KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC Review

For the original German review, click here.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 comes from the small graphics manufacturer KFA² and has a specifically designed cooling unit. Our test unit is equipped with 6 GB GDDR5 VRAM, but 3-GB versions are available as well. It comes at an attractive price of £280 (~$360) while the smaller 3-GB version is available from £220 (~$285). The graphics chip is called "GP106" and is produced in the 16 nm FinFET process. It is 200 mm² large and has 1280 CUDA cores that clock at 1518 MHz in our test model. Therefore, the KFA² GeForce 1060 6GB EX OC is slightly faster than the Nvidia reference design (1508 MHz). The 6 GB GDDR5 VRAM clocks at 2000 MHz and is attached via a 192-bit-wide interface. This makes a memory bus width of 192.2 GB/s. The graphics chip supports a maximum of 16 PCIe Gen3 lanes and can make full use of its bandwidth. Power supply is ensured by a 6-pin PCIe connection. You will not find SLI, however. This feature is available from the GeForce GTX 1070.
Like all Pascal graphics chips, the "GP106" supports decoding of videos that use either H.265 or Google's VP9 codecs. It also supports Nvidia's G-Sync, which prevents "tearing" - provided the display panel also supports Nvidia's G-Sync. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 offers a dual-link DVI as well as a HDMI 2.0b and a DisplayPort 1.4 connector for external devices. This way, 4K content can be rendered easily at up to 60 Hz.
Specifications | GTX 1050 Mini | GTX 1050 Ti | KFA2 GTX 1060 6 GB | GTX 1070 FE | GTX 1080 FE |
Chip | GP107 | GP107 | GP106 | GP104 | GP104 |
Manufactured | 14 nm | 14 nm | 16 nm | 16 nm | 16 nm |
Shader | 640 | 768 | 1.280 | 1.920 | 2.560 |
Texture Units | 40 | 48 | 80 | 120 | 160 |
GPU Base Clock | 1.354 MHz | 1.290 MHz | 1.518 MHz | 1.506 MHz | 1.607 MHz |
GPU Boost Clock | 1.455 MHz | 1.392 MHz | 1.733 MHz | 1.683 MHz | 1.733 MHz |
Memory Bus | 128 Bit | 128 Bit | 192 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
Memory Bandwidth | 112 GB/s | 112 GB/s | 192 GB/s | 256 GB/s | 320 GB/s |
Memory Size | 2 GB | 4 GB | 6 GB | 8 GB | 8 GB |
Power (Watt) | 75 W | 75 W | 120 W | 150 W | 180 W |
Test System
Clock Rates
The manufacturer, KFA², ships the GeForce GTX 1060 with a base frequency of 1518 MHz. The average turbo is specified as 1733 MHz. The total 6 GB GDDR5 VRAM clocks at 2000 MHz which results in a memory bus width of 192.2 GB/s. During our FurMark stress tests we found that the unit had no problems reaching the clock rate of 1923 MHz. There were slight variations due to temperature, however. The cooling unit of KFA²'s GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC is well dimensioned and does a great job. Still, you should ensure proper cooling of the case in order to avoid a build-up of heat under constant load.
Synthetic Benchmarks
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060's performance lies just between those of the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and the GeForce GTX 1070, which is confirmed by the results of the synthetic benchmarks 3DMark and 3DMark 11. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 does quite well compared to AMD's competitor, the AMD Radeon RX 480.
You can find out more about further benchmarks for the Nvidia GTX 1060 here.
3DMark | |
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics | |
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition | |
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition 6 GB | |
Desktop PC Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 KFA2 GTX 1060 6GB | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 8 GB Reference | |
MSI RX 470 Gaming X 4GB | |
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti | |
Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 2GB | |
1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics | |
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition | |
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition 6 GB | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 8 GB Reference | |
Desktop PC Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 KFA2 GTX 1060 6GB | |
MSI RX 470 Gaming X 4GB | |
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti | |
Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 2GB | |
Fire Strike Extreme Graphics | |
Desktop PC Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 KFA2 GTX 1060 6GB | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 8 GB Reference | |
Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 2GB |
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 8 GB Reference | |
MSI RX 470 Gaming X 4GB | |
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition 6 GB | |
Desktop PC Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 KFA2 GTX 1060 6GB | |
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti | |
Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 2GB |
Gaming Benchmarks
Game-testing confirmed the impression we received from the synthetic benchmarks. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 sets the agenda, followed by the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 and the AMD Radeon RX 480. Depending on the game and chosen settings, either the AMD unit or the GTX 1060 wins the race. Neither of the graphics cards can really beat the other to make second place after the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070.
Far Cry Primal - 1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:SM | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) |
BioShock Infinite - 1920x1080 Ultra Preset, DX11 (DDOF) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) |
Rise of the Tomb Raider - 1920x1080 Very High Preset AA:FX AF:16x | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) |
The Witcher 3 - 1920x1080 Ultra Graphics & Postprocessing (HBAO+) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) |
Deus Ex Mankind Divided - 1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:2xMS AF:8x | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) |
Watch Dogs 2 - 1920x1080 Ultra Preset | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) |
Dirt 4 - 1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:4xMS AF:16x | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) |
Battlefield 1 - 1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:T | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) |
Titanfall 2 - 1920x1080 Very High (Insane Texture Quality) / Enabled AA:TS AF:16x | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) |
Resident Evil 7 - 1920x1080 Very High / On AA:FXAA+T | |
AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) | |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) | |
AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) |
low | med. | high | ultra | 4K | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BioShock Infinite (2013) | 253.9 | 217.6 | 205.1 | 113.5 | |
The Witcher 3 (2015) | 216.4 | 144.2 | 70.5 | 43 | 28.8 |
Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | 213.1 | 148.5 | 83.4 | 67.7 | 27.5 |
Far Cry Primal (2016) | 105 | 90 | 81 | 72 | 28 |
Deus Ex Mankind Divided (2016) | 141.1 | 109 | 61.9 | 32.9 | 20.6 |
Battlefield 1 (2016) | 149.2 | 138 | 91.9 | 82.6 | 33.7 |
Titanfall 2 (2016) | 144 | 144 | 144 | 136 | |
Watch Dogs 2 (2016) | 141.4 | 127.1 | 70 | 50 | 24.5 |
Resident Evil 7 (2017) | 392 | 206 | 149 | 106 | 33 |
Dirt 4 (2017) | 314.9 | 182.9 | 119.1 | 64.8 | 38.2 |
Compute Performance
Again, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 and the AMD Radeon RX 480 have very similar results. The GTX 1060's 1280 Shader Units (cores) work fast and help it reach a tight second place. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 offers 40% higher performance and is clearly number one. We chose to only use common graphics cards for our compute performance comparison. Special graphics cards for professional use (Nvidia Quadro series, AMD FirePro series) offer much higher results.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) Desktop PC Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 KFA2 GTX 1060 6GB, E5-2680 v4 | AMD Radeon RX 480 (Desktop) AMD Radeon RX 480 8 GB Reference, 4790K | AMD Radeon RX 470 (Desktop) MSI RX 470 Gaming X 4GB, 4790K | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Desktop) MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 4790K | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Desktop) Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 2GB, 4790K | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition, 4790K | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition 6 GB, 6700K | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LuxMark v2.0 64Bit | -5% | -18% | -37% | -45% | 40% | -15% | |
Room GPUs-only | 1837 | 1661 -10% | 1440 -22% | 1175 -36% | 1037 -44% | 2474 35% | 1773 -3% |
Sala GPUs-only | 3475 | 3468 0% | 3020 -13% | 2156 -38% | 1864 -46% | 5012 44% | 2584 -26% |
ComputeMark v2.1 | 8% | 1% | -41% | -48% | 41% | -0% | |
1024x600 Normal, QJuliaRayTrace | 3313 | 2746 -17% | 2475 -25% | 1931 -42% | 1572 -53% | 4761 44% | 3322 0% |
1024x600 Normal, Mandel Scalar | 1980 | 2539 28% | 2447 24% | 1092 -45% | 968 -51% | 2861 44% | 2002 1% |
1024x600 Normal, Mandel Vector | 1987 | 2162 9% | 2172 9% | 1277 -36% | 1100 -45% | 2706 36% | 1994 0% |
1024x600 Normal, Fluid 2DTexArr | 981 | 991 1% | 911 -7% | 596 -39% | 555 -43% | 1390 42% | 963 -2% |
1024x600 Normal, Fluid 3DTex | 998 | 1220 22% | 1039 4% | 597 -40% | 554 -44% | 1402 40% | 985 -1% |
1024x600 Normal, Score | 9259 | 9659 4% | 9044 -2% | 5493 -41% | 4749 -49% | 13121 42% | 9266 0% |
Total Average (Program / Settings) | 2% /
5% | -9% /
-4% | -39% /
-40% | -47% /
-47% | 41% /
41% | -8% /
-4% |
Power Consumption & Overclocking
The KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC has to prove that the cooling unit can keep its promise under constant load. We chose the FurMark stress test and let the program run for one hour. The GPU's temperature rose to a maximum of 73 °C (~164 °F). This shows that the KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC works well within the defined parameters and the cooling fan does not run excessively (1800 rpm). This is good news for the cooling unit that the manufacturer has developed for this model. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition, which is equipped with one radial fan in the reference design, runs a lot louder under load and cannot keep temperatures below 80 °C (~176 °F). Only a quiet murmuring can be heard under load from inside the closed case.
The two axial fans (80 mm) can also run in 2D mode. Unfortunately, the KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC offers no "fan stop" while idling. That makes the KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC one of the few graphics cards that does not support this feature. Nevertheless, both fans run quietly, so at least in 2D mode the graphics card is not audible.
Under full load we measured a maximum power consumption of 120 Watt. This can be manually adjusted with the help of various tools. We managed to reduce the graphics card's consumption by up to 50%. Naturally, this also means that the KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC cannot reach its maximum performance. If the graphics card's performance is not good enough for you, you can always increase the clock rate a little. We could increase the core frequency by 200 MHz and RAM frequency by 400 MHz in our test model. The "Power Target" should also be increased to 116% in order to ensure stable operation. This also means higher power consumption, which rises to about 137 Watt under load.
The cooling unit has no problems keeping up with the increased clock rate and adapted "Power Target". In our test the unit reached a maximum temperature of 74 °C (~165 °F).
Verdict
The KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC is a desktop graphics card in the upper mid-range and is worth thinking about for £280 (~$360). Comparable models from other manufacturers are often more expensive. In regards to performance, the GTX 1060 lies right in between the considerably more expensive GTX 1070 and the slightly cheaper GTX 1050 Ti. Thanks to the 6 GB GDDR5 VRAM, the KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 GB EX OC has enough reserves to display current content smoothly with maximum settings and in 1080p. Its performance is not enough for 4K gaming with acceptable frame rates.
The KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC is convincing with its good performance and low power consumption. It also has a reliable and quiet cooling unit.
If you do not like AMD graphics cards and the GTX 1070 is too expensive for you, it is worth taking a closer look at the KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC. This graphics card offers reliable performance without annoying system noise under load. It also supports overclocking and can cross the 2-GHz barrier easily with boosting. The KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC works just as quickly as the Founder's Edition, which is Nvidia's reference design. Accessories are rather disappointing, however. The manufacturer offers nothing but a Driver CD and power adapter. Nonetheless, the KFA² GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB EX OC is a good graphics card that can be purchased at a fair price.