Comparatively mid-range, anyway
Nvidia isn’t quite done with the reveal of its brand new 10-series of video cards. Following the recent release of both the 1070 and 1080, the hardware manufacturer just announced something a bit more mid-range: The GeForce GTX 1060.
The nitty gritty on the 1060 is that it uses the new GP106 chip (both the 1070 and 1080 are built on the GP104), and ships with 1,280 CUDA cores and 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM. It releases in less than two weeks on July 19 for $249; Nvidia’s also offering a Founder’s Edition for $299.
It’s obvious that the 1060 is positioned to be a direct competitor to AMD’s Radeon RX 480. They’re both priced in that sub-$300 range and aimed at the consumer who wants a capable card but doesn’t want to spend the money for the best card.
Honestly, it feels a bit odd calling this “mid-range.” The PC hardware scene has had a quick shakeup in recent months and realigned our expectations for performance to price. The 1060 is said to be as powerful as the GTX 980 while only consuming 120 watts of power. No benchmarks have been published yet, but Nvidia has been rather clear that it’s targeting the 980’s capabilities. Whether you want to call this budget price, mid-range, or something else, I think we can all agree that it’s a good time to be a PC player.
GeForce GTX 1060 [GeForce]
