Nvidia Will Reuse Defective GP104 Dies for GTX 1060
With every product cycle, Frankenstein products inevitably pop up. One of the most common examples is with graphics cards. Higher tier GPUs are often cut down to fit lower tier products. Due to cost benefits, both AMD and Nvidia make a lot of use of this practice. The Nvidia GPU to go on the chopping block is the GP104 GPU. Due to a variety of reasons, Nvidia wants to use the GPU to power a new version of the GTX 1060.
The GTX 1060 has gone through several iterations already. We have the mainstream 6GB model, an updated faster 6GB model, a 3GB model and a special 5GB model. So far, most of the changes deal mainly with the memory bus. The new model will be a more radical change due to a revamped GPU. Instead of the GP106, we have the GP104. The GP104 debuted with the GTX 1070 and GTX 1080.
New GTX 1060 Limited to Chinese Market
Compared to the GP106, the GP104 has about 60% more transistors. In order to meet the GTX 1060 market, there will need to be major cuts to the die. The main reason for cutting the chip down is to make use of defective GP104. As Nvidia gears up for newer GPUs, reusing GP104 dies could mean cutting down GP106 production to save cash. This is not the first time Nvidia has done this, with the GTX 960 being a recent example.
For now, indications are that Nvidia will limit the new GTX 1060 to the Chinese market. The new SKU will carry the GP104-150. It is unclear how the cut down will happen. As we saw with the GTX 760, due to how the company made the cuts, performance varied. Hopefully, Nvidia will standardize on cutting specific parts of the GPU for all the new models. Finally, as Pascal winds down, we may see more moves to get rid of existing stock.
