Best mid-range 1080p graphics cards: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB vs. Nvidia GTX 1660 6GB vs. AMD RX 590 8GB
Battle for the best 1080 gaming card.
There’s plenty to choose from right now in the world of gaming GPUs. With Nvidia recently releasing the GeForce GTX 1660 series, choosing a card for 1080p gaming is a challenge. So, we have nailed down the three best 1080p cards currently available – the new GTX 1660 6GB, the older GTX 1060 6GB, and AMD’s Radeon RX 590 8GB – and we’re going to break down their pros and cons.
Round 1 VALUE
At a first cursory glance, the GeForce GTX 1060 is the victor here. It’s the cheapest card of the three, after all, costing $370 on average, although the Radeon RX 590, at around $390, is extremely close. Looking at price-pergigabyte, the RX 590 beats out both the other cards, packing 8GB of GDDR5 memory against the 6GB offered by the other pair. That extra graphical memory puts the Radeon card in good stead, too – despite being older, the 590 can hold its own, with performance on par with the GTX 1660, even at 1440p ultra settings.
The GTX 1660 might be the newest of the three GPUs here, but prices have dropped quickly – you should be able to snap one up for only a little more than the GTX 1060, with $380 the going price at the time of writing. As you might expect, the GTX 1660 is great value when it comes to baseline performance, although the memory speed isn’t any faster than that of the RX 590. Given the minimal price variation, our recommendation for value has to go to the RX 590. The GTX 1060 is too old to justify its price point, while the 590 is a solid card that slightly undercuts the 1660 on cost.
Round 2 EFFICIENCY
Sorry AMD, but Radeon isn’t winning this one. The RX 590 is a good card, but it demands 175W of power without overclocking; almost a third more than the 120W required by each GTX card. The system power draw if you attempt to properly overclock is nightmarish, too, the GPU demanding as much as half of the build’s entire power budget. Swapping from Nvidia to AMD can often force a PSU upgrade. It’s not particularly quiet, either, though this depends on the specific model you purchase. It’s worth noting that if you choose to cool your GPU with liquid, noise ceases to be a factor, of course.
The GTX 1660 feels like a clear winner in the efficiency stakes, though. In terms of what it demands from your system, it’s near-identical to the 1060, but it simply pumps out superior performance, typically running at around 10–12 percent faster than the 1060, without any significant increase in noise or running temperature. Certain versions of the card perform more efficiently and quietly, too, thanks to manufacturers’ proprietary fan technology. That’s not to say the GTX 1060 is a slouch in this department, though; most models run very quietly and draw a sensible amount of power – it simply can’t quite keep up with its newer descendant.
Round 3 OVERCLOCKING
Looking purely at factory boost clocks, the GTX 1660 powers through here. With a boost clock of 1,785MHz against a 1,530MHz base clock, it boasts both the highest maximum speed and the greatest percentage increase from base to boost out of all three cards. The RX 590 struggles with overclocking; even when it was originally released, it ran on two-year-old architecture, so it won’t hit any higher than 1,700MHz, even with some serious tweaking. This is perhaps unsurprising to those in the know – the RX 570 and 580 also struggle with overclocking, which results in high temperatures with minimal speed gains.
The 1060 can perform almost as well as the 1660, however, despite its age. It’s relatively impressive, with a factory boost clock just barely over 1,700MHz. It still comfortably beats out the RX 590 – manual overclocking should easily throw at least another 100MHz on top, too.
When it comes to memory speed, the 590 performs better, capable of hitting 9GT/s (a similar figure to the 1660). The 1660 simply dominates when you commit to proper overclocking. If we dive under the hood, there’s simply greater capacity to push the limits of the 1660’s hardware. Maxing out fan speeds and heat limits let this card crack 2,000MHz – impressive, given that it still uses GDDR5.
Round 4 LONGEVITY AND MAINTENANCE
On average, the GTX 1660 is the best card here, but only by a small margin. Unsurprisingly, the 1060 doesn’t perform too well, but it does the job. Performance across our benchmark games is very varied. The RX 590 dominates in some games, but lags behind both GTX cards in others. This is primarily due to AMD or Nvidia preference from developers in game design, and shouldn’t really be a factor when deciding on a card – unless you plan to only ever play one or two games.
The GTX 1060 lags behind in this department due to its age, although the RX 590 puts out reliable figures despite its two-year-old architecture. Broadly speaking, in games where the 1600 boasts higher fps figures, the 590 only narrowly loses out. Both are capable of hitting 60fps at 1440p, too, if you’re willing to lower the graphical settings.
Variation between average fps and minimum fps (in the 97th percentile) differs between the cards, too. The 1660 varies by 47 percent on average, while the 590 only varies by 39 percent, and the 1060 by 37 percent, making them both more stable than the 1660. This could be written off as driver maturity, however; the 1660 will likely perform within tighter parameters once it’s been around for a while. Overall, we have to give it to the newer card. WINNER: GTX 1660