GTX 1060 (3gb) with 4gb VRAM?

[zachmullin]

I am looking to upgrade my graphics card as I am currently running a GTX 750 ti (great card by the way, but just not powerful enough for today's standard, and totally outdated).  I am looking at the GTX 1060 (3gb) as it seems to suit my performance (and price) needs. The only thing I am worried about is the amount of VRAM.  I feel like 3gb may be enough for most 1080p games, but for example my flight simulator eats up VRAM like you wouldn't believe.  Also I know for a fact that 3gb is not enough for 1440p and if I ever wanted to upgrade in the future I don't want my graphics card holding me back.  

 

I'm wondering whether a 1060 (3gb) card with 4gb of VRAM will ever be released.  My friend has a 960 with 4gb of VRAM (2gb more than most 960s) and I'm wondering if a similar thing could happen with the 1060 (3gb).  The performance is what I need but the VRAM makes me nervous. 

I am personally skeptical that it will because of the name having an emphasis on the VRAM, and VRAM (as well as a compute performance difference) is the only difference between the two 1060s, therefore putting more VRAM on the lower end model could undercut the 6gb 1060.

 

TL;DR Will there be any 1060 (3gb) cards with 4gb VRAM?

 

Thanks in advance.

[AresKrieger]

1 minute ago, zachmullin said:

 

TL;DR Will there be any 1060 (3gb) cards with 4gb VRAM?

 

Thanks in advance.

No, it's not possible given how the memory is configured

[don_svetlio]

Of course not? the memory interface does not allow for a 4GB version. Also - the 3GB 1060 is 10% slower than the 6GB 1060 as it has CUs disabled. Avoid that. RX 480 or 6GB 1060

[79wjd]

There won't be a 4gb 1060. Just get the 6gb 1060. (the 3gb 1060 is also 10% slower than the 6gb 1060)

[Dackzy]

the 3gb version has less cuda cores than the 6gb version, GET THE 6gb VERSION

[Citadelen]

Get the 470 or 480 instead, there wil never be a 4GB 1060.

[zachmullin]

2 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

There won't be a 4gb 1060. Just get the 6gb 1060. (the 3gb 1060 is also 10% slower than the 6gb 1060)

I adressed this in my post.  1060 6gb is too expensive

[don_svetlio]

Just now, zachmullin said:

I adressed this in my post.  1060 6gb is too expensive

RX 480 then

[Energycore]

8 minutes ago, zachmullin said:

 

What flight sim?

[DildorTheDecent]

Not with that bus. 

[PRTI]

No

[mariushm]

Like all above say, no, it's not possible.  The GTX1060 is using a 192 bit memory controller, which means the card needs 6 memory chips. There's only 512 MB or 1 GB memory chips out there, which results in 6 x 0.5 = 3 GB or 6 x 1 GB = 6 GB memory configurations.

 

It's extremely unlikely someone would make a 768 MB memory chip to make it possible to have 4.5 GB on a video card, but like i said, extremely unlikely. In theory it's possible, but not commercially viable for ram manufacturers, they'd rather make more money on higher capacity chips.

 

I'd say go for a RX 470 and overclock it slightly to almost RX 480 levels, and it will be close enough to a GTX 1060 that you probably won' care.

 

[SliceT]

the 1060 3Gb is probably worst than  470, thats why nvidia didnt even bother to send media some samples!

[Hunter259]

2 minutes ago, SliceT said:

the 1060 3Gb is probably worst than  470, thats why nvidia didnt even bother to send media some samples!

If its only 10% slower it will be faster than a 470....

[SliceT]

4 minutes ago, Hunter259 said:

If its only 10% slower it will be faster than a 470....

The problem is that besides the cut down GPU, the 3Gb might have some bigger FPS drops in higher details.

[zachmullin]

On 8/20/2016 at 11:14 AM, mariushm said:

Like all above say, no, it's not possible.  The GTX1060 is using a 192 bit memory controller, which means the card needs 6 memory chips. There's only 512 MB or 1 GB memory chips out there, which results in 6 x 0.5 = 3 GB or 6 x 1 GB = 6 GB memory configurations.

 

It's extremely unlikely someone would make a 768 MB memory chip to make it possible to have 4.5 GB on a video card, but like i said, extremely unlikely. In theory it's possible, but not commercially viable for ram manufacturers, they'd rather make more money on higher capacity chips.

 

I'd say go for a RX 470 and overclock it slightly to almost RX 480 levels, and it will be close enough to a GTX 1060 that you probably won' care.

 

Thank you very much.  Nvidia is the only option unfortunately!

[zachmullin]

On 8/20/2016 at 11:14 AM, mariushm said:

 

[zachmullin]

On 8/20/2016 at 10:49 AM, don_svetlio said:

RX 480 then

Needs to be NVidia

[zachmullin]

On 8/20/2016 at 10:52 AM, Energycore said:

What flight sim?

X-Plane 10.  It uses OpenGL and AMD cards just aren't at the same level of performance in OpenGL that NVidia cards are.

[SecretAuthor]

Yeah... Just ask Jensen to design a custom 128bit or 256bit GTX 1060, and you're good to go. Shouldn't be too hard. Might cost you a million dollars or so.. Nothing too fancy..

[mariushm]

Revived thread.

 

zachmullin, you should also keep in mind that  besides less memory, the video cards with 3 GB of memory also have the processor with a tiny bit of functionality disabled compared to the cards with 6 GB of memory.  They should be the same chips but they're not, nVidia is a d*#k that way... the 3 GB cards  should be about 5% slower than the 6GB cards just due to the processor, before the reduced memory even comes in play.

 

Also, keep in mind that X-Plane developers seem to be working on porting the game from OpenGL to Vulkan, and on Vulkan the RX series may be just as good or better than GTX 1060.  I admit, I have no idea how much time they'd need to port the game to Vulkan, could be half a year or more, so you have to think about it.

 

[don_svetlio]

5 hours ago, zachmullin said:

Needs to be NVidia

Either get the 6GB 1060 or don't get Nvidia. That's where you stand.

[zachmullin]

On 8/28/2016 at 8:10 PM, mariushm said:

Revived thread.

 

zachmullin, you should also keep in mind that  besides less memory, the video cards with 3 GB of memory also have the processor with a tiny bit of functionality disabled compared to the cards with 6 GB of memory.  They should be the same chips but they're not, nVidia is a d*#k that way... the 3 GB cards  should be about 5% slower than the 6GB cards just due to the processor, before the reduced memory even comes in play.

 

Also, keep in mind that X-Plane developers seem to be working on porting the game from OpenGL to Vulkan, and on Vulkan the RX series may be just as good or better than GTX 1060.  I admit, I have no idea how much time they'd need to port the game to Vulkan, could be half a year or more, so you have to think about it.

 

Thanks for this info.  I found a couple dev posts on the Vulkan API, but it seems (as Laminar Research is a small application developer) that it won't be for a while.  

[ivan134]

On 8/28/2016 at 10:39 PM, zachmullin said:

X-Plane 10.  It uses OpenGL and AMD cards just aren't at the same level of performance in OpenGL that NVidia cards are.

Then get a 970