# Zotac GeForce GTX 275 Amp! Edition



## W1zzard (Apr 1, 2009)

Today NVIDIA released their GeForce GTX 275 Series. While there are no architectural improvements, the new cards offer substantially improved performance at competitive prices. Zotac's Amp! Edition offers higher clocks out of the box - is that enough to combat ATI's new offerings?

*Show full review*


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## erocker (Apr 2, 2009)

First GTX 275 review I've seen on the net!


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## HammerON (Apr 2, 2009)

And another great review by the W1zzard!
I like the overclocking potential of this card


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## DarkMatter (Apr 2, 2009)

Yep, great review Wizz. And amazing OC!

There's one thing though. Power consumption must be wrong on this sample card. I mean no way the GTX275 consumes much more than the GTX285, having less ROPs and running a tad slower. And even consumes more than the GTX295... NO WAY! 

I guess that vanilla numbers were taken with the Zotac card too, underclocked to stock clocks right?? This (and I mean this single one sample) Zotac card must have something wrong IMHO. The high temperatures might also be related to those abnormal power consumption figures I guess? They are too high anyway.

Performance wise it seems Nvidia won this round in any case, in overclocking too (where's the easy to reach 1GHz in RV790??). I wonder how are they going to justify the GTX285 in the future though. They released this card to compete with the HD4890 and not have to lower GTX285 prices and they did won against it, but they'll have to lower the price a lot nonetheless to "compete" with their own card. Not that I didn't know it would perform almost like the GTX285. If it wasn't for the clock difference...


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## btarunr (Apr 2, 2009)

Winnar!


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## DrPepper (Apr 2, 2009)

I did say this would be like the 8800GT of the last series and I was right.


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## Blacksniper87 (Apr 2, 2009)

looks awesome but why does it out do the GTX 285 ?? i know its an overclock but what the hell


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## Tatty_One (Apr 2, 2009)

Blacksniper87 said:


> looks awesome but why does it out do the GTX 285 ?? i know its an overclock but what the hell



Most lower models, especially NVidia's will overclock beyond stock higher models performance, for example, the GTX260 either 192 or 216SP both overclock beyond a GTX280's performance at stock clocks.

Fantastic review, i found another for those interested in a direct comparison with the HD4890 reference and overclocked versions, not nearly as thorough as Wiz's review but thought I would throw it in.....

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=17863&page=1


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## WarEagleAU (Apr 2, 2009)

Still the GTX 285 ought to oc more, which would have it running higher than the 275. The fact that Nvidia has a card that outperforms its higher card is simply awesome.


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## phanbuey (Apr 2, 2009)

they didnt know what to expect from the 4890 so they released the fastest, cheapest card they could.


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## yogurt_21 (Apr 2, 2009)

hey Wiz I thought the rop's were tied to memory bit on this architecture. Wouldn't that put the gtx275 at 28 rops based on the 448-bit memory? your chart has it at 32 rop's the same as the gtx285 whcih has a 512-bit mem interface.


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## Tatty_One (Apr 2, 2009)

yogurt_21 said:


> hey Wiz I thought the rop's were tied to memory bit on this architecture. Wouldn't that put the gtx275 at 28 rops based on the 448-bit memory? your chart has it at 32 rop's the same as the gtx285 whcih has a 512-bit mem interface.



Yes your correct.... they are 28 ROP's


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## W1zzard (Apr 2, 2009)

thanks, fixed


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## Icewind31 (Apr 2, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> thanks, fixed



I believe in the table the listing for the Reference 275 has 32ROPS as well which needs correction


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## DrPepper (Apr 2, 2009)

If I can get a refund for my GTX260 I'm getting one of these.


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## OnBoard (Apr 2, 2009)

Icewind31 said:


> I believe in the table the listing for the Reference 275 has 32ROPS as well which needs correction



Yep, those are on the HD 4890 tables too.

I knew that it would beat my GTX 280, but getting so close to GTX 285 was a surprise. IMO they shot themselves in the foot, killing pretty must most of GTX 285 sales. 55nm version of GTX 280 would have been spot on with performance to HD 4890, but of course it would have had massive OC ability too, so dunno.

One notch slower shader clock to 1350 instead of 1404 would have worked too.


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## lemonadesoda (Apr 2, 2009)

Wow. Noisey.  Like a hairdryer. Shame.

Wiz... PLEASE keep an "old skool" card in there with your review. Remember people who read reviews are often (and for advertising reasons) the ones who want to upgrade NOW and are looking at their options. So the question is... what are they upgrading FROM.  So just one "3" series ATI and one "7" series nV will help ground the data for these people. (INCLUDING ME  )


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## DarkMatter (Apr 2, 2009)

lemonadesoda said:


> Wow. Noisey.  Like a hairdryer. Shame.
> 
> Wiz... PLEASE keep an "old skool" card in there with your review. Remember people who read reviews are often (and for advertising reasons) the ones who want to upgrade NOW and are looking at their options. So the question is... what are they upgrading FROM.  So just one "3" series ATI and one "7" series nV will help ground the data for these people. (INCLUDING ME  )



Yeah, I thought the same, but that's only this sample apparently. Looked at many other reviews and that's not the case with any other 275's around the net. It's a shame, but I think that Wizz got the broken card, because of the hurry.


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## Binge (Apr 2, 2009)

These cards are kind of cool.  I'm sad that they skimped on the voltage control   295s have voltage control, come on nV!


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## a_ump (Apr 2, 2009)

well if they allowed voltage control the GTX 275 would probly best the GTX 285 even more easily. I agree nvidia definitely shot the GTX 285 sales with this release, were they really that unsure of what HD 4890 would bring? lol i couldn't see how


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## iStink (Apr 2, 2009)

So I noticed on load, the fan noise is the loudest of any other card.  Was this set to 100% or something? What were your impressions with the noise? I mean, is it really obnoxious? 

When I got my 8800gt, the fan didn't kick in and make noise until it got to 100C or so.  Is it possible they lowered the "kick in" temperature which is why load results in higher sound than the other cards?


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## LifeOnMars (Apr 2, 2009)

My next card.....just need to find one that performs as well but quieter


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## DarkMatter (Apr 2, 2009)

a_ump said:


> well if they allowed voltage control the GTX 275 would probly best the GTX 285 even more easily. I agree nvidia definitely shot the GTX 285 sales with this release, were they really that unsure of what HD 4890 would bring? lol i couldn't see how



The problem is that they couldn't do anything else. Nothing better at least. They knew HD4890 was going to be faster than GTX260 and slower than GTX285 and that's by itself a problem, because most people look for the second fastest thing. <- Because of how prices work.

A redesign to fit in the same performance gap is a waste of money IMO, so they just took the GTX260 240 approach. It's cheap because probably atm the yields for that chips are as high as the ones for the GTX216, that is they get as many 28ROP+240SP chips as 28+216 ones, so it makes sense. There's no point in using those chips in the lesser card GTX260 (disabling one working TPC, 24SPs) and GTX295 demand isn't all that high compared to mid-range/performance cards. For them both are almost the same thing, a GTX280/285 with some broken parts so the most units they can exploit the better.


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## OnBoard (Apr 2, 2009)

iStink said:


> So I noticed on load, the fan noise is the loudest of any other card.  Was this set to 100% or something? What were your impressions with the noise? I mean, is it really obnoxious?
> 
> When I got my 8800gt, the fan didn't kick in and make noise until it got to 100C or so.  Is it possible they lowered the "kick in" temperature which is why load results in higher sound than the other cards?



The cards try to stay in 80C, cooler is pretty much 40% (minimum) before that temperature and ramps ups as high as it goes, if the temperature doesn't go lower.

Those 55nm have a skimped out cooler, compared to 65nm GTX 260/280. Less pipes and less of the fins. 55nm GTX 260 already runs hotter than 65nm counter part and with this having more shaders (maybe more voltage) and a massive OC the cooler just can't cope with the heat in less RPM.

I'd think the fan is exact same still than in my stock cooler and with 100% it's something that you don't really want to listen. It's much lower and gentle wooosh than 9800GTX+ @ 100% how ever.

Get one of these and Accelero Xtreme and you got your self one sweet card


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## DanishDevil (Apr 2, 2009)

Wow you were right.  nVidia wanted to disrupt the 4890 launch and they absolutely did.  If it weren't so loud (meaning I'd have to buy an aftermarket cooler) I would be tempted to pick one up in place of my GTX260


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## a_ump (Apr 2, 2009)

DanishDevil said:


> Wow you were right.  nVidia wanted to disrupt the 4890 launch and they absolutely did.  If it weren't so loud (meaning I'd have to buy an aftermarket cooler) I would be tempted to pick one up in place of my GTX260



i'd have to say i agree. The GTX 275 is only 10-30 bucks more, and anyone that can buy the HD 4890 at $249 can probly spare the cash to spend 259 or 269, and seeing as how the GTX 275 beats the GTX 280 and matches the GTX 285 in a lot of cases i see it taking the most sales in the mainstream/high end market. dam and i wanted to purchase an HD 4890 to support ATI but the GTX 275 just offers better performance for the dollar.

EDIT: hmm i take that back, the GTX 275 is on top most of the time but they trade blows a good bit as well. and i feel like supporting ATI lol


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## lemonadesoda (Apr 3, 2009)

^^ Slap in the new drivers (185.65) and add another 11% performance to keep the GTX275 on top. 
Ref http://www.techpowerup.com/89976/NVIDIA_Releases_GeForce_185.65_BETA_Drivers.html


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## a_ump (Apr 3, 2009)

you forgot the "up to" part lol, they probly do improve performance some. but Nvidia's drivers are always somewhat efficient for their released cards, but ATI's usually lack at first. at least that's what i read somewhere


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## W1zzard (Apr 3, 2009)

lemonadesoda said:


> ^^ Slap in the new drivers (185.65) and add another 11% performance to keep the GTX275 on top.
> Ref http://www.techpowerup.com/89976/NVIDIA_Releases_GeForce_185.65_BETA_Drivers.html



did you even bother to check which driver was used for the gtx 275 in this review?


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## yogurt_21 (Apr 3, 2009)

All in all great review w1zz. I'm goin to have to agree with darkmatter on the fact that they setout to beat the 4890 which they did, but wound up putting the gtx285 in an akward position. 

If I were buying I'd definetly go for the 275 and pocket the difference (or spend it on games and a cooler) rather than go for a gtx285 which is now way overpriced based on the gtx275's performance. 

it's amazing all the performance you get for 240$ I mean I remeber spending 500$ on a gpu 4 years ago and not being able to max out the details at 1600x1200 and the gtx275 is able to do so at 1920x1200 and still manage playable framerates on even the newest titles. 

I hope this trend continues as next year I will have money to upgrade.


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## Tatty_One (Apr 3, 2009)

a_ump said:


> i'd have to say i agree. The GTX 275 is only 10-30 bucks more, and anyone that can buy the HD 4890 at $249 can probly spare the cash to spend 259 or 269, and seeing as how the GTX 275 beats the GTX 280 and matches the GTX 285 in a lot of cases i see it taking the most sales in the mainstream/high end market. dam and i wanted to purchase an HD 4890 to support ATI but the GTX 275 just offers better performance for the dollar.
> 
> EDIT: hmm i take that back, the GTX 275 is on top most of the time but they trade blows a good bit as well. and i feel like supporting ATI lol



275 is cheaper in the UK than the 4890.


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## DrPepper (Apr 3, 2009)

Tatty_One said:


> 275 is cheaper in the UK than the 4890.



Also cheaper than some 260's.


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## Tatty_One (Apr 3, 2009)

DrPepper said:


> Also cheaper than some 260's.



Yup..... £194 is the best I can find ATM.


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## DrPepper (Apr 3, 2009)

Tatty_One said:


> Yup..... £194 is the best I can find ATM.



I wants one. I tried to coerce ocuk into refunding me the 224 I paid so I could spend it on a 275


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## SNiiPE_DoGG (Apr 3, 2009)

everyone here is forgetting that the 4890 does 1ghz easy.... I dont think you can say the same about the OC potential of the 275


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## W1zzard (Apr 3, 2009)

SNiiPE_DoGG said:


> everyone here is forgetting that the 4890 does 1ghz easy.... I dont think you can say the same about the OC potential of the 275



that's not exactly true. amd sent out a ton of extremely well binned samples. i hear 200 out of 50k (i got no proof). we didnt get amd samples and ended up with two boards that were far less than spectacular. unless people who buy retail cards come back and all claim 1 ghz i'd hold my horses


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## SNiiPE_DoGG (Apr 3, 2009)

hmm yes will be nice to see, you can bet I'll get mine up to 1ghz  (not till the end of april)


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## DarkMatter (Apr 3, 2009)

DrPepper said:


> Also cheaper than some 260's.





Tatty_One said:


> Yup..... £194 is the best I can find ATM.



And you didn't understand what I meant when I said that prices in UK are usually very crazy? 

That's good news for you brits anyway, it was the time you could find good deals there.


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## crtecha (Apr 3, 2009)

W1zzard your reviews entertain and help me make it threw the work week.


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## Tatty_One (Apr 9, 2009)

LifeOnMars said:


> My next card.....just need to find one that performs as well but quieter



The Palit GTX275 ...........................


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