NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB vs NVIDIA TITAN Xp Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a clear separation between these two Pascal-era cards. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB is the efficient, compact workhorse for 1080p gaming and legacy systems, while the NVIDIA TITAN Xp is a raw compute monster that dominates every benchmark where they are directly compared. If your priority is maximum compute throughput and you have the power delivery and physical space, the TITAN Xp is the obvious choice. If you need a smaller, lower-power card that still holds its own in the database's average scoring, the GTX 1060 is the practical pick. The TITAN Xp wins both head-to-head tests decisively, but the GTX 1060 actually posts a higher average benchmark score across all recorded tests, which speaks to the consistency of its results in the specific workloads measured.

Architecture Differences

Both cards share the Pascal architecture and are built on the same 16 nm TSMC process, but they are fundamentally different chips. The GTX 1060 uses the GP106 chip, a smaller die at 200 mm² with 4,400 million transistors. The TITAN Xp uses the GP102 chip, a massive 471 mm² die with 11,800 million transistors. That translates to a higher transistor density for the TITAN Xp at 25.1M per mm² versus 22.0M per mm² for the GTX 1060. The TITAN Xp carries 3,840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, while the GTX 1060 has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The memory subsystem is equally lopsided: the TITAN Xp has 12 GB of GDDR5X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 547.6 GB/s of bandwidth, whereas the GTX 1060 has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus at 192.2 GB/s. Neither card has ray tracing or tensor cores, and both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The TITAN Xp requires a 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power setup and a 600 W suggested PSU, while the GTX 1060 needs only a single 6-pin connector and a 300 W suggested PSU. The TITAN Xp is also longer at 267 mm versus 250 mm, and it is the only one of the two with a listed width of 40 mm.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains two direct comparisons, and the TITAN Xp wins both by enormous margins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the TITAN Xp scores 72,585 against the GTX 1060's 32,322, a delta of 55.5 percent in favor of the TITAN Xp. In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap widens further: the TITAN Xp posts 87,180 while the GTX 1060 manages 18,659, a 78.6 percent difference. These are not close contests; the TITAN Xp essentially triples the GTX 1060's Vulkan output and more than doubles its OpenCL result. The raw hardware disparity explains this: the TITAN Xp's FP32 throughput is 12.15 TFLOPS versus 4.375 TFLOPS for the GTX 1060, and its texture rate of 379.7 GTexel/s dwarfs the 136.7 GTexel/s of the smaller card. Pixel rate also favors the TITAN Xp at 151.9 GPixel/s versus 82.03 GPixel/s. However, the broader benchmark picture is more nuanced. The GTX 1060 has an average benchmark score of 21,856 across all tests, which is higher than the TITAN Xp's 19,177. The GTX 1060 sits at the 67th percentile among all GPUs, while the TITAN Xp sits at the 64th. The GTX 1060's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 at 21,629 (1 percent behind) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 at 22,170 (1.4 percent ahead). The TITAN Xp's nearest rivals are much older or lower-tier hardware: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 at 19,164 (0.1 percent behind), the NVIDIA Tesla K20m at 19,089 (0.5 percent behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile at 19,049 (0.7 percent behind). This suggests that the TITAN Xp's average score is dragged down by legacy DirectX tests, while its compute-oriented results are exceptional.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 1060 6 GB has an average benchmark score of 21,856, which is higher than the TITAN Xp's 19,177. The GTX 1060 also ranks at the 67th percentile among all GPUs, versus the 64th percentile for the TITAN Xp.

Q: How much faster is the TITAN Xp in Vulkan compute?

A: In Geekbench Vulkan, the TITAN Xp scores 87,180 compared to the GTX 1060's 18,659. That is a 78.6 percent advantage for the TITAN Xp.

Q: Does the GTX 1060 have any benchmark where it beats the TITAN Xp?

A: The head-to-head data shows zero wins for the GTX 1060. The TITAN Xp wins both recorded head-to-head tests, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. However, the GTX 1060 does have a higher overall average benchmark score.

Q: What memory configuration does each card use?

A: The GTX 1060 uses 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus with 192.2 GB/s bandwidth. The TITAN Xp uses 12 GB of GDDR5X on a 384-bit bus with 547.6 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Are both cards the same architecture?

A: Yes, both are Pascal architecture on a 16 nm TSMC process. They differ in chip: the GTX 1060 uses GP106, and the TITAN Xp uses GP102.

Q: What power connectors does each card require?

A: The GTX 1060 requires a single 6-pin connector and a 300 W suggested PSU. The TITAN Xp requires a 6-pin plus an 8-pin connector and a 600 W suggested PSU.

Where Each One Wins

The TITAN Xp wins outright in raw compute performance. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 72,585 is 55.5 percent higher than the GTX 1060's 32,322, and its Vulkan score of 87,180 is 78.6 percent higher. The TITAN Xp also leads in every throughput metric: FP32 at 12.15 TFLOPS, texture rate at 379.7 GTexel/s, and pixel rate at 151.9 GPixel/s. For anyone running OpenCL or Vulkan compute workloads, large texture-heavy rendering, or high-resolution framebuffer tasks, the TITAN Xp is the card to pick. Its 12 GB of GDDR5X memory with 547.6 GB/s bandwidth gives it a massive advantage in memory-bound scenarios.

The GTX 1060 wins in the efficiency and footprint department. It has a 120 W TDP versus 250 W for the TITAN Xp, a 300 W suggested PSU versus 600 W, and a single 6-pin connector versus a 6-pin plus 8-pin setup. It is also shorter at 250 mm versus 267 mm. The GTX 1060's higher average benchmark score of 21,856 and better percentile ranking of 67 indicate that it performs more consistently across the full suite of tests in the database, including older DirectX workloads where the TITAN Xp's scores are weaker. For a compact build, a lower-power system, or a card that still delivers solid results across a wide range of legacy and modern tests, the GTX 1060 is the sensible option.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every major specification. The GTX 1060 uses the GP106 chip, while the TITAN Xp uses the GP102. Transistor count is 4,400 million versus 11,800 million, and die size is 200 mm² versus 471 mm². Transistor density is 22.0M per mm² for the GTX 1060 and 25.1M per mm² for the TITAN Xp. Base clocks are 1506 MHz for the GTX 1060 and 1405 MHz for the TITAN Xp, with boost clocks of 1709 MHz and 1582 MHz respectively. Memory speed is 2002 MHz with 8 Gbps effective for the GTX 1060, while the TITAN Xp runs at 1426 MHz with 11.4 Gbps effective. Memory size is 6 GB of GDDR5 versus 12 GB of GDDR5X, on a 192-bit bus versus a 384-bit bus. Bandwidth is 192.2 GB/s versus 547.6 GB/s. Shading units are 1,280 versus 3,840, TMUs are 80 versus 240, and ROPs are 48 versus 96. Pixel rate is 82.03 GPixel/s versus 151.9 GPixel/s, texture rate is 136.7 GTexel/s versus 379.7 GTexel/s, and FP32 is 4.375 TFLOPS versus 12.15 TFLOPS. FP16 is 68.36 GFLOPS versus 189.8 GFLOPS, both at a 1:64 ratio. TDP is 120 W versus 250 W. Power connectors are 1x 6-pin versus 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin, and suggested PSU is 300 W versus 600 W. The GTX 1060 has display outputs of 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the TITAN Xp has 1x HDMI 2.0 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, with no DVI. Physical dimensions are 250 mm by 111 mm for the GTX 1060, and 267 mm by 112 mm by 40 mm for the TITAN Xp. Both are dual-slot cards with PCIe 3.0 x16 interfaces. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Both are end-of-life products from the GeForce 10 generation, with the GeForce 900 as predecessor and GeForce 20 as successor. The GTX 1060 launched on 2016-07-18 with a launch MSRP of 299 USD, and the TITAN Xp launched on 2017-04-04 with a launch MSRP of 1,199 USD.