Plus some other testing from other sites has shown issues with the card.
Actually as DF said,get the GTX1060 6GB,which chimes in exactly with what I said. Guru3D said the same. In Hitman the GTX1060 6GB is 14% faster overall it appears,and it gets bigger as the resolution increases too. Remember,Nvidia says it should be a 5% difference.
Both DF and Guru3D show it drops down to slightly below a GTX970 in the game too.
The same problem with Rise of the Tombraider:
http://images.eurogamer.net/2015/art.../80/format/jpg
http://images.eurogamer.net/2015/art.../80/format/jpg
http://i.imgur.com/I7T9Ivb.png
DF said there was stuttering for the 3GB card.
http://i.imgur.com/csOpBYn.png
http://i.imgur.com/CrbxgzA.png
http://i.imgur.com/6XaYeaR.png
http://i.imgur.com/kM0Et87.png
http://i.imgur.com/ANWbqBw.png
Guru3D is testing a pre-overclocked card with better cooling against the FE GTX1060 6GB.
The 3GB card is pointless for such a small saving - it will get worse and worse. Games are going to push even more VRAM over the next couple of years. In fact Deus Ex,seems to also push VRAM usage.
History is not on the side of VRAM gimped performance cards.
Personally it won't affect me(or people I know in real life as I will tell them why spending that extra is worth it),but it makes me feel sorry for people who get the impression it will be fine,as its their money which is being wasted as time progresses.
So I am not sure what the point of the GTX1060 3GB card:
1.)Not enough VRAM as it can get pushed even at 1080P in very intensive games(both 2016 games)
2.)Not enough VRAM meaning it limits your monitor upgrade choices if you want to get a higher resolution monitor
3.)Less cores
4.)Only £30 to £40 difference
5.)Probably less resale value and less re-use value for a secondary rig
The same goes with the RX470 which is now more like £190 to £200 too. You might as well get an RX480 8GB.
At least the 8800GT 512MB was 40% more expensive than a 8800GT 256MB.
The GTX1060 3GB is not massively cheaper than a GTX1060 6GB.
£30 to £40(or even £50) on a £200 card over two to three years is nothing.
Its even more hilarious that the GTX1050 will be a 4GB card too - millions of GTX970 and GTX980 cards have over 3GB of VRAM and on Steam its either 1GB,2GB or 4GB of VRAM too.
My prediction is people will argue on how 3GB is "enough" and then it will be forgotten about when the next cards are launched.