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Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme Review – So Fast So Cool!

The Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme is one of the company’s latest graphics cards featuring the NVIDIA Pascal architecture. Zotac narrowed it down to two versions this time around, they have the AMP! Edition and AMP! Extreme for their GTX 1080 and 1070 graphics cards. Today we are going to look at and review Zotac’s GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme, their fastest GTX 1070 model and probably the biggest GTX 1070 around. In this review, not only will we look at the performance of the GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme, but we will also take a look at its massive cooler design and its cooling capabilities. This card is undeniably fast, but do you (really) need a huge GPU cooler? Learn more about the Zotac GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme on our review below.

Zotac GTX 1070 AMP Extreme Review

Zotac GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme Review

The Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme is the company’s fastest and coolest, not to mention biggest version of the GeForce GTX 1070. This graphics card is really HUGE and heavy! And there is a good reason why this graphics card is big and why it is called the “AMP! Extreme”. It is extreme not only in performance, but it also offers extreme cooling solution. I’ll show you more on its cooling performance later.

The GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card is based on NVIDIA’s new Pascal architecture, featuring a GP104 GPU based on a 16nm fab process. The GTX 1070 has a cut down version of the GP104-400-A1 die, which is the GP104-200-A1, found on the GTX 1080 graphics card. You can say that the GTX 1070 is basically a cut down version of the GTX 1080. It has 1920 CUDA cores (vs 2560 on the GTX 1080) and 15 streaming multiprocessors enabled (vs the 20 on GTX 1080). The GeForce GTX 1070 also has 120 TMUs, 64 ROPs and 6.45 TFLOPs of single-precision floating point performance.

The GTX 1070 also features 8GB video memory, but it’s using GDDR5 instead of GDDR5X found on the GTX 1080. The memory has a bandwidth speed of 256GB/s and runs on a 256-bit memory interface. In terms of power consumption, Pascal has brought power efficiency on graphics cards to a new level. The previous Maxwell architecture were already power efficient, but the Pascal is even more power efficient. The GTX 1070 only requires a minimum of 500W power supply and it has a 150W TDP paired with a single 8-pin connector. The Zotac GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme on the other hand has a TDP of 200W and draws its power from two 8-pin PCIe power connector.

All of the new GeForce GTX 10 series graphics cards are basically equipped with the same set of features thanks to the Pascal architecture. These common features are Simultaneous Multi-Projection, VR Ready, NVIDIA Ansel, NVIDIA G-Sync, NVIDIA GameStream, Vulkan and DirectX 12 (12_1) API support, NVIDIA SLI with the new High Bandwidth (HB) Bridge support and the new NVIDIA GPU Boost 3.0.

Zotac Carbon Exoarmor Icestorm

Aside from these common set of features, the Zotac GTX 1070 AMP Extreme features an impressive cooling solution with its IceStorm, FreezeTech and Eko fans; wrapped around with the Carbon ExoArmor to protect and support the graphics card. The company was very successful with their previous GTX 900 series graphics cards (like the GTX 980 Ti AMP) thanks to these set of features, aesthetics and design. Zotac is also not left behind when it comes to RBG and lighting solution. The new AMP and AMP Extreme GTX 10 series graphics cards are now equipped with Spectra – “an all new advanced lighting system that makes the card shine”. With Spectra you can choose from 7 different colors (unfortunately not full RGB), and 4 different lighting effects. The Spectra can be controlled via Zotac’s GPU utility called FireStorm version 2.0.0.006E. Note that previous versions of FireStorm do not support Spectra.

Zotac Eko Fan Spectra

Below is a side by side comparison of the Zotac GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme and NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition. Next page, we’ll take a closer look at the graphics card itself.

Zotac GTX 1070! AMP Extreme Specifications

SpecificationsZotac GTX 1070 AMP ExtremeNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 FE
GPUGeForce GTX 1070GeForce GTX 1070
CUDA Cores19201920
Video Memory8GB GDDR58GB GDDR5
Memory Bus256-bit256-bit
Engine ClockBase: 1632 MHz
Boost: 1835 MHz
Base: 1506 MHz
Boost: 1683 MHz
Memory Clock8208 MHz8000 MHz
PCI Express33
Display Outputs3 x DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, DL-DVI3 x DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, DL-DVI
HDCP SupportYes2.2
Multi Display CapabilityQuad DisplayYes
Recommended Power Supply500W500W
Power Consumption250W150W
Power InputDual 8-pin8-pin
DirectX12 API feature level 12_112 API feature level 12_1
OpenGL4.54.5
CoolingTriple Fan IceStormBlower
Slot Size2.5 slots2 slots
SLIYes, SLI HB Bridge SupportedYes, SLI HB Bridge Supported
Supported OSWindows 10 / 8 / 7Windows 7-10, Linux, FreeBSDx86
Card Length325mm x 148mm111mm x 267mm
Accessories2 x Dual 6-pin to 8-pin PCIe adapter
User Manual, Driver Disk
Photo of author
Author
Peter Paul
Peter is a PC enthusiast and avid gamer with several years of hands-on experience in testing and reviewing PC components, audio equipment, and various tech devices. He offers a genuine, no-nonsense perspective, helping consumers make informed choices in the ever-changing world of technology.

16 thoughts on “Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 AMP! Extreme Review – So Fast So Cool!”

  1. Was 2227MHz memory clock the highest you could push it? Seems a bit average for Samsung memory as I often see people claiming they slap on +600-800 (9200-9600 effective).
    Temps and noise seem very nice though, i’m tempted.

    Reply
    • Yes, at least for this specific card I got here. I tried to push the mem clocks further but artifacts started to show up and eventually it crashed. I have seen/read others who were able to push the memory clock (a little bit) higher just like what you said. But it didn’t happened with the card I have. Probably I may need to tweak some settings to balance things out. I’m hoping to get another GTX 1070 to compare, just not sure when.
      And yes, temps and noise are really the selling point of this card. Not to mention, if you want something that really stands out.

      Reply
    • We definitely would. Unfortunately, the Zotac 1070 is currently what we have. We are still trying to acquire more graphics cards, but stocks are still erratic.

      Reply
        • Runs the fastest out of the box? You can check out our article here and see who has the fastest clock speeds out of the box: https://thepcenthusiast.com/geforce-gtx-1070-compared-asus-evga-zotac-msi-gigabyte/

          Do note that if one 1070 is 100MHz or 200MHz faster than the other one, the actual performance difference in real life is very small, sometimes unnoticeable or negligible during game play.

          Performs the coolest = the Zotac gtx 1070 amp extreme with its monstrous cooler is no doubt one of the coolest gtx 1070 around.

          Performs the best? Can you be a little bit specific? Because in the end, there are all the same GTX 1070 inside. As per aesthetics, that’s really a personal choice.

          By the way, I found this video from Tech Deals. And he has compared 7 different GTX 1070s and I think we share the same opinion about all these GTX 1070s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf__ZGD9SUQ

          Reply
          • Performs the best, as to what I mean by that is “Overall performance” now a days reviewers only review one GPU and stack it over old (1 or 2 year old). I don’t relaly care about the aesthetic of the GPU. All I care is how it performs.

            I want to see more of those Graph where you compare them side by side. It doesn’t impact me if people compare it to a previous gen GPU. I am more inclined into the same series being compared.

          • Like I said before their performance difference between different models is not that significant. Have you watched the video?
            If you want the fastest GTX 1070 out of the box, better hunt for the one with the highest clock speeds. You can see it from the list (link I gave you).

            I noticed that as well, even the big tech sites with access to almost all GPUs in the market doesn’t do that. Well, Guru3D seems to have made some changes with their recent graphics card review style.
            http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?ct=articles&action=file&id=25572&admin=0a8fcaad6b03da6a6895d1ada2e171002a287bc1

            Let’s just see if we can acquire more 1070s, we don’t have access to all brands, but we’ll add it to the comparison if ever we have the chance.

  2. this is a great card. got it in my system and run it at 2145, that’s when its not been auto turned down by NVidia. After that theres artifects. Feel very lucky. Its so quit, cold and fast, I’m shocked.

    Reply
  3. Great review.. regarding the issue about the samsung chip and swapping it with a micron chip, should i worry much or not? i’m not planning to OC this card at all.. i read somewhere that they are having flickering issues with micron memory and samsung users doesn’t have this problem at all..

    i asked zotac about this but they are not answering yet.. hoping someone with a zotac 1070 with micron chip will clear things up.. thanks! more reviews! 🙂

    Reply
    • The zotac gtx 1070 amp extreme has Samsung chip. You can see that on the “closer look section” of this review. Not sure if they released a 1070 amp extreme with a micron. some manufacturers have already released a BIOS update to address the micron issue.
      Did you, by chance, get a 1070 amp extreme with a micron memory?

      Reply
      • as of now i’m still saving money to buy 1070 amp extreme.. just a bit worried about that issue.. hopefully i will get the samsung chip..

        Reply
    • @ronellkirareyes:disqus Got a note from Zotac. They said “All board partners must use both Micron and Samsung memory. This is
      across all product models.”. So basically there’s a chance that you may or may not get a GTX 10 with Micron chips.

      Reply
      • thanks for this great info.. if the bios update can potentially fix this issue, i might reconsider this one again.. since i’ve been searching for a good 1070 card for a while, and finding all of them have their cons.. which is a bit frustrating since i’m going to use this card for my work (3d modeling and pbr texturing).. and earning cash is not easy.. 🙁

        thanks Again Jeff.. 🙂

        Reply
        • unfortunately we don’t know how to tell if the unit comes with Micron or Samsung without opening it. My GTX 1080 has micron chips and I have been playing BF1 for almost 33 hours, Deus, Quantum and Titanfall2 as well. I haven’t encountered any issues yet. Although I haven’t tried it for rendering work. If the problem with Micron is really huge and affecting all Zotac 1070s, I’m sure they’ll release an update to fix it. Hopefully the newer cards will come with updated bios already.

          Reply

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