MSI Aims Wide With Six GTX 1060 GPUs
Nvidia officially released the GeForce GTX 1060 based on the GP106 GPU die, and OEMs are scrambling to get their custom versions of the GTX 1060 to market. MSI opted to create six 1060 GPUs with various thermal solutions and clock speeds.
The fastest of these GPUs is the MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming X 6G, which uses the company’s TwinFrozr VI cooler with a metal backplate and features a factory overclock of 1809 MHz. Naturally, this will also be the most expensive of MSI’s GTX 1060 GPUs, and it comes with an MSRP of $289 to prove it.
MSI produced the GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming 6G, which is another card with the TwinFrozr VI cooler and a metal backplate. MSI clocked the card somewhat lower at 1746 MHz. This card is slightly less expensive as well, with a $279 MSRP. Both of these GPUs have built-in RGB LED lighting too, which makes for a nice aesthetic touch.
MSI also equipped two GTX 1060s with its Armor 2X thermal solution, which isn’t quite as effective as the company’s TwinFrozr VI cooler due to a less beefy heatsink, but it should still be more than adequate to cool the GeForce GTX 1060. The faster of these two GPUs is the GeForce GTX 1060 Armor 6G OC that comes with a boost frequency of 1759 MHz, while MSI clocked the slower GeForce GTX 1060 Armor 6G variant at 1708 MHz.
MSI priced the GeForce GTX 1060 Armor 6G OC at $259, but we do not have pricing information for the other Armor 2X GPU. Neither card comes with a metal backplate or LED lighting, and they are essentially identical to each other except for their clock speed.
Further down the ladder is MSI’s GeForce GTX 1060 6GT OC, which uses an unnamed dual-fan cooler. MSI gave the card an identical clock speed in compared to the GeForce GTX 1060 Armor 6G OC, which means that both cards are likely pulled from the same bin and just use different thermal solutions. This card hits Nvidia’s recommended MSRP dead on at $249.
At the bottom of the stack is MSI’s GeForce GTX 1060 6G OC, which is again clocked at 1759 MHz. This card uses a simpler unnamed single-fan thermal solution, however, which means it will likely run somewhat warmer than the other cards in the list.
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All of these GPUs are available now from various retailers.
| MSI GeForce GTX 1060 GPUs | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU | GTX 1060 Gaming X 6G | GTX 1060 Gaming 6G | GTX 1060 Armor 6G OC | GTX 1060 Armor 6G | GTX 1060 6GT OC | GTX 1060 6G OC |
| Core Clock | 1594 MHz | 1531 MHz | 1544 MHz | 1506 MHz | 1544 MHz | 1544 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1809 MHz | 1746 MHz | 1759 MHz | 1708 MHz | 1759 MHz | 1759 MHz |
| GPU | GP106-400 | GP106-400 | GP106-400 | GP106-400 | GP106-400 | GP106-400 |
| Memory | 6 GB GDDR5 8100 MHz | 6 GB GDDR5 8000 MHz | 6 GB GDDR5 8000 MHz | 6 GB GDDR5 8000 MHz | 6 GB GDDR5 8000 MHz | 6 GB GDDR5 8000 MHz |
| Thermal Solution | TwinFrozr VI | TwinFrozr VI | Armor 2X | Armor 2X | Dual-Fan | Single-Fan |
| Backplate | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| LED | Yes (RGB) | Yes (RGB) | No | No | No | No |
| Connectivity | 3 x DisplayPortHDMIDL-DVI-D | 3 x DisplayPortHDMIDL-DVI-D | 3 x DisplayPortHDMIDL-DVI-D | 3 x DisplayPortHDMIDL-DVI-D | 3 x DisplayPortHDMIDL-DVI-D | 3 x DisplayPortHDMIDL-DVI-D |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 277 x 140 x 39 mm | 277 x 140 x 39 mm | 279 x 140 x 38 mm | 279 x 140 x 38 mm | 247 x 115 x 39 mm | TBA |
| MSRP | $289 | $279 | $259 | N/A | $249 | N/A |
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theyeti87 Now these prices are more like it. Just came from the Asus 1060 card article and was unhappy at the price tags of their offerings.Reply -
kyle382 Does it really have to be red? Asus finally toned it down and now MSI wants to make fast things red as well. SighReply -
SpAwNtoHell I recon the colour really matters if you can see it in a case window. This time around with pascal i have to say that their twin frozer vi is one of the best, if not best solution out there to fit in almost any case( especially itx) low noise temperature well in the limits and size is just right.... I have around a 970 twin frozer a gtx 960 strix and the msi 1070 with twin frozer and i have to say i am amazed of the cooling power of it and keeping noise down under load.Reply -
s997863 Could Tom's please highlight these cards outlines plugged in on a motherboard? I'm more concerned about being able to use the slots next to them.Reply
I miss low-profile single-slot cards ever since my 8800GT died. I can still fit a PCI soundcard/legacy-gameport together with my new Radeon 7850, but there's so little clearance that I'm worried about air circulation to these oversized fans, and I unplug the 7850's power while using the gameport, relying on my intel integrated graphics for old flightstick games. -
IInuyasha74 Reply18304406 said:Could Tom's please highlight these cards outlines plugged in on a motherboard? I'm more concerned about being able to use the slots next to them.
I miss low-profile single-slot cards ever since my 8800GT died. I can still fit a PCI soundcard/legacy-gameport together with my new Radeon 7850, but there's so little clearance that I'm worried about air circulation to these oversized fans, and I unplug the 7850's power while using the gameport, relying on my intel integrated graphics for old flightstick games.
Unfortunately no, we could not. The way PCI/PCI-E slots are placed on a motherboard varies from one board to the next. This is a fairly standard dual-slot cooler. I could probably find a dozen motherboards that I can place this GPU in without it covering up another port, and I could probably find twice as many that it would cover a port. It all depends how the motherboard is laid out.