Replace GTX 980 w/ GTX 1060 OC?

[Fireman Dave]

Hi all!

Have been picking out a nice 1060 to go in my HTPC so I can do a little gaming on there. However, the more I read about them, the more I see that they beat (albeit by a small margin) the GTX 980
Now, just to put things into perspective, I currently have a reference GTX 980 (Galax) in my PC, and I've been looking at OC models of the 1060, such as Gigabyte's Gaming G1 model.
My question is, should I slap the 1060 in my PC and put my 980 in the HTPC? Or is everything I'm reading a bit off? I wasn't looking at upgrading the GPU in my PC for a year or two, but think it would be silly to drop a better card in a system that would be used for about 1/3 of my gaming.
And no, I'm not interested in upgrading to a 1070 or 1080 - I simply don't have that sort of cash 😛

Cheers all

 

[SkyNetRising]

GTX980 is slightly faster than GTX1060, but not by much.
Main difference is power consumption: gtx 980 - 165W vs gtx1060 - 120W.

 

[why_wolf]

yes they're in punching range of each other, though the 1060 is more energy efficient. Personally if you are looking to upgrade from the 980 then go with the 1070 instead otherwise it's really just a lateral move.

 

[renz496]

depending on titles. most often i see 1060 at best matching 980 performance, very rare to see exceeding 980 performance but in most games 980 can still out on top. the advantage of 1060 of course it is more power efficient (more suitable for HTPC purpose) and it has 2GB more VRAM than 980.

 

[proloser2]

Also keep in mind that the 980 was about the same as the 1080 this generation; going from a 980 to a 1060 will be a bit of a downgrade in the big scheme.