Nvidia lifted the veil of secrecy from its latest offering, the GTX 1060, and partners are revealing their cards. Gigabyte isn’t messing around with this launch; it is launching four 1060 models right out of the gate.
The Flagship
Gigabyte is offering a customized and overclocked GTX 1060 G1 Gaming card, much like the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 models that came before it. The G1 Gaming is the flagship GTX 1060 model (no word on an Xtreme Gaming edition yet). The card features an upgraded 6+1 power phase design, rather than the 3+1 system included with the Founder’s Edition.
Gigabyte also cherry picks the GPU dies that make their way into the G1 Gaming model thanks to the company’s GPU Gauntlet sorting technology. The GTX 1060 G1 Gaming comes with an aggressive 114MHz overclock to the GPU base clock.
The GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 G1 Gaming models featured three 90mm fans to keep the GPU cool. Evidently, the GTX 1060 produces less heat, as Gigabyte opted for two fans on the lower tier card. Similar to most recent Nvidia based cards, the fans have the ability to start and stop dynamically as needed.
The card still features Gigabyte’s RGB Spectrum lighting, which will let you customize the color of the logo on the top edge. The card also features a fan stop light that illuminates when the fans aren’t spinning.
Budget Minded Gaming
If the customized G1 Gaming card is more than you need, Gigabyte is also offering a very similar model, the GTX 1060 D5 6G, with a more affordable price tag. This card features the same shroud and cooling solution at the G1 Gaming card – right down to the RGB Spectrum lighting.
The D5 6G doesn’t include the improved power phase design and it comes out of the box with a very mild 25MHz overclock.
Not Available Yet
Gigabyte also revealed two GTX 1060 models that aren’t quite available yet. The company has not released the full specifications of these two cards, so we’re not sure what the clock speeds are for them.
The GTX 1060 Windforce OC features a smaller cooler than the G1 Gaming and D5 models, and it still includes dual 90mm fans to keep the components cool. Though we’re not privy to the clock speed details yet, we can tell from the name that the GPU will include an overclock of the reference design.
Gigabyte also revealed the GTX 1060 Mini ITX OC. The story for that card is similar to the Windforce OC -- We don’t have the nitty-gritty details yet. We do know Gigabyte designed the card for compact builds, as its only 6.7 inches long. Gigabyte equipped the GTX 1060 Mini IT OC with a single 90mm fan and two composite copper heat pipes.
Gigabyte has not revealed the pricing for any of the four cards it announced. Gigabyte lists the G1 Gaming and the D5 6G on the company website, so we should see them hit the market in the coming days. Gigabyte has not indicated when we’ll see the other two cards.
