NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB
GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile
PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
Analysis: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile
Head-to-Head Benchmarks
The recorded data shows a decisive generational gap between these two NVIDIA parts. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5070 Mobile scores 122,238 against the GTX 1060 5 GB's 33,397, a delta of 72.7% in favor of the newer card. The Vulkan result tells the same story: 116,960 for the RTX 5070 Mobile versus 33,991 for the GTX 1060 5 GB, a 70.9% advantage. Every head-to-head benchmark in the database is won by the RTX 5070 Mobile, with two wins out of two tests.
The gap is not merely a percentage difference; it is a difference in class. The GTX 1060 5 GB's average benchmark score sits at 33,694, placing it in the 78th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A5000 (33,622, 0.2% slower), the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (33,849, 0.5% faster), and the AMD Radeon HD 7950 (33,951, 0.8% faster). This puts the GTX 1060 5 GB in a tightly contested mid-pack where a few points separate competitors.
The RTX 5070 Mobile, by contrast, averages 29,928 across all its recorded benchmarks. That average is dragged down by its Passmark DirectX results, which are low (129 for DirectX 10, 192 for DirectX 11, 93 for DirectX 12, 214 for DirectX 9), but its Passmark G3D score of 20,355 and its OpenCL score of 122,238 show where its real strength lies. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 3070 Ti (29,945, 0.1% faster), the RTX 2080 Ti (29,783, 0.5% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (30,095, 0.6% faster). The RTX 5070 Mobile sits just below the RTX 3070 Ti in average score, despite being a mobile part with a 50 W TDP.
The percentile ranking is worth noting: the GTX 1060 5 GB sits at the 78th percentile, while the RTX 5070 Mobile sits at the 75th percentile. This seems counterintuitive given the raw score advantage, but it reflects the different benchmark pools. The GTX 1060 5 GB has only two benchmark entries (OpenCL and Vulkan), both strong, while the RTX 5070 Mobile has nine entries, including several low Passmark legacy results that pull its average down. For modern workloads, the RTX 5070 Mobile is clearly the faster part.
FAQ
Q: Which GPU has the higher raw compute throughput?
A: The RTX 5070 Mobile. Its FP32 rating is 13.13 TFLOPS, while the GTX 1060 5 GB manages 4.375 TFLOPS. The newer card also has a 1:1 FP16 ratio at 13.13 TFLOPS, whereas the GTX 1060 5 GB's FP16 is heavily gimped at 68.36 GFLOPS (1:64).
Q: How do memory bandwidth and capacity compare?
A: The RTX 5070 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 384.0 GB/s. The GTX 1060 5 GB has 5 GB of GDDR5 on a 160-bit bus, delivering 160.2 GB/s. The RTX 5070 Mobile offers 140% more bandwidth and 3 GB more capacity.
Q: Are there differences in ray tracing and tensor core support?
A: Yes. The RTX 5070 Mobile includes 36 RT cores and 144 tensor cores. The GTX 1060 5 GB has none of either, as it predates RTX hardware.
Q: What about power consumption and physical size?
A: The RTX 5070 Mobile is rated at 50 W TDP and is an IGP (integrated graphics package), requiring no power connectors. The GTX 1060 5 GB is a dual-slot card at 120 W TDP, requiring a single 6-pin power connector and a 300 W suggested PSU.
Q: Which card has the better DirectX feature support?
A: The RTX 5070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 1060 5 GB supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.
Q: How do the bus interfaces differ?
A: The RTX 5070 Mobile uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the GTX 1060 5 GB uses PCIe 3.0 x16. This is a two-generation jump in interconnect speed.
Architecture Differences
The GTX 1060 5 GB is built on the Pascal architecture, using the GP106 chip on a 16 nm TSMC process. It packs 4,400 million transistors onto a 200 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 22.0 million per mm². Pascal was designed for the GeForce 10 generation, with no dedicated ray tracing or tensor hardware. Its shading units number 1,280, paired with 80 texture mapping units and 40 ROPs. The pixel rate is 68.36 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 136.7 GTexel/s.
The RTX 5070 Mobile uses the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on the GB206 chip at a 5 nm TSMC process. It contains 21,900 million transistors on a smaller 181 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 121.0 million per mm². That is a 5.5x density improvement over Pascal. The RTX 5070 Mobile has 4,608 shading units, 144 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 36 RT cores, and 144 tensor cores. Its pixel rate is 68.40 GPixel/s, nearly identical to the GTX 1060 5 GB, but its texture rate is 205.2 GTexel/s, roughly 50% higher.
FP16 compute tells the architectural story. The GTX 1060 5 GB runs FP16 at 68.36 GFLOPS, a 1:64 ratio to its FP32 rate, which is a deliberate crippling for a gaming-focused Pascal part. The RTX 5070 Mobile runs FP16 at 13.13 TFLOPS, a 1:1 ratio, reflecting Blackwell's compute-oriented design. The RTX 5070 Mobile also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which includes ray tracing and mesh shaders, while the GTX 1060 5 GB is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1).
The memory architecture also differs fundamentally. The GTX 1060 5 GB uses GDDR5 with a 160-bit bus, a configuration unique to the 5 GB variant. The RTX 5070 Mobile uses GDDR7 with a 128-bit bus, relying on much higher effective memory clocks (24 Gbps versus 8 Gbps) to achieve its bandwidth advantage.
Specification Differences
The two GPUs differ on nearly every measurable specification. The GTX 1060 5 GB has a base clock of 1506 MHz and a boost clock of 1709 MHz. The RTX 5070 Mobile has a base clock of 907 MHz and a boost clock of 1425 MHz. The newer card runs at lower clocks but compensates with far more cores and a newer architecture.
Shading units: 1,280 versus 4,608. TMUs: 80 versus 144. ROPs: 40 versus 48. Memory: 5 GB GDDR5 versus 8 GB GDDR7. Bus width: 160-bit versus 128-bit. Bandwidth: 160.2 GB/s versus 384.0 GB/s. FP32: 4.375 TFLOPS versus 13.13 TFLOPS. FP16: 68.36 GFLOPS versus 13.13 TFLOPS. TDP: 120 W versus 50 W. The RTX 5070 Mobile delivers 3x the FP32 throughput while consuming less than half the power.
The GTX 1060 5 GB is a dual-slot card, 250 mm long (9.8 inches), with display outputs of 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX 5070 Mobile is an IGP with no dimensions recorded, no power connectors, and display outputs described as "Portable Device Dependent." The GTX 1060 5 GB requires a 300 W PSU; the RTX 5070 Mobile has no suggested PSU because it is integrated into a laptop.
The GTX 1060 5 GB is end-of-life, released in December 2017. The RTX 5070 Mobile is active, released in April 2025. The GTX 1060 5 GB's predecessor is the GeForce 900 series, and its successor is the GeForce 20 series. The RTX 5070 Mobile's predecessor is the GeForce 40 Mobile series, with no successor listed. The bus interface jumps from PCIe 3.0 x16 to PCIe 5.0 x16.
The Verdict
The data makes the choice straightforward for anyone building or buying a system today. The RTX 5070 Mobile wins every recorded head-to-head benchmark, with a 72.7% lead in OpenCL and a 70.9% lead in Vulkan. It offers 3x the FP32 throughput, 2.4x the memory bandwidth, 3 GB more VRAM, and dedicated RT and tensor cores. It does all this at 50 W TDP, less than half the GTX 1060 5 GB's 120 W.
The GTX 1060 5 GB is not without its strengths. Its 78th percentile ranking versus the RTX 5070 Mobile's 75th percentile shows that in the narrow set of tests where they overlap, the older card holds its own against the wider GPU population. Its nearest rivals are all within 1% of its average score, indicating a stable, well-understood performance envelope. But that envelope is a 2017-era one, and it is capped by 5 GB of GDDR5 and no modern feature set.
For a new purchase, the RTX 5070 Mobile is the clear pick. For legacy systems, the GTX 1060 5 GB remains a functional option, but it is outclassed in every measured dimension. There is no benchmark in the database where the GTX 1060 5 GB comes out ahead.
Where Each One Wins
The RTX 5070 Mobile wins in every recorded application. In Geekbench OpenCL, its 122,238 score dwarfs the GTX 1060 5 GB's 33,397. In Geekbench Vulkan, its 116,960 score more than triples the GTX 1060 5 GB's 33,991. The Passmark G3D score of 20,355 and GPU compute score of 8,279 further establish its dominance in modern workloads.
The RTX 5070 Mobile is the choice for compute-heavy tasks, ray tracing, and any workload that can leverage tensor cores. Its 8 GB GDDR7 memory at 384.0 GB/s makes it suitable for larger textures and datasets. Its 50 W TDP makes it viable for thin-and-light laptops, a category the GTX 1060 5 GB cannot enter due to its dual-slot size and 120 W power draw.
The GTX 1060 5 GB wins only in the sense of legacy compatibility. It supports DVI output, which the RTX 5070 Mobile does not list. It is a desktop card with a defined 250 mm length and 6-pin power connector, suitable for older desktops with PCIe 3.0 slots. Its 78th percentile ranking indicates it still outperforms a majority of all GPUs in the database, so it is not obsolete for 1080p gaming at medium settings.
But for any new system, the RTX 5070 Mobile's 2.4x bandwidth advantage, 3x FP32 advantage, and modern feature set make it the only reasonable choice. The GTX 1060 5 GB is a historical footnote, a capable card in its day, but the benchmark data shows no scenario where it beats the RTX 5070 Mobile.