The search for a top-end graphics processing unit could take ages with the number of models that you have present in the market. Today, you can find stunning GPUs for above $500. While some of them like the AMD Radeon RTX 2080 Ti are extremely popular among gamers and users, the 1080p is in use too.
We found two phenomenal GPUs that we want to review. They are going to be the focus of our post today. The AMD Radeon RX 580 Gaming Graphics Card vs the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Graphics Card.
To be honest, with you, 2022, is slowly coming out of the pandemic zone and things are getting back to almost normal. Today, you can find gamers and regular users who are in search of a GPU for their laptop, a happy lot.
That is because, last year in 2021, things were quite different. You could not get things on time. Besides, there was a lack of production due to the lockdowns in many countries. Hence, the factories producing electronic products and accessories were badly affected.
Luckily, things are getting back to where it is supposed to be. Some of you might be owning a GPU but are not happy with its performance. Instead of going in for a second-hand product, you might as well make use of a new product that is being sold in the market.
The AMD Radeon RX 500 GPU is a fantastic choice for users. AMD has been producing some exceptional products over the years. It is not surprising that we can find them ranking pretty high among the top 5 lists in most segments.
Like Nvidia is doing its best to keep up with it. As they said, the new Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU will be coming with a new ray-tracing system. However, please do note, that the unit can only support the Direct X titles and won’t operate on each of the games.
While the benchmarks show you the actual performance of the GPU, you will want to know that they do not explain the entire story to you. Moreover, we will also be looking at the design & features, the setup & performance of the GPUs.
This will give us a better idea of their capabilities and drawbacks. As always, we will be taking a look at the pricing of the models. That would help you decide on your budget and preferences. Let us read further, to understand & learn more about the amazing models from top makers.
We have mentioned the winner at the end of the review.
 |  |
|---|---|
| AMD Radeon RX 580 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 |
| PROS | PROS |
| The unit has a sublime design to it. The model comes with higher floating-point performance. It has a higher texture rate. It comes with more memory bandwidth. The power consumption is acceptable. | The design of the model is elegant. The unit offers you with exceptional FHD and 1440p performance. It comes with the ability to work quietly. It provides you with intense capabilities. The power consumption is quite low. |
| CONS | CONS |
| The graphics processing unit is suitable for smaller PCs. | The graphics processing unit is expensive. |
| CHECK ON AMAZON | CHECK ON AMAZON |
AMD Radeon RX 580 vs Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060: Design & Features
The design & features of any GPU model plays an important role in the overall performance. Let us read and find out more about the features present in the GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 580 product is a second-to-none model that is sold in the market.
But can the unit change the narrative in this review? That only time will tell. Has AMD done a spectacular job with this unit or simply added some more features in this successor model? Consumers have commended that AMD seems to take things a notch higher.
It is something that we completely agree with them. The moment you hold the graphics card in your hands, you get to see how understated it is. Our tester thought that it is not nether great-looking or that bad.
Yes, it is good, but not beyond that. You can see that the fan comes produced from plastic that appears like metal. However, the backplate is robust and comes made from metal. Moreover, you will want to know that it is an opulent combination of black and gray colors.
You will also see that the length of the model from the outer edge is 26.2cm. That is pretty good. Besides, the height from the top edge to the heat pipes present in the cooler is close to 13.2cm.
There is a depth of 3.5cm that enables you to place it on any kind of laptop you want to. It could be a 10-year model or the latest model. It shouldn’t be a problem for you. This unit becomes a dual-slot card.
It is around 0.5cm in measurement which is mainly due to the backplate. This could negatively affect the compatibility of the unit. If you want to merge it with a laptop that comes with large CPU coolers.
You can also notice that it comes with 2 8mm heat pipes. It is produced from nickel-plated composite material. There are also 2 power connectors, one of them is a single 8-pin and the other one is a 6-pin present on the card.
You can also see the heatsink that is responsible for getting rid of the heat from the MOSFETs. You can notice that the fins of the cooler are present horizontally and the end of the card comes open for promoting the flow of air.
However, the airflow provided in there is minimum and not up to the mark. Perhaps, this can cause severe heart issues. But we did not find any sort of heating issues when putting in operation on top-end laptops.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 product has a pleasant design & features. It looks pretty elegant in design too. We are quite astounded by its looks and appearance to say. Besides, it comes embedded with top-notch features as well.
It supports the most important technologies, Vulkan graphics APIs and the DirectX 12. Moreover, there is ample support for the DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b monitors. You can make use of the support for the 4K/HDR content.
You can play games and make use of the recent monitors without having to worry about compatibility issues. The model is able to also support the G-Sync monitors. You can make use of the Ansel game photography, ShadowPlay recording, and the Nvidia Shield streaming.
The manufacturer also provides you with added support for FreeSync monitors. Now, you can utilize the cheaply priced monitors that come without much refresh rate. There are also several technologies that are not on par with the AMD model.
It would be the Ansel. However, with the help of the FreeSync monitors, you can have them supported by the RX model. The good thing is that it is supported by this model. When you are planning to get a GPU, things are looking in favor of the AMD unit as of now.
But the, 6GB memory is almost on par with each other. If you look at the market, then there is a wide spectrum of models that come with a similar kind of memory. The pricing might play a poor trick at the end of the course.
We are not sure, however, about that. There are some stock issues still as of now. You may want to ensure that you get yourself a new model, and not a renewed or second-hand product. That is because the latest model comes with small updates that can work as an advantage for you.
All in all, both the design & features of the models are spectacular. The AMD model comes with some terrific features and specifications mentioned on them. Likewise, we also saw that the Nvidia model has some incredible specifications on them.
AMD Radeon RX 580 vs Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060: Setup & Performance
It goes without saying that the setup & performance of the GPU matters a lot from the gaming perspective. The AMD Radeon RX 580 GPU comes with stunning benchmarks. This is not unusual for the model.
AMD models have always been above the market benchmarks. They seem to easily blend with most of the laptops sold in the market today. Our tester worked on a couple of games on the AMD model.
The results were pretty good. However, before we move on, the setup was pretty easy. AMD models are normally quick to install and work. But when you are new to the laptop hardware, then we suggest that you have somebody who is familiar with the operations.
Coming to the ability on the games, you can see that the Ellesmere unit was able to move in quickly. The high clock rates only mean that they are a solid choice for gaming laptops. The power consumption can become an issue.
Compared to the older models, the new AMD model makes up lost ground to the DirectX 11-based apps. This was something that the maker has done tremendously well. They were trailing behind previously.
You can now play games on the resolution of the 2560×1440 using the stupendous quality settings. Some of the games that we played showed tremendous potential and character from what we have seen so far.
It is an under $500 model mind you and we were thoroughly delighted with its performance. However, you will want to know that it does not perform that well in some games. That was a downer.
We have already mentioned the main issue with the AMD models. It is the power consumption. Something needs to be done about that. They need to be able to produce more voltage when you want to push themselves further.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU is a phenomenal unit when it comes to the setup & performance. Of late, Nvidia seems to have picked up from where it left. There was a brief, but lull period for the manufacturer from 2015-to 2020.
However, they seem to have done well further beyond. The unit makes use of the smooth frame rates at 2560×1440. Not to mention, it also comes with amazing potential in the overclocking aspect of things.
While the cooler might seem to be slightly basic, it is tremendously capable of cooling things down. The unit allows for a stable 220MHz overclocking and enables you to enjoy the performance gain of almost 7% presently on several games.
You will want to know and understand that in 2017, there was a 25-game benchmark, where the AMD model was slightly quicker than the Nvidia model. However, it depended on the kinds of games that you played.
Some games suited the RX 580 model, while some games did better on the GTX 1060 model. We played quite a few latest games using the GTX 1060 unit and are pleased to say that it worked pretty well.
It is heartening to note that the RX 580 model is still quick and is a second-to-none model. You won’t be able to find a cheaper, reliable, and productive GPU as of now. Moreover, many gamers are resorting to renewed products themselves for less than $200.
The models are evenly matched on the performance, but we did notice that the GeForce had the edge when it came to the thermals and the efficiency. When you are ready to spend close to $500 on a graphics card, then the GeForce GTX 1660 sounds good for now.
AMD Radeon RX 580 vs Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060: Price
The AMD Radeon RX 580 Gaming Graphics Card is priced under $749. The unit can be found priced under $500 if you keep your eyes open. Reviewers have commended the unit for its flexibility.
You can get a frame rate of 60 using this card, however, it takes some time to install it. This is something that we have already mentioned in the setup & performance segment. For the price, you can make use of quicker cards, but this model offers you a fantastic compromise between the speeds and the pricing.
It also comes with a dual-slot width, 1x HDMI, and 3x Display Port. There is also the 256Bit, 4GB GDDR5, PCIe 3.0 x16, GPU Clock: 1266 MHz, Memory 2000 MHz. You can make use of the bandwidth 256.0GB/s, DirectX 12.0.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Graphics Card is priced under $500. Most of the reviews that we read dealt with the Alienware laptops. So, if you own one and are planning to upgrade your GPU, then you know now which model to order.
It comes with a frame buffer of 6 GB GDDR5/X, and a memory speed of 8 Gbps. There are the 1280 Nvidia Cuda cores. Overall, the pricing of both models is aggressive and good. We appreciate that the makers did the right thing with the price.
For the moment, we did not notice any discounts on their products, hopefully, you may get to see discounts during the festive season.
AMD Radeon RX 580 vs Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060: Verdict
We have ended our comparison review about the AMD Radeon RX 580 Gaming Graphics Card vs the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Graphics Card. We hope that you found the review useful and were able to make your decision.
The AMD Radeon RX 580 model is an excellent choice for gaming laptops. Besides, you can use it for other regular devices too. It comes with a tremendous performance, it does not heat the device, like we thought it would.
Moreover, it is priced reasonably. It makes the ideal choice for any user. Yes, while it is not the RTX 3070, it is a worthy unit at the moment. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 model is a stupendous option for gaming & regular laptops.
It is the ultimate graphics card that can provide you with exceptional potential for overclocking abilities. However, it is not a complete no-brainer. The features are good too. Nonetheless, it could have been priced a bit lower than other models.
The AMD Radeon RX 580 GPU could be the better model as it comes with a 2.24 TFLOPS higher floating-point performance, higher texture rate, and more memory bandwidth. There is also more VRAM, wider memory bus width, and more shading units.
You can also note that it comes with more transistors and more texture mapping units (TMUs). The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU is a sublime unit as it comes with a faster GPU clock speed, higher pixel rate, and a lower TDP.
The unit also has a faster GPU turbo speed, supports ray tracing, and has more render output units (ROPs). You can note that it has a higher PassMark (G3D) result, and lower idle GPU temperature.
Our winner in this comparison review between the AMD Radeon RX 580 vs Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 models is the Radeon RX580 unit. The model is a brand-for-value product that comes with decent features too.
James Smith has always been intrigued by electronic products since his childhood. After his post graduation in electronics from a popular university, he decided to pursue a career in the electronics sector. But his calling for writing about these marvellous pieces of work got the better of him. That is how UBG was started. With a writing career spanning more than 12 years, James has worked on several hundred product reviews. During his free time, he like to spend time with his pet dog and relax in the swimming pool.