This is the 3GB VRAM version of GTX 1060. About the same price as the GTX 970 and performs much better but with less vram. Would this be worth it over the 6gb bigger brother? who knows...
MSI GeForce GTX 1060 3GT OC 3GB GDDR5 overview
The GeForce GTX 1060 is loaded with innovative new gaming technologies, making it the perfect choice for the latest high-definition games. Powered by NVIDIA Pascal - the most advanced GPU architecture ever created - the GeForce GTX 1060 delivers brilliant performance that opens the door to virtual reality and beyond.
The GTX1060 3GB actually has a cut down core over the GTX1060 6GB with 10% less shaders.
- KITTYBOTS
Top comments
Szabster
18 Aug 165#3
OK, good price but 3GB ram is just not enough if you wanna future proof. Even the 970 had 3.5gb. :disappointed: And I'm still waiting for my Amazon order of asus 1060 6gb. Since that's never gonna be dispatched (at least that's what it feels like) I try to keep myself from cancelling it. Thankfully 3GB is totally a deterrent...
rev6
18 Aug 164#7
I think you could be mistaking RAM and VRAM.
MarineRX179
19 Aug 163#17
Reading all the comments here thinking this this card is the same 1060 but with only the VRAM reduce, it would seem Nvidia the master of deception in advertising has succeeded again.
The VRAM is not the only thing that they axed...but the number of stream processor as well which make this card effectively a 1050 or 1050Ti. But they have the nerve to call it 1060 3GB to piggyback ride on the reviews of the 1060 6GB.
I guess they have learned their lesson after having to pay out for the class lawsuit against for lying/misadvertised about the spec of the 970, and now they go with not lying about the spec but playing smokes and mirrors with the naming of their cards to trick people, as reviews would most likely not be reviewing the 3GB variant of the 1060 (if we can even call it that).
Seriously they make enough money as it is...I don't know why they feel the need to take even more (performance) away from the consumer for the money they are spending...
revolver31
18 Aug 163#9
Don't see the point in this card, 3.5gb wasn't enough for the 970 and this surpasses it even with the core drop your talking half way between a 970 and 980 with driver improvements to come.
6gb on the 1060 full is enough with compression etc. it's right on the 980 performance and many believe after driver improvements will pass it, if only slightly, but then you have to get a model in stock first.
something tells me there will be no shortage of the 3gb model, rumour has it both sides are having yield issues so that explains the lack of stock and the sales of the close 470 to 480 and the close cut down 1060 3gb to 1060 6gb, to many chips just missing the mark, they have to sell them some how, there's little doubt therefor we will see a 1050 but I doubt any 1065 or any card with sli below the 1070.
Two 1060's in multi adaptor in ashes beats a 1080 so no chance of any sli coming imho.
Latest comments (40)
Coulomb_Barrier
19 Aug 16#40
Difference is the memory on the 4GB 480 can be overclocked to match the bigger brother.
This is cut down in two ways actually:
"this card will have one of its SMs disabled, bringing the total number of stream processors on board the chip down to 1152. The card will also have eight fewer texture units, for a total of 72."
Coulomb_Barrier
19 Aug 16#39
Guys, only 3GB of VRAM and a cut-down 1060 GPU. Avoid or at least get the full-fat 6GB version.
PR1
19 Aug 16#38
Yeah I was swapping GPU's or between OS/binary drivers every other update for a while (on Gentoo) before ditching the proprietary drivers for good as just too much hassle. It helped that they got much better.
dar72
19 Aug 161#37
I use the proprietary drivers. It's the XOrg version that's stops me from using AMD, I'm an Arch user so if there's a new version of XOrg (or anything) I'll want it yesterday. I heard that even Ubuntu has had this issue recently so there's no hope for Arch users. I have a GTX 560, still works fine and with current proprietary Nvidia drivers, it works well for most stuff that I play but some things like Company Of Heroes 2 I can feel it's struggling.
epiphany1273
19 Aug 16#36
But if AMD where to do the same thing the 470 would also be called the 480.
This 3GB 1060 is a cut down version of the ^GB 1060.
The same as the 470 is a cut down version of the 480.
I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia get in trouble for this. Even if they add the information about the number of cores (which I am sure they will) They are still selling two different products under the same name which differ substantially (by around 10%).
mchcreations
19 Aug 16#31
I'm considering changing my card (GIGABYTE GTX 750 Ti WINDFORCE 2GB GDDR5). But a quick questions, is there any short Nvidia 1060 (around 185mm) as 750ti models were?
jaydeeuk1 to mchcreations
19 Aug 16#34
No, I'm in similar predicament. Except my htpc case is also low profile.
I'm hoping for a 4gb 1050ti at around £150 in low profile pci only powered form.
I refuse to upgrade completely and pay 1070 or 1080 prices on principle.
Some of us golden oldies still remember the 256mb version of the 8800GT,which look good for 5 minutes and then was not so good later on.
Those who spent extra on the 512mb version had a card which lasted for years.
Harun
19 Aug 16#32
Graphics card naming convention is to do with the GPU.
So for example all cards named 1070 have the same GPU. All 480 cards have the same GPU. This is not affected by RAM size or speed.
The two 1060s have two different GPUs being sold under the same name, which is incredibly sneaky and in previous generation the faster card would probably be called a Ti.
guitaristanime
19 Aug 161#30
Ahh the old GTX 1059.5
dar72
19 Aug 16#28
What would be a good graphics card choice if I want to spend about half this?
No ATI/AMD recommendations please, I'm a Linux user and they can't seem to manage to update their drivers often enough
PR1 to dar72
19 Aug 16#29
The open source amd driver is pretty good, unless things have improved the only way to go for good 3d on open source drivers on Linux is amd. Closed drivers tend to block using newer XOrg etc which is a pain (depending what you're doing)
Muffinss
19 Aug 16#27
fanboy much?
Novideo intentionally mislead the market to get sales.
The 4GB VRAM clocked lower on the rx 480 makes <1% difference in performance. Add on top of that the fact that they publically advertise that the RAM is not the same lol.
GotBass
19 Aug 163#15
For almost £200 they really shouldnt have 3GB models.
jamie19916 to GotBass
19 Aug 16#26
Agree, £200 used to be considered fairly high end, now it seems to been rebranded as the mid range.
Harun
19 Aug 162#20
As Marine says, please note:
The 6GB 1060 has 1280 CUDA cores.
The 3GB 1060 only has 1152.
This is incredibly sneaky and means the actual GPU in both models of 1060 is different, the one with less cores being slower. You're not getting the same performance at all and you should wait for reviews of the 3GB before buying.
adam0812 to Harun
19 Aug 16#25
How is it sneaky, its right there in the spec. The 4gb 480 has slower memory than the 8gb variant as well.
vmistery
19 Aug 161#19
Still can't believe they are calling it a 1060, it really should be the 1050ti or something with the reduced core count even if the impact is only reasonably small...
seanmorris100 to vmistery
19 Aug 16#24
Yeah that truly is a scam, they shouldnt be to call 2 different cards the same name... how is that even allowed? How do they get way with this? They dont mind the law suits as even paying everyone $30 back they will be rolling in it as they are so over priced.
They need hit with a mega fine.
seanmorris100
19 Aug 16#23
I didnt get any money???
just read up on it, it was $30 and it was the US only... none EU
Muffinss
19 Aug 16#22
Novideo yet again manipulating buyers by calling it a 1060 when its not even the same card. **** **** get a 470
eddie151
18 Aug 161#4
this card is design to game at 1080p 3gb ram is fine for that
Rhythmeister to eddie151
19 Aug 162#21
Unless you want to play GTA V :confused:
Deetea
19 Aug 161#18
At that price range, 4gb is the bare minimum. There's no reason not to get a better alternative for less.
MarineRX179
19 Aug 163#17
Reading all the comments here thinking this this card is the same 1060 but with only the VRAM reduce, it would seem Nvidia the master of deception in advertising has succeeded again.
The VRAM is not the only thing that they axed...but the number of stream processor as well which make this card effectively a 1050 or 1050Ti. But they have the nerve to call it 1060 3GB to piggyback ride on the reviews of the 1060 6GB.
I guess they have learned their lesson after having to pay out for the class lawsuit against for lying/misadvertised about the spec of the 970, and now they go with not lying about the spec but playing smokes and mirrors with the naming of their cards to trick people, as reviews would most likely not be reviewing the 3GB variant of the 1060 (if we can even call it that).
Seriously they make enough money as it is...I don't know why they feel the need to take even more (performance) away from the consumer for the money they are spending...
Just Wondering
19 Aug 16#16
They was successful sued, big pay out to all 970 purchasers, court case settled recently, I think it worked out to be around 60 usd each
minicale
18 Aug 16#13
For this price I'm really tempted but I don't see it as a big enough jump from my 780 to warrant it, although SLI might tempt me
minicale to minicale
18 Aug 16#14
NVM looks like there's no SLI connector on this
Noclouds
18 Aug 161#12
I was going to say, I hope this starts a price war with AMD's 4GB RX480 but those seem to be in such short supply, I keep hearing people say the RX 470 custom/partner cards should be seen as its replacement because they o/c up to/just beyond the level of the 8GB RX480 reference card (digitalfoundry review on YT.). Whatever the case, the UK could really use a price war, right now, to stimulate sales. Not that the weak pound helps. Anyway, getting back on topic! Have some more heat!
revolver31
18 Aug 16#11
Ye I understand It was mixed for different people I myself never had one so I can't state my opinion on the 970 but hopefully we'll get some testing done and see if frame rates are being affected at 1080p ultra, where this card is meant to be played, you maybe right, I think there's gonna be issues once overclocked that maybe another reason for less cores harder to max out that 3gb.
seanmorris100
18 Aug 161#10
Ive had a 970 since release and never had ram issues the nvidia scam was pretty bad and they should of been sued but it hasnt effected me once at 1920x1200p
3gb maybe fine too for the same res
revolver31
18 Aug 163#9
Don't see the point in this card, 3.5gb wasn't enough for the 970 and this surpasses it even with the core drop your talking half way between a 970 and 980 with driver improvements to come.
6gb on the 1060 full is enough with compression etc. it's right on the 980 performance and many believe after driver improvements will pass it, if only slightly, but then you have to get a model in stock first.
something tells me there will be no shortage of the 3gb model, rumour has it both sides are having yield issues so that explains the lack of stock and the sales of the close 470 to 480 and the close cut down 1060 3gb to 1060 6gb, to many chips just missing the mark, they have to sell them some how, there's little doubt therefor we will see a 1050 but I doubt any 1065 or any card with sli below the 1070.
Two 1060's in multi adaptor in ashes beats a 1080 so no chance of any sli coming imho.
Nate1492
18 Aug 161#8
3GB of VRAM is fine depending on your game requirements.
Just like the 460 from AMD has 2GB of VRAM in one model, it depends on your needs.
rev6
18 Aug 164#7
I think you could be mistaking RAM and VRAM.
zworld
18 Aug 16#6
3GB is nowhere near enough. Even a simple game like Rainbow 6 Siege requires 6GB for all the eye candy!
bobo53
18 Aug 161#5
more than enough ram, cannot be sli. Silly not to make only 1 at 4gb ram instead of 3gb and 6gb. I got the suspicion the a gtx1065 to sli will be out soon. HOT and good at 4k if you will be happy to lower settings
Szabster
18 Aug 165#3
OK, good price but 3GB ram is just not enough if you wanna future proof. Even the 970 had 3.5gb. :disappointed: And I'm still waiting for my Amazon order of asus 1060 6gb. Since that's never gonna be dispatched (at least that's what it feels like) I try to keep myself from cancelling it. Thankfully 3GB is totally a deterrent...
aceatch
18 Aug 161#2
oh that's also free delivery OK that's goodin. This has 2 fans as oppose to 1 from OcUK
Opening post
MSI GeForce GTX 1060 3GT OC 3GB GDDR5 overview
The GeForce GTX 1060 is loaded with innovative new gaming technologies, making it the perfect choice for the latest high-definition games. Powered by NVIDIA Pascal - the most advanced GPU architecture ever created - the GeForce GTX 1060 delivers brilliant performance that opens the door to virtual reality and beyond.
The GTX1060 3GB actually has a cut down core over the GTX1060 6GB with 10% less shaders.
- KITTYBOTS
Top comments
The VRAM is not the only thing that they axed...but the number of stream processor as well which make this card effectively a 1050 or 1050Ti. But they have the nerve to call it 1060 3GB to piggyback ride on the reviews of the 1060 6GB.
I guess they have learned their lesson after having to pay out for the class lawsuit against for lying/misadvertised about the spec of the 970, and now they go with not lying about the spec but playing smokes and mirrors with the naming of their cards to trick people, as reviews would most likely not be reviewing the 3GB variant of the 1060 (if we can even call it that).
Seriously they make enough money as it is...I don't know why they feel the need to take even more (performance) away from the consumer for the money they are spending...
6gb on the 1060 full is enough with compression etc. it's right on the 980 performance and many believe after driver improvements will pass it, if only slightly, but then you have to get a model in stock first.
something tells me there will be no shortage of the 3gb model, rumour has it both sides are having yield issues so that explains the lack of stock and the sales of the close 470 to 480 and the close cut down 1060 3gb to 1060 6gb, to many chips just missing the mark, they have to sell them some how, there's little doubt therefor we will see a 1050 but I doubt any 1065 or any card with sli below the 1070.
Two 1060's in multi adaptor in ashes beats a 1080 so no chance of any sli coming imho.
Latest comments (40)
This is cut down in two ways actually:
"this card will have one of its SMs disabled, bringing the total number of stream processors on board the chip down to 1152. The card will also have eight fewer texture units, for a total of 72."
This 3GB 1060 is a cut down version of the ^GB 1060.
The same as the 470 is a cut down version of the 480.
I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia get in trouble for this. Even if they add the information about the number of cores (which I am sure they will) They are still selling two different products under the same name which differ substantially (by around 10%).
I'm hoping for a 4gb 1050ti at around £150 in low profile pci only powered form.
I refuse to upgrade completely and pay 1070 or 1080 prices on principle.
http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/7/12/12164580/zotac-gtx-1060-mini-amp-gpu-geforce
Those who spent extra on the 512mb version had a card which lasted for years.
So for example all cards named 1070 have the same GPU. All 480 cards have the same GPU. This is not affected by RAM size or speed.
The two 1060s have two different GPUs being sold under the same name, which is incredibly sneaky and in previous generation the faster card would probably be called a Ti.
No ATI/AMD recommendations please, I'm a Linux user and they can't seem to manage to update their drivers often enough
Novideo intentionally mislead the market to get sales.
The 4GB VRAM clocked lower on the rx 480 makes <1% difference in performance. Add on top of that the fact that they publically advertise that the RAM is not the same lol.
The 6GB 1060 has 1280 CUDA cores.
The 3GB 1060 only has 1152.
This is incredibly sneaky and means the actual GPU in both models of 1060 is different, the one with less cores being slower. You're not getting the same performance at all and you should wait for reviews of the 3GB before buying.
They need hit with a mega fine.
just read up on it, it was $30 and it was the US only... none EU
The VRAM is not the only thing that they axed...but the number of stream processor as well which make this card effectively a 1050 or 1050Ti. But they have the nerve to call it 1060 3GB to piggyback ride on the reviews of the 1060 6GB.
I guess they have learned their lesson after having to pay out for the class lawsuit against for lying/misadvertised about the spec of the 970, and now they go with not lying about the spec but playing smokes and mirrors with the naming of their cards to trick people, as reviews would most likely not be reviewing the 3GB variant of the 1060 (if we can even call it that).
Seriously they make enough money as it is...I don't know why they feel the need to take even more (performance) away from the consumer for the money they are spending...
3gb maybe fine too for the same res
6gb on the 1060 full is enough with compression etc. it's right on the 980 performance and many believe after driver improvements will pass it, if only slightly, but then you have to get a model in stock first.
something tells me there will be no shortage of the 3gb model, rumour has it both sides are having yield issues so that explains the lack of stock and the sales of the close 470 to 480 and the close cut down 1060 3gb to 1060 6gb, to many chips just missing the mark, they have to sell them some how, there's little doubt therefor we will see a 1050 but I doubt any 1065 or any card with sli below the 1070.
Two 1060's in multi adaptor in ashes beats a 1080 so no chance of any sli coming imho.
Just like the 460 from AMD has 2GB of VRAM in one model, it depends on your needs.