Budget GPU Gaming - Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU comparison - EVGA ASUS STRIX MSI - Final Thoughts - 2023
I finally have tested (almost) every Nvidia GTX 1060. These are my final thoughts before I move on to another series. The ASUS Strix wins as the best GTX 1060 on the market. It will hold a stable maximum overclock under gaming with no dips and at a reasonable temperature of 72c. The GTX 1060 is limited to 2100mhz no matter what. So basically it is just a question of how long you can hold that number. Some cards I have tested can't hold that number no matter how much you cool it. The results are pretty obvious. More cooling equals better stability and overclocking up to the limit of the 1060 GPU. But, in a budget setup, you may only have room for a smaller card. So in that case the lesser footprint would be ideal. What has not been mentioned much, is the quality of the components. Higher quality memory and PCB designs offer better performance. What I did not do is attempt to water cool the GPU. This is because the ASUS with all of its triple fan goodness keeps the card pretty cool and holds the magic number of 2100mhz. Supposedly there exists a 1060Ti. I have never seen one for sale, but I did see a mention of it and a box cover in a couple of videos. I did not test the MSI Gaming X because I could not find one at a reasonable price. I would love to try it in my suite of benchmarks to see how it compares. But with the ASUS Strix basically being a 1080 cooling design, it would be hard to beat. The logical next step is to attempt the "shunt mod" on the GTX 1060, which allows you to pass the 2100mhz limitation. But in the videos that I wanted this done on a 1060, the results were not mind blowing. Maybe a mixture of water cooling and the shunt mod could provide the ultimate 1060. But, for all of that work, you could have just bought a 1080 and called it a day.
I finally have tested (almost) every Nvidia GTX 1060. These are my final thoughts before I move on to another series. The ASUS Strix wins as the best GTX 1060 on the market. It will hold a stable maximum overclock under gaming with no dips and at a reasonable temperature of 72c. The GTX 1060 is limited to 2100mhz no matter what. So basically it is just a question of how long you can hold that number. Some cards I have tested can't hold that number no matter how much you cool it. The results are pretty obvious. More cooling equals better stability and overclocking up to the limit of the 1060 GPU. But, in a budget setup, you may only have room for a smaller card. So in that case the lesser footprint would be ideal. What has not been mentioned much, is the quality of the components. Higher quality memory and PCB designs offer better performance. What I did not do is attempt to water cool the GPU. This is because the ASUS with all of its triple fan goodness keeps the card pretty cool and holds the magic number of 2100mhz. Supposedly there exists a 1060Ti. I have never seen one for sale, but I did see a mention of it and a box cover in a couple of videos. I did not test the MSI Gaming X because I could not find one at a reasonable price. I would love to try it in my suite of benchmarks to see how it compares. But with the ASUS Strix basically being a 1080 cooling design, it would be hard to beat. The logical next step is to attempt the "shunt mod" on the GTX 1060, which allows you to pass the 2100mhz limitation. But in the videos that I wanted this done on a 1060, the results were not mind blowing. Maybe a mixture of water cooling and the shunt mod could provide the ultimate 1060. But, for all of that work, you could have just bought a 1080 and called it a day.