ASUS STRIX GAMING GTX 1060 Graphics Card Review

Overclocking and Overclocked Performance

Given the dynamic nature of boost clocks on modern graphics cards, I decided to implement a new process displaying the average clock speeds before and after manually overclocking. This allows the end-user to see the real-world performance as the specification posted on a website or packaging isn’t reflective of what you’ll experience.

Furthermore, any sporadic dips in the boost clock can be investigated because it will make a large impact on the smoothness and overall performance. As you can see by the screenshot below, the ASUS STRIX GAMING GTX 1060 OC’s boost clock reaches an average of 2050MHz under load while the memory operates at a speed of 2052MHz. This is attained with a voltage of 1.0430 and 46% fan speed.

Unlike some of the other Pascal chips I’ve encountered, the core overclocking headroom was surprisingly high and the final stable boost clock figure hit a maximum figure of 1942MHz. Not only that, the memory increased to 8646MHz which is another pretty good showing. Of course, the power target and voltage were configured to their maximum values to push the GPU to the absolute limit.

Once overclocked, the average boost clock managed to exceed 2100MHz and the memory maintained a 2161MHz figure. This was completed with a voltage of 1.0218 and 59.5C average temperature. Please note, even though the voltage reading is less, the maximum amount has been applied to see how far the graphics card can be pushed.

Here is the screenshot comparing the default OC profile and manual overclock:

Doom

Applying the overclock increased the average frame-rate by 6 when playing Doom. This was enough to bring the product above the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 470 OC.

Far Cry Primal

In Far Cry Primal, the overclock has a minor impact on performance and makes the graphics card within touching distance of the XFX R9 Fury X.

Hitman

Here we can see the overclocked GPU is able to defeat the Sapphire Nitro R9 390 and isn’t far off matching the R9 Nano.