Nvidia has been on a role lately and it was expected that the new line up of cards will have a low to mid-range GPU in the works.
Alas a Chinese source has leaked to first images and specs of the GTX 1060 which is mostly going to rival AMD’s RX 480 and that the GTX 1060 is under production and will be released as soon as mid July.
As the Picture shows, the GTX 1060 will sport the same NVTTM (Nvidia Titanium Metal) heatsink just like its bigger brother models, the GTX 1070 and 1080, which should be treat for budget gamers.
It seems this is the call by Nvidia to counter the hype behind AMD’s RX480 and to accommodate the gamers who are on a budget. The GTX 1060 is said to be a 192 bit bus card and will require just one 6pin connector, suggesting that the power required to run the card will be significantly low.
What good about the new 1000 series is the architecture and the images leaked show that the GTX 1060 will have the capabilities to stay under decent temperatures.
Currently the card is suspected to come out in 2 variants, the 3GB and the 6GB version, it’s not certain why Nvidia didn’t just go with the 4/8 GB versions like their new lineup. In the current age of High Resolution gaming the 3GB variant may cause some issues when it comes to VRAM usage in game which may lead to some hiccups in Ultra settings at 1080p for most games.
Another aspect about the GTX 1060 is the 192 bit interface, as to why Nvidia chooses to have budget cards on that particular bit rate, whereas the famed GTX 760 had a 256 bit interface.
It is also uncertain if the GTX 1060 will come close on be on par with the GTX 970 or the new RX480 well it has to be otherwise the budget gaming card to go for is the RX480, but benchmark wise its still confusing at this point.
What to consider is the actual cost of this card, currently it’s suspected that the GTX 1060 will cost somewhere between $250 to $300, but if Nvidia aims to up its game, they should at least have one variant of the card to match the price of the RX480. Expect this card and other versions of it to drop in the market at the mid to end of July.