NVIDIA Announces The GeForce GTX 1060, Linux Tests Happening

The GTX 1060 has three DisplayPort 1.4 connections, HDMI 2.0b, and dual-link DVI connections.

So the card costs slightly more than the Radeon RX 480 ($199+ for 4GB, $239+ for 8GB vs. $249+ for 6GB), but has a lower TDP (120 vs. 150 Watt) and the GTX 980 performance target puts it in line with what the Polaris has been performing in some benchmarks... You'll need to wait until the 19th of July though to hear how the GeForce GTX 1060 vs. Radeon RX 480 (and other NVIDIA/AMD GPUs) perform under Linux.

To no surprise at all for anyone reading Phoronix any length of time, the GeForce GTX 1060 will be supported by the NVIDIA Linux proprietary driver on launch day. The GTX 1060 will be in a similar open-source state to the GTX 1070/1080: non-existant until NVIDIA releases the signed firmware blobs necessary for bringing up hardware acceleration with the Nouveau driver. But considering NVIDIA Maxwell graphics cards don't even have re-clocking support yet and their performance is thus in shambles, don't hold your breath for satisfactory open-source GeForce GTX 1000 series support for months. Thank god the binary driver at least remains top-notch for Linux gamers/enthusiasts.

The GTX 1060 shares the same Pascal architecture design as the recently launched GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080. If you missed my coverage on those new cards last month, see my GeForce GTX 1070 Linux review, NVIDIA Pascal Windows vs. Linux benchmarks, GeForce GTX 1080 Linux review, and OpenGL/OpenCL Performance & Perf-Per-Watt From NVIDIA's GeForce 9800GTX To GTX 1080. Or if you want to see how the RX 480 competes with those higher-end cards, see the Radeon RX 480 Linux review.