PC gamers looking to experience high-end gaming - 4K and VR compatibility, for instance - but unwilling to overspend are likely to pick between the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 and AMD Radeon RX 480. If the chief concern is pricing the AMD card, which starts at $199, will prove the easy choice but the slightly pricier NVIDIA GPU cannot be just overlooked.
True, the GTX 1060's asking price is $10 more when compared to the RX 480 8GB model, which retails for $239, but everything about the former screams of premium gaming that would convince the extra dollar is easy to ignore. The GTX 1060 seals the deal for gamers wanting a taste of NVIDIA's Pascal architecture but still looking to realize considerable savings.
NVIDIA's expensive GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 are way beyond the $300 mark so the GTX 1060's sticker price $249 (or $299 for the Founders Edition) is the alternative ticket for nearly the same high-end setting for gaming. In fact, its maker released the GTX 1060 for mainstream market to get a taste of what the GTX 1080 and 1070 could be.
And the specs indeed banners premium - 6GB of GDDR5 RAM, run speed of 8GBPS and the option to overclock at 1.7GHz. NVIDIA also assures that top-end 4K rendering is part of the deal with full support for the emerging virtual reality or VR gaming.
The GTX 1060 is also more power efficient with the consumption set not to exceed 120 watts, which is one glaring edge the card enjoys overs its more powerful but expensive NVIDIA 10-series siblings.
Gamers on continuing love affair with NVIDIA should jump to the GTX 1060 if buying any of the GTX 1080 and 1070 is definitely out of the question. As noted by BGR in a report: "If you're looking to replace at GTX 960 or 970 without breaking the bank, the GTX 1060 is definitely one of the best ways to do so."
But why not Radeon's RX 480 as the card is just a couple of hundred bucks? One good answer was provided by the assessment coming from ComputerShopper.com, which shared that even with the 8GB RX 4ComputerShopper.com, which shared that even with the 8GB RX 480 (at $239) "many recent games at 4K and high settings ... was marginally playable.
Sure the RX 480 is the best bang for the buck but with it comes the compromise. Specifically, gamers will "have to compromise playing at 4K with this card," ComputerShopper.com.
Not to mention that the AMD Radeon RX 480 has supposedly power draw issues as claimed in the clip below: