ZOTAC Gives the GeForce GTX 980 Ti a Massive 25% Factory Overclock

[btarunr]

A 25% factory-overclock is something you usually hear with entry-level graphics cards around the $60 mark; and the bigger the silicon, the more conservative VGA makers get with factory-overclocks. ZOTAC thinks otherwise. The company's GTX 980 Ti AMP Extreme graphics card ships with a massive 25% factory-overclock - something unheard of for a chip with 250W TDP, much less an 8 billion-transistor count.

The card comes with 1253 MHz core (vs. 1000 MHz reference), 1335 MHz GPU Boost (vs. 1076 MHz reference), and 7210 MHz memory (vs. 7012 MHz reference). The card is cooled by a meaty triple-slot IceStorm air-based cooler by ZOTAC; and a VRM that draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors keep the card fed. ZOTAC could ask a $100 premium over the base price of $649, offering performance which, we reckon, could be much higher than that of the $999 GTX TITAN X.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[the54thvoid]

It's ludicrous they didn't use this PCB and overclock on their Arctic Storm model.

 

[dj-electric]

I expect MSI's gaming and GB's windforce models to reach the same maximum clocks for maybe extra 20$.

 

[techy1]

"ZOTAC could ask a $100 premium over the base price" - sure they could... even a 200$, but only if none of other vendors will gona release something similar

 

[64K]

This will probably appeal to the segment that wants the performance but doesn't OC their own cards for whatever reason. It's pretty good right out of the box with 1253 MHz base and 1335 MHz boost.

The EVGA Superclocked is 1102/ 1190
MSI Gaming is 1178/ 1279

 

[Eiswolf93]

Caseking listed the Extreme Edition in their shop.

https://www.caseking.de/pc-komponen...-980-ti?campaign=social/facebook/GeForce980ti

Just 50€ more over the reference card

 

[GhostRyder]

Not bad Zotac, not bad at all!

 

[bogami]

Extra fat and Extra expensive. For this money user prefer to upgrade to water cooling

 

[Haytch]

Nice OC for the people that don't OC.
I think I would rather water-cool the card and clock the card myself.

 

[midnightoil]

Seeing these gigantics PCBs and coolers ... I can't help thinking it's going to be very difficult to justify purchasing any of them (including AMD's GDDR5 cards) if Fiji's price or performance are even half way decent.

I wasn't intending to upgrade (and build a new PC) until Zen and Arctic Islands (4xx) were launched hopefully around this time next year ... but my main system is mATX and a relatively compact Silverstone FT03 - the small HBM based cards would be such a huge win that I'll replace the GPU before the new build.

Hopefully my next PC will be truly SFF.

 

[Nordic]

This basically did this to the 970 and 980 but no one said anything then...

 

[Prima.Vera]

waiting for an MSI Twin Frzr...

 

[Ja.KooLit]

for those who say buying ref and upgrade to water cooling:

GPU block - atleast 100$
backplate - atleast 30$
Fittings - atleast 10$ if you cheap out.

this is only adding it to your current loop

if start from scratch, you need also radiator, pump, hoses etc etc.


if adding AIO. - probably cheapest (under 100$) but is it worth the hassle?

cheapest AIO - 60$?
ramheat sink- 10$
thermal paste - 10$


anyway, i would wait for AMD next line of gpu's. NVIDIA has been so active this past few weeks or months. titan x, 980ti, all the WHQL drivers etc etc.

 

[Rowsol]

waiting for an MSI Twin Frzr...

Twin Frozr 4 lyfe.

 

[xorbe]

I will be surprised if they don't have a high tdr / crash rate with a 25% clock boost.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Probably golden chips meticulously binned. That 100$ premium is ridiculous.

 

[xorbe]

Probably golden chips meticulously binned. That 100$ premium is ridiculous.

Yeah, just grab a stock card, flash it with a rom, and take what you get. Bonus: you can unflash if/when the card gets unhappy 12-18 months later.

 

[Nordic]

Yeah, just grab a stock card, flash it with a rom, and take what you get. Bonus: you can unflash if/when the card gets unhappy 12-18 months later.

That would be a bad idea because these cards do not have reference pcb.

 

[xorbe]

That would be a bad idea because these cards do not have reference pcb.

You would have a ref pcb if you grabbed a stock card, now wouldn't you? Unflashing means restoring the original rom contents, so no that wouldn't be a bad idea for any card.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Yeah, just grab a stock card, flash it with a rom, and take what you get. Bonus: you can unflash if/when the card gets unhappy 12-18 months later.

Well that still does not warrant it to run automatically stable on the said 25% increase in clocks

 

[xorbe]

Well that still does not warrant it to run automatically stable on the said 25% increase in clocks

"Take what you get" doesn't mean 25%, now does it? I never suggested that. I give up, have fun ignoring what people actually write, while arguing about something they never said.

 

[Nordic]

You would have a ref pcb if you grabbed a stock card, now wouldn't you? Unflashing means restoring the original rom contents, so no that wouldn't be a bad idea for any card.

Afaik, a reference card would not work with non reference card bios. Flashing would likely lead to a bricked card. That is why I said it would be a bad idea. You can't always re flash your original bios.

 

[deemon]

anyway, i would wait for AMD next line of gpu's. NVIDIA has been so active this past few weeks or months. titan x, 980ti, all the WHQL drivers etc etc.

AMD-s next line will be the re-re-re-brand of the old one.

 

[Prima.Vera]

25% overclock means 25% more expensive??

 

[MarioOVER9000]

Let's hope this won't affect the lifespan of the GPU...