• 2 min read
GTX 1060 turns 10 after ruling Steam for years
Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 hit its 10-year mark on July 19 after spending 59 straight months as Steam’s most-used GPU.
Image: iXBT
Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 turned 10 years old on July 19, marking a decade since one of the most successful mainstream graphics cards ever launched. Built on the Pascal architecture, the GPU debuted in 2016 at prices starting at $250, while the reference Founders Edition sold for $300.
At launch, Nvidia said the GTX 1060 delivered performance on par with the flagship GeForce GTX 980, a card that had gone on sale a year earlier with a starting price of $550. That price-to-performance pitch helped make the 1060 an immediate hit with PC gamers.
By December 2017, the GTX 1060 had climbed to the top of Steam’s hardware survey and stayed there for 59 consecutive months — just shy of five years. It was finally replaced in October 2022 by the GeForce GTX 1650.
The GTX 1060 family also saw an unusually wide range of variants over its lifespan. Alongside the main 6GB version, Nvidia released:
- a 3GB model with a cut-down GPU
- a version with faster 9Gbps GDDR5 memory
- a special 5GB edition for Chinese internet cafes
- a GDDR5X model based on the larger GP104 chip
- the P106-100, a mining-focused card with no display outputs
Ten years on, the GTX 1060 remains one of Nvidia’s most recognizable and enduring graphics cards.
Recommended reading
Call of Duty hits Switch 2, but no early beta access
Culture Editor
Maya explores gaming, streaming, and the internet as a place where people actually live. From deep-dives into creator economies to the anthropology of digital communities, she tracks platform drama and cultural shifts so you don't have to. She believes the best tech stories are fundamentally about human behavior.
via iXBT
