

One aspect that separates this reference design card from the previous Founders Edition GPUs is the lack of a backplate. Nvidia asserts that its cooling system also allows you to heavily overclock the card’s core clock, with it being able to reach 2GHz in some cases. It also has two copper heat pipes and an aluminum heatsink, which help keep the card cool (more on the 1060’s temperatures later). Like the GTX 10 Founders Edition cards before it, this version uses a die-cast aluminum body finish and a radial fan, which exhausts heat outside the back of the case. In case you’re wondering, Nvidia’s more expensive Founders Edition GTX 1060 does not use a higher-quality binned GPU that performs better.


