GTX 1060 in 2023, Still Worth Buying?

The card was launched on July 19, 2016, and utilized the GP-106 graphics processor featuring 1280 CUDA cores, 80 texture mapping units, and 48 drops. It was priced at $249, which was and still is a very reasonable price point for gamers. For many years, the GTX 1060 presented unbeatable performance and value for the money and dominated the market. It was the steam Hardware survey people's champ and the big brother to the annoying little brother, the 1060 3GB. However, it has recently been dethroned by the GTS 1650.

The question we are asking today is whether this card should still be the budget king, and does it still deserve to be on top of the steam Hardware survey and possibly even deserve a spot in your budget PC you may be building right now. To answer this question, we will put the GTX 1060 6GB through the gaming gauntlet and see what kind of performance you can expect from it in 2023.

For our testing, we have the same test system as last time featuring the I5 12400f, MSI b660 mortar motherboard, 16 gigs of DDR4 running at 3600 MHz, the GTX 1060 6GB, a 750 watt power supply, and an MSI 240 millimeter AIO to keep the CPU cool.

We kicked off our testing with Overwatch 2, where we were able to get a nice and steady 156 average FPS, providing smooth gameplay with no crazy stutters or anything like that that would affect our game's performance. Next up was Diablo 2 resurrected, where the GTX 1060 6GB really showed up and showed out against its annoying little brother, the 3GB version. We were able to get an average FPS of 90, which is about 20 FPS higher than what we got with the 3GB.

Moving on to Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2, we were able to get ourselves an average FPS of 130 in multiplayer and 110 in Warzone at medium-low settings at 1080p. This is a lot better than what the 3GB version of this card was able to do at the exact same settings.

In Apex Legends at 1080p low settings, we were able to get a competitive 132 FPS average over the course of the run. And in Doom Eternal, we were able to crank up the settings all the way to high and still get an average FPS of 95, which was definitely a much better match for this game with a 6GB card. The card was able to achieve an average of 195 FPS in Fortnite, as well as 63 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 and 93 FPS in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Enhanced Edition, all at medium settings.

The 6GB version of the GTX 1060 outperformed the 3GB version by about 30 FPS in Fortnite and by a significant margin in Red Dead Redemption 2, which the 3GB version struggled to play without artifacting. In our testing of Hogwarts Legacy, a new game released in 2023, the GTX 1060 6GB still performed well, achieving just under 60 FPS on medium settings with Nvidia's Reflex and AMD FSR on the quality preset.

We were impressed with the GTX 1060's ability to deliver top-notch gaming performance at 1080p resolution, while also having a low power draw. It has a power draw rated at 120 watts maximum, giving it GTX 980-like performance at half the power draw. This makes it a great candidate for a super budget system without having to switch out the stock power supply. We have tested this ourselves and found that the card performed flawlessly with a stock power supply in several systems.

Despite being an older card, the GTX 1060 6GB is still popular among gamers due to its affordability and performance. It is a good option for those who are not looking to spend a lot of money on a new graphics card and still want to play modern games at 1080p resolution. It can be found on the used market for around $100, making it an even more attractive option for those on a tight budget.

In conclusion, we believe that the GTX 1060 6GB still has plenty of life left in it and is still worthy of a spot at the top of the Steam Hardware Survey. While there may be better options available now in 2023, the GTX 1060 6GB remains a great choice for budget-conscious gamers who want to enjoy modern games without breaking the bank.