MSI GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X Review - Conclusion

Conclusion

MSi once again brings a fun card to the table, and this one doesn't break the back either. 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 theat 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 then 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 135~140 Watts measured, and for this kind of game performance that is peachy-perfect my man (or women).

Aesthetics

MSI tweaked the design a bit for the new Gaming X series, the more stylish TwinFrozr VI cooler looks serious and now comes with RGB LED lighting control as well as a LED array in the rear surrounding the fan. The design and cooler is obviously very similar to the GTX 1070/1080 Gaming X.  The top logo etc you can switch on/off or to any color and animation you prefer, the choice is yours. Cool dibs is that backplate, with opening at the proper areas (GPU/VRM) for venting. As you can see, I remain skeptical about backplates, they potentially can trap heat and thus warm up the PCB. But the flip-side is that they do look better and can protect your PCB and components from damage. Consumer demand is always decisive, and you guys clearly like graphics cards with backplates. Both the front IO plate and backplate are dark matte black which certainly gives the card that premium feel. All that combined with a nicely design 5 phase PCB again in matte black, and the end result is a lovely looking product.  

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 500 Watt  cooling performance. It is a really 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 Degrees C marker, with seriously demanding games. Please do note that you always need proper ventilation inside your chassis to achieve that number. MSI shaved off a good 5 Degrees C over reference. Noise wise, we can’t complain about cooling whatsoever. Expect sound pressure values in the 38 dBA range at max under load and warm circumstances. That's measured 75 CM away from the PC. This means you can barely hear the card while using it. Once overclocked with added voltage we always do recommend a little more fan RPM, this does increase noise a tiny bit, but it's nothing dramatic by any standard. Overall this is a very sound and rock solid cooling solution.

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 it's 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 FPSes 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 nice thing about the GTX 1060 GAMING X is that it is priced at 279 USD, which means it's even cheaper compared to Nvidia's own founders edition. So for 20 bucks less, you receive a faster product, a more silent product and a better cooled product that comes with RGB bling and a back-plate. Honestly we like that, including that nice 6 GB graphics memory partition. Excellent performance 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 2.0~2.1 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 something really nice here as the card comes with a decent enough factory tweak and is fitted with a totally silent Twinfrozr rev. 6 cooler that runs at very nice temperatures. All things combined we can surely recommend the MSI GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X edition as a product that should be on your short-list. Performance wise these cards are just downright lovely, plus they offer true value in a cool looking silent package.

 - H

Other Related reviews

• GeForce GTX 1060 FCAT Frametime Analysis
• GeForce GTX 1060 Founders edition review (reference)

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