ZOTAC GTX 980 AMP! Extreme Edition 4GB Review

[section_title title=”Introduction”]Introduction

Brand: ZOTAC
Model: GTX 980 AMP! Extreme Edition 4GB
RRP: £489.99 (At time of review)

It is hard to deny that the recent launch of the NVIDIA Maxwell GPUs has been anything short of a success, it has have proved very popular with consumers.  One of the most interesting factors is the lower shader count than their Kepler counterparts, but whilst breezing ahead in terms of performance.  Even with their lower TDP, they still power through games and it’s no surprise; NVIDIA are usually on top, but it’s only a matter of time before AMD retaliate.  Until then, we have the GTX 970/980 to keep gamers and enthusiasts happy; especially those wanting to own the latest and greatest.

Following on from our previous NVIDIA Maxwell review of the ZOTAC GTX 970 AMP! Omega edition, today I have another from the AMP! range on the test bench; this time the turn of the GTX 980 AMP! Extreme edition.  Now this particular card is the top model offering from ZOTAC and with a name like “extreme”, I am expecting big things from this monolithic card.  The GTX 980 features 2048 CUDA cores with a 256bit bus equipped to handle the large 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM.  ZOTAC they have equipped this GTX 980 with their own extreme AMP! cooler which features LED lighting (green for idle and red for load) and a base clock of 1291MHz; a very nice out of the box overclock which boosts to 1393MHz.

Can this premium card from ZOTAC decimate everything in its path or will I pick out flaws?  I intend to put this card through its paces but before that, time to take a look at the specifications…

A little bit about the new Maxwell GTX 970/980:

The new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980/970 is powered by the next generation NVIDIA Maxwell Architecture, giving you incredible performance, unmatched power efficiency, and cutting-edge features.

Maxwell is the most advanced GPU architecture ever made, designed to be the engine of next generation gaming. Inspired by light, it was designed to solve some of the most complex lighting and graphics challenges in visual computing. For the first time, gaming GPU’s can dynamically render indirect light using the new VXGI (Voxel Global Illumination technology). Scenes are significantly more lifelike as light interacts more realistically in the game environment.

The GTX 980 is the world’s fastest GPU and the GTX 970 offers the most advanced performance in its class. Each delivers 2x the performance of previous-generation card, bringing new gaming experiences to virtual reality, and ultra resolution 4k displays.

Enable the detail of 4k monitors, on a 1080P display. DSR produces smoother images by rendering a game at a high resolution, then downscaling it to the native resolution of the display using advanced filtering.

GeForce GTX 980 and 970 cards support tear-free, super-fast NVIDIA G-Sync monitor display technology including 4k. Together, these technologies provide the most immersive and competitive gaming experiences possible.