Zotac 8800GT 512Mb DDR3 AMP!


Introduction

When it comes to graphics card manufacturers there are 2 names that come to mind for most people: ATI (AMD) and NVidia.  Likewise, when it comes to graphics card sub-manufacturers, names such as Asus, BFG, XFX, and a few others are usually associated with "good" graphics cards.  However, does this really mean that the rest are just mediocre at best?  After all, they all pretty much use the same reference designs provided by manufacturers...and even cooling solutions most of the time.  That being said, most larger graphics cards sub-manufacturers often modify references designs and sometimes come up with their own cooling solutions for high end (and usually quite expensive) video cards.  Coming back to mainstream cards such as the 8800GT, is there really a reason to choose a well known name that sells the same reference design as lesser known brands; especially with a larger price markup due to the brand name?

This brings us to Zotac, a up and rising brand which manufactures motherboards and video cards.  While not exactly unknown, they are not exactly well known either.  Alongside the numerous reference video card manufacturers, they stand out by selling substantially factory overclocked video cards with monikers such as "AMP! edition" at prices which are sometimes lower than reference design cards with default clock speeds.  So when a GPU such as the 8800GT comes out, which benchmarks quite close to the much more expensive and cumbersome 8800GTS, Zotac jumped at the opportunity to bring the 8800GT to the same performance level as the 8800GTS; at a substantially lower price.  This is where the Zotac 8800GT 512Mb AMP! edition comes in.

The Zotac 8800GT 512Mb AMP! edition video card comes factory overclocked to 700 MHz core, 1000 MHz memory, and a 1700 MHz shader clock.  It uses a standard reference design, with a slightly improved reference cooler to handle the increased temperatures associated with the overclock.  The cooler also has orange LED lights, which are not present in the reference cooler.  Overall, it looks the same as a reference card sans the paint job on the card.

The core, which is a 65nm 8800GT GPU, is fully DirectX 10 and shader model 4.0 compliant.  When the switch in manufacturing process between 90nm and 65nm occured, NVidia decided to implement PCI Express 2.0 support into the core.  One very big advantage of the new G92 core is HD Video offloading, with support for H.264 and VC-1 GPU acceleration.  With the power requirements substantially lowered due to the shrinking the core, only one PCIe power connector is required to run the card.
There are many in-depth reviews on the 8800GT (G92) core, so we will provide only an overview.  The G92 core is a 65nm core running at 600 MHz, with Zotac overclocking this card to 700 MHz.  The shader clock is by default 1500MHz, with this card running at 1700 MHz.  Using GDDR3 memory, the default clock is 1800 MHz.  However, Zotac sets the memory of this card at 2000 MHz (2x 1000MHz).

The box



The box is quite interesting, and has a transparent window which allows for viewing the video card from outside.  However, seeing as most hardware is now bought before being able to see the box, it isn't really needed at all.  Not that the nicer box would add much in terms of cost for the card.

In the box


In the box, you get the following accessories:

The accessories included are quite explanatory in terms of the list above.  The only complaint we had was the DVI to HDMI adapter blocked the second DVI port, making it unusable!  Well you might be able to squeeze a DVI plug in there which has no thumbscrews, but the thumbscrews are on 99% of devices you will connect via DVI.  However, we do give credit to the fact that they included one at all.  This card supports audio through HDMI by giving a connector on the PCB to plug in to the internal SPDIF out on the motherboard.


Card overview


As mentioned before, the card is essentially a reference cooler and PCB.  There is nothing much different on the outside, minus the coloured DVI connectors and the graphics on the cooler.  There are some "behind the scenes" changes to the cooler due to the default clock of the card, but this is not visible from the outside, sans the vents on the top.  The glowing orange fan is a nice touch, and fits in well with the graphics on the cooler.

Test Setup

The following system was used to test the card:

No compatibility issues were notices with the hardware above.
Technical Details

The following GPU-Z screenshots explains the exact details of the card itself:


Temperature information:


Overall, this card has very good acoustic management.  It is virtually silent in most cases, and only goes to 100% fan speed when powering the computer up.  At 100%, the card sounds like early CD drives spinning up to full speed.

Performance

Plenty of benchmarks of this card are available online, and show this card to be a serious challenger to the 8800GTS and 9600GT.  In some tests, it even beats the 8800GTS...for almost half the price!
In terms of real life performance, playing games such as Flight Simulator X on a standard 24 inch LCD resolution 1920x1200x32 will be around 30 FPS with medium-high settings.  Generally speaking, this card is perfect for a 22 inch or smaller monitor, as most newer games demand lower resolutions for acceptable performance (and room for periodic system slowdowns).
The temperature of the GPU varies from 50 *C to 65 *C, which is quite decent for a stock cooler.  Keep in mind this is a very well ventilated Antec case; putting this card in a cramped case with little airflow is asking for a significantly higher running temperature.

Value

This particular card, which is stock overclocked, is of outstanding value.  For around $170 CAD/USD, the card is a solid performer...and beats cards in a higher price range using the same core and lower clock frequencies.  You get all the accessories you would with the other cards, with things like the DVI to HDMI adapter being standard.  In terms of the G92 core, it comes quite close to the performance of the older 8800GTS core (G80), and this is especially true with the overclocked core; which beats the 8800GTS in some tests.  Generally speaking however, this card is not much of a value for someone planning to only watch movies and do the occasional web surfing.  However, the rating given is under the assumption you wouldn't buy it for this purpose.  We give this card a 9 out of 10.


Conclusion

Overall, an outstanding card and GPU core.  For the budget gamer out there, this is by far one of the most appealing cards in this series.  Likewise, considering the same core is used in the Geforce 9xxx series, there is no significant reason to buy a 9600GSO, 9600GT, or even a 9800GTX if features are the most important thing for you.  Apart from minor clock changes and shader/stream processors amounts, the only card that beats this card is the GeForce 9800 GTX and GeForce 9800 GX2.  However, future cards will be using a different core once they are released.

Value: 9/10
Performance: 9/10
Noise Silencing: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

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