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Nvidia upgrades 1060 and 1080 cards with faster memory

dr_rus

Member
1060 9Gbps and 1080 11Gbps were announced with 1080Ti in the beginning of March but only today they are starting to appear in benchmarks and retail. 1060 9Gpbs is especially interesting as it seems to be directly targeted against AMD's RX580 Polaris upgrade. 1080 11Gbsp seems like a plug for the hole which NV have now between 1080 and 1080Ti, since 1080Ti's launch.

IMsc.png

Both GTX 1060 9Gbps and GTX 1080 11Gbsp are using new versions of GP106 and GP104 chips.

First benchmark is MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X PLUS
The GPU is clocked at 1.683 MHz with a 1.823 MHz boost at default clocks. This is 100% similar to the regular Gaming X model. However the effective memory data-rate was bumped up from 10.000 MHz towards 11.000 MHz (effective data-rate). Precisely that increase offers the PLUS model 10% more memory bandwidth. And yes the GeForce GTX 1080 very much so likes more graphics memory bandwidth.

Quite honestly I did not expect a card with slightly faster graphics memory to make this much of a difference performance wise. On a relative scale, everything is just that, ... relative. As seen from the regular Gaming X model I doubt you're going to notice a few FPS more. But the fact remains that just that 10% faster memory is responsible for an extra 4% in gaming performance (compared to the standard Gaming X). And once we tweak that card that difference is roughly 10% faster compared to the regular Gaming X card. And when we take relativity one step further, once you compare all the way back to a reference (Founders Edition) GeForce GTX 1080 and apply a tweak, you can again up-to 20% in performance. And that certainly is interesting.

Gigabyte, Asus, EVGA, Inno3D and the usual have announced the cards today as well so more benchmarks coming soon probably.

Update: PCGH have 1060 9Gbps compared to 570 and 580 in The Witcher 3:


Update 2: first 1060 9Gbps review - MSI GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X PLUS Review
 

ethomaz

Banned
You can probably get the same results with any OC model I guess.

The good part is that this memory setup now can over even more... so that is a plus choosing the "new" model.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Couple more reviews for MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X PLUS:
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/104743-msi-geforce-gtx-1080-gaming-x-plus/
https://videocardz.com/review/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-gaming-x-plus-review

Also worth noting that EVGA decided to provide new BIOSes for previously released 1080 FTW2 and SC2 cards which bumps the memory clock on them to 5.5 GHz making them essentially 11Gbps cards.
Yeap you can get the same result via over but I guess you can get more with 11Gbps chips than 10Gbps.
 

Durante

Member
Yeah, I think the neat thing about these as opposed to factory OC models is that it's real memory rated at those frequencies.
I've had my 1080 running at +400 memory (so very close to these speeds) since launch, but with the higher-rated memory chips you can probably get that OC from a higher baseline (so e.g. +900 compared to the original specs).
 
Why no 1070? Seems like a strange omission unless it just doesn't benefit from faster memory for some reason.

Look at the updated benchmarks in the op for your answer. It is already 10% faster than their last generation's ti.

If AMD releases a product that competes with it, I'm sure it will change.
 
Got my 1080 about a month ago. Loving it. NVIDIA does a good job, but i feel sorry for AMD. At least they have consoles, but they seem to be struggling next to NVIDIA and gaming rigs.
 
A GTX 1080 with a 2GHz core is the kind of performance I'm looking for, it's around 2x faster than my 1535MHz GTX 970.

I'm quite interested in seeing what Vega offers first though.
 
Got my 1080 about a month ago. Loving it. NVIDIA does a good job, but i feel sorry for AMD. At least they have consoles, but they seem to be struggling next to NVIDIA and gaming rigs.

NVIDIA-AMD-Intel-GPU-Market-Share-Q4-2016-Total.png


This is from 4th quarter of last year.

The high end has larger margins, so they aren't making as much money as Nvidia. Though they are still growing.
 
Wonder if this means this generation will last longer until 11XX series cards come out? At this point, it's not like AMD is really competing with Nvidia from a performance perspective.
 

spyshagg

Should not be allowed to breed
Got my 1080 about a month ago. Loving it. NVIDIA does a good job, but i feel sorry for AMD. At least they have consoles, but they seem to be struggling next to NVIDIA and gaming rigs.

Its true they are not winning every bench against the 1060, but they are very, very close. Both cards are on the limit of their respective process nodes (and AMD way past it with the 580), the difference being TMSC is leaps ahead on fabrication and Nvidia is riding that wave.


Chip design is a factor, but AMD chips on TMSC would likely clock enough to make nvidia start panicking and intel shitting it self even more.


To make a point, on TMSC node, Scorpio is packing an semi-rx580 with 40 cu's (4 more than the 480/580) running at 1172MHz for the same 6TF of the desktop rx580, in a package that will consume ~160watts total for the entire box (8core cpu, hdd and bluray included!). The Desktop 580's made in the GloFo, for the same 6Tflops are pulling >200watts on its own. Its baffling.
 
This is really interesting but the 580 vs the 1060 performance edge already varied depending on the game. So while the graph for The Witcher 3 is nice to see, it's still too early to tell if these upgraded 1060's will lead across the board.

Anyone paying this close attention to the comparison between the 580 and 1060 will likely still make their choice based on specific games played or brand loyalty unless it turns out the new 1060 outperforms basically across the board.
 
This is really interesting but the 580 vs the 1060 performance edge already varied depending on the game. So while the graph for The Witcher 3 is nice to see, it's still too early to tell if these upgraded 1060's will lead across the board.

Anyone paying this close attention to the comparison between the 580 and 1060 will likely still make their choice based on specific games played or brand loyalty unless it turns out the new 1060 outperforms basically across the board.

the 580 will typically be faster in new aaa games
 
Its true they are not winning every bench against the 1060, but they are very, very close. Both cards are on the limit of their respective process nodes (and AMD way past it with the 580), the difference being TMSC is leaps ahead on fabrication and Nvidia is riding that wave.


Chip design is a factor, but AMD chips on TMSC would likely clock enough to make nvidia start panicking and intel shitting it self even more.


To make a point, on TMSC node, Scorpio is packing an semi-rx580 with 40 cu's (4 more than the 480/580) running at 1172MHz for the same 6TF of the desktop rx580, in a package that will consume ~160watts total for the entire box (8core cpu, hdd and bluray included!). The Desktop 580's made in the GloFo, for the same 6Tflops are pulling >200watts on its own. Its baffling.

Yeah, it is impressive what AMD is able to do. I just hope they remain competitive because without them NVIDIA will be able to overprice their products without the competition.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Its true they are not winning every bench against the 1060, but they are very, very close. Both cards are on the limit of their respective process nodes (and AMD way past it with the 580), the difference being TMSC is leaps ahead on fabrication and Nvidia is riding that wave.


Chip design is a factor, but AMD chips on TMSC would likely clock enough to make nvidia start panicking and intel shitting it self even more.


To make a point, on TMSC node, Scorpio is packing an semi-rx580 with 40 cu's (4 more than the 480/580) running at 1172MHz for the same 6TF of the desktop rx580, in a package that will consume ~160watts total for the entire box (8core cpu, hdd and bluray included!). The Desktop 580's made in the GloFo, for the same 6Tflops are pulling >200watts on its own. Its baffling.
Where you read Scorpio consumes 160watts? Because I doubt that... Pro reaches that with less processing units and lower clocks.

About RX 480 and RX 580 power draw it is because AMD choose clocks over the optimal perf/watts of the chip... if you downclock RX 480 a bit it power draw decrease drastically.
 
Throw it in the trash.

If it's EVGA you might be able trade it in.

Does it even need to be traded in? Can't most 1060s OC their ram to this speed easily? I suppose starting with the 9 gbps means you could push that higher, but I doubt it's really that much a difference.
 

spyshagg

Should not be allowed to breed
Where you read Scorpio consumes 160watts? Because I doubt that... Pro reaches that with less processing units and lower clocks.

About RX 480 and RX 580 power draw it is because AMD choose clocks over the optimal perf/watts of the chip... if you downclock RX 480 a bit it power draw decrease drastically.

Its an estimation of course, but always lower than a single rx580 (the only one that reaches 6TF) for sure.

Downvolting works, but you need to reach 6TF. Point stands that glofo could never do it inside scorpio.
 
They really want to kill AMD aren't they?

I6GUhbI.gif


One game and a minor difference, especially looking at minimum frames. There are games that favor either card, even if the 1060 holds a small margin of victory over all, I would choose 8GBs over that.

Way better than the tepid Radeon RX 500 refreshes.

What? NVIDIA overclocking a component of a GPU is better than AMD overclocking a component of a GPU? Both are what I would consider Tepid tbh.

Does it even need to be traded in? Can't most 1060s OC their ram to this speed easily? I suppose starting with the 9 gbps means you could push that higher, but I doubt it's really that much a difference.

True, but it's the principle of the thing. Also not everyone likes overclocking. I would rather not over clock my 1070, but it reaches 1936MHz without it. I did overclock my CPU though. I might see if there is any significant increase from a memory boost.
 

Hux1ey

Banned
One game and a minor difference, especially looking at minimum frames. There are games that favor either card, even if the 1060 holds a small margin of victory over all, I would choose 8GBs over that.

Is the Vram difference really that important on mid tier cards like these?
 

dr_rus

Member
They would have been better if NV could gave gotten core clocks higher instead

They did. This update will most certainly apply to factory OC cards only.

the 580 will typically be faster in new aaa games

Mass Effect: Andromeda - 1060>480
Ghost Recon: Wildlands - 1060>480
Halo Wars 2, For Honor - more or less even

So why would 580 be suddenly faster in new AAA games if this clearly isn't the case with 480?
 
Throw it in the trash.

If it's EVGA you might be able trade it in.

It's EVGA...
I bought it from Newegg, does it work even if i purchase from another retailer..

Edit:found info, i can do it but it's a hassle i will live with this card for a year or 2 then upgrade again..I will save it, EVGA website say, step up 1 per customer, save it for a high end card...
 

theultimo

Member
Ive been running my 1060 at 9gbps and 2000 mhz core - not as bandwidth starved as polaris but it does have a benefit on recent titles like watch dogs 2.
 
Is the Vram difference really that important on mid tier cards like these?

My last two cards before my 1070 were VRAM limited at the end of their life. Even in games that didn't get just tank immediately there was performance loss. 6GB will probably be enough, but personally I'll take the future proof over a few frames now.

It's EVGA...
I bought it from Newegg, does it work even if i purchase from another retailer..

Not sure. Depending on how long you have it you might be able to send it back to Amazon even.
 
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