MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X Graphics Card Review

Final Thoughts

Price

According to MSI, this particular version of the GTX 1060 will retail for £299.99. Apparently, the GTX 1060 will start from £239.99 and this probably refers to the ultra-cheap blower coolers with a bland, plastic construction. I expect higher end models from AIB partners to hover between the £269.99 to £349.99 mark. At the time of writing, you can acquire a GTX 1070 for approximately £400. Not only that, the R9 Fury has been heavily discounted to £329.99 and offers exceptional value. This means the GTX 1060 comes with a fairly hefty premium compared to the previous generation.

As always, the concept of value depends on perspective and NVIDIA’s Pascal launch is a very pertinent example. If you consider the GTX 1060 outperforms the GTX 980 which had a starting price around £420, then it’s a good investment. On the other hand, the GTX 1060 is a huge price hike compared to the GTX 960 which it’s meant to be replacing. As a result, it’s down to the end-user to choose which of these they believe to be the case and make an informed purchasing decision. Personally, I think the GTX 1060 is overpriced, but so is the GTX 1070 and GTX 1080. However, in this case, there is competition from Maxwell products like the GTX 980Ti. This seems like a reactionary release to the RX 480, and while it comprehensively beats it in many games, the price point leaves a lot to be desired.

Overview

Aesthetically speaking, the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X is sublime and I instantly fell in love with its extraordinary design. As previously mentioned, it’s quite easy to feel lackadaisical about products sporting a red and black colour scheme mainly due to the quantity of components opting for this overdone theme. That’s not to say it can’t enthuse an exciting reaction though and this classical colour combination seems to be as popular as ever. While aesthetic preference is a subjective matter, I strongly believe MSI has produced a stellar graphics card which looks really sophisticated. For instance, the textured matte black section and spectacular lighting bolts contrast rather well. Not only that, the silver MSI Gaming Dragon accents on the fans adds to the visual appeal. RGB lighting is the latest trend and hardware manufacturers have updated their latest projects with a host of wacky effects. Unlike many of MSI’s competitors, they’ve decided to employ a more subtle form of illumination which I think looks much better. Of course, it’s still possible to customise the MSI logo and choose from an assortment of colours.

The graphics card is awash with high-end components including a 6-phase power delivery, Japanese capacitors, super ferrite chokes and much more. This is a huge improvement on the reference circuitry and allows the end-user to enjoy exceptionally stable power under extreme usage scenarios. Also, the graphics card’s Twin Frozr VI cooler is a piece of art and revolves around a huge aluminium heatsink, smoothed square shape heatpipes and large nickel-plated copper block. MSI even went to the trouble of utilising high-quality thermal interface material and the new Torx 2.0 fans provide 22% more air pressure compared to the previous design. Other notable features include an anti-bending strip, memory cooling plates and rugged custom PCB.  While there is a premium compared to the more basic GTX 1060 models, it’s worth it considering the build quality on offer. Throughout the testing, I was amazed by the GPU’s low thermal output and ability to remain almost silent when tackling games on strenuous presets.

When it comes to overclocking, the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X has loads of headroom and I managed to increase the core and memory without any issues. The memory overclock was surprisingly high and the largest I’ve encountered from any Pascal sample sporting GDDR5 memory. While your mileage may vary due to the silicon lottery, this is a magnificent result. The core overclock wasn’t as spellbinding, although the boost compared to the Gaming Mode is substantial. Please remember that the OC profile automatically pre-configures an overclock by increasing the core by 25MHz and memory by another 50MHz. Once overclocked, the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X managed good performance gains and began to trade blows with the R9 Nano in 3DMark.

The question on everyone’s mind is, can the GTX 1060 dethrone the RX 480 as the ultimate mainstream graphics card? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t simple and greatly depends on your requirements and maximum price point. Throughout the testing process, the graphics card consistently defeated the GTX 980 by a small margin. Additionally, the gap seems to increase even further in DirectX 12 titles which suggest Pascal’s implementation is more effective. As shown by the Hitman data, the GTX 1060 isn’t able to leverage the same performance benefits as AMD’s architecture when comparing the numbers against DirectX 11. Another vital element to consider is, the MSI Gaming X edition is extremely high-end and the RX 480’s deficit versus cheaper variants will be reduced.

In time, driver updates should make the GTX 1060 extend its lead over the GTX 980 which undoubtedly take advantage of fairly mature drivers. Interestingly, the GTX 1060 seems to be a step behind the GTX 1070 and the difference in performance is quite striking. This is problematic when it’s conceivable to acquire a basic GTX 1070 model for around £70 more than premium GTX 1060s. Putting this argument aside, the GTX 1060 is able to provide a fluid frame-rate on demanding graphical presets up to a 3440×1440 resolution. Unfortunately, it hasn’t got the graphical horsepower like its bigger brother to cope with 4K gaming scenarios. In theory, you could pair this product with a 4K display but it involves far too many compromises.

The GTX 1060 excels in DirectX 11 games and these situations make the additional cost worthwhile. Part of this is down to certain titles being optimised for NVIDIA hardware and the scaling on AMD products can be rather poor. This is just how game development operates and both sides have certain sponsored games which favour a particular manufacturer. To summarise, the GTX 1060 is an excellent graphics card but the gap to the GTX 1070 is much larger than I’d like. This even applies when opting for premium models like the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X with a hefty factory overclock. I have to commend MSI though because they’ve worked with what NVIDIA have provided, and you’ll be hard pressed to find another GTX 1060 with the same high-end components, professional PCB design and quiet operation.

MSI’s Gaming range continues to impress and acts a seal of quality. Whether it’s worth the extra compared to the RX 480 will greatly depend on which games you intend to play. More specifically, the RX 480 pushes well above its weight throughout DirectX 12 games and it’s got a bright future as more developers adopt this API. Saying that, the GTX 1060 manages to forge ahead by a decent amount when playing DirectX 11 titles. This the dilemma facing users who require a new graphics card which finds a good balance between price and performance.

Pros

• Attractive RGB illumination
• Exceptional memory overclocking
• Gorgeous aesthetics
• Impressive factory overclock
• Low power consumption
• Military Class 4 components
• Stunning build quality
• Superb thermals
• Unbelievably quiet

Cons

• £70 more expensive than the reference RX 480

“The MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X is built to an impeccable standard and the latest Twin Frozr VI cooling design is nothing short of revolutionary. Additionally, the graphics card is able to defeat the GTX 980 in most games and offers superb performance per watt.”

MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X Graphics Card Review

Thank you MSI for providing us with this review sample.