NVIDIA has finally launched their first GP106 GPU based graphics card, the GeForce GTX 1060 for a sweet price that starts at $249 US. The GeForce GTX 1060 has been much talked about after the Radeon RX 480 launch as it will be competing against AMD's Polaris 10 GPU that itself sells at a sweet price point starting at $199 US. The GeForce GTX 1060 brings performance of previously $549 US graphics cards down to $249 US in various custom models and we will be providing you a round-up of all the reviews available today.

The GeForce GTX 1060 is finally available to gamers at a starting price of $249 US.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Launched at $249 US - Here's The Review Round Up

The GeForce GTX 1060 is finally available to the masses in both reference and custom flavors. While the custom models will be starting at price of $249 US, the reference model known as the GTX 1060 Founders Edition will be available at $299 US. The Founders Edition does feature a great design that can overclock beyond 2 GHz but users should set their eyes on the custom variants which we detailed in a previous article. There are several GTX 1060 custom models to choose from that are set at either $249 US or close to the MSRP while offering better cooling and board solutions.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Review Round Up:

Note: All reviews will be posted below once they go live.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Performance Per Watt and Performance Per Dollar Summary via TPU:

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Video Reviews:

FullNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Custom Models

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Full Slide Deck:

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 With GP106 GPU Core Features 4.4 Billion Transistors

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1060 is based on the GP106 GPU core. The GP106 GPU features a die size of 200mm2 which makes it 14% smaller than the GM206 GPU and 57% smaller than the GP104 GPU. The GP106 houses total of 4.4 Billion transistors which are 1.4 Billion more transistors compared to the GM206 GPU. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 features the full version of the GP106 GPU so next up, we will detail the block diagram of this graphics chip.

NVIDIA GP106-400-A1 GPU Block Diagram:

The NVIDIA GP106-400-A1 GPU block consists of 2 GPC (Graphics Processing Clusters). Each GPU houses five SM (Streaming Multiprocessor) units. Each SM consists of 128 CUDA cores which means that the full chip features 1280 CUDA cores. Each SM has 8TMUs (Texture Mapping Units) which give us 80 TMUs on the chip while each GPC is attached to 24 ROPs (Raster Operating Units) providing a total of 48 ROPs. Each SM consists of256 KB of register filecapacity, a 96 KB shared memory unit and 48 KB of total L1 cache storage.

The GP106 GPU lies at the heart of the GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card.

The chip also comes with six 32-bit memory controllers which make up the 192-bit bus interface. This allows the card to feature either a 6 GB or 3 GB memory buffer. Each 32-bit memory controller is feature 256 KB L2 cache and the entire design features a total of 1536 KB of L2 cache for the memory bus and 48 ROPs.

The new Pascal GPUs feature the latest Polymorph Engine 4.0 which allows significant geometryenhancements in VR and Surround Display applications. Utilizing the new engine is the Simultaneous Multi-Projection tech that reduces geometry work by up to 32X. The Pascal architecture also provides significant amounts of memory conservation through delta color compression which can provide up to 20% more effective bandwidth than what's originally featured on the card.

It's also true that the GeForce GTX 1060 doesn't feature SLI support since NVIDIA is now focusing multi-GPU efforts on the high-end section. The card however does support MDA mode or LDA explicit mode in certain DirectX 12 applications where multiple GeForce GTX 1060 cards could be combined to deliver better graphics performance throughput.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 High-Resolution Picture Gallery:

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060Official Specifications:

Now coming to the specifications of the card itself, the GeForce GTX 1060 is indeed everything what we have been hearing for a few days. It has 1280 CUDA cores, 80 TMUs and 48 ROPs. The GTX 1060 is clocked at speeds of 1506 MHz base and 1708 MHz boost clock which delivers a texture fill rate of 120.5 GTexels/s.

The GeForce GTX 1060 also features a 6 GB GDDR5 VRAM buffer that runs across a 192-bit bus interface. The memory is configured to run at 8000 MHz which is the fastest speed available for GDDR5 memory. GDDR5X is the next phase for GDDR5 memory but comes at a higher manufacturing costs which are not feasible for cards lined up in the budget market.

The GP106 GPU is a very efficient core and features a TDP of just 120W which is the same as its GM206 GPU based predecessor (GTX 960). The card is powered by a single 6-Pin connector while custom models with enhanced PCB and cooling will feature either single 8-Pin or dual 6-Pin connector configurations. The GTX 1060 also features three Display Port 1.4, a single HDMI 2.0b and DVI port for display outputs.

NVIDIA GeForce 10 Pascal Family