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PC Gamers are undoubtedly spoilt for choice when it comes to GTX 1060s and MSI's GTX 1060 Gaming X is arguably one of the better options. While not everyone will be sold on the looks, red and black isn't exactly one size fits all colour scheme, the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X is an impressive upgrade over the Founders Edition model.
In the UK you do pay a premium over the Founders Edition (£275) with the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X costing £290~300, the similar MSI GTX 1060 Gaming is slightly cheaper at £280~290. The premium is definitely worth paying if you value more performance, less noise, better cooling and more features.
Over in North America MSI's GTX 1060 Gaming X is the same price, around $300, and sometimes less than the Founders Edition making it almost a no-brainer – unless you have a specific need for the blower style cooler (e.g a heavily airflow-restricted compact chassis).
In both markets a 3 year manufacturer warranty is standard.
Competition is stiff and although we've not yet been able to assess all of MSI's main rivals it is fair to say that MSI's GTX 1060 Gaming X is an excellent option. MSI continues to deliver one of the best balances between noise, cooling and performance, the continuous improvement of the Twin Frozr cooler has clearly played a large part in this.
MSI does still have room for improvement – a slightly better out of the box overclock would bolster its credentials as a top-end product. Granted, MSI does offer a “one-click” solution to overclock further with its gaming app but even the maximum overclock offered doesn't reach the default shipping frequency of other GTX 1060s that are available in this class. Perhaps MSI is leaving space to shoehorn in a GTX 1060 Lightning at a later date, though this seems unlikely for a mid-range GPU.
Build quality and presentation is very strong on the whole but in a market moving towards neutral colour schemes the red and black cliché feels a bit tiresome. There's, theoretically, nothing to stop MSI going for an all-black design with removable red accenting (stickers or removable plastic pieces) to make the design more malleable.
MSI is also fortunate in that its Carbon products have gained traction in recent times so a Carbon version of the GTX 1060 Gaming X isn't out of the question.
Buy from Overclockers UK for £289.99 inc vat HERE.
Pros
- Excellent balance of cooling and noise
- Keen pricing
- Stylish design, backplate and RGB functionality
Cons:
- Out-of-the-box overclock should be higher
- Colour scheme isn't neutral
KitGuru says: MSI has delivered a superb blend of low noise, excellent cooling and premium build quality with the GTX 1060 Gaming X. Any GTX 1060 shortlist would be incomplete without it.
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