gtx1060 Benchmarks understating performance?

[nO_d3N1AL]

I've had my Palit Dual GTX 1060 6GB since July 2016 and I'm really pleased with it but somehow I'm getting much better performance than benchmarks show. For instance in DiRT Rally at 4K Ultra I'm getting solid 60 FPS with no noticeable drops (average of 57 in benchmark) whereas benchmarks with a much better CPU, motherboard, RAM etc. show 38 FPS. Similarly in F1 2015 max settings 4K I don't notice any drops below 60. DOOM 2016 at 4K Ultra with 75% resolution scaling is also smooth. Deus Ex Mankind Divided with all effects on, settings on Very High with only Shadow Quality on High, 1440p and I'm getting around 45- 50 FPS in DX11 with no stutters. I even tried Hitman 2016 at max settings at 4K DX12 and it was well above 30 FPS even on the benchmark, though I can't remember exactly the average. Even Gears of War 4 is 60 FPS at above 1440p (but well below 4K) on the default recommended settings (High) with dynamic scaling set to 35% (i.e. resolution can be reduced by up to 35% to maintain framerate). Similar results in The Talos Principle.

 

Now admittedly I have got the card overclocked to around 2GHz with a very slight memory overclock but even still, the temperature under full load doesn't exceed 77c and that's with the fans not even at 100%, so I really don't get why anyone would be mad enough NOT to overclock when it manages to stay this cool and even fairly quiet. My CPU is an i5-3470, I have 12GB DDR3-1600 MHz RAM (actually one stick is 1866 and the other is 1600) and I install most of my games on an old 500 GB 5400RPM drive, motherboard is very small and doesn't even have SATA 3.

 

I read everywhere that the GTX 1060 is primarily a 1080p card which can handle 1440p at lower settings, but unless you're trying to run the absolute pinnacle of demanding games at max settings, for any game which is well-optimized and a couple of years old it's absolutely fine for 4K, even with high settings.

 

Maybe I just play less demanding games or have more reasonable expectations, but I really believe that almost all reviews for GPUs focus far too much on the most punishing, almost synthetic gaming benchmarks rather than taking a representative sample of demanding and not-as-demanding games. The only game I'm looking forward to is Forza Motorsport 7 and I'm sure 4K Ultra 60 FPS is easily achievable given the results in Forza Motorsport 6 Apex (never went below 60 FPS at 4K).

 

TL;DR: You really don't need a GTX 1080 Ti for 4K gaming, unless you're trying to run a synthetic benchmark at above 60 FPS.

[1Reshiram12]

Yeeaahh, no. I get 60fps on DiRT Rally but that's at 1080p with my 1070 Strix. No way you're getting 60 fps at 4k with a 1060. Maybe your 4k monitor is scaled down to 1080p, or in game you have your settings at 1080p?
 

[nO_d3N1AL]

18 hours ago, 1Reshiram12 said:

Yeeaahh, no. I get 60fps on DiRT Rally but that's at 1080p with my 1070 Strix. No way you're getting 60 fps at 4k with a 1060. Maybe your 4k monitor is scaled down to 1080p, or in game you have your settings at 1080p?
 

 

No I'm serious. I'm genuinely getting 60 FPS at 4K Ultra with GTX 1060 on an Acer XB281HK at native 4K resolution. I don't have any anti-aliasing though, as it's pointless at this resolution.

[nO_d3N1AL]

Is it possible that somehow I've got a "better" 1060 by chance? I don't see how overclocking to 2GHz alone could explain these results.

[1Reshiram12]

On 9/5/2017 at 6:47 AM, nO_d3N1AL said:

Is it possible that somehow I've got a "better" 1060 by chance? I don't see how overclocking to 2GHz alone could explain these results.

Check GPU-Z or something to make sure u actually have a 1060 because otherwise that's just not possible.

 

[nO_d3N1AL]

8 hours ago, 1Reshiram12 said:

Check GPU-Z or something to make sure u actually have a 1060 because otherwise that's just not possible.

 

Yes, I definitely do! I think people underestimate these GPUs. That's my point.