When comparing ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB ROG STRIX OC Edition vs EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming SC ACX 2.0, the Slant community recommends ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB ROG STRIX OC Edition for most people. In the question“What are the best GTX 1060 cards?” ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB ROG STRIX OC Edition is ranked 5th while EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming SC ACX 2.0 is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB ROG STRIX OC Edition is:
The cooler used in the Asus GTX 1060 Strix is the same that's used on the 1070 version and the 1080 Rog Strix. This means that the cooler is designed and built for much more powerful cards and that the cooling potential for the GTX 1060 Strix is excellent considering how it's the least powerful graphics card that uses this cooler. When idle the temperature stays at around 42 degrees Celsius and goes up to about 63 degrees Celsius when under heavy load. This is the lowest temperature that any GTX 1060 graphics card has achieved under heavy load.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Excellent cooling
The cooler used in the Asus GTX 1060 Strix is the same that's used on the 1070 version and the 1080 Rog Strix. This means that the cooler is designed and built for much more powerful cards and that the cooling potential for the GTX 1060 Strix is excellent considering how it's the least powerful graphics card that uses this cooler.
When idle the temperature stays at around 42 degrees Celsius and goes up to about 63 degrees Celsius when under heavy load. This is the lowest temperature that any GTX 1060 graphics card has achieved under heavy load.
Pro Noticeable performance increases compared to reference GTX 1060
The higher clock, boost and memory speeds of the ROG Strix OC Edition result in a higher performance compared to a reference 1060 card. For example, the ROG card achieves an average of 122 FPS in Doom, compared to 116 average frames per second for a reference 1060, tested in 1080p. The difference is more noticeable on a higher 1440p resolution, 78 vs 73 frames per second. Similar results can be seen in Rise of The Tomb Raider (1080p), where the ROG Strix card achieves 99 FPS, which is a tad higher than the reference GTX 1060's 93 average frames per second.
Pro Very quiet operation
The fans of the Strix cooler will only start to spin if the GPU reaches a temperature higher than 60 degrees Celsius. This means that the card is completely silent in an idle situation. Even under full load, noise production of the ASUS ROG 1060 is very limited, with only 32 decibels (A) measured.
Pro Features adjustable RGB lightning
The exterior of the ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 ROG STRIX features some RGB lights and you can adjust the color of these lights via the included software package. This allows you to customize the look of the graphics card, which can be useful if your setup is built with a specific color scheme in mind.
Pro Looks cool
Pro Performs better than most GTX 1060 cards
Due to the slightly higher clock and boost speed of the EVGA ACX 2.0 model (both have received a 7% increase), there is a noticeable performance increase in games and benchmarks compared to most other GTX 1060 cards (with the exception of the Asus GTX 1060 Strix OC Edition). In Battlefield 4 for example, at 1080p and ultra settings, the EVGA SC manages to achieve an average framerate of 110.6, while a GTX 1060 with reference clock speeds achieves 107.6 average frames per second.
Similar results can be seen in GTA V (1080p, maximum settings), where the EVGA SC version achieves an average framerate of 112.7 frames per second - 6,4 FPS higher than a reference GTX 1060. In terms of raw benchmark numbers, the Superclocked version scores 13062 GPU Points in 3D Mark Fire Strike, while a GTX 1060 with reference speeds manages to score 12736, a slight 2.55% increase.
Pro Compact, suitable for small enclosures
The EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 Gaming ACX 2.0 is quite compact and features a cooler that only has a single fan. A reference GTX 1060 has a length of 9.8 inches (250 mm), while the EVGA ACX 2.0 reduces this to only 6.8 inches (173 mm). This makes the card ideal for use in smaller enclosures.
Pro Decent temperatures
Although this ACX 2.0 model only has a single cooling fan, temperatures are decent. Any other custom GTX 1070 card will stay cooler, but the single fan works well enough to keep it from throttling much. With the standard EVGA fan configuration, the GPU heats up to 37° Celsius in idle and around 74 degrees Celsius under full load. For comparison: a reference GTX 1060 reaches temperatures of 78° under load.
You might notice the slightly higher idle temperature of the GTX 1060 ACX 2.0 SC because EVGA has chosen to implement a semi-passive cooling solution, where the fan doesn't spin up at all in an idle environment.
Pro Fairly quiet operation
When using the standard EVGA settings for the fan speeds, the card won't produce any noise in idle situations. Under full load, a noise of 38.4 dB(A) was measured. This isn't particularly loud and ensures a fairly quiet operation, although it is louder than any GTX 1060 card other than the MSI GTX 1060 Dual Fan version which measures 39dB(A).
Pro Can be modified easily to allow better cooling without voiding the warranty
If you want better cooling, fortunately, EVGA lets you modify the GPU without voiding the warranty. The process itself is fairly easy as well; all you have to do is remove the four screws that hold the backplate in place, exposing two flat 8mm heat pipes. This small modification considerably improves the cooling and subsequently the performance of this GPU.
Cons
Con Doesn't have RGB lighting on the back
The Asus Strix 1060 is does not have RGB lighting on the backplate which is strange considering that its RX480 counterpart has this feature.
Con Longer than a reference GTX 1060
The Asus GTX 1060 6GB ROG Strix OC Edition is a lot longer than a reference GTX 1060, with a length of 11.73 inches (298 mm) compared to the the usual 9.8 inch (250 mm). This may cause some compatibility issues in enclosures that don't have room for larger graphics cards.
Con Very expensive
Considering how most GTX 1060 cards are on the $250 range, the Asus GeForce GTX 1060 Strix is quite expensive.
Con Some performance drops when the temperature of the GPU is increased
Under heavy load, such as when playing resource-intensive games, the GPU gets rather hot mostly because of its compact size which does not allow for more than one fan. When this happens, the GPU suffers some frequency drops (1949-1962 MHz from 2012MHz) which in turn translates to real-world performance issues such as 5-10FPS drops when gaming.
Con Feels a bit cheap
The cover is made of cheap anthracite-gray plastic that makes the GPU seem cheap and feel low quality.