Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with gddr5x uses the same GP104 GPU as GTX 1080

The new GeForce GTX 1060 graphics cards with gddr5x memory use the GP104 GPU, just like the GTX 1080. Presumably Nvidia uses deprecated or redundant chips and can be used by disabling half of the cores.

On the Chinese marketplace Taobao, photos have appeared of a GTX 1060 video card with gddr5x of which the gpu is visible. This shows that it concerns the GP104 GPU. That GPU is larger than the GP106 GPU that is used for the regular GTX 1060.

The GP104 is the GPU of the GTX 1080 and when the GPU is fully used, it has 2560 Cuda cores. The GTX 1060 has only 1280 Cuda cores, or half. The use of the GP104 GPU does explain how Nvidia can release a GTX 1060 with gddr5x instead of regular gddr5. The GTX 1080 was already combined with gddr5x.

There have been rumors for years that Nvidia would use the GP104 GPU for a GTX 1060 variant. Until now, however, that had not been confirmed. At the end of October, Gigabyte and Palit presented GTX 1060 video cards with gddr5x. To date they are not yet available. Nvidia may position the new variant against the AMD Radeon RX 590, which is expected this week.