NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB vs NVIDIA T550 Mobile Comparison

# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB vs NVIDIA T550 Mobile

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB and NVIDIA T550 Mobile represent two distinct approaches to GPU design: a desktop-oriented Pascal part with a larger memory bus and higher power envelope, and a mobile Turing chip engineered for efficiency with a narrow 64-bit interface. Benchmark data from Geekbench shows a split decision—the T550 Mobile wins OpenCL by 6% while the GTX 1060 5 GB takes Vulkan by 10.4%—resulting in a 1-1 head-to-head tie. Their average benchmark scores sit within 1.6% of each other (33,694 vs 33,161), yet the underlying architectures, memory subsystems, and thermal designs could not be more different.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA T550 Mobile dominates in OpenCL compute workloads, posting a score of 35,521 versus the GTX 1060 5 GB's 33,397—a 6% advantage. This is notable because OpenCL often rewards memory bandwidth and raw shader throughput, yet the T550 Mobile achieves this despite having only 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth compared to 160.2 GB/s on the GTX 1060 5 GB. The Turing architecture's FP16 capability is the likely differentiator: the T550 Mobile delivers 6.820 TFLOPS of FP16 (at a 2:1 ratio) versus the GTX 1060 5 GB's 68.36 GFLOPS (at a 1:64 ratio). That is a 100x difference in half-precision throughput, which can dramatically accelerate certain compute kernels that leverage mixed-precision execution.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB counters in Vulkan, scoring 33,991 against the T550 Mobile's 30,801—a 10.4% margin. Vulkan performance tends to favor higher fill rates and more robust memory subsystems. The GTX 1060 5 GB's 160-bit bus and 160.2 GB/s bandwidth provide 67% more memory throughput than the T550 Mobile's 64-bit bus, while its pixel rate of 68.36 GPixel/s and texture rate of 136.7 GTexel/s exceed the T550 Mobile's 53.28 GPixel/s and 106.6 GTexel/s respectively. For gaming or graphics-heavy Vulkan workloads, the desktop card's superior rasterization throughput gives it a clear edge.

Looking at the broader competitive landscape, the GTX 1060 5 GB sits at the 78th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA RTX A5000 (0.2% ahead) and the AMD Radeon RX 480 (0.9% behind). The T550 Mobile's 77th percentile places it just behind the GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile (0% delta) and ahead of the NVIDIA T600 Mobile by 1%. These percentile rankings indicate both GPUs occupy a similar mid-tier performance band, but their strengths manifest in different API ecosystems.

Architecture Differences

The GTX 1060 5 GB uses the GP106 chip built on Pascal architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 16 nm process. It contains 4,400 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 22.0M per mm². The T550 Mobile employs the TU117 chip on Turing architecture, also from TSMC but on a 12 nm node, with 4,700 million transistors on the same 200 mm² die area—a density of 23.5M per mm². Both share identical API support: DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The compute configurations differ substantially. The GTX 1060 5 GB packs 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 40 ROPs, compared to the T550 Mobile's 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This gives the Pascal card 25% more shaders, 25% more TMUs, and 25% more ROPs than the Turing mobile part. Neither GPU includes ray tracing or tensor cores, so both rely purely on traditional rasterization and compute paths.

Clock speeds tell a nuanced story. The GTX 1060 5 GB runs at a 1506 MHz base and 1709 MHz boost, while the T550 Mobile starts lower at 1065 MHz but boosts to 1665 MHz. The Pascal card maintains higher sustained clocks despite a much higher 120 W TDP compared to the T550 Mobile's 23 W. The memory subsystems are polar opposites: the GTX 1060 5 GB uses 5 GB of GDDR5 on a 160-bit bus at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective), while the T550 Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). Although GDDR6 is faster per pin, the narrow bus limits the T550 Mobile to 96.00 GB/s versus the GTX 1060 5 GB's 160.2 GB/s.

FP16 compute exposes the biggest architectural gap. The GTX 1060 5 GB delivers FP16 at a 1:64 ratio (68.36 GFLOPS), meaning half-precision runs at a tiny fraction of FP32 speed. The T550 Mobile's Turing architecture provides FP16 at 2:1 (6.820 TFLOPS), meaning it runs twice as fast as FP32. This is a fundamental design choice: Pascal treats FP16 as a rare capability, while Turing embraces it for compute acceleration.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher average benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1060 5 GB leads with an average benchmark score of 33,694, while the T550 Mobile trails at 33,161—a difference of 533 points, roughly 1.6%.

Q: How do their memory bandwidth figures compare?

A: The GTX 1060 5 GB provides 160.2 GB/s of bandwidth from a 160-bit GDDR5 bus, while the T550 Mobile offers 96.00 GB/s from a 64-bit GDDR6 bus. The Pascal card has 67% more memory bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU is more power-efficient?

A: The T550 Mobile has a 23 W TDP with no power connectors, whereas the GTX 1060 5 GB requires a 120 W TDP and a single 6-pin power connector, plus a 300 W suggested PSU. The Turing mobile chip delivers comparable average performance at roughly one-fifth the power draw.

Q: Do either GPUs support ray tracing?

A: No. Both the GTX 1060 5 GB and T550 Mobile have null RT core counts, indicating no ray tracing hardware.

Q: What are their FP16 capabilities?

A: The T550 Mobile delivers 6.820 TFLOPS of FP16 at a 2:1 ratio, while the GTX 1060 5 GB provides only 68.36 GFLOPS at a 1:64 ratio—a 100x difference favoring the Turing part.

Q: Which GPU has better Vulkan performance?

A: The GTX 1060 5 GB wins Vulkan with a score of 33,991 versus the T550 Mobile's 30,801, a 10.4% advantage.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 5 GB | NVIDIA T550 Mobile |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | Pascal | Turing |

| Process Node | 16 nm | 12 nm |

| Transistors | 4,400 million | 4,700 million |

| Die Size | 200 mm² | 200 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 22.0M / mm² | 23.5M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1506 MHz | 1065 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1709 MHz | 1665 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective) | 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 5 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 160 bit | 64 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 160.2 GB/s | 96.00 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1280 | 1024 |

| TMUs | 80 | 64 |

| ROPs | 40 | 32 |

| Pixel Rate | 68.36 GPixel/s | 53.28 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 136.7 GTexel/s | 106.6 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 4.375 TFLOPS | 3.410 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 68.36 GFLOPS (1:64) | 6.820 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 120 W | 23 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

| Power Connectors | 1x 6-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 300 W | None |

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | Portable Device Dependent |

| Dimensions | 250 mm (9.8 inches) | Not specified |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL result is a decisive victory for the T550 Mobile. With a score of 35,521 against the GTX 1060 5 GB's 33,397, the Turing mobile chip outperforms by 6% despite having 20% fewer shading units (1,024 vs 1,280) and 40% less memory bandwidth (96.00 GB/s vs 160.2 GB/s). This counterintuitive result highlights the efficiency of Turing's compute architecture. The T550 Mobile's FP16 throughput of 6.820 TFLOPS—two orders of magnitude higher than the GTX 1060 5 GB's 68.36 GFLOPS—enables OpenCL kernels to offload half-precision work at substantially higher rates. Additionally, the T550 Mobile's 12 nm process allows it to maintain a 1665 MHz boost clock within a 23 W envelope, whereas the GTX 1060 5 GB's 1709 MHz boost comes at a 120 W cost. The deltaPct of -6% in OpenCL means the GTX 1060 5 GB falls 6% short of the T550 Mobile, reinforcing that compute-heavy OpenCL workloads favor the Turing card.

The Vulkan benchmark reverses the outcome. The GTX 1060 5 GB scores 33,991, beating the T550 Mobile's 30,801 by a 10.4% margin. This is the larger of the two deltas, and it aligns with the Pascal card's substantial hardware advantages in rasterization. The GTX 1060 5 GB's 80 TMUs and 40 ROPs provide fill rates of 136.7 GTexel/s and 68.36 GPixel/s, respectively, versus the T550 Mobile's 106.6 GTexel/s and 53.28 GPixel/s. Vulkan titles that stress texture sampling and pixel throughput will heavily favor the desktop card. The GTX 1060 5 GB also benefits from its 160-bit memory bus, which delivers 160.2 GB/s—a 67% bandwidth advantage that reduces memory bottlenecks in geometry-heavy scenes. The T550 Mobile's GDDR6 at 12 Gbps effective cannot compensate for its narrow 64-bit interface.

The head-to-head record ends at 1 win apiece, with the GTX 1060 5 GB taking Vulkan and the T550 Mobile taking OpenCL. In terms of absolute scores, the GTX 1060 5 GB's Vulkan win (33,991) is higher than the T550 Mobile's OpenCL win (35,521) only when compared to the respective losing scores—the T550 Mobile's OpenCL score is actually the single highest result of the four benchmarks. However, the GTX 1060 5 GB demonstrates more consistency across APIs, with its two scores differing by just 594 points (1.8%), while the T550 Mobile shows a 4,720-point spread (13.3%) between its OpenCL and Vulkan results. This suggests the GTX 1060 5 GB delivers more predictable performance across different graphics and compute APIs, whereas the T550 Mobile's performance is more workload-dependent.