Nvidia’s Plan to Tackle AMD RX 590: A new GTX 1060 6GB Model with GDDR5X

Amid rumors of AMD preparing its 12nm Polaris refresh GPU, Nvidia has listed yet another variant of its GeForce GTX 1060 6GB graphics card. The new GTX 1060 SKU boasts even better specifications than the previous variant, with hopes to take on AMD’s next mainstream GPU, the Radeon RX 590.

Originally launched back in 2016, the Nvidia GTX 1060 was offered in 3GB and 6GB memory options. Both models used GDDR5 memory clocked at 8 Gbps; however, a year later, the 6GB variant was updated to 9 Gbps. This time around, Nvidia is offering a 6GB GDDR5X variant which will deliver even higher memory bandwidth.

The GDDR5X provides better overclocking potential, so you can expect to hit higher clocks with ease. As has been the case with Pascal architecture, a memory overclock would definitely improve performance.

With that said, Nvidia’s GPU specs chart doesn’t differentiate memory speeds between the GDDR5 and GDDR5X versions. It simply lists 8 Gbps, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the GDDR5X will run at the same clock speed, as Nvidia hasn’t yet updated the chart for its 9 Gbps GDDR5 variant either.

Currently, Micron is the only company that is producing GDDR5X memory while the industry is moving to GDDR6 with GeForce 20-series cards. Micron offers 10 Gb/s and up to 12 Gb/s DRAM speeds on its G5X solutions. The GTX 1060 6GB is likely to feature the entry-level 10 Gbps memory as it aims to target the mainstream graphics market.

Other specifications of the GTX 1060 remain the same. These include 1280 CUDA cores, 1506MHz base clock, 1708MHz boost clock and 6GB memory running along a 192-bit bus interface. Assuming the 6GB GDDR5X is clocked at 10 Gb/s, the card would deliver a bandwidth of 240 GB/s. The TDP is still rated at the same 120W and would require a 6-pin connector to feed the graphics board.

What do you think of Nvidia’s GTX 1060 6GB with GDDR5X? Do you think it will be able to fare well against AMD’s Polaris Refresh?