NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 release date, specs and price news 2016: Graphics card to feature a 3 GB variant at $199

Miguel Salonga Wednesday, August 17, 2016

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 is seen by many gamers and tech enthusiasts as one of the top graphic processing units (GPUs) that exist today. However, competition remains tight among manufacturers to develop the best possible graphics card with top-of-the-line features while still being profitable. It is not easy to develop a high-quality GPU without compromising its cost and there is a chance that other gamers will resort to a cheaper graphics card with mediocre performance.

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1060 is reported to have a smaller 3 GB video card variant and a lower selling price. | NVIDIA GeForce website

Based on the latest rumors about the new GeForce GTX 1060 coming this year, it seems that NVIDIA is thinking about competing with the likes of semiconductor company Advance Micro Devices (AMD) by releasing a graphics card with a lower memory, and consequently, a cheaper price.

Legit Reviews reported that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 is going to have a 3 GB video card variant that will be released in the coming months. The details about the 3 GB graphics card are said to have been released during a recent NVIDIA press event in China.

The online publication managed to get a slide from the presentation in China, which suggests that this particular video card has half the memory of the original GeForce GTX 1060 series GPUs. The GeForce GTX 1060 6GB has a total of 1280 CUDA cores, while the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB variant only has 1152 CUDA cores. Consequently, this variant will have reduced Texture Units (TMUs). From 80 in the 6 GB variant, the 3 GB video card will only have 72.

On the other hand, Digital Trends does not see the rumored 3 GB GeForce GTX 1060 to pose a disadvantage to NVIDIA and the consumers. In fact, this may even help the company to boost its profits. NVIDIA hardware is said to have a higher price compared to its competitors in the market, and that is why sometimes, other companies such as AMD have the selling advantage. An average consumer may just want to buy the cheaper graphics card to suit average gaming needs.

Still, it is not expected that the 3 GB video card will be a huge letdown. Digital Trends considers the listed specifications of the device as identical to high-end GPUs. For video games with a larger memory requirement, the mid-range GeForce GTX 1060 GPU may have a problem.

As for the price of the new GeForce GTX 1060, it is expected to have a selling price of about $199, which is considerably lower than the original GTX 1060's $250 unit price.