Confused about graphics card differences

[inkydink815]

Hi,
I am making a Ryzen 5 1600 build, and I was wondering about what GPU to use. I decided to go with a GTX 1060 6GB, and I wanted to go with one from MSI. The problem is that they have different names, although the specs seem somewhat similar. I basically am confused by the words "gaming", "aero", and "Armor". I don't know which one is slightly faster or better. Most people online say "Just go for the GTX 1060", but they don't specify which one. I was unable to find much useful info on what the differences are. Please tell me what the differences are and what these words mean, and possibly give me a recommendation on which one to choose. Thanks!

 

[Karadjgne]

Different levels of possible usage. The aero is a barrel fan, basically a reference design, that's slightly louder and exhausts its heat out the rear, so it's good for very small cases that have heat issues. The Armor is your 'out of the box' type overclocked gpu, made to run better than the Aero, but best used stock. Good for ppl who want that size gpu but have no intentions of user OC. The Gaming X is top of the line, has best cooling, highest clocks, but is designed more for ppl who want to OC every last fps they possibly can out of the card. So as soon as you figure out what you want to do with the gpu, you'll know what gpu you'll want for it. Basically works for any brand, reference (FE or Founders Edition too), general and enthusiast class gpus.

 

[pete_101]

When people say to get the GTX 1060 and don't specify which one, it's because there is very little performance difference between any of them. Sure, some have better coolers and possible better power delivery so should be able to overclock higher, but it's actually a lottery as to how good the GPU is....some GPUs will oc higher than anothers of the same make, so it's not actually possible to say with 100% certainty that one card will perform better than another.

 

[parani]

Always buy the least expensive cards .All those cards have same PCB and components .Power delivery also same (even tho its doesn't concern for oc as Nvidia locks the power target )These 16nm cards dont gets much heat .Pascal can oc easily .A single 90mm fan running at full speed is enough to keep them under 65c .So just set the max power and fan speed in MSI afterburber .Find the stable core and memory clock speeds. Mostly all cards can oc upto 2050mhz on core and 2150mhz on memory easily .Dont waste money for slightly factory oc and fancy coolers while u can easily OC outta box

 

[Karadjgne]

No. Most of the enthusiast class cards have custom pcbs, power delivery and componentry, even some of the regular cards, only the reference pcbs are the same. And there is a rather large difference between the 4x 7mm and 5x 8mm heatpipes used on the msi armor and gaming heatsinks when it comes to spreading out the heat to the entire heatsink and not relying on the heatsinks natural heat transfer with a reference design. And that's important when pushing maximum OC ability then applying high loads. Some cards use extra pcie power directly from the psu so they don't use the x16 mobo supplied power.
For 'out of the box' usage, yes, there's very little difference, @5-7 fps between and given model per brand, so buying the cheaper model is fine, if you just want plug-n-play. It's when you insist on tinkering to get maximum ability that the cheap cards fail miserably, either through heat issues on the VRM's/vram (thermal tape isn't all that good, realistically) or the users inability to stand for high fan rpm volume.