Analyst explains the GTX 1060’s higher price tag compared to the GTX 960

Nvidia’s GTX 1060 is yet to be launched with a price tag of $249 on the 19th July 2016. The GTX 1060 was supposed to play a very strong card for the green team. On the other hand, AMD’s RX 480 starts from $199. However, critics raised the question of why the GTX 1060 is priced higher than the last-gen GTX 960. The GTX 960 was priced at $199. Yes, we could take the performance increase into consideration, but there’s a bit more to the story than that.

[bmf7364]

The entire Pascal (1000) series has been marked up by $50 compared to the Maxwell(900) series because of the tremendous technological leap between the two generations of Nvidia cards. The 1060 is projected to produce the same kind of performance as the GTX 970 and RX 480. To add to that, the $250 is for a 6GB version. a 3GB version is coming out on a later date at an even lower price.

Personally, I've had bad-blood with AMD cards. My R9 280 throttled horribly in Battlefield 4 and did the same to any game that's been released 2013-onward. I thought it was due to an overclock when I bought it off Cyberpower, but it still throttled. And now seeing AMD, with the R9 300-series not being anything new from the 200-series, and the bad press about the RX 480's PCI-Express power-draw, I don't think I would want another AMD card. I've owned a GTX 970 since launch and it's been a majestic beast for quality 1080p60fps (it's even been holding its own decently in 4k after OC), now and waiting for a 1080 in the mail so I can enjoy 4k60fps

If the entry-level card that is the GTX 1060 is equal or greater to the mid-tier card that is GTX970, then it would really be worth $250 (The GTX 970 now while its on clearance is still $300)

[hells_supernova]

I bought an R9 290. Stock heat sink. I will never buy a standard GPU ever again. I think my next card will be Nvidia. the heat output and noise is insane from the R9 290. In saying that it still plays most games at high settings without much problem. You just have to tweak the fan curve.

Really interested to see the final break downs once all the cards are released and can be compared properly instead of from the companies who are trying to sell them.

[jmc8888]

The rumor is the 1060 > 980, not the 970. RX480 is between 970 and 980, but closer to 970.

Also what people are forgetting is that for two generations in a row Nvidia has increased their color compression. So 6GB's might actually be effectually close to equal of AMD's 8 GB's.

We do know for a fact that 6 GB's of Pascal is roughly equal to 8GB's of Kepler, maybe more.

So the people who think they're getting an extra 2 GB's of space on the RX480 8gb option, might not be. Oh they're getting the gb's, but how much each can actually store is likely to be roughly equal.

It's not all about how much space you have, it's how much can actually be fit in after compression.

The 3GB version isn't supposed to exist, except as possibly a lower tier card, like a GTX 1050.

Having a 1070, after having a 970, 4k60 will definitely be possible in most games. Hell it is for the 1070 after turning down a few settings.

[Kleptic]

bmf7364

Still on my sapphire 280x TE from fall 2013...What throttling did you have in BF4? I've had zero issues with the card, and kind of impressed that it'll now hold over 60fps at 1080 ultra in Doom with vulkan.

Not sounding accusatory, I just mean most refer to the 280x as one of the more stable and least problematic AMD gpu's over the past several years. It's very much approaching low end by today's standards, but I just haven't had any reason to upgrade until some of these newer api's really get going.

It's the only AMD gpu i've ever owned...was only Nvidia before...and I never take sides with this stuff (they're companies, not sports teams)...but lately Nvidia's back peddling with async compute and a lot of misleading information has put me off entirely.

[bmf7364]

Frame rates would stutter no matter what settings or frequency it was on. Nothing was blocking the fans and I had plenty of power (700w PSU, FX8350)

[Herbalistic]

I feel people would be better off going with a custom 4/8gb 480 to be honest..If you're going to pay damn near 300 bucks for a GPU you might as well wait for the 1070 to come down to normal prices.shit a person doing 1080p gaming might as well just wait for benchmarks of the 470 being as its supposed to be a 1080/60fps GPU. There is no need to pay 300 bucks for a card that's built for 1080p gaming

[jmc8888]

There are games where 1080p can't be maxed out with a 480 or equivalent Nvidia card. Some games are like that. Where a few settings really kill performance.

The whole overkill meme for 1080p really doesn't make sense. There are games that are poorly coded that need extra brute force. Not to mention that the extra power will help a year or two down the road.

There also is the fact that most people's next TV purchase will be 4k, as there really is no real purpose to buy only a 1080p set unless you are looking for the absolute cheapest tv possible. If you are willing to spend $249 or more on a TV, you should really be looking at 4k, as there have been $249 4ktv's for 2 years now. That old Seiki 39" could also do 1080/120, and the one I used to have could actually do 1080/136, 1440/80, etc, etc.

Simply put, if you want a new card, it really doesn't make much sense to go with a lower power card to save $30-50 or so. I get that some people don't need high or ultra settings, but I simply think it's a waste if you are willing to spend $150-300 and just want medium settings.

[Ysmir6723]

Its extremely faster than the gtx 960.There.Who needs an analyst for this???

[neoandrew]

LOL, this is a joke, you should compare gtx970 to 1060, 1060 is much more powerful than gtx 960.

[jmc8888]

No, compare the 1060 to 980. From all leaks and rumors the 1060 beats a 980.

[Shubhendu_Singh]

That's Nvidia for you.

They have increased every new cards by +50$. And on top of that the +100$ for Founders edition is just pure evil...and people are even buying those FEs, un-freakin-believable.

Respect your money, and see which cards gives you the best performance-to-money ratio.
Thanks to Nvidia, now one single graphic cards costs as much as your whole PC.

[windblowsagain]

Nvidia is a ripoff.

Going with AMD again.

[niteight]

have a MSI gtx 970 in mine and haven't regretted the purchase once. nvidia cards have been excellent performing cards for me.

[ziggurcat]

... why would a new card be less expensive than the previous generation, exactly?

[jmc8888]

It's happened before. The 970 was cheaper than the 670 or 770.

Another reason could be to create demand and to beat a competitor.

Also economic conditions, like 2008 (which was never fixed and will return bigger than ever) can do it.

Otherwise they are going to price it what people are willing to buy. Since Nvidia has had the best performing cards, plus their proprietary stuff, means they know the demand is there. They've got the market share to raise prices. Sucks, but if everyone wants your stuff, and it's all selling out, they are going to raise prices.

What sucks is, wages aren't keeping up for the vast majority of people.

[dcbronco]

After seeing the gains in Doom on the Fury you can expect similar gains from Polaris. That $200 card will be a better deal in the long run as more games go with asynchronous compute. Games will get more out of the 480 like a console gets better.