• The MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X, not the MSI Radeon RX 480 Gaming X 8G, is shown

The MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X, not the MSI Radeon RX 480 Gaming X 8G, is shown (Photo : YouTube / Unboxholics)

NVIDIA has finally revealed the new GTX 1060 3GB model, not the GTX 1050, to take on the lower-end Radeon RX 470 with a more expensive price of $199 compared to the $149 Polaris card.

The first GTX 1060 released was the 6GB model that takes on the AMD Radeon RX 480. However, it still had an expensive price tag for others who were looking for a budget build that still packs a punch.

Like Us on Facebook

AMD's Radeon RX 460 is an option as it only costs $99 but the performance is only good for eSports games on 1080p such as Dota 2, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends and more. NVIDIA's GTX 1060 can do more than just the many MOBA games as it can compete with the RX 480.

Gamers can now buy the small yet still powerful GTX 1060 3GB for only $199 as the base price tag, Anandtech has learned. Besides the reduction in VRAM, there is also some significant changes with the overall specs of the GTX 1060.

In fact, there are less CUDA cores in the 3GB model at only 1152 compared to the 6GB's 1280. It is not clear why NVIDIA did not just name the lower-tier model the GTX 1050 but it could also suggest that there will be another Pascal card waiting to be revealed that will take on the Radeon RX 460.

NVIDIA's GTX 1060 3GB also has fewer texture mapping units at 72 compared to the 80 of its bigger brother 6GB model, Neowin reported. The company used only 9 streaming multiprocessors instead of the 10 setup.

Performance-wise, the GTX 1060 3GB model is still expected to perform just the same with minimal impact from the downgrade. The form factor of the card could also be a huge advantage for those who are using mini-ITX rigs to maximize space in their rooms or desks.

NVIDIA's GTX 1060 3GB model is not actually the GTX 1050 which suggests that the latter can still be revealed soon to take on AMD's lower offerings. The company needs to step up its game if they still want to take the low to mid-end graphics card market that AMD currently dominates with their Polaris GPUs.