Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 release date: iterations include 3GB model

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060NVIDIA

Many are already familiar with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, but a 3GB variant will soon come out, too. It will be favorable to gamers on a budget. Luckily, details were revealed on the upcoming GPU via a leak.

The rumored NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB variant will have a lower CUDA core count -- it will have 1152 cores, compared to the 1280 cores of the higher model. It is also rumored that the lower model will contain the lower chip version, GP106-300-A1 core. The 6GB variant contains the GP106-400-A1 variant, WCCFTech reported.

The still-unannounced GPU will directly compete with AMD's Radeon RX 470, which has a similar price, US$149 US, and features the cut-down Polaris 10 GPU with 4GB GDDR5 VRAM.

Based on the leaked information, the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 will offer three units of Display Port 1.4, a single HDMI 2.0b and a single DVI port. It is also said to contain 120W TDP (thermal design power) and would require a single six-pin connector.

Its memory bus properties include GDDR5 (Samsung), 192-bit bus width, 202 MHz real clock, 810 Mhz effective clock, and with a 19 GB/s bandwidth. Its base clock and boost clock remain unknown, but it contains 4.4 billion transistors, a 200mm2 die size and uses the 16nm FinFET manufacturing process.

Meanwhile, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB version had a global release on July 19 for US$249. It will be available in 238 countries. The 3GB variant is reported to retail for US$149, and rumored to be announced by mid-August. No release date was mentioned, Techfrag stated in its report.

The report added that the company's creation of a 3GB model does not live up to the game requirements of today. Mainstream GPUs are required to have at least 4GB of RAM.