Friday, May 11th 2018
NVIDIA Puts the GeForce GTX 1060 Under the Knife Once Again
NVIDIA has a long history of playing Dr. Frankenstein on their graphics cards. The latest rumors from China suggest that NVIDIA is wheeling the GeForce GTX 1060 into the operating room for the fifth time. Currently, there are already four variants of the GeForce GTX 1060 in the wild: the original model with 6 GB of memory, the refreshed 6 GB model with slightly faster memory (9 Gbps), the cut-down model with 3 GB of memory, and finally, the Chinese-exclusive model with 5 GB of memory. However, NVIDIA's intentions are more ambitious this time. Apparently, their plan is to implement a variant of the existing high-performance GP104 GPU into the GeForce GTX 1060. As a reminder, the more powerful models like the GeForce GTX 1070, 1070 Ti, and 1080 all utilize the GP104 chip. Curiously, we've seen a variant of the GP104 (GP104-140) chip in a lower-end model before, specifically the GTX 1060 3GB.
On this occasion, NVIDIA is going to tailor the GP104-300, the silicon used in the GTX 1070, to the GTX 1060. This new SKU will carry the GP104-150 label. Despite the radical change, GP104-equipped GTX 1060 graphics cards share the same specifications as the original 6 GB model. Therefore, performance should be right in line as well. Although, we can expect some slight, unnoticeable differences in regards to thermals and power consumption. As usual, the new GTX 1060s will be exclusive to the Chinese market. With the next-generation of NVIDIA graphics cards almost among us, the company has been working diligently to clear their Pascal stock.
Source:
Expreview
On this occasion, NVIDIA is going to tailor the GP104-300, the silicon used in the GTX 1070, to the GTX 1060. This new SKU will carry the GP104-150 label. Despite the radical change, GP104-equipped GTX 1060 graphics cards share the same specifications as the original 6 GB model. Therefore, performance should be right in line as well. Although, we can expect some slight, unnoticeable differences in regards to thermals and power consumption. As usual, the new GTX 1060s will be exclusive to the Chinese market. With the next-generation of NVIDIA graphics cards almost among us, the company has been working diligently to clear their Pascal stock.
72 Comments on NVIDIA Puts the GeForce GTX 1060 Under the Knife Once Again
But to answer your perfectly valid question, yes I would sleep better at night if my GTX970 had the fully usable 4GB of RAM it was advertised with, thanks very much.
You gonna lecture me on how my card does technically have a full 4GB of RAM, now son?
If the 1060 could do SLI, I would have bought a bunch of them.
and nvidia has alot power left that gtx 1000 series.
its for sure 100 times better idea than amd release vega nano....omgggg. WHY? its before born dead and junk.
well something must get out,,, Mech, Arez ..but WHAT NEW?... amd gpus has still old lausy tech inside.
gtx 1060 6GB or amd vega 56/64...defnetly gtx 1060!
(Unfortunately, the goal of marketing is the opposite. Marketing departments are about selling products based on irrationality as much as possible. The goal of a for-profit corporation, also, is not to enrich humanity. It's not to add value. It's to make certain people wealthier — nothing more. Wealth comes from selling a product for more than it's worth, so it's essential to confuse people enough to pay extra.)
It is not difficult for Nvidia to plainly add something to the name 1060 (e.g. 1060 XE) or to change the number (1059, 1061, etc.).
It's bad business to sell a bunch of different specs as a "1060". And, tacking on VRAM is a confusing method of differentiating, when the other specs change as well. Nvidia should stick with either a consistent letters suffix that indicates performance hierarchy (one that is consistent from generation to generation) or it should just change the numbers incrementally (1058, 1059, 1060, 1061, 1062, etc.). If the performance is worse in a revised model then the number should drop accordingly.
If Nvidia sells a card with indistinguishable performance difference that's a separate issue than selling products that are quite different under the same name, which certainly has happened. The latter is bad business. Consumers and their advocates (ideally, the tech press, for instance) have to stand up for themselves against the bias of corporate marketing. They don't work for us. We get the bare minimum as a rule. Sell less for more is the ideal of any purely for-profit enterprise. So, it's up to us to demand more.
"Everybody's doing it" is a classic in the logical fallacies list, too.