And today marks the introduction to Nvidia’s latest member, the GeForce GTX 1060 and what we have in goldfries’ lab is the one from ZOTAC – the AMP Edition.
The Zotac GTX 1060 AMP is a small card with dual-fan cooling. How small? Just look at the size of the unit against the PCI-E bracket and PCI-E connector at the bottom.
There’s no backplate for this model, unlike the GTX 950 AMP Edition that I reviewed before and I must say that the GTX 950 looks a lot nicer.
Anyway the GTX 1060 model here requires only a single 6-pin PCI-E connector.
At the back, the usual I/O ports and what you can see here are copper heatpipes stretching across the bottom area.
Below is the GPU-Z screen capture.
Test Setup
Overclocking
I managed to add over 200Mhz to the default core clock but there were a few games that the card seem to fail completing benchmarks, so I finally settled in with 150Mhz. As for memory, I added some 200Mhz to it with no issue.
Benchmarks
Unigine Heaven 4.0
Card 1080p [avg] 4K UHD [avg] Zotac GTX 1060 AMP 62 15 Zotac GTX 1060 AMP OC 65 16 Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 Reference 32 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference 54 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Reference 65 17 Zotac GTX 1070 FE 92 24 AMD RX 480 52 14
Metro Last Light
Card 1080p [avg] 4K UHD [avg] Zotac GTX 1060 AMP 85 29.5 Zotac GTX 1060 AMP OC 90 32 Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 Reference 53 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference 80 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Reference 88 34 Zotac GTX 1070 FE 120 44 AMD RX 480 80 26
Shadow of Mordor
Card 1080p [avg] 4K UHD [avg] Zotac GTX 1060 AMP 89 32 Zotac GTX 1060 AMP OC 96 34 Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 Reference 42 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference 71 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Reference 92 38 Zotac GTX 1070 FE 132 52 AMD RX 480 90 33
Bioshock Infinite
Card 1080p [avg] 4K UHD [avg] Zotac GTX 1060 AMP 114 38 Zotac GTX 1060 AMP OC 119 40 Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 Reference 73 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference 112 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Reference 123 43 Zotac GTX 1070 FE 137.44 55 AMD RX 480 110 35
Grand Theft Auto V
Card 1080p [avg] 4K UHD [avg] Zotac GTX 1060 AMP 45 30 Zotac GTX 1060 AMP OC 48 33 Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 Reference 23 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference 37 N/A Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Reference 50 35 Zotac GTX 1070 FE 61 44 AMD RX 480 37 27
The Division
Card 1080p [avg] 4K UHD [avg] Zotac GTX 1060 AMP 58 22 Zotac GTX 1060 AMP OC 61 24 Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 Reference 61 N/A Zotac GTX 1070 FE 82 33 AMD RX 480 56 23
Ashes of the Singularity [DX12]
Card 1080p [avg] 4K UHD [avg] Zotac GTX 1060 AMP 36 24 Zotac GTX 1060 AMP OC 38 26.3 Zotac GTX 1070 FE 48 33 AMD RX 480 33 24
Hitman [DX12]
Card 1080p [avg] 4K UHD [avg] Zotac GTX 1060 AMP 63 31 Zotac GTX 1060 AMP OC 66 34 Zotac GTX 1070 FE 70 42
Here’s an overview of the relevant performance based on available data, the first 5 games and in DirectX 11 at Full HD resolution.
Temperature
Furmark Burn-in Test was used to stress the card. Fan settings are at Auto. Room set to ~25c.
Card Idle[°C] Load [°C] Zotac GTX 1060 AMP 41 77 Zotac GTX 1060 AMP [Full RPM] 36 75
The fan hovers at around 85% on AUTO settings when on high load but what’s great about it is that it’s still pretty quite, even at 100% RPM it sounds like the noise level of Founders Edition cooler at 50% – 60% RPM.
Power Consumption
The stress was done with Furmark Burn-in Test. Power consumption reading was taken from the watt-meter, actual power draw by the entire system from the wall point. I’m using an Cooler Master V850 with around 90% efficiency and the estimated system power draw [CPU, not including GPU] during Furmark test is 107w.
Card Zotac GTX 1060 AMP Furmark Burn-in 202 Estimated Actual System Draw 183 Estimated Card Power Draw 76
The Verdict
The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 AMP Edition retails at RM 1,399 – So how does it fare against the AMD RX 480? It costs a bit more but you get quite a lot more performance out of it and it doesn’t draw as much power as the RX 480. Unlike the RX 480 that requires some voltage boost just to overclock [and resulting in more heat] the GTX 1060 overclocks without needing voltage adjustment and gains quite a performance boost out of it without suffering from additional heat.
Put it simple – you have a winner here, the once rather attractive AMD RX 480 now looks pale in comparison as GeForce GTX 1060 cards now reigns in its stead.
If you are a GTX 970 or GTX 980 card owner, or even R9 390 or R9 390X owner – don’t bother because you will be side-grading. For some games it is an upgrade but the improvement is not significant.
Is the zotac 1060 6GB good?
Conclusion. The Zotac Geforce GTX 1060 Mini 6GB is a great all around graphics card. If you are looking to game at 1080p/ultra/60fps you will be extremely satisfied. You will also be able to play most games at 1440p/60fps comfortably.
Is GTX 1060 6GB outdated?
The GTX 1060 will be a seven-year-old card in July of 2023. Not only will the support for official drivers from Nvidia start to dwindle, but this old card will age faster, thanks to more demanding upcoming games.
Is 1060 6GB good for gaming?
The GeForce GTX 1060 is a great graphics card for gamers who don't need the fastest graphics card, but still want good performance. It's a solid choice for most games and it can also be used for video editing and other professional tasks.
How much power does a zotac gtx 1060 need?
Minimum 400 W or greater system power supply with one 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors. Prior to unpacking your new NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 graphics card, it is important to make sure you meet all the system requirements listed on page 2 for a smooth installation.