Conclusion
Conclusion
Budget sometimes rocks, this one does totally. MSI likely didn't completely realize how good this one is :) At 249 USD you get a product that remains highly tweakable, thus performs well and remains near silent as well. Sure no backplate and LEDs etc are to be found here alongside less monitor connector. But this board has MSI DNA written in it, and at 249 USD is very attractive. The GTX 1060 series will be a hit, no doubt. Over the 960 the performance nearly doubled and a card like shown today with it's perf, cool temps, low noise and excellent power consumption at roughly 279 USD, well that's just terrific + you get to play your games with 6GB of graphics memory. Performance is a bit all over the place though, but seen in broader lines spot on with and/or above or on the GTX 980 performance level or the Radeon RX 480, which this product obviously is targeted against. And therein is a danger to be found. See at 1080P or even 1440P the Radeon RX 480 with 4 GB can be spotted for 199 USD already, and that definitely is a more attractive price for roughly similar performance (with exceptions here and there of course). Overall though we have to call both cards what they are, excellent value mainstream performance products. If for example you take the preceding GeForce GTX 960, well the 1060 in a lot of scenarios is almost twice as fast. So yeah, I really do like the price performance ratio of the GTX 1060 much better than what the GTX 1070 and 1080 offers at their sales prices. This GPU with GDDR5 memory at 8 Gbps still offers plenty of horsepower but also does that at low Wattage, we maxed out at roughly 135 Watts measured, and for this kind of game performance that is peachy-perfect my man (or women).
Aesthetics
Being budget you shave off quite some money, and that typically shows in design. Face it, this card does not look bad at all. Sure it does not have a TwinFrozr VI cooler and fancy LED system, but it still looks great. Neither does it come with a back-plate, but overall ... that's not a bad looking product for 249 USD eh ?
Cooling & Noise Levels
The reference design (founder editions) of the GeForce GTX 1060 is set at an offset threshold of just over 72 degrees C. Once the GPU gets warmer the card will clock down / lower its voltage etc to try and keep the card cooler, that's throttling and it part of the design. MSI however throws in a cooler that manages roughly 300 Watt cooling performance. It is a fairly good one, so good that up-to a degree or 60 on the GPU, this card remains passive and thus inaudible. Once the fans kick in, you can expect to hover at the 65~70 Degrees C marker, with seriously demanding games. Please do note that you always need proper ventilation inside your chassis to achieve that number. Expect sound pressure values in the 39~40 dBA range at max under load and warm circumstances. That's measured 75 CM away from the PC. This means you can hardly hear the card while using it.
Power Consumption
GP106-400-A1 Pascal GPUs are rated as having a 120 Watt TDP under full stress, our measurements show it to be a tiny bit higher at ~135 Watts, that still remains to be a very low value. Here again keep in mind we measure peak power consumption, the average power consumption is a good notch lower depending on GPU utilization. Also, if you plan to overclock the CPU/memory and/or GPU with added voltage, please do purchase a power supply with enough reserve.
Gaming Performance
A GeForce GTX 1060 is a near perfect product for Full HD gamers at 1920x1080/1200. However given the nature of its performance this actually is a pretty darn good WQHD (2560x1440) card as well. Not everybody requires or demands 100+ FPS and many people find that 40~60 average FPS is good enough, especially with a GSYNC monitor. For that last category the GeForce GTX 1060 is going to offer a tremendous amount of value as at WQHD you are indeed in the 40 to 60 FPS marker. For example DX12 Rise of the Tomb Raider at proper image quality settings is doing a 50+ FPS here. Total War Warhammer in DX12 also hovers at that same framerate marker. Tom Clancy's The Division still offers roughly 40 FPS there with wicked quality settings, so these I consider to be good numbers at 2560x1440 for a product that sits in the mid-range aka mainstream category. In short, for the money this is an excellent 1080P and a proper 1440P card that will often offer a nice 40~60 FPS experience at WQHD and proper image quality settings. It has plenty of muscle and has the graphics memory to deal with it (6 GB model), even with the best quality settings and some niche AA levels. Resolutions after 2560x1440 will obviously be more complicated.
Last Words
The card as tested today sells for 249 USD, and that is good value for money alright. In all fairness, we do like the GAMING X version better and that one is 279 USD. So you are looking at a 30 USD price difference. Compared towards Nvidia's own founders edition you are saving 50 bucks and you receive a faster, more silent product still including that nice 6 GB graphics memory partition. Excellent value for you money. You'll play your games up-to 2560x1440 with nice framerates and proper image quality settings. Obviously that 6 GB framebuffer helps out quite a bit and does make your graphics card a little more future proof. The new architecture proves its agility and the die shrink to 16 nm FinFET shows low power consumption due to lower voltages and obviously the high clock-speeds and that 8 Gbps GDDR5 memory offer the product that the GTX 1060 is. The GeForce GTX 1060 is a terrific choice for the ones that game in the 1920x1080 up-to 2560x1440 resolution domain. The card will tweak quite well, we however predict (once again) that any and all cards can achieve a ~2.0 GHz boost clock frequency and for the memory you should be reaching 9 Gbps (effective data-rate) quite easily as well. Here again I predict that all cards from any vendor are going to hover in the 2.0~2.1 GHz range max due to the limiters that Nvidia applies these days. For the bigger part they are in control of your tweak, not you. Still anno 2016 we have 120 Watt GPUs now passing the 2 GHz marker quite easily, and that is impressive at any level. MSI offers true value with the GTX 1060 6GT OC. Performance wise these cards are little gems, downright cure and at this price offer very good value in a cool looking yet silent package.
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