A Closer Look

MSI's cooler uses three heatpipes to keep the card cool.


Once the main heatsink is removed, you can see a second metal plate, which provides cooling for the VRM circuitry and memory chips.


The backplate is made from metal and protects the card against damage during handling and installation.


MSI replaced the single 6-pin power input of the reference design with an 8-pin power connector. This configuration is specified for up to 225 watts of power draw.


NVIDIA's GTX 1060 is introducing a new voltage controller by uPI, the uP 9509P. Its exact feature set is currently unknown.


The GDDR5 memory chips are made by Samsung and carry the model number K4G80325FB-HC25. They are specified to run at 2000 MHz (8000 MHz GDDR5 effective).


NVIDIA's GP106 graphics processor is the second consumer chip using the Pascal architecture. It is produced on a 16 nm process at TSMC, Taiwan, with a transistor count of 4.4 billion and a die size of 200 mm².