Introduction

When NVIDIA announced the GeForce GTX 1060, the company allowed its add-in card (AIC) partners to launch their custom-design cards right away. The company set the MSRP of this SKU at US$249 and is selling its reference-design "Founders Edition" SKU at $299, a $50 premium. This allows its partners to position their custom-design cards at either around the $249 baseline price or the $299 Founders Edition one.

The GeForce GTX 1060 is NVIDIA's response to the Radeon RX 480, which offers performance rivaling that of $350 products from the previous generation at an attractive $229 price point. It is based on the newer 16 nm GP106 silicon, which is the third ASIC built on the "Pascal" architecture. This chip features half the SIMD machinery of the GP104 silicon on which the GTX 1080 is based, but has 75% of the raster operation machinery and memory configuration.



The ASUS GTX 1060 STRIX OC is a custom design variant of the GTX 1060 6 GB, which means it will be significantly faster than the 3 GB version. It also comes overclocked out of the box to a base clock of 1620 MHz, and memory has been overclocked also, to 2052 MHz.

ASUS is using their new triple-fan, dual-slot thermal solution we've seen first on the GTX 1080 STRIX and RX480 STRIX. Also included is a backplate, even though it lacks the RGB-lit ASUS ROG logo we've seen on the company's RX 480.

The ASUS GTX 1060 STRIX OC 6 GB currently retails at $330, which is a pretty big increase from other GTX 1060 6 GB cards that start at $250.

Packaging

You will receive:

• Graphics card
• Driver CD + documentation
• ASUS zip ties
• World of Warship coupon

The Card

ASUS has once again completely changed the looks of their cooler for this generation, giving it a more plain look that relies on RGB LEDs to provide color. On the back, you will find a sturdy metal backplate. Dimensions of the card are 30.0 cm x 13.0 cm.


Installation requires two slots in your system.


Display connectivity options include a DVI port, two HDMI ports, and two DisplayPorts. Unlike previous NVIDIA cards, the DVI port no longer includes an analog signal, so you'll have to use an active adapter. NVIDIA also updated DisplayPort to be 1.2 certified and 1.3/1.4 ready, which enables support for 4K @ 120 Hz and 5K @ 60 Hz or 8K @ 60 Hz with two cables.

The GPU also comes with an HDMI sound device. It is HDMI 2.0b compatible, which supports HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies. The GPU video encoding unit has been updated to support HEVC at 10-bit and 12-bit.


The GeForce GTX 1060 does not support SLI.


Pictured above are the front and back, showing the disassembled board. High-res versions are also available (front, back).

A Closer Look

ASUS's thermal solution uses five heatpipes; only two of these directly touch the GPU's surface. You can also see a yellow thermal pad that cools the voltage regulation circuitry. This is the exact same heatsink as on the ASUS GTX 1080 STRIX Gaming and RX 480 STRIX.


Once the main cooler is removed, a shiny metal bar becomes visible; it provides cooling for the memory chips.


The backplate is made out of metal, and unlike the ASUS RX 480 STRIX, the ASUS logo on the back is not RGB illuminated.


Near the back of the card are two fan connectors that are in sync with the GPU's fans. You could hook up two case fans that will stop completely outside of games. The main source of heat nowadays being the graphics card, attached case fans will run at the same speed as the GPU's fans that base their speed on how hot the card runs, which is a great idea!


ASUS has also included OC measure and tweaking points, which are unlabeled, but accessible without taking apart the card.


ASUS 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.


The uP 9511 voltage controller is a new model for recent NVIDIA cards. It does not support voltage control via I2C.


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, and has a transistor count of 4.4 billion and a die size of 200 mm².