"OCed to the max" WTF are ANY of you talking about?
The GTX 1060 FE - which is the WORST 1060, can EASILY over clock the VRAM 450 Mhz and core to 2088 at all times! All it requires is max power target (for FE that is 116%) and from there a few SLIDER BARS in MSI Afterburner!
Now ALL of these cards save maybe the smallest one, will ALL over clock MUCH better and more easily, AKA you won't need to adjust fan curve much if at all, and it WILL be much more quiet! Also, the MSI Gamging 6G - most reviewers got the VRAM up by 700 to 900 Mhz!
So even a Founder Edition GTX 1060 can add +250 MHz core, and +450 VRAM, at which point you are looking at a GPU that kicks the ASS of a GTX 980 at stock clocks anyway - the 980 CAN OC very well, so it is still probably faster in average FPS.
BUT I still would rather buy a GTX 1060 for $270 than a used 980 for about $225, because that 1060, has INSANELY good minimum frame rates! To the point that even when STOCK - in the 3 out of 15 or so games where the RX 480 8GB manages to pull ahead, the minimums on the 1060 are still FAR better!
Not to mention, there are NO RX 480 cards that can OC beyond 1380 core! Even with the benefit of an 8 pin power AND a badass cooler!
Gamer's Nexus covered all of this! They even made a "Hybrid" Water cooled and Fan cooled RX 480 - and used a MoBo with a supplementary 8 pin power for all PCIe lanes - and STILL they never broke 1380 core!
And a 1060 at 2088 kicks the TEETH out of an RX 480 8GB at 1380!
Don't just take my word for it! READ
http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2518-nvidia-gtx-1060-review-and-benchmark-vs-rx-480/page-6
And it SEEMS like none of you know HOW TO OVER CLOCK A GPU MANUALLY! It is VERY easy! I had my GTX 770 running 8 GHZ VRAM, 256 GB/sec! And the core clock (boost) stayed at 1346 at all times in all games!
It is AMD that sell GPUs that are "pre-OCed (to the max)" When the GTX 1060 can EASILY add +250 core and the RX 480 cannot even manage 100 in most cases!
Also keep in mind: all base specs from places such a TechPowerUp GPU-Z database are measured a non-boost speeds for Nvidia!
Basically a stock GTX 1060 at 1506 MHz pushes out 72.3 Gpixel and 120 GTexel - at 1700 that turns into 83 Gpixel and 145+ Gtexel.
Bring that up to 2088 and you are getting a rather INSANE 90 Gpixel and 160 Gtexel - add +450 to VRAM and you have 220 GB/sec, add 800 and you are at 235+ GB/sec!
So really, these AIB cards are meant for either people who know little to nothing about OCing and want the best performance out of the box, or people like ME who tweak EVERYTHING to go as fast as possible!
And so far all AIB cards that cover the VRAM with their main cooler and use 2 to 6 heatpipes depending on size, what they offer people like me, is not TOO much in the way of maximum core clock, as 2156 seems to be where GP106 maxes out FOR REAL, but what they DO allow for is a rather HUGE VRAM OC! Where the FE card can do 350 to about 500 MHz to VRAM if lucky, these AIB cards all manage 600 to over 800 VRAM OC - which ironically enough, makes the GTX 1060 have ALMOST as much VRAM BAndwidth as the 1070 or RX 480 - and REALLY makes it faster than a GTX 980 when it comes to minimum FPS!
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