Steam Deck GPU vs GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB

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Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the rankingnot ratednot rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
ArchitecturePascal (2016−2021)RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGP106Van Gogh
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date27 June 2017 (7 years ago)25 February 2022 (2 years ago)

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores1280512
Core clock speed1265 MHz1000 MHz
Boost clock speed1480 MHz1600 MHz
Number of transistors4,400 million2,400 million
Manufacturing process technology16 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)80 Watt15 Watt
Texture fill rate118.451.20
Floating-point processing powerno data1.638 TFLOPS
ROPs4816
TMUs8032
Ray Tracing Coresno data8

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16no data
Lengthno data298 mm
Supplementary power connectorsNoneNone

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5LPDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GB16 GB
Memory bus width192 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed8008 MHz1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth192.2 GB/s88 GB/s

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectorsno data1x USB Type-C

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12.012 (12_1)
Shader Model5.06.5
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.22.0
Vulkan-1.2
CUDA6.1-

Pros & cons summary


Recency 27 June 2017 25 February 2022
Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 16 GB
Chip lithography 16 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 80 Watt 15 Watt

Steam Deck GPU has an age advantage of 4 years, a 433.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 128.6% more advanced lithography process, and 433.3% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB and Steam Deck GPU. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB is a notebook card while Steam Deck GPU is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB
GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q 3 GB
AMD Steam Deck GPU
Steam Deck GPU

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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