Is a GTX 1060 a Good Match for an i7-2600?

A GTX 1060 should work fine with an i7-2600. You might run into some CPU limits in certain games, especially at high frame rates, but it won’t make the card unusable. Compared with a GT 730, it would still be a huge upgrade.

Don’t worry too much about the word “bottleneck.” The i7-2600 may prevent the 1060 from reaching its absolute maximum performance in some situations, but the combination is still reasonable for 1080p gaming. Buy the best card that fits your budget.

A GTX 1060 is already an older card, so compare its price with newer used options before buying. At higher resolutions, the graphics card becomes more of the limiting factor, while at very high refresh rates the i7-2600 is more likely to hold performance back.

You could also look at cards such as the RX 470, RX 480, RX 570, or RX 580 if they’re available at a good price. Depending on the game and resolution, even a faster card could be useful, since the CPU won’t always be the limiting component.