max out Overwatch.
PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds is up next.
Very low settings hit 141 FPS average with lows at 71 and 29, low settings average around
120 FPS, medium settings hit 106 FPS, high settings average just under 100 FPS, and finally
ultra settings drop performance quite a bit to 64FPS average, 42 FPS 1% lows, and 23 FPS
0.1% lows.
Maybe it’s unfair to say ultra settings drop it “quite a bit”; the 1060 still
averages over 60FPS on ultra.
It’ll even work for 120 or 144Hz gaming on very low or low settings.
Considering PUBG’s history of horrific optimization, these numbers are pretty dang good.
With PUBG 1.0 released just a little while ago, performance actually has gotten a lot
better from pre-release.
I’m also working on a full PUBG 1.0 benchmark for every current budget GPU with comparisons
to pre-release performance, so be sure to subscribe to see that.
The last game on the list is Rocket League.
It’s an e-sports title so big numbers abound: low settings average 366FPS, medium settings
hit 263, and high settings average 163 with 1% lows at 126 and even 0.1% lows at 107.
That’s means even if you’re using a 144Hz monitor, the GTX 1060 can max out Rocket League
and still have performance to spare.
Now to give a general feel for performance, we’ll look at the combined FPS averages
of the esports and non-esports titles.
First up, the esports average.
These numbers come from CS GO, Overwatch, and Rocket League at 1080p.
Low settings average over 300 FPS with lows around 210 and 140.
Medium settings average around 260FPS with lows around 180 and 150, and finally ultra
settings average 176 FPS with lows at 106 and 71.
Basically, the 1060 can max out esports titles with no trouble at all.
Next we’ll look at the non-esports averages.
These numbers are the combined results from Battlefield 1, Deus Ex, Just Cause 3, GTA
5, and PUBG.
On low settings, average FPS is 132 with lows in the mid-50s and mid-30s, though the lows
are thrown off a bit by GTA 5’s low settings quirk.
Medium settings average 108FPS with lows at 63 and 45, and high or ultra settings average
74FPS with lows at 49 and 37.
Based off this you can expect the 1060 to max out most games at 1080p and 60FPS, and
handle 120 or 144FPS on low-ish settings.
Now for power consumption and temperatures.
As usual I need to point out that comparing GPU temperatures is difficult because almost
every single graphics card uses a different cooler, but these results are good for a ballpark
estimate.
Temperatures were taken in a room at 24C, power was measured at the wall for the entire
test setup, and temperatures were allowed to stabilize for 15 minutes before being recorded.
Sitting idle at the desktop the GTX 1060 settled at 49C and drew 31W.
Under load with Unigine Valley the 1060 peaked at 77C and drew 161W – quite a bit more
than most other GPUs I’ve reviewed, but it’s also quite a bit faster.
One note on the idle temperature: the default fan curve allows the fans to completely turn
off, which is why the idle temperature was so high.
After setting my own fan curve and leaving the minimum speed at 25%, it idled at 37C
which was much closer to other GPUs I’ve benched.
It’s really just up to personal preference whether you want to do that.
I do want to make a quick note about this specific model: if you set the fan speed to
anything under 20% but above 0, it doesn’t maintain a constant speed.
Instead, it spins up and then slows down every second or so (depending on what speed percentage
you set) which is kind of annoying.
My guess is they screwed something up with the PWM controller, but the good news is it’s
an easy work around: just don’t set your fan curve to go below 20%.
Even at 25% speed the fans are only spinning at a few hundred RPM so they’re barely audible.
Now the part I like most: FPS per dollar.
These numbers are the combined average of all 8 games at 1080p and medium settings,
divided by the current market price for the GPU.
Just under 0.7 frames per dollar puts this a good bit under cheaper GPUs like the 1050
or RX 550, but if you need the performance the 1060 offers, your only other option is
an RX 580 which will cost you about twice as much.
With computer components, higher priced parts typically have worse price to performance
than their budget counterparts, and the GTX 1060 is no exception.
In its performance bracket however, the 1060 is actually a pretty good deal.
If you’re looking for a card that will basically max out any game at 1080p, Nvidia’s GTX
1060 is the cheapest and really, the best choice.
The next step up in performance would be a 1070, which go for around $500, and the next
cheapest competitor is the 1050 Ti, which is about 40% slower.
I’d like to see something like a 1060 Ti in the $300 range, which would be particularly
great for people running on 1440p setups, but we won’t see anything like that until
(maybe) the GTX 2000 series.
If you want to pick up a 1060 for yourself, click the link in the description.
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Thanks for watching, I hope I helped, and I’ll see you in the next video.