“Turing without Ray Tracing” is the motto of NVIDIA’s TU116 GPU, aiming at the balance performance, power, and cost. The ZOTAC GTX 1660 Ti AMP! Edition features ZOTAC’s Icestorm 2.0 cooling solution using 2x 90mm fans and an aluminum-based heatsink wide array with 3x nickel-plated copper heat pipes, each of 6mm thickness. The graphics card has an aggressive, bold, and beautifully designed shroud which sits that well with the wrap-around metallic backplate. There is no LED lighting on this card.
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Key Takeaways
- The Zotac GTX 1660 Ti AMP Edition suits gamers aiming for 1080p performance on a budget without needing ray tracing or Tensor cores.
- Gamers seeking high-end ray tracing capabilities or looking for 4K gaming might find the Zotac GTX 1660 Ti AMP Edition lacking in power and specialized hardware.
- Key features of the card include a compact design tailored for most systems, a robust cooling system (Icestorm 2), and substantial performance gains for 1080p gaming over previous-gen cards like the GTX 1060.
Specifications
| Technical Specs | ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp Edition |
| GPU | TU116 |
| Architecture | Turing |
| Process Size | 12 nm |
| Transistors | 6,600 million |
| Boost Clock | 1860 MHz |
| CUDA Cores | 1563 |
| TMUs | 96 |
| ROPs | 48 |
| Memory Size | 6 GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 |
| Memory Bus | 192 bit |
| Memory Clock | 12 Gbps |
| L2 Cache | 1536 KB |
| TDP | 120 W |
| MSRP | $279 |
Packaging and Unboxing
The graphics card is shipped inside a cardboard box which is placed inside an exterior paperboard box.
Contents
Other than the GPU itself, let’s look at what’s in the box.
Closer Look
It is time to take a closer look at the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp Edition. The dimension of the graphics card is 209.6mmX119.3mmX41mm (LxHxW). This is dual slot design. It is factory overclocked using a custom PCB. Its designed to fit in over 90% of the systems with a focus on the compact design.
I absolutely love how the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is designed. The wrap-around concept is exactly what I’ve wanted in cards. ZOTAC’s use of plastic and metal not only maintains aesthetics but also trims the card’s weight, easing the burden on the motherboard’s PCIe slots.
The shroud mimics the ZOTAC’s brand logo in an aggressive and bold manner. The outcome is one heck of a beautifully designed shroud finished in a gray color with black color fans blades complimenting the looks. The top and the bottom sides of the shroud itself are identical.
The left side features two cutouts for ventilation at the top and bottom. The center has a stepped design that emphasizes the tipped-out central portion. Whether you begin from the top or bottom, the layout is consistent.
The cooling solution on the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is named as IceStorm 2.0. We have 2x 90mm fans which are designed for optimal static pressure and maximum airflow. This card does not have Auto Fan stop as we have been seeing on many recent models.
The blades of the fans are designed such that they have a gap in between each other to maximize airflow.
The main component of the cooling solution is the wide arrange aluminum heatsink. This full body heatsink allows for the maximum heat dissipation. There are two nickel plated copper plates making direct contact with the GPU, VRAM chips and the MOSFETs/VRMs.
ZOTAC was definitely thoughtful of providing adequate cooling to the power delivery circuitry of the graphics card. They also have not forgotten about the adequate cooling of the VRAM chips as the main copper plate is making a contact with these chips with thermal pads in between.
The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti packs 3x 6mm nickel-plated copper made pipes making direct contact with copper plates. I wish I could open the card to show exactly how this all has been set up but due to restriction at source, I could not do that.
Let’s take a look at the backside of the graphics card. One gets to see the stunning designed gray color metallic backplate having ZOTAC brand logo in silver color below the power connector. LIVE TO GAME tag line is printed towards the other end of the backplate. The backside of the GPU is exposed.
There is no thermal pad between the backside of the PCB and the backplate and a certain gap can be seen. This card has no SLI finger or NVLink as NVIDIA did not provide this feature in RTX 2070 and below in the Turing architecture.
We’ve checked out the cooling solution. Now, let’s dive into the top side of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp edition. This side flaunts a metallic back plate with ventilation vents for proper cooling. The glossy black middle section features bold ZOTAC GAMING branding in white.
There’s no LED below it. The “GEFORCE GTX” label is on the right side of the shroud. I observed the depth difference between the PCB and the top, roughly around 15mm, to allow space for the protruding heat pipes. My only gripe is that this design makes it slightly tricky to connect the power connector to the graphics card.
When I checked the underside of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, I saw a black PCB with about a 39mm gap to the graphics card’s shroud. This setup accommodates a broad aluminum heatsink and an additional 90mm fan. I noticed various colored thermal pads and a visible PCIe connector with golden pins.
I also prefer this side for its sleek design. The metal backplate wraps around half of it, while the shroud covers the rest. The shroud’s top and bottom edges jut out sharply, giving it a more aggressive appearance. Vents in the backplate ensure proper ventilation, keeping the card supplied with fresh air.
The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp edition has a single 8-pin power connector. The card is rated for 130W power and minimum recommended PSU is 450W.
As for connectivity, we have three Display Ports 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0b.
Zotac FireStorm
Fire Storm is the name of the utility that ZOTAC provides with their graphics cards and this time they have revamped its design making it more user-friendly and simpler and this is what I am appreciating as well. The user can download the application from their website.
The bottom circle on the main interface shows the GPU thermals while the main circle in the center is showing the Core Clock and Memory Clock in MHz.
There is a listing of GPU1 up to GPU 4 on the right side of this circle. This allows the user to quickly switch to the respective graphics card in case of using multiple graphics cards. The user can save and load up to 3 profiles for each card.
The app offers advanced options for overclocking the graphics card and boosting power by adjusting voltage. Clicking ‘Default’ resets the card to factory settings. Note that the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp Edition lacks LED lighting, so Spectra remains disabled in the app.
Performance and Testing
Following is the information regarding the test system and drivers that I have used to test this graphics card:
- Intel i7 8700k @ 5.0GHz
- Asus Strix Z390-E Gaming Motherboard
- Ballistix Elite 16GB kit @ 3000MHz
- Asus ROG Ryuo 360 CPU Cooler
- HyperX 120GB SSD
- Seagate Barracuda 3.5” 2 TB HDD
- Thermaltake TP RGB 750W Gold PSU
Drivers:
- NVIDIA driver 430.86 for GTX 1600 Series
- NVIDIA driver 417.71 for Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060
- NVIDIA driver 411. For other RTX graphics cards
- NVIDIA driver 398.35 for GTX (Pascal) graphics cards
- NVIDIA driver 417.71 for GTX 1080 [Required for Battlefield V]
- AMD driver Adrenalin 2019 19.4.3 for the RX 570 and RX 580.
Monitoring Software:
MSI Afterburner 4.60 was used to monitor and record the FPS for the games without in-built benchmarks. Three runs per game per API per resolution were made and the average is being shown on the graphs. The tough ordeal for the tester!
Synthetic Benchmarks
Gaming Benchmarks
In terms of the overall performance, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti has performed superbly in 1080p gaming. In a few titles, it was sitting between the GeForce GTX 1070 and the GeForce GTX 1070Ti and in some, it was touching the performance level of the GeForce GTX 1070.
The average performance boost over the GeForce GTX is above 30% which is very good and clearly gives the right upgrade path to the users of the GeForce GTX 960 and GeForce GTX 1060. I don’t see why a user of the GeForce GTX 1070 and GeForce GTX 1070Ti should opt for the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti.
If you want an excellent gaming experience at 1080p without ray tracing, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti nails it. It performs impressively at 1440p too, depending on the games and graphics settings for the best gameplay.
Is 6GB of VRAM Enough?
We tested the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp Edition, equipped with 6GB GDDR6 memory from Micron running at 6001MHz, to see if it can handle today’s increasingly demanding games at 1080p and 1440p resolutions.
Since I was at it, I decided to include the 2160p results as well. All of our games have been tested using the maximum possible graphics settings. It is important to understand that the monitoring software only shows the requested memory from the graphics card at any given time.
I chose to display the peak memory requested during the game’s benchmarking session instead of presenting a graph of memory utilization or requested memory. It provides a clearer insight into the game’s memory demands.
Only a few titles were crossing the 6GB cap of this graphics card and even that on 2160p gaming which is beyond the scope of the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti hence it is safe to assume that the 6GB onboard memory would suffice for the titles that I have tested on 1080p and 1440p gaming.
Boost Clocks
Now that we have taken a look at the gaming and synthetic benchmark results along with the VRAM analysis, it is time to take a look at the maximum boost clocks.
The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp Edition has boosted to 1965MHz out of the box without any tweaking. The sustained clocks were on average 1920MHz which is quite impressive.
Power Consumption
To measure the power draw, I am taking a different route as HWInfo64 shows the GPU Power and this is exactly what I have been showing on my graphs instead of overall system power draw.
- For idle power draw, the system was left on idle for 30 minutes with closing as many background apps as possible and loading the Balanced Power Profile in the Windows.
- As for the maximum power draw, I am using The Witcher 3 4k run of 30 minutes and then record the reported power draw from the HWInfo64. This way any user can check their graphics card for power consumption easily.
This card like the other RTX graphics cards that I have tested, was constantly hitting the power target. Increasing the power slider to 110% saw little improvement. A little more headroom in terms of power target could have been beneficial.
Thermal Performance
I am not using Furmark or any other stress app for thermal performance checking. Instead, the reported temperatures are actually from the gaming session using The Witcher 3 at the 4k resolution for minimum of 30 minutes.
MSI Afterburner is used to record the temperatures during the gaming session.
The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp Edition was idling at 39°C. On stock clocks, it maxed to 70°C and with overclocking it maxed to 74°C.
Overclocking
For overclocking, the MSI Afterburner was used. I started with overclocking the VRAM only without touching the voltage slider and core clock.
I was able to push the memory clock by another +800MHz which is good. Any attempt on going further was met with lowered scores clearly indicating that overclocking attempt was futile to even at 100% voltage bump. Finally, I was able to push the Memory to +800MHz and Core clock to +150MHz.
Should You Buy It?
It’s time to break down who this GPU is suited for and otherwise.
Buy It If:
✅ You Want High-Performance 1080p Gaming: The Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Ti AMP stands out for its impressive performance in 1080p gaming, offering over 30% improvement compared to GTX 1060 6GB and performing on par with GTX 1070 and 1070Ti in many titles.
✅ You’re Upgrading from GTX 960 or GTX 1060 6GB: If you’re considering an upgrade from older GPUs like the GTX 960 or GTX 1060 6GB, the Zotac GTX 1660 Ti AMP provides a substantial performance boost, making it a solid upgrade path.
✅ You Are Budget-Limited: For those seeking a potent graphics card without the added cost of ray tracing, this GTX 1660 Ti offers a compelling performance-to-price ratio, making it a noteworthy choice for budget-minded gamers.
Don’t Buy It If:
❌ You’re Seeking Ray Tracing or Higher Resolutions: If you prioritize ray tracing or plan to play extensively at resolutions higher than 1080p, the lack of dedicated hardware for ray tracing might make the GTX 1660 Ti less appealing. Consider RTX 2060 or higher-end GPUs for these purposes.
❌ You Want RGB On Your GPU: The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp Edition lacks RGB lighting, potentially making it less appealing for users seeking visually enhanced components.
Final Thoughts
The GTX 1660 Ti Amp Edition by ZOTAC, built on the TU116 GPU, reimagines gaming performance under $300, excluding dedicated hardware for RT and the Tensor cores, yet stays within the Turing realm.
Measuring 209.6×119.3x41mm (LxHxW), the card clocks at 1500MHz base and 1860MHz boost. Its wraparound design, resembling ZOTAC’s branding, hosts the Icestorm 2 cooling solution, incorporating 2x 90mm fans, an extensive aluminum heatsink, and 3x 6mm nickel-coated copper heat pipes for efficient cooling.
In performance tests across 14 games at various resolutions, it showed a solid 30%+ performance boost over the GTX 1060 6GB, slotting between the GTX 1070 and 1070Ti. It’s a worthy upgrade from the GTX 960 or 1060 6GB, but if you’re eyeing an upgrade from the 1070 or 1070Ti, the RTX 2060 might be a better pick due to its enhanced capabilities. In any case, the Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Ti AMP, considering its price, offers substantial value for 1080p gaming without ray tracing.
We are thankful to PakDukaan and ZOTAC for giving us the opportunity to review the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Amp Edition graphics card.
Next Up: Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 Amp Review
Recent Updates
- December 16, 2023: Few text changes to improve readability. Also added image galleries.
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