GALAX GTX 1060 OC 6GB Graphics Card Review

 

With the immense success of the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 Pascal GPUs from NVIDIA, it seemed they would hold on to their midrange cards a bit longer but in a relatively bold move, they’ve announced their GTX 1060 midrange GPU hot off the heels of their high-end launch. The GTX 1060 is squarely placed in the center of the mainstream market and is directly being compared to the GTX 980 but with greater efficiency, temperatures and overall performance. That being said, NVIDIA does cut this card back a bit and we’ll take a look at a couple of the cards that came out fresh off GTX 1060 announcement.

ABOUT THE NVIDIA GTX 1060

The GTX 1060 is based on the same Pascal architecture as the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 but utilizes a newer GP106 GPU on the same 16nm FinFET process. All the Pascal features are also in this card with the GTX 1060 utilizing 1280 CUDA cores running with a base clock of 1506Mhz and can boost up to 1708Mhz. Memory runs at 8Ghz and is wired to a 192-bit bus with a total of 6GB. A 3GB variant is also available but that is a different specsheet altogether.

The GTX 1060 6GB requires a single 6-pin power connector and has no SLI support.

ABOUT THE GALAX GTX 1060 OC

The GALAX GTX 1060 OC sits below the EXOC line and serves as the entry-level offering from GALAX featuring a more conservative feature set to be more accessible to users. It features heatpipes that run through aluminium heatsinks cooled by two 80mm fans

The GALAX GTX 1060 OC  comes out of the factory with slightly increased clock speeds. The GALAX GTX 1060 OC runs with a core clock of 1518Mhz and boost clock of 1733 MHz. The GALAX GTX 1060 OC requires a single PCI-e 6-pin power connector.

Official product page

[section label=”Product Gallery”]

Product Gallery – GALAX GTX 1060 OC

[section label=”Performance Testing”]

PERFORMANCE

Test Setup

Processor: Intel Core i7 6700K
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Ranger
Memory: Kingston HyperX SAVAGE DDR4-3000 16GB
Storage: Intel SSD 750 NVME U.2 SSD
PSU: Thermaltake ToughPower Grand 1000w Gold
Cooling: Thermaltake Water 3.0 Riings 360mm
Monitor: ASUS PG27AQ UHD Monitor
VGA: GALAX GTX 1060 OC

For a full-hardware workout, visit http://www.futuremark.com for our benchmarks of choice.

For benchmarking methodology please see our game benchmark method guide.

Driver: NVIDIA GeForce 372.54, AMD Crimson 16.7.3
Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit

Frame rates and frame times of a 60-second game play were recorded using FRAPS v3.5.99. The test results are the average of 3 benchmark runs. Since this is a GPU review, we benchmarked the area of the games that put heavy load on the GPU.

All our test runs are repeatable, click the links below for area and details. Read our benchmarking methodology.

• Crysis 3 – Post Human
• Grand Theft Auto V – Palomino Highlands
• The Witcher 3 – Woesong Bridge
• Rise of the Tomb Raider – Valley Farmstead
• DOTA2 – Shanghai Major Finals, Game 2, Team Secret vs Team Liquid (23:45 – 24:45)

See our Youtube playlist for benchmark sequences.

The games and corresponding image quality settings used are shown below:

[accordions ] [accordion title=”Game Detail Settings” load=”hide”]

Crysis 3

Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Texture Resolution: Very High
Anti-aliasing: SMAA 2Tx
System Spec: Very High
Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
Motion Blur: Disabled

Grand Theft Auto V

Resolution: 1920 x 1080
FXAA Off
MSAA 4x
TXAA Off
Very High settings
Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
Motion Blur disabled
Advanced Graphics enabled

The Witcher 3

Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Frame Rate: Unlimited
Nvidia HairWorks: Off
Ultra Settings
Motion Blur: Off
Blur: Off
Anti-aliasing: On
Bloom: On
Sharpening: High
Ambient Occlusion: SSAO
Depth of Field: On
Chromatic Aberration: Off
Vignetting: On
Light Shafts: On

Rise of the Tomb Raider

DirectX11
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Anti-aliasing: FXAA
Very High settings
Ambient Occlusion: On
Pure Hair: On
Vignette Blur: Off
Motion Blur: Off
Bloom: On
Tessellation: On
Screen Space Reflections: On
Lens Flares: On
Film Grain: Off

DOTA2

DirectX9 (default)
Resolution: 1920×1080
Best-Looking slider setting (non-Ultra)
FPS_MAX 240
Vsync OFF

[/accordion] [/accordions]

Note: Some proprietary technologies of NVIDIA like PCSS, HBAO+, and HairWorks work on AMD GPU’s but we decided not to use them.

[tabs] [tab title=”Rise of the Tomb Raider”]

Rise of the Tomb Raider

The reboot of the gaming phenomenon Tomb Raider puts players in Lara Croft’s hiking boots as we pick-up from the last game. Featuring upgraded graphics, DX12 support and new image quality improvements, this game challenges new hardware with its graphical offering.

[/tab] [tab title=”The Witcher 3″]

The Witcher 3

CD Projekt Red’s latest installment in the Witcher saga features one of the most graphically intense offering the company has to date. As Geralt of Rivia, slay monsters, beasts and men as you unravel the mysteries of your past. Vast worlds and lush sceneries make this game a visual feast and promises to make any system crawl at its highest settings.

[/tab] [tab title=”DOTA2″]

DOTA 2

The most popular game on Steam and the biggest competition in eSports; DOTA 2 is powered by the Source 2 engine. The game is fairly light on low to medium settings but maxed out with heavy action on screen especially during clashes can really stress most systems especially with Reborn update. This is a game where frame times matter as responsiveness is very important in high-stakes competition.

[/tab] [tab title=”Grand Theft Auto V”]

Grand Theft Auto V

The fifth and most successful installment to date in the highly controversial Grand Theft Auto series brings a graphical overhaul to the PC version of GTA V which many have lauded as a superior approach in porting a console game to PC. Featuring large areas and detailing, GTA V is a highly challenging application in terms of scene complexity.

[/tab] [tab title=”Crysis 3″]

Crysis 3

The most visually intense game to have ever been made during its time. Prophet is back to take on the Ceph and Cell after a long sleep and the world isn’t what it was when before he got frozen. CryEngine 3 is behind this beautiful beast that will put a lot of systems to their knees. The opening level shows off the exquisite particle and water rendering of the engine capable of still giving modern GPUs a workout to this day.

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For comparison with the AMD RX 480, see our comparison of the 1080p performance of the AMD RX 480 against a GeForce GTX 1060.

More GTX 1060 vs RX 480 comparison in our previous GTX 1060 review.

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TEMPERATURE & POWER CONSUMPTION

To measure both power consumption and heat, we stress the video card and record the peak values for heat and wattage. We use default values on the cards and stress test them using 3DMark FireStrike Ultra in 20 loops to simulate gaming loads and this is where we also base our power draw. System power draw is measured from the socket.

As with most Pascal cards, the GTX 1060 has a very high efficiency rating making it cooler than most cards and draws less power in general. With the relatively lighter cooler solution, its expected the card performs just around the same class of products with a peak temp of just above 70*C. The fans don’t stop spinning even in idle hence the lower temps during zero-loading. Power consumption is definitely great with this card peaking at just below 140W at load.

[section label=”Conclusion”]

CONCLUSION

Let’s break down the verdict:

Performance. The GTX 1060 is a mid-range card and offers the performance that NVIDIA thinks sits well within the current mainstream market. It delivers very decent 1080p performance and if you could settle for lower graphic details, it looks like it can do 1440p easily as well in some lighter games. The GTX 1060 does lack the ability to scale its performance having no support for SLI.

Build Quality. For a brand with two names, its hard to actually pin GALAX to what people prefer to call them but in this side of the planet and without legality concerns, they are GALAX and we’ve seen their products before and we’re liking the stand that the company is taking in their design, taking a more targeted approach for various segments with their high-end HoF series really standing out but still having a very competitive price point. The same can be said with the GALAX GTX 1060 OC with its essentials-focused design targeting adequate cooling to keep a balance of price, quality and performance.

Functionality. The GTX 1060 is squarely aimed at 1080p gaming and while it can also do VR or higher resolutions, its lack of SLI support means its meant to be a single card solution for people that want a high-performance GPU for relatively mainstream gaming: eSport titles as well as MMORPGs, etc. should sit right with the GTX 1060 together with the obviously decent performance in modern games at 1080p.  

Bundle. Check with the brand regularly during purchase to see what promotion they are running. NVIDIA also may have promos ongoing. As of this moment, no promotion is active.

Value. The GTX 1060 was announced with an AIB starting price point of $249 and this version of the GALAX GTX 1060 OC is expected to have a price close to that.

The NVIDIA GTX 1060 is intended to be the successor of the GTX 980. NVIDIA intently markets it as such but with only a 120w power draw. That kind of efficiency as well performance and price make it a no-brainer for anyone still thinking about getting a GTX 970 or GTX 980 when prices drop to reconsider as the GTX 1060 will easily squash those cards, not to mention possible heavily overclocked models. As with most Pascal cards right now though, prices vary heavily per region and that could still sway some users to opt for other options.

Overall, the GALAX GTX 1060 OC is a nice entry into the GTX 1060 landscape prioritizing essentials to bring a great GTX 1060 experience all in a relatively traditional form-factor making it accessible to large audience. For anyone looking for a quick upgrade for improved gaming experience, the GALAX GTX 1060 OC’s neutral color scheme, light package, great build and hopefully good price make it a compelling option for an affordable graphics card upgrade.

Prices:

• GALAX GTX 1060 EXOC 6GB 192 Bit DDR5 – Php15,175
• GALAX GTX 1060 EXOC WHITE 6GB 192 Bit DDR5 – Php15,295

We give the GALAX GTX 1060 OC our B2G Recommended Award!

[section label=”Award”]