As NVIDIA has mentioned that the GTX 1060 Founders Edition will not be available in the Malaysian market, AIB partner’s like ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Zotac, etc will be offering their own design of the GeForce GTX 1060 instead.
The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 G1 Gaming is one of the GTX 1060 you’ll find here in the Malaysian market and with no further adieu, let’s see what kind of performance we can expect from the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 G1 Gaming!
(The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 G1 Gaming 6G retails at RM1469)
Specifications
Graphics Processing | GeForce® GTX 1060 |
Core Clock | Boost: 1847 MHz/ Base: 1620 MHz in OC Mode Boost: 1809 MHz/ Base: 1594 MHz in Gaming |
Process Technology | 16 nm |
Memory Clock | 8008 MHz |
Memory Size | 6 GB |
Memory Type | GDDR5 |
Memory Bus | 192 bit |
Card Bus | PCI-E 3.0 x 16 |
Output | Dual-link DVI-D *1 HDMI-2.0b*1 (Max Resolution: 4096×2160 @60 Hz) Display Port-1.4 *3 (Max Resolution: 7680×4320 @60 Hz) |
Digital max resolution | 7680×4320 |
Multi-view | 4 |
Card size | H=40 L=278 W=114 mm |
PCB Form | ATX |
DirectX | 12 |
OpenGL | 4.5 |
Recommended PSU | 400W |
Power Connectors | 8 pin*1 |
Unboxing
The new G1 Gaming packaging has a much more distinguished appearance compared to how it used to look when Gigabyte first announces the branding. Prominent features such as Gigabyte’s signature WINDFORCE cooling technology, GPU Gauntlet Sorting, 16.8M customizable RGB lighting can be found at the back of the box.
The content of the box, a user’s guide, drivers CD and of course, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 G1 Gaming 6GB graphics card.
Just like the high-end GTX 1080 G1 Gaming, the GTX 1060 G1 Gaming comes with a much more distinguishable orange stripes on the new cooler design instead of being just plain black like the GTX 970 G1 Gaming we’ve reviewed in the past when Gigabyte first announced its G1 Gaming brand. While the GTX 1060 Founders Edition comes with a shorter PCB design, Gigabyte like most of the AIB partners would do, offers the GTX 1060 G1 Gaming as a full-length dual-slot graphics card withits own PCB design.
The fan blade retains the striped design from the past G1 Gaming graphics card that greatly reduce the fan noise, Gigabyte has further enhanced the fan blade design which boasts a 23% improved air flow compared to the older design.
The LED on the side of the shroud is now RGB and it can be customized using the Gigabyte Xtreme Engine software and theGigabyte has also added a ‘Fan Stop’ LED indicator at the side of the shroud to alert the user when the fan isn’t spinning without having to go through the trouble of removing the side panels just to check on the status of the cooler fans.
Unlike the GTX 1060 Founders Edition that comes with a 6-pin PCIe power connector, the GTX 1060 G1 Gaming comes with an 8-pin PCIe power connector to deliver the supposed required power according to Gigabyte’s own design for the Pascal GP106 GPU.
The metal backplate has been very common on higher end graphics card nowadays, acting as both added plus to the aesthetics, as well as an enhancement to the graphics card rigidity, preventing the PCB from sagging over time.
We’ve already experienced the GTX 1060 Founders Edition in the past and it’s really a shame that it doesn’t supports SLI. Given that it’s already a very capable graphics card (GTX 980 equivalent), just imagine what it can do if it comes with SLI support.
The display output option is pretty common nowadays, 1 x DVI-I connector, 3 x DisplayPort and 1 x HDMI port.
Performance Test
Test Rig Configuration | |
CPU Cooler | Raijintek Triton 240 |
CPU | Intel Core i7 4790K @4.6GHz |
Motherboard | ASUS Maximus Hero VII |
Memory | G.Skill TridentX 2400MHz |
Primary Hard Drive | Intel 520 SEries 240GB |
Power Supply | Be Quiet! Straight Power 10 600W |
Chassis | Vector Bench case |
We mounted the Gigabyte GTX 1060 G1 Gaming on our test bench as above and each and every benchmark is conducted in a room of about 30C° ambient temperature.
Performance
We ran a few graphically demanding games and synthetic benchmarks in our possession on a selected settings at 1080p, which is considered as high for much of our test as usual.The final result of each benchmark is presented in the form of the graph below:
Overclocking
We ran the same graphically demanding games and synthetic benchmark on 1080p with the highest achievable clock speed for both its memory and GPU that is stable enough to be able to complete each benchmark with the following values:
We ran the same graphically demanding games and synthetic benchmark on 1080p with the highest achievable clock speed for both its memory and GPU that is stable enough to be able to complete each benchmark with the following values:
- 112MHz raise on the GPU core clock
- 522MHz raise on the memory clock
- Extra 11% gain on the power
That’s not much gain in terms of overclocking compared to NVIDIA’s reference design GTX 1060, but we’re able to achieve 2091MHz clock speed during our benchmark session as the highest clock that is stable enough to complete all the tests without any issue.
Performance Comparison With NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition
We’ve done a performance comparison with a Founders Edition of the GeForce GTX 1060 and the result of the clash between the two beast cards is as following:
Temperature
Temperature wise, we’ve observed temperature record of 42°C during idle and 67°C on load, which turns out to be quite impressive. The loading temperature can be further lowered to 62°C if one would prefer better cooling performance by sacrificing the acoustic performance.
Verdict
Performance wise, the GeForce GTX 1060 G1 Gaming performed just as good as a Maxwell GPU based GTX 980 (or better in some titles) and is capable of handling most of the AAA titles at 60fps with ease without needing to overclock the card – well, that is except for the GPU killer of all time, Crysis 3. A slight extra performance can still be extracted of course, by pushing the GPU boost clock to 2091MHz with an extra 112MHz to the GPU. While most of the GeForce GTX 10 Series card we’ve tested were able to go above the 2000MHz GPU clock mark, these Pascal GPUs aren’t exactly performing at its best due to the NVIDIA Green Light program which has been going on for years. Custom BIOS of the GeForce GTX 1080 that offers higher overlocking headroom has made it appearance in the enthusiasts community forum and we’re looking forward to see a custom BIOS for the GeForce GTX 1060.
Price wise, the GeForce GTX 1060 G1 Gaming comes with a MSRP of RM1469, which is slightly expensive than most GTX 1060 that falls under RM1400. That money you’re paying of course, isn’t just about the G1 Gaming brand, but also a solid build quality (metal shroud and metal backplate), good cooling performance with very silent operation even when the fan runs at maximum speed and last but not least, higher GPU clock compared to most of its competitor’s GTX 1060.
Pros
- Combination of both aesthetics
- Solid build quality, comes with metal backplate for enhanced rigidity
- Decent overclocking headroom
- Good cooling performance, ultra silent operation
- Low power requirement
- Supports NVIDIA’s Ansel and other NVIDIA’s exclusive features
Cons
- Lack of SLI support
