Armed with a creative engineering department, Zotac is in the news for innovating a new graphics card PCB design every now and then. For NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 200 series alone, the firm developed several performance and value oriented PCB designs. It decided to up the ante with a new single-GPU PCB design that is compatible with all GTX 200 series GPUs from NVIDIA, and is out with a GeForce GTX 260-based model out for the Chinese market. The new PCB focuses on strong power circuitry that allow high stability for overclocking. The 12-layered PCB is jam-packed with high-grade power circuitry, which ensures the GeForce GTX 260 GPU runs at 800 MHz out of the box, with even more overclocking headroom to spare.

To begin with, the vGPU portion consists of a lavish 12-phase digital PWM circuit with Renesas LFPAK MOSFETs, BL high-capacity PWM chokes, and Panasonic SP-CAP, flatbed capacitors and a dedicated VRM controller. The vMem portion has a 3-phase power circuit that uses the same kinds of components as the vGPU, and has its own VRM controller. The PCB draws auxiliary power from PCI-E 8 + 6 pin connectors. It holds place for two more memory chips indicating that the same PCB could be used for a GeForce GTX 285 based SKU in the future. On the outputs front, a DVI-D, HDMI, and D-Sub make for the card's connectivity. The new Zotac GeForce GTX 260 model will be cooled by an Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme GTX cooler. It is made exclusive for the Chinese market, with a price of RMB 1399 (US $205). Technical data from its electical-testing can be viewed here.

ZOTAC International, a leading manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards, today unleashes the latest addition to it's award-winning GeForce GTX 275 graphics card lineup - the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 1792MB -- ushering in a new era of high-resolution gaming with its high-performance graphics processor and large amount of video memory. Packing 1792 MB of screaming-fast GDDR3 video memory, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 1792 MB is ready to take on high-resolution gaming with resolutions up to 2560x1600. An ultra-wide 448-bit memory interface ensures communications between the video memory and graphics processor occur at lightning-fast speeds for vivid and realistic visuals.

"We try to deliver the best performance value for gamers. With the new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 1792 MB, we've managed to achieve a balance of performance and value for those that demand more video memory for gaming at extreme HD resolutions," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

Having tried its hand in several PCB designs for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 200 series, Zotac created itself enough room to come up with new SKUs at will. The company is using a recently-designed 10-layer PCB it used for a high-end GeForce GTX 285 accelerator featuring Arctic Cooling Accelero Extreme cooler, to design a new GeForce GTX 260 model (GTX260-896D3) with essentially the same design, except for a change: While the GTX 285 card featured 0.77 ns GDDR3 memory chips made by Hynix, this one uses 1.0 ns chips by Samsung.

The card retains the 6+3 phase power circuitry, the Accelero Extreme cooler, and standard features for the GeForce GTX 260: 216 shader processors, 896 MB of GDDR3 memory across a 448-bit interface, support for 3-way SLI, CUDA and PhysX. It will use reference NVIDIA clock speeds of 574/999 MHz (core/memory). Backed by a 3-year warranty, this card will hit stores in China at a price of 1299 RMB (US $190).

ZOTAC International, an award-winning manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards, today unleashes its first eco-friendly all-in-one platform - the ZOTAC ION. The ZOTAC ION delivers an integrated CPU and GPU with high-definition video playback and SATA RAID capabilities into a single mini-ITX platform. Powered by a brand new NVIDIA ION graphics processor, the ZOTAC ION is ready to take on DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1, NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX games and applications with its 16 blazing-fast stream processors. An integrated Intel Atom processor provides ample performance for daily productivity, email and web browsing tasks.
Single and dual-core Atom processors power the ZOTAC ION. A single-core Atom N230 processor delivers plenty of power for daily computing uses while an optional dual-core Atom N330 processor is available for those demanding more power.

After several technical hurdles and some controversy with Intel, NVIDIA was able to go ahead with its Ion platform initiative, where partners are allowed to use Intel Atom processors (both single and dual-core variants) with NVIDIA MCP79-class chipsets. The most distinct feature on offer is the powerful integrated GPU in the form of GeForce 9400M. NVIDIA partner Zotac is ready with two ULPC-friendly mini-ITX motherboards based on the platform, that promise features filled to their brims.

The Zotac IONITX-A-U and IONITX-B-E are powered by Intel Atom 330 dual-core or Atom N230 single-core processors respectively. The only other difference is that the former features an onboard DC-DC power supply. Both feature NVIDIA MCP79 chipset with onboard GeForce 9400M graphics, that comes with clock speeds of 450/1100 MHz (core/shader). Two 240-pin standard DDR2 DIMM slots support DDR2-667/800 MHz memory. There are three SATA II ports provided on the board, with the fourth one placed as an eSATA connector. RAID 0/1 modes are supported. Display outputs are taken care of by D-Sub, DVI and HDMI connectors. The 8-channel audio also provides co-axial and optical SPDIF connections. Six USB 2.0 ports on the back, four through headers, a gigabit Ethernet and WiFi make for the rest of the concoction. It is indicated that the two will hit Japanese stores at prices of JPY 29980 (US$303) for the IONITX-A-U and JPY 19980 ($202) for the IONITX-B-E.

It seems that ZOTAC has also borrowed Arctic Cooling Accelero EXTREME VGA cooling for some of its high-end graphics cards. Soon enough ZOTAC will make an announcement for its third GeForce GTX 275 card, the Accelero equipped ZOTAC GTX275-896D3 with 896 MB. The upcoming card is based on the P897 PCB with a 6+1 phase power design, a 448-bit memory interface, DirectX 10 and 3-way SLI support. In contrast to the GALAXY GeForce GTX 275 with AC, the ZOTAC card will come with stock frequencies - 633 MHz core, 1404 MHz shaders and 2268 MHz for the memory. Zotac's Accelero-powered GTX 275 is expected sometime this month, price is yet unknown.

ZOTAC International, an award-winning manufacturer of high-performance graphics cards, today unleashes the latest addition to its GeForce GTX 200 series lineup - the new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 and GeForce GTX 275 AMP! Edition - the latest generation of graphics cards that deliver class-leading performance at value prices. Powered by a 2nd Generation NVIDIA Unified Architecture with 240 screaming-fast stream processors, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 275 series is ready to take on the latest DirectX 10, OpenGL 3.0, NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX powered games and applications for phenomenal performance and breathtaking visuals.

ZOTAC International, an award winning manufacturing of graphics cards and motherboards, today unleashes a new high-performance graphics card fit for low-profile applications - the new ZOTAC GeForce 9600GT LP. The ZOTAC GeForce 9600GT LP delivers intense 3D visuals and breathtaking 3D performance to small form factor system users with limited expansion capabilities. Powered by 64 stream processors, the ZOTAC GeForce 9600GT LP is ready to take on the latest DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1, NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX enabled 3D games and applications. A wide 256-bit memory interface joins the 64 stream processors to 512MB of high-speed GDDR3 video memory for phenomenal performance at high-resolutions and high levels of anti-aliasing for smooth frame rates and jagged-free visuals.

"Small form factor systems are becoming more popular nowadays with the advent of low power systems and slick designs; however, small form factor systems are limited in terms of expansion capabilities and typically require low-profile expansion cards. Our new ZOTAC GeForce 9600GT LP enables small form factor system owners to upgrade their systems to GeForce 9-class graphics with CUDA and PhysX technologies for high-performance 3D graphics," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

Pursuing legal action against Intel for bringing its Intel-compatible platform development to a grinding halt due to legal complications, NVIDIA has kept its platform development for AMD on track. The company has made the nForce 980a SLI platform official, that supports the latest Phenom II series processors from AMD. The company published the product page on its website, and has pictured its reference design motherboard based on the chipset. The motherboard carries the "designed by NVIDIA" marking, which makes it a design that several of its AIC partners such as EVGA, XFX, Zotac, etc., can use simultaneously.

The motherboard sports the nForce 980a SLI chipset, paired with the nForce 200 PCI-Express bridge chip. The motherboard features a GeForce 8300-class IGP, with DVI-D and D-Sub outputs. It supports NVIDIA 3-way SLI and Quad-SLI. As an AMD platform, the chipset supports AM2, AM2+ and AM3 socket processors, with DDR3 and DDR2 memory support (depending on the processor). A 5-phase digital PWM circuit powers the processor. The nForce 980a SLI and nForce 200 chips are located adjacent to each other, and are cooled actively by a fan-heatsink. The product design looks production-grade and may attract partners to sell it.

Zotac has yet another GeForce GTX 285 SKU in the making. This time, it plans to use its own-designed GTX 285 PCB with an Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme GPU cooler. Zotac isn't using the entire kit, as the NVIO2 and VRM heatsinks aren't compatible with this PCB design. Other manufacturers using this cooler for similar graphics cards include Galaxy, which uses it for its GTX 285 2 GB, and Inno3D, which uses the entire kit for its GTX 280 accelerator.

With the new PCB design, Zotac rearranged the card's VRM area. The design differs from another PCB design for the GTX 285 Zotac designed earlier (read here). The card uses 6 vGPU + 3 vMem power phases. Ferrite-core chokes are made use of, and an extra vGPU phase has been added for redundancy and stability (angled chokes next to the power connectors, pictured below). 1 GB memory across a 512-bit interface is present, with the company making use of Hynix N3C 0.77 ns GDDR3 chips. The clock speeds on this card adhere to NVIDIA's specifications: 648/1476/1242 MHz (core/shader/memory). The SKU is almost ready to be announced.

ZOTAC International, an award-winning manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards, today kicks off CeBit 2009 with three new performance graphics cards - the new ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 512MB, GeForce GTS 250 1GB and GeForce GTS 250 AMP! Edition. The new ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 series deliver a host of technologies to value-minded gamers everywhere - including DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2.1 compatibility, NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX technologies. A unified architecture packs the ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 series with 128 high-speed programmable stream processors that are configurable for screaming-fast 3D gaming performance or high-performance general purpose computing with CUDA. High-speed GDDR3 memory technology with a wide 256-bit memory interface feeds the graphics processor with high-resolution textures for vivid and realistic visuals.

ZOTAC International, an award-winning manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today unveils new GeForce 9600GT based graphics cards with greater power efficiency. The ZOTAC GeForce 9600GT Eco delivers performance comparable to the award-winning ZOTAC GeForce 9600GT, but with 40-percent more power efficiency. "It is important to think green and reduce our resource consumption. With the new power-efficient ZOTAC GeForce 9600GT Eco, users can have an eco-friendly graphics card that offers competitive performance," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

ZOTAC International, an award-winning manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards, today unleashes the latest addition to its water-cooling ready Infinity Edition graphics card lineup - the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 Infinity Edition. The new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 Infinity Edition pairs the world's fastest single graphics processor with a high-performance water-block for extreme performance and cooling. Cooled by a custom all-copper water-block, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 Infinity Edition is able to operate at higher clock frequencies while maintaining lower operating temperatures than the existing award-winning ZOTAC GeForce GTX 200 series graphics cards. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 Infinity Edition ships with a water-block preinstalled with standard fittings that enable users to integrate the card with existing or new water-cooling systems.

Zotac has two new video cards in its labs, waiting to be released very soon. The first one is a GeForce 9600 GT Green Edition with clock speeds of 600 MHz for the core, 1500 MHz for the shaders and 1800 MHz for the 512MB GDDR3 memory. The card is shorter than a standard GeForce 9600 GT, and also has no 6-pin external power connector.
The second card is a water-cooled GeForce GTX 285. The card uses full-cover single slot GPU block, which is enough to cool core, shader and memory frequencies of 702 MHz, 1512 MHz and 2592 MHz respectively.
Both cards are most likely to be introduced at CeBIT 2009.

ZOTAC International today unleashes the award-winning ZOTAC NITRO hardware-overclocking controller for use with all NVIDIA GeForce based graphics cards. The ZOTAC NITRO is the world's first hardware-overclocking controller, enabling graphics card overclocking with the press of three buttons. "End users demanded that we open up the NITRO hardware for use with non-ZOTAC graphics cards. We listened, and with a software update, the ZOTAC NITRO will work with all NVIDIA GeForce based graphics cards," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

ZOTAC International, an award-winning manufacturer of NVIDIA-based motherboards and graphics cards, today announced its high-performance mini-ITX platform - the ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi - is now shipping to retailers and distributors across the globe. The ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi made its debut during the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show and received great praise and interest. Joining the power of a NVIDIA CUDA-ready GeForce 9300 graphics with socket LGA775 Intel processors into a miniature mini-ITX form factor, the ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi delivers unprecedented performance to mini-ITX small form factor systems.

NVIDIA seems to have lifted restrictions over manufacturers coming up with their own designs for the GeForce GTX 285 accelerator, barely a month into its market introduction. Zotac, backed by the engineering prowess of PCPartner seems to have already designed their custom-PCB according to a finding by Expreview. The new PCB employs a decent bit of component rearrangement.

Perhaps the most significant part of that rearrangement comes from moving the vMem circuit that powers the card's 16 memory chips to its anterior end, in between the NVIO2 processor and the SLI connectors. The PCB uses a new MOSFET arrangement that groups them in a DPAK group. The vGPU circuit consists of 6 phases, and the vMem circuit 2. Zotac makes use of an aluminum support-brace around the G200b graphics processor, which serves as a safety measure for the GPU, minimizing the impact of PCB bending on the fragile ball-grid, especially with 55nm GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 285 lacking a back-plate that counters PCB bending. The orange-coloured DVI connectors make it distinctively Zotac. The SKU based on the new PCB may feature reference clock speeds of 648/2484/1476 MHz (core/memory/shader). Its cooler design remains unknown.

Zotac is among a small group of NVIDIA add-in board partners that is bringing out GeForce GTX 295 variants with factory-fitted water-blocks, making the cards ready for water-cooling. Zotac is likely to name its watercooled card GTX 295 Infinity. CPU3D sourced a couple of pictures of the accelerator. The new accelerator will cater to the enthusiast segment of the market, where the water-block serves as the main USP, making the accelerator come at a premium over reference-design cards.

The GTX 295 Infinity comes with a factory-fitted copper-infused block that remains sandwiched between the business-ends of the two PCBs. It uses the reference design PCBs sans the refernce cooler and its shroud. Zotac is expected to ship this accelerator with factory-overclocked parameters, which aren't known at this point in time. It is expected to be available by mid-March according to the source.

ZOTAC International, an award-winning manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards, today expands its product lineup with two new entry-level graphics cards - the new ZOTAC GeForce 9400GT Synergy Edition and GeForce 9400GT DDR2 1GB. Powered by a high-speed GeForce 9400GT graphics processor, the new ZOTAC GeForce 9400GT Synergy Edition and GeForce 9400GT DDR2 1GB deliver DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1 and NVIDIA CUDA processing power to entry-level users. The new ZOTAC GeForce 9400GT Synergy Edition features a low-profile form factor, but offers performance similar to standard height ZOTAC GeForce 9400GT DDR2 graphics cards. The low profile form factor is ideal for small form factor systems with height limitations that prevent the installation of standard sized graphics cards. The ZOTAC GeForce 9400GT Synergy Edition ships as a standard height graphics card, however, two low-profile brackets are bundled to convert the card for use in low-profile systems.

The new ZOTAC GeForce 9400GT DDR2 1GB pairs the GeForce 9400GT graphics processor with 1GB of DDR2 video memory for high-performance in the latest DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1 and CUDA games and applications.

January 8 saw NVIDIA reclaim the performance crown from arch-rival AMD/ATI with the introduction of its dual-GPU GeForce GTX 295 graphics accelerator. The company used two of its 55nm G200 graphics cores is building this accelerator. Maintaining a dual-slot construction with its reference design, the card provides a fair bit of overclocking on its stock cooler. EVGA and Zotac, two of NVIDIA's largest add-in card partners, are reportedly planning water-cooled versions of this accelerator.

It is not clear at this point if the accelerators come in the form of merely cards with factory-fitted water-blocks, or if they come equipped with dedicated water-cooling loops. The two manufacturers will take advantage of the superior cooling system to provide high, non-reference clock-speeds to the cards' GPUs and memory. The new SKUs are likely to surface at the upcoming CeBIT event held in Hannover, Germany.

NVIDIA's newest release, the GeForce GTX 285 goes on sale starting today. The graphics card was announced earlier this month along with NVIDIA's flagship GeForce GTX 295 graphics card, choosing CES as an ideal launch platform. Leading NVIDIA add-in card partners such as ASUS, BFGTech, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, XFX and Zotac, etc., put their base-model and factory-overclocked cards on sale, starting from US $379.99 for the XFX base-model, all the way up to $429.99 for the EVGA SSC model, in the US.

The GeForce GTX 285 replaces GeForce GTX 280 as the fastest single-GPU graphics card. It is NVIDIA's second-fastest graphics accelerator, sporting 240 shader cores and 1 GB of GDDR3 memory across a 512-bit wide memory bus. Essentially it resembles the GeForce GTX 280, except for the newer 55nm manufacturing process it's built on, the higher reference clock-speeds, and reduced power-consumption.

ZOTAC International, a leading manufacturer of NVIDIA-based motherboards and graphics cards, kicks off day two of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show with a early preview of the next-generation mini-ITX platform for Intel processors powered by NVIDIA's GeForce 9300 graphics processor - the ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi. The new ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi combines the powerful GeForce 9300 graphics processor with Intel processors for an unchained high-performance platform that's big on performance but miniature in size.

The powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9300 graphics processor that forms the heart of the ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi packs 16 high-speed stream processors that are configurable for DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1 and CUDA-enabled applications. The ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi also features a high-performance NVIDIA PureVideo HD video processor that decodes Blu-ray high-definition video formats in hardware and enhances standard-definition content to near-high-definition quality levels.

ZOTAC International, a leading manufacturer of NVIDIA-based motherboards and graphics cards, today announces the latest series of GeForce GTX 200 graphics cards - the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 and GTX 285 AMP! Edition. The new ZOTAC GeForce GTX 285 and GTX 285 AMP! Edition are the epitome of single GPU performance, delivering greater performance efficiency than the last generation.

NVIDIA will be releasing 55nm versions of the G200 graphics processor, which provides better thermal and power characteristics. What's more, NVIDIA could allow its partners to come up with their own designs or colour themes right away, at least from what can be seen with the Zotac GeForce GTX 260². The card uses a blue PCB, without a cooler shroud at the back of it. In the current iteration of the GeForce 200 series, memory chips are also located at the back of the card, requiring a heatspreader. In the newest iteration of the PCB, several changes are brought about:

• Toned-down power circuitry overall, with 4 phase vGPU and 2 phase vMem
• Aluminum support-brace surrounding the GPU
• Memory chips located only on one side of the PCB, leaving nothing at the back-side of the PCB that requires cooling, hence no heatspreader

Zotac released the Nitro OC Panel device back in August, making it proprietary for use by owners of Zotac graphics hardware. The panel provides quick-access controls to the video cards' clock speeds, and also keeps the users posted, on parameters such as fan speeds and temperatures. Being a proprietary tool, users of graphics cards made by other manufacturers couldn't use the device, since at its software back-end, the Firestorm software would run compatibility checks.

Italian website NextHardware discovered a trick to evade the compatibility check by simply holding down the "shift" key while clicking on OK when the dialog box showing compatibility failure appears. The latest version of Firestorm software that supports this hack can be downloaded from here.