One and a half years ago, NVIDIA launched the GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB GPU as part of their GeForce GTX 10 Series line. Although it is one and a half years old, this GPU is still much targeted, because it offers a fairly good performance, especially for cheap gaming video card and affordable VR. This time, we are coming a graphics card with GPU GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB base, from the manufacturer that we have known more through motherboard products, namely Biostar.
Generally, Biostar is better known among power users as a motherboard manufacturer. Graphics card Biostar may be rarely encountered. However, the company also has a graphics card product, primarily using GPU from NVIDIA, and now we get the opportunity to test the graphics card GPU GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB which comes with a cooling system with 2 90 mm fan, as well as enough design shroud this unique. Let's start a discussion on this one graphics card!
Like other GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB graphics cards, this Biostar product comes with a GPU Pascal GP106-300-A1 16nm that has a 1152 Shader (Stream Processor / CUDA). GP106-300-A1 is the result of pruning of GP106-400-A1 chip which has 1280 Shaders, which is used in GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB. Offering a base clock of 1506 MHz, Biostar offers boost clocks up to 1898 MHz. The memory used is of course GDDR5 8 Gbps with 192-bit memory interface.
Biostar GeForce GTX 1060 3GB comes with a cooling system wrapped with shroud with a color theme that tends to dark. Shroud used has a unit design, with a blend of colors between black and silver. Not to forget, Biostar includes an RGB LED in the panel at the far end of the graphics card, where the words "BIOSTAR" in that section can be lit up in several colors when the graphics card is turned on. The size of the graphics card itself is 235 mm x 115 mm x 45 mm, a reasonable size for a graphics card with a 2 slot cooling system.
The cooling system in this graphics card uses two 90 mm fan sizes supported by two heatpipes to remove heat from the GPU. The heatpipe is also directly in contact with the GPU die, which is expected to provide extra cooling performance for the Biostar GeForce GTX 1060 3GB. The cooling design is also certainly expected to keep the operating temperature at safe limits. Unfortunately, the VRM section does not have direct contact with heatpipe or heatsinks from this cooling system.
Heatsink used Biostar GeForce GTX 1060 3GB is made of aluminum and black colored. Black bats heatsink is very rarely found in middle-class graphics card. Black colored heatsink is also not just a mere cosmetics. The heatsink is quite thick and has a considerable amount of fin, the weight is quite heavy, and as we described above, what is offered Biostar is quite good for the middle class graphics cooling system.
Biostar GeForce GTX 1060 3GB has an aggressive auto rule fan. To keep the GPU temperature at 67 ° C, fan speed is at 74% based on GPU-Z sensor reading is 1550 rpm. We also tested by making the fan speed of this Biostar graphics card to 100%. Based on the GPU-Z reading, the rotational speed in the 100% configuration is 2100 rpm.
The unique thing we get is the result of temperature testing at fan speed at 100%. We did not get the temperature difference with the fan operating in auto rule, the temperature stayed at 67 ° C. These results allow us to deduce that the cooling system used has reached its limit. Indeed, from the side of the heatsink, cooling system is seen capable, with heavy weight heatsinks, and the number of many fin. Only the availability of two heatpipes seems to inhibit this cooling system to offer better performance. However, it is undeniable, for the middle-class graphics card, especially that should be marketed at a low price, cooling system is already included good.
Based on the above results, auto rule fan is a very appropriate choice. Given that the fan on the Biostar GeForce GTX 1060 3GB is not a fan fast enough, the speed of rotation in the auto rule is good enough to keep the temperature in the range that is not too high. For the idle temperature of Biostar GeForce GTX 1060 3GB it is 36 ° C at room condition 27 ° C
This graphics card does not have a fan stop feature, but for idle operation, this graphics card has a fairly low fan spin. By coincidence, this graphics card does not have a fan that fast. In our tests, the fan sound does not sound annoying when it runs according to its auto rule.
