MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X Graphics Card Review

3D Mark

Before we get into the benchmarks, it’s important to clarify that a delivery issue prevented us from using a custom cooled RX 480 from Sapphire. Therefore, the RX 480’s reference cooler isn’t going to be as competitive when compared to a premium aftermarket GTX 1060. As you can see, the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X manages to output very good numbers which surpass the GTX 980 and RX 480.

When tackling the 1440p benchmark, the graphics card has a significant lead compared to the GTX 980 and isn’t overly adrift of the R9 Nano.

On a similar note, the GPU maintains its strong showing during 4K testing and keeps the GTX 980 at bay.

Unigine Valley

In Unigine Valley, the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X just edged the GTX 980 and takes a commanding lead over the RX 480.

The graphics card posts a better average frame-rate than the GTX 980 and is within touching distance of the R9 390X.

Once the resolution is set to 4K, the GTX 980 records slightly better figures. However, it’s within a margin of error and not really that important given the low frame rates.

Compute Performance

In terms of OpenCL performance, the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X isn’t quite able to defeat the GTX 980 although it’s remarkably close. This area is very positive for the RX 480 and it will be interesting to see how the results change with driver enhancements over time.