ZOTAC GTX580 3GB AMP2! (SLI) Review
Posted on: 11.08.2011 20:08:52


Product on Review: ZOTAC GTX580 3GB AMP2! Edition
Manufacturer and Sponsor: ZOTAC
Street Price: £450


If there’s one thing we all agree on here at Vortez it’s that above all else, performance matters. Regardless of whether it is a motherboard, a graphics card or a set of headphones, nobody can deny that no matter how pretty it is, how cheap it maybe, if it does not perform then it will be frowned upon. Most people will be aware that ZOTAC AMP! Edition cards are synonymous with performance so when the very kind people from over the pond offered to send us not one, but two of their GTX580 AMP2! Editions to analyse, you could say we were a little excited.

ZOTAC now have 5 variations of NVIDIA’s finest GPU giving you the choice of reference, overclocked, custom air-cooled, water cooled or a combination of the two so everyone, regardless of requirements is catered for. The AMP! Editions of ZOTAC graphics cards feature maximum possible overclocks yet still retain air cooling. The only options further up the hierarchy are Infinity Editions but for this you will need water-cooling. The AMP2! Edition GTX580’s we have on test today feature a triple slot design giving the maximum possible performance from an air cooled solution.



As you can see from the pictures above, the triple slot cooler will dictate that a lot of motherboards will not be able to make use of SLI due to the slot spacing. I will measure the cards up giving accurate dimensions later in the review but fortunately for us; our test bed motherboard has plenty of free space so we will be testing these cards in both single and SLI configuration. I’m sure you can imagine that a setup with GTX580 SLI will breeze through the benchmarks, more so when you stick two overclocked editions together. As Kelly McGillis of Top Gun fame once said ‘You’re not going to be happy until you’re flying at Mach 2 with your hair on fire…’ – never a truer word was spoken so please, buckle up as we push the envelope and set afterburner to full!

About ZOTAC

ZOTAC International is one of the largest producers of NVIDIA VGA and motherboard solutions worldwide.

ZOTAC International (MCO) Limited was established in 2006 with a mission to deliver superb, high quality NVIDIA graphic solutions to the industry. It has strong backing from its parent group, PC Partner Ltd. - with headquarters in Hong Kong, factories in mainland China and regional sales offices in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. The scale of support ZOTAC provides is currently unrivalled in the world. With 40 surface mount technology (SMT) manufacturing lines, 6,000 workers and a production facility with over 9,000,000 square feet, ZOTAC employs a full array of state-of-the-art technologies and skilled personnel in order to meet your hardware needs. In addition, ZOTAC has over 130 research & development professionals in Hong Kong and mainland China, working to bring you the best from the cutting edge of the industry. ZOTAC's international bases of operation work together to enable effective and efficient global as well as localized sales and marketing support.

ZOTAC doesn't just mean top tier quality, it is also synonymous with high performance, absolute reliability and unparalleled value. With a range of products featuring overclocked performance, excellent cooling properties, and unique packaging ZOTAC products routinely meet - and exceed - users’ expectations.

ZOTAC's unwavering commitment to our users is to bring the latest products quickly to the market with the best value. Needless to say ZOTAC is the right choice for those who demand the highest quality graphics solutions.

For more about ZOTAC's philosophy, click here...


Let's take a look at the graphics cards specification...


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