– The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 is also available with GP104 and GDDR5X. It shouldn't be faster and the test with an MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Armor confirms this. If anything, even the GDDR5 model is in the lead. Interested parties should therefore pay attention to other features – and to the competition from AMD.
GeForce GTX 1060 with GP104 and GDDR5X in the test
The graphics card first appeared on Nvidia's website. Then the rumors became more and more intense and finally the board partners announced the first models. We are talking about the GeForce GTX 1060 with GDDR5X memory instead of the classic GDDR5 VRAM. But that's not the only difference: Corresponding graphics cards rely on the GP104 instead of the GP106 GPU.
Different technology, same performance
This means that the “new” graphics card not only has the same memory as a GeForce GTX 1080 and a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. The computing core is actually one of the much faster representatives of its kind and is normally used on the GeForce GTX 1070 and GeForce GTX 1080. However, Nvidia is not interested in more performance at the end of the GeForce GTX 1060. Rather, inventories of corresponding GPUs and memory chips are reduced before there is no longer a market for the technology.
The potentially more powerful GPU and the potentially more powerful memory are therefore slowed down. So that the new GeForce GTX 1060 is not faster than the original, the GP104 GPU is trimmed to the level of the GP106 and the GDDR5X memory is operated with one exception only at the usual clock rate. In theory, the new GeForce GTX 1060 GDDR5X is just as fast as the old GeForce GTX 1060 GDDR5. Or can buyers of the graphics card, which recently fell significantly in price, benefit from it elsewhere?
A test of the MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Armor GDDR5X
To find out, BitcoinMinersHashrate invited the MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Armor GDDR5X to a comparison. And it actually runs extremely short. even if there is ultimately a small difference to the known variant. The next few pages go into more detail on this.
The system integrator Mifcom provided the MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Armor GDDR5X on loan.
The MSI GTX 1060 Armor GDDR5X in detail
There are currently six models of the GeForce GTX 1060 GDDR5X to be purchased separately from German retailers – but the tested MSI graphics card is not included. However, the available models from Gigabyte, KFA², Manli and Zotac hardly differ from this variant, they are primarily equipped with a different cooler. The graphics cards are sold from 220 euros. The buyer gets the AMP! from Zotac, in which the GDDR5X memory is overclocked – by 1,000 MHz to 5,000 MHz.
The MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Armor GDDR5X is based on the GeForce GTX 1070 Armor. Only when you remove the cooler will you discover that two memory chips with a total of 2 GB less are soldered. The PCB was otherwise only minimally adapted.
The graphics card is slightly overclocked
MSI specifies a base clock of 1,544 MHz for the GeForce GTX 1060 Armor GDDR5X, the turbo should be 1,746 MHz. This means that the graphics card is slightly overclocked, although the plus is not even 50 MHz. Since the GP104-GPU is configured exactly like the GP106 actually intended for the GeForce GTX 1060, the computing power is only slightly higher than that of the original. The 6,144 MB GDDR5X memory comes from Micron and works according to Nvidia's reference specifications at 4,000 MHz.
When it comes to power consumption, MSI gives the graphics card the same scope as Nvidia: it can draw 120 watts. The power consumption can be increased to 150 watts by manual intervention. An eight-pin and a six-pin power connector are required. This is completely exaggerated for this performance class and comes from the GeForce GTX 1080 Armor.
The fans stop on the Windows desktop
For the dual-slot cooler, MSI uses a very simple aluminum heat sink that dissipates the heat with the help of three heat pipes. Two axial fans with a diameter of 95 mm provide fresh air and stop at low temperatures for silent operation.
The MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Armor GDDR5X can control monitors using a dual-link DVI or HDMI connection or via three DisplayPorts.
On the next page: test system and test results
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