Introduction

Not long after the launch of the GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB, NVIDIA announced the availability of the GTX 1060 3 GB. This card with an MSRP of around $200 is designed to go head to head against AMD's R9 480, especially the 4 GB version.

Typically, GPU vendors use the exact same GPU for SKUs of different memory capacity, just not in this case. NVIDIA decided to reduce the shader count of the GTX 1060 3 GB to 1152 from the 1280 on the 6 GB version. This rough 10% reduction in shaders lets the company increase the performance difference between the 3 GB and 6 GB version, which will probably lure potential customers closer toward the 6 GB version.



The MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming X 3 GB is a custom-design variant using MSI's famous Twin Frozr dual-slot, dual-fan thermal solution. Out of the box, the card is overclocked to a base clock of 1569 MHz, which is quite a bit higher than the reference-design clock of 1502 MHz. Memory remained at NVIDIA stock. With a retail price of $240, the GTX 1060 Gaming X 3 GB is one of the more expensive versions of the 3 GB GTX 1060.