Games

Nvidia's GTX 1060 is VR-ready and affordable

Nvidia's GTX 1060 is VR-ready and affordable
The GTX 1060 is VR-ready, meaning you can expect a smooth experience using it with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive
The GTX 1060 is VR-ready, meaning you can expect a smooth experience using it with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive
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If you're interested in picking up a GTX 1060, you won't have to wait long, with the card hitting shelves July 19
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If you're interested in picking up a GTX 1060, you won't have to wait long, with the card hitting shelves July 19
According to Nvidia, that means you can expect big performance increases in games AAA games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
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According to Nvidia, that means you can expect big performance increases in games AAA games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The GTX 1060 is VR-ready, meaning you can expect a smooth experience using it with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive
3/3
The GTX 1060 is VR-ready, meaning you can expect a smooth experience using it with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive
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Nvidia has announced its latest mainstream graphics card in the form of the GeForce GTX 1060. The new GPU offers a big performance jump over its predecessor and is certified VR Ready, making it more affordable than ever (though still pretty pricey) to jump into the enticing world of virtual reality.

The GeForce GTX 1060 is based on Nvidia's latest Pascal graphics architecture. There's a hefty 6 GB of GDDR5 graphics memory on board, alongside 1,280 CUDA cores, and a base clock speed of 1,506 MHz (with 1.7 GHz boost clock). The new card joins higher-end Pascal-based GPUs, the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070.

If you're upgrading from the new card's predecessor – the GTX 960 – then there's a lot to get excited about, with the new GPU delivering performance similar to the last-gen GTX 980. According to Nvidia, that means you can expect big performance increases in games AAA games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

According to Nvidia, that means you can expect big performance increases in games AAA games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
According to Nvidia, that means you can expect big performance increases in games AAA games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The GTX 1060 is also fully VR-ready, meaning you can expect a smooth experience using it with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. The card is also a lot more energy efficient for VR gaming, consuming just 120 watts of power during use.

Perhaps the biggest news is the price point of the GTX 1060, which is set at US$249 – less than half the $549 launch price of the performance-comparable GTX 980.

Alongside rival AMD's just-launched RX 480 GPU, the cost of building a VR-ready PC is significantly lower than it was at the launch of the Rift and Vive, dropping from roughly $950 to around $800 or less. That's still a hefty sum, but it'll likely make VR more appealing for PC gamers who have been holding off until now.

If you're interested in picking up a GTX 1060, you won't have to wait long, with the card hitting shelves July 19.

Source: Nvidia via AnandTech

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2 comments
2 comments
Fretting Freddy the Ferret pressing the Fret
If you plan to run these 1060's in dual-card SLI configuration keep in mind which version you're going to get, because they will release a version that is not SLI compatible.
Daishi
2016 has been a good year for GPU's so far. nVidia moved from 28nm with the 9xx series to 16nm with the 10xx series and it's been huge for lower power consumption. Even the 1080 is like a 150 watt card when older top of the line cards used to be close to 300 watts.
AMD moved from 28nm to 14nm with the RX 480. The trend of using 1000+ watt power supplies for 2x high end SLI cards is essentially over.
I have been eying completed MicroATX and Mini ITX builds on PCpartpicker and thinking about doing something with a small form factor PSU (like 550 watts) and one of this year's GPU's. A motherboard with an M.2 port will save me from needing one power and one SATA cable inside the box and NVMe is supposed to be quite a lot faster than SATA anyway. It should make for some compact gaming rigs.