The NVIDIA GTX 1080, not the GTX 1080 Ti, is running inside a gaming rig. (Photo : YouTube/HardwareCanucks)
NVIDIA could be launching the GTX 1060 soon for the mid-end market as the GP106 chip has been spotted in a recent shipping manifest with a possible 6GB memory.
Everyone else is busy trying to buy the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 but some are already waiting for either the GTX 1060 or the $200 AMD Radeon RX 480, which is now causing more debates because of its unbelievable price to performance ratio. It is expected that NVIDIA's new and upcoming video card will be priced the same but the performance is still unknown.
The new video card from AMD will have an entry point of 4GB memory which is half of what the 1070 and the 1080 are offering. NVIDIA would need to launch a competitive product in order to still beat the company at the mid-end market.
New shipping manifests could have already more or less confirmed that the GTX 1060 will have at least 6GB GDDR5 memory, Videocardz has learned. The GP106 chip was also spotted with a 192-bit memory bus which could be the compromise for the cheaper cost.
There is also another listing for a PG410 board with 4GB memory. This means that NVIDIA could be launching two GP106 products with either a 4GB or 6GB memory as opposed to the Radeon RX 480's 4GB and 8GB.
NVIDIA could post the GTX 1060 to be at least $200 or $300 for the higher-end model, Mobipicker reported. If the 8GB model of the AMD Polaris card will be around the same price, they could still beat Team Green.
However, the card would still have a chance to beat the RX 480 in terms of performance. Experienced PC gamers will prefer a card that will dish out higher framerates compared to a card with more memory but has a low TFLOPs count.
The GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 are even overkill for today's games as not every title can consume all of the 8GB memory. For the budget-conscious customers, the GP106 card could be the answer.
NVIDIA will have to officially announce the GTX 1060 and confirm its specs if they want to keep up with the hype of the AMD Radeon RX 480. The expected $300 price for the GP106 6GB model could be a turn off for some who are expecting it to be $200.
