Since the card was officially made available throughout the world last week, more and more NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 custom boards have begun to appear in Malaysia. Among the latest that we have spotted in the market are five GTX 1060 cards from ASUS.
For starters, the most affordable out of the five cards is the Dual GTX 1060 series which is priced at RM 1,479 for the standard variant while the OC model costs a little bit more at RM 1,549. Equipped with a pair of thermal fans on top of its heatsink, the biggest difference between these two cards is their clock speed whereby the GPU on the OC model is able to run at a speed of up to 1809 MHz while the standard model retains the same clock speed from NVIDIA Founders Edition card.
Another ASUS GTX 1060 card that still retain the standard clock speed is the Turbo GTX 1060 although it carries a higher price tag at RM 1,765. The card’s thermal solution utilizes a fan that is equipped with dual-ball bearing that apparently allows it to have longer lifespan alongside Super Allow Power II components to ensure the card’s reliability.
Meanwhile, the most premium model in the line-up is the ROG Strix GTX 1060 which itself are available in standard and overclocked models. Both of them do share the same DirectCU III thermal solution which features three fans alongside customizable Aura RGB lighting array on its body. The heatsink on the ROG Strix GTX 1060 also features five heatpipes that have direct contact on the card’s GPU.
Built with an 8-pin power connector and power state LED indicator, it also features two set of 4-pin fan connectors that allow the card to control additional external fans in order to provide additional cooling in areas surrounding the card based on its thermal condition. Also equipped with Super Allow Power II components in its 6+1 power phases, a metal backplate helps strengthen the ROG Strix GTX 1060 physical structure.
In terms of clock speed, the standard ROG Strix 1060 model is capable to run at up to 1746 MHz while the OC model goes up to 1873 MHz. These clock speed can be obtained in OC Mode which can be activated through ASUS own GPU Tweak II software. Additionally, the OC model also features slightly higher memory clock speed of 8208 MHz.
Not surprisingly, these premium components and features that ASUS have equipped into the ROG Strix GTX 1060 cards do come at a price. Specifically, the standard model is priced at RM 1,969 while the OC model is listed at RM 2,075 – two price tags that honestly seemed to be out of context for GTX 1060 which supposed to be a mid-range graphics card.
Nevertheless, it is clear that ASUS is trying to cover a rather wide range of price points with its GTX 1060 line-up. Now it is up to gamers themselves to choose which ASUS GTX 1060 graphic card that is worthy enough for their machine in terms of features and price tag.
(Source: C-Zone price list for 22 July 2016)
