Overall and Final Verdict
So now that I’ve put the EVGA GTX 1060 SC through all of our tests and taken a closer look at the card, how does it compare to the other two GTX 1060’s I’ve tested? As far as overall performance is concerned the EVGA was consistently above the other 1060’s. With its significantly higher overclock it is the fastest GTX 1060 I’ve test to date. I would have never expected that when going on given this is also the smallest 1060 tested. I love the ITX friendly form factor, combined with the low power draw and the single power connection the GTX 1060 SC is a perfect card for LAN rigs like our Lunchbox 4 that I published earlier this week. I will most likely be moving this card into our older Lunchbox 3 build to refresh it for my wife. EVGA went with a much simpler and cleaner looking cooler design on this card than on their 1070’s and 1080’s, sure it doesn’t have any of the RGB lighting, but I’m digging the look.
I was also impressed with the cooling performance when I tested it, but that does lead me to the one issue I had with the card. After people asked about the missing 0db mode, you know the mode that turns off the cooling fan when you aren’t putting the card under load. EVGA introduced a new firmware for the GTX 1060 SC on their forums and they are also shipping the newest cards with it. I was happy to see a 0db mode, but when I tested the 1060 SC with the firmware it went from the best performing card to being up near the normal reference cards and even up above the Founders Edition 1060. It’s still possible to create your own fan profile that will fix that issue, but I was a little disappointed in the downgrade in performance.
But really the cooling performance with the new firmware isn’t the end of the world. In fact, with the 0db firmware we are just in line with the Zotac for cooling performance. Beyond that, the GTX 1060 SC is head and shoulders above the other 1060’s I’ve tested. To add to that, it actually has a lower MSRP. Though to be fair it is currently can’t be found for that price at all but I have seen it at that price in the past. So while I liked the Zotac, I think this is the card to get if you are in the market for a GTX 1060, especially if you are looking to build a small form factor LAN rig.
Live Pricing: HERE
