Weird product from Nvidia. Idk who is this made for... Nevertheless good review, HH.

Okay at 1080 but yeah don't really get this card TBH. Someone will by it thinking that it is just as fast as the 6GB version and I find that disingenuous.

Weird product from Nvidia. Idk who is this made for... Nevertheless good review, HH.

for people that play small game at 1080, it's 250 Euro less than the GTX 1070 that is useless at 1080 and only 10Euro more in shop than GTX960 2g that is a bit limited for the exercise... bang for buck 🙂 i was waiting this review to see if i take the 6g or the 3g for updating my GF computer. THX a lot Hilbert

Just to clarify - this isn't just a 3GB VRAM difference. Stuff like CUDA cores and shader units are slightly cut back too, which explains why this GPU's performance still suffers even at 1080p resolutions. If the only spec that changed was the amount of VRAM, I suspect this GPU would perform just about equal with the 6GB model (in 1080p games). Nvidia's memory compression is pretty decent.

Weird product from Nvidia. Idk who is this made for... Nevertheless good review, HH.

A+ post, very constructive. Like amd's lineup makes any sense. 4gb/8gb 470s and 480s. They should have made the 470 4gb and 480 8gb. But all we see is your praise for amd and troll posts in nv sections. 3GB card is plenty for lower resolutions. Don't see how that is hard to understand

Like amd's lineup makes any sense. 4gb/8gb 470s and 480s. They should have made the 470 4gb and 480 8gb. understand

AMD don`t have 8GB rx470. Reference build have only 4GB version. 8GB versions are only from AiB manufacturers. Still I believe 8GB is to much for 470 and they only made in to tax more money for that extra mem. 1060 3GB is not bad card. Performance is somewhere ~480. What is bad with that card is naming. Less informed buyers will think that they buying the same card as 1060 6GB but will less memory, but in reality they baying different product. NV should call it 1050 or 1060 and 6GB version should be 1060Ti

Nice review as always! But I have to ask, on Hitman's 1080p graph, there are two MSI GTX 1060 GAMING X (3GB), one at 66 and other at 52 fps I take it the 52 fps is probably the correct one, but where's the 66 fps from? On the card itself... I find it weird. I don't know, but an X, a Ti, a 1050 Ti, something to let the more oblivious consumers know there's more difference than just the 3gb of vram? Anyhow... My 280x is feeling it's age, and heck, even those 3gb are also showing they are not really enough for 1080p, but I just might wait what AMD will bring to the table later this year, as price wise, if it is as disruptive as I trully expect Vega to be, prices should drop a bit.

Anyhow... My 280x is feeling it's age, and heck, even those 3gb are also showing they are not really enough for 1080p, but I just might wait what AMD will bring to the table later this year, as price wise, if it is as disruptive as I trully expect Vega to be, prices should drop a bit.

Meh.. the 1060 is better than the 280X/380X, but I wouldn't consider it good enough to upgrade to. Maybe the 6GB model would be worth it, but I gather you're on a budget. If your motherboard supports crossfire, I think getting a 2nd 280X is a better choice. Otherwise, I'd get something better or just wait.

DX12: Ashes Of The Singularity Benchmark 3GB version faster than the 6GB version, or there were some improvements in the drivers or something is wrong there

Nice review as always! But I have to ask, on Hitman's 1080p graph, there are two MSI GTX 1060 GAMING X (3GB), one at 66 and other at 52 fps I take it the 52 fps is probably the correct one, but where's the 66 fps from?

Cheers, fixed.

A+ post, very constructive. Like amd's lineup makes any sense. 4gb/8gb 470s and 480s. They should have made the 470 4gb and 480 8gb. But all we see is your praise for amd and troll posts in nv sections. 3GB card is plenty for lower resolutions. Don't see how that is hard to understand

Atleast there is more options when it comes to 470's and 480's. You are forgeting that i have 3GB card and its not enough. Its sad having to reduce texture settings in most new games even at 1080p.

wow 3 gig well thats future proofing right their.

I See witcher 3 test arnt in reviews of the last few reviews how come?

This card saves you $50 (not $30) over the 6GB version and the difference at 1080p and 1440p with all the games tested was rather small. Given that, I would say this is an excellent value so long as you are playing at 1080p or 2560x1440.

mmmm

This card saves you $50 (not $30) over the 6GB version and the difference at 1080p and 1440p with all the games tested was rather small. Given that, I would say this is an excellent value so long as you are playing at 1080p or 2560x1440.

8 less texture units. 128 less cuda cores. .5 tflops slower Its not just less memory its less of all above. This card should never off been called a 1060 its pure marketing designed to confuse people. Why that is i dont know.

This card saves you $50 (not $30) over the 6GB version and the difference at 1080p and 1440p with all the games tested was rather small. Given that, I would say this is an excellent value so long as you are playing at 1080p or 2560x1440.

Rise of the Tomb Raider shows a ~10% different. Hitman shows a ~20% difference. That's not a small difference..... 20% is a rather large performance hit.

Meh.. the 1060 is better than the 280X/380X, but I wouldn't consider it good enough to upgrade to. Maybe the 6GB model would be worth it, but I gather you're on a budget. If your motherboard supports crossfire, I think getting a 2nd 280X is a better choice. Otherwise, I'd get something better or just wait.

Yeah, I like it that Hilbert keeps my 280x on some graphs, so I can still see what exactly would be the pros/cons of every upgrade. I was thinking on a 1070, but I'm waiting for whatever AMD brings to the table, hopefully it will bring down those prices a little bit. I realize there IS a need for at least two manufacturers to keep prices at a reasonable level, that and the whole performance increase (thanks Intel!), so hopefully by late 2016 early 2017 I might go full red and have decent performance for a nice price

Rise of the Tomb Raider shows a ~10% different. Hitman shows a ~20% difference. That's not a small difference..... 20% is a rather large performance hit.

And that´s just in standard canned benchmarks, it´s in real gaming when you start to see how the lack of memory can ruin the experience.

Meh.. the 1060 is better than the 280X/380X, but I wouldn't consider it good enough to upgrade to. Maybe the 6GB model would be worth it, but I gather you're on a budget. If your motherboard supports crossfire, I think getting a 2nd 280X is a better choice. Otherwise, I'd get something better or just wait.

Thats one of the worst advices ever.....thought. First, the 1060 (or a 480 4 Gig) is about 65% faster as a single 280x. Ranges from 50 - 100%, depending what your testing. Lets say, he gets maybe for his used card 100 bucks, that means he has to spend the same amount for another 280x, that's 200,00 $ he could have in his pocket if he sells his card. For only 20,00 $ more he gets a brand new card with full guarantee, higher reselling value, a TDP of around 120 Watt compared to the 500+ Watt from both of these AMD`s. It`s not only the energy consumption that comes with the cross fire setup, your also getting lot`s of heat in Summer times. Not to forget, he has to probably upgrade his power supply too. And I`m not even starting to point out all the drawbacks multi GPUing comes with.

Thats one of the worst advices ever.....thought. First, the 1060 (or a 480 4 Gig) is about 65% faster as a single 280x. Ranges from 50 - 100%, depending what your testing.

Uh... no? The FIRST gaming benchmark in this article proves you wrong. The 1060 is 30% faster than the 380X (which is basically the same thing as the 280X). There may be other tests with a lower percentage difference but I see no point in looking seeing as I already proved your exaggeration wrong. As I said in my original comment, the 6GB model is a little different. That's on the borderline between worth getting and not worth getting.

Lets say, he gets maybe for his used card 100 bucks, that means he has to spend the same amount for another 280x, that's 200,00 $ he could have in his pocket if he sells his card. For only 20,00 $ more he gets a brand new card with full guarantee, higher reselling value, a TDP of around 120 Watt compared to the 500+ Watt from both of these AMD`s. It`s not only the energy consumption that comes with the cross fire setup, your also getting lot`s of heat in Summer times.

You have a point there, but you're forgetting 3 things: 1. If he's looking for the best performance-per-dollar, the 2nd 280X is the better option. He's clearly on a budget. If funding wasn't an issue, why do you think he decided to consider the 1060 3GB model rather than the 6GB? 2. Selling the GPU is easier said than done. We are assuming here that he needs to sell it in order to fund a new GPU. If he wants to be ready for a sale, that means he probably shouldn't be actively using it; he should clean out the dust and re-package it so it's ready to ship as soon as it sells. But that being said, he doesn't know how long the wait period will be. Could be a few days, could be a few months. 3. Summer is ending soon.

Not to forget, he has to probably upgrade his power supply too. And I`m not even starting to point out all the drawbacks multi GPUing comes with.

He's got a CX750M and a presumably non-OCed i5. The PSU will be fine. In my experience, Crossfire has worked just fine. It only sucks for people who can't find the time to spend 5 minutes tinkering with the profile settings.