ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 AMP! Edition 1536 MB

[W1zzard]

ZOTAC's GeForce GTX 580 AMP! Edition comes at a massive core clock of 815 MHz. During our testing we also noticed that the card could overclock consistently higher than other reference designs, which seems to be thanks to a special binning process in the ZOTAC factory.

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[alexsubri]

Awesome review as always! Can't wait to see how the new GTX 590 will go against the AMD 6990! Battle of the fittest! Can't wait!

 

[blibba]

Nice review, if predictable.

Nearly 100W extra power draw when overclocked and overvolted... impressive that the card can take that level of punishment.

Although, of course, to some extent this is simply the faster GPU allowing the CPU to open up a little more and eat more Watts itself (whole system based GPU power consumption comparisons are always misleading in this manner).

 

[W1zzard]

whole system based GPU power consumption comparisons are always misleading in this manner

the power consumption section has card only. overvolting intentionally shows full system load as an additional data point for people to get a feel for what to expect in total psu wattage required

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Very nice! Good binning by zotac as always for their amp edition

 

[virtue]

In the first page, it says:

The only deviation from NVIDIA specification are the increased clock speeds of 815 MHz, up from 772 MHz of the GeForce GTX 580 reference design.

But then the in the overclocking page it shows a base core of 810

So which one is it?

 

[W1zzard]

the correct clock is 815 mhz, i took the gpuz screenshot with an old bios

 

[blibba]

the power consumption section has card only. overvolting intentionally shows full system load as an additional data point for people to get a feel for what to expect in total psu wattage required

I know, I've no fault with your methods here - just offering a possible partial explanation for the system using such a huge amount of additional power with the GPU overclocked.

 

[dalekdukesboy]

unigine heaven benchmark at what tesselation settings?

I have one question for the wiz on not only this review but others with the unigine heaven 2.0 benchmark. Do you have tesselation enabled and if so what level is it set at, normal, moderate, or extreme? The default is tesselation on with normal setting, anyhow just be nice to know for I'm trying to benchmark my own system and know how it stacks up with those numbers, thanks!

 

[T3kl0rd]

Nice card, too expensive. Can't wait for another year or two to upgrade again when it will be worth it price wise for me. Not getting another GPU until 1 card is as powerful as both of mine combined at least and I can get one somewhere close to $200, not necessarily at MSRP.

 

[Imsochobo]

Hoping nvidia can really strike back with 6 series, instead of theese almost good designs.
Preformers no doubt! but not enough to bring value to the market...

*edit, my views are usually in the eyes of how ati and nvidia beats eachother not in pure performance. but rather performance/mm^2 is a key point, amd does very well, if nvidia could compete in that area aswell as heat/tdp we might have seen 100 usd cheaper cards.
Alltho, happy for amd for getting more income, which they need.

 

[dalekdukesboy]

I have one question for the wiz on not only this review but others with the unigine heaven 2.0 benchmark. Do you have tesselation enabled and if so what level is it set at, normal, moderate, or extreme? The default is tesselation on with normal setting, anyhow just be nice to know for I'm trying to benchmark my own system and know how it stacks up with those numbers, thanks!

I reiterate...

 

[AddSub]

Awesome piece of hardware.

43GPix/s from a single GPU? Nice! Real, real nice!

 

[GSquadron]

Why do they have to use a 5 year old sticker????

 

[hardcore_gamer]

Overpriced.Two 6950s crossfire is a way better option at ~ $50 more

 

[jellyrole]

Would it be possible to get a F@H segment in GPU reviews?

 

[W1zzard]

Would it be possible to get a F@H segment in GPU reviews?

i'll look into that as soon as there is an opencl folding client

 

[blibba]

i'll look into that as soon as there is an opencl folding client

Care to explain why? I presume you have an issue with the unfairness of the current system?

 

[Frick]

I would avoid anything produced by Zotac like the plague. I had one of their GTX 285 graphic cards and it blew 3 weeks past its 24-month warranty. Having registered for the extra 3 years on day of purchase (giving me 5 years in total) I thought I'd be covered...nope! I didn't recall having received their confirmation letter / email (and to be honest didn't even think of looking out for it at the time) and without that they refuse to repair / replace. Even when I pointed out that the card wasn't made 5 years ago they still refused to do anything. Their customer service is non-existent. Next time I'll stick with POV, BFG!

LOL you're making this post everywhere? Well then so will I:

Well if you don't have proof that you had the extended warranty I side with them with my whole heart. The registration probably fell through somehow. And the fact that they didn't make the card five years ago has nothing to do with it.

Erm, welcome to the forums anyhow.

EDIT: Holy cow, you're all over the place.

 

[blibba]

I would avoid anything produced by Zotac like the plague. I had one of their GTX 285 graphic cards and it blew 3 weeks past its 24-month warranty. Having registered for the extra 3 years on day of purchase (giving me 5 years in total) I thought I'd be covered...nope! I didn't recall having received their confirmation letter / email (and to be honest didn't even think of looking out for it at the time) and without that they refuse to repair / replace. Even when I pointed out that the card wasn't made 5 years ago they still refused to do anything. Their customer service is non-existent. Next time I'll stick with POV, BFG!

Good luck with sticking to BFG.

Anyway, my Zotac card is 4 years old and it's great.

 

[Frick]

Good luck with sticking to BFG.

Oh yes, they went out of bussiness right?