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Gaming Benchmarks
Alien: Isolation
The Nvidia GTX 1060 is more than enough to run Alien: Isolation at max, so the Gigabyte P57W v6 churns through the benchmark with ease. It easily surpasses the MSI Apache Pro, which also has less system memory, but it also performs nearly 10% better than the similarly equipped Asus Strix 17. The only system it falls short of is the much stronger P37X v6.
Ashes of the Singularity
The Gigabyte P57W holds a slight 3 FPS advantage over both the MSI Apache Pro and the Asus GL702VM, which roughly equates to a 10% performance lead. Still, 36 FPS isn’t much to brag about, but this is a game that demands some muscle, and considering Gigabyte’s P37X alternative doesn’t bring yield much more performance, gamers will have no choice but to dial back graphics settings.
Bioshock Infinite
The P57W v6 takes the lead against the other two GTX 1060 laptops in Bioshock Infinite, but not by a significant margin. At most, we see a 7% performance difference over the Apache Pro. The performance increases by 16% with the more powerful P37X, but at an average framerate of well over 100 FPS, it’s hardly worth the upgrade for this game.
DiRT Rally
DiRT Rally is the first title where the Gigabyte P57W suffers at the hands of the competition. This time it takes second place among the 1060-based laptops, but only trails the Strix 17 by a fraction of a frame. The GTX 1060 isn’t strong enough to pull any of the laptops above 60 FPS, whereas the P37X v6 enjoys a healthy 73 FPS average thanks to its GTX 1070. Still, the P57W’s average frame rate is incredibly close to 60 FPS, so not too much graphical tweaking is needed.
Grand Theft Auto V
With all of its graphical settings maximized, Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most demanding games in our suite, and even our high-spec P37X can’t deliver a full 60 FPS on average. A gaming powerhouse such as MSI’s GT73VR Titan Pro-201 is necessary if that’s your goal. If you’re comfortable with at least 30 FPS, or downgrading the game settings, the Gigabyte P57W v6 will pull you through here.
GRID Autosport
GTX 1060 laptops shine brightest in GRID Autosport because the game’s performance favors GPUs with high clock speeds (in addition to overall platform strength, putting these systems on a bit more equal footing). The GTX 1060 has a higher base clock (1670MHz) than the GTX 1070 (1645MHz), so the benchmark results illustrate a much tighter performance difference between the P57W and the more powerful P37X.
Hitman
Hitman is a moderately difficult title to run fast on older systems, but Nvidia’s Pascal handles the game's graphical intensity quite well. Two of our GTX 1060 laptops, including the Gigabyte model, are able to maintain a solid 60 FPS with the settings at max. By upgrading to a GTX 1070, however, you will see roughly 10 FPS of additional performance.
Metro: Last Light Redux
Similar to Hitman, Metro: Last Light Redux has been demanding of low to mid-range systems. Although the Gigabyte P57W v6 misses the 60 FPS mark, it doesn’t miss it by much. You can easily tweak the settings to reach 60 FPS without losing much visual fidelity. Alternatively, you can step up to a Gigabyte P37X v6, which delivers 60 FPS with room to spare.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rise of the Tomb Raider has proven to be this generation’s Crysis when it comes to stressing gaming systems. Sure enough, the GTX 1060 can barely maintain 30 FPS, let alone 60 FPS. Even the P37X v6 cannot manage 60 FPS with its GTX 1070, so you’ll have to consider a GTX 1080 system if you want to play this game with smooth frame rates at max quality.
The Division
The Division isn’t as resource-hungry as Rise of the Tomb Raider, and the P57W delivers over 50 FPS. Gigabyte’s alternative, the P37X, offers about 27% more performance, pulling it above the 60 FPS threshold. Dialing back a few settings with minimal graphical reduction proves to be a cost-effective option.
Thief
We end our gaming benchmarks with the P57W taking top marks against the Asus and MSI laptops, albeit by a small margin, in Thief. The GTX 1060 is more than powerful enough to deliver over 60 FPS. So long as the titles you play aren’t more demanding than Thief, there’s little reason to consider a more powerful system like the P37X.
