ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 AMP! 4GB ZT-90110-10P

Got this card to replace R9 290 (reference), as could not bear noise and heat it produced.
Zotac 970 is fraction of R290 size and weight, actually very close to those little HTPC cards. It does not look like anything that could compete with AMD monster. When I saw the GPU in person, I was actually really worried that I made a mistake and the GPU is just not going to perform.

Simply: it is faster than R9 290, uses half of the power and is almost silent compared to R9 290. There is a decent overclocking potential as well (running mine at 1300MHz, just watch for TDP and thermal throttling). I am shocked and going to get another one for SLI very soon.

I have no clue how NVIDIA managed to do this using 28nm chip – it is some sorcery for sure. If you are thinking about getting one: Stop and just click the buy button NOW!

EDIT: Got second card and run them both in SLI – works great. More impressions bellow.

* Performance *

Visibly faster than R9 290. SLI does about 110 fps in Unigine Valley (Exteme HD). On average (without OC) I would say single card is about 10% faster than R9 290.

* Noise *

When GPU is capped by vsync (so does not work at 100%) this thing is virtually inaudible. In benchmarks and demanding games, once it starts doing some real work (Furmark, Valley etc) I can start hearing some humming noise coming from the case, but it is nothing compared to hoover-like roar of R9 290

Keep in mind that target temperature and fan curve can be tuned using tools like Zotac Firestorm (a bit crude but does the job). It usually makes sense to increase target temperature a bit (so fan kicks in only during higher load) and make sure you have got good airflow in the case (so GPU fan does not have to work so hard). In essence, if you have got decent case cooling, noise should not be an issue at all.

* Overclocking *

The default clock speed (1076 / 1216) is actually a bit better than other non-factory OC cards. For instance EVGA GTX 970 ACX1.0 uses 1050 / 1178. Clocks are not an issue anyway, you can easily set them to whatever you want using Zotac Firestorm or similar tool.

What I find a bit limiting is that the card hits TDP cap quite quickly. This is rarely problem during “normal” gaming, but when running Furmark or similar benchmark it does not keep boost clocks for long and soon downclocks itself bellow 1000MHz in order to maintain TDP. The maximum TDP limit boost seems to be 106% for this card, which I think is a bit conservative (but I suppose it makes sense when you take card small form factor into account). However, this has been my first NVIDIA GPU since a long long time (basically GeForce 2 era…), so possibly this capping behavior is actually normal (although it is a bit like a cheating). As far as I understand, it should be possible to increase TDP limit further once appropriate BIOS modder is released.

Initially I bought a Zotac GTX980 AMP and was super happy with it. After I did more research it turns out that card is only about 5% faster than the 970 but 33% more expensive. I returned it to Amazon and picked up 2 of these and I couldn’t be more happy. This card is FAR shorter than the GTX 980 and the 780TI which I had previously. After plugging them into my 750 watt Silverstone power supply everything came right back up.

LUCKILY my motherboard came with an SLI bridge as it looks like these cards no longer come with a free SLI bridge. I ran GTAV with just about everything but AA (you dont need it at 4k) and everything was framelocked at 60 fps.

I have played the following games at all 4k and framelocked at 60FPS (60hz @4k)
Farcry 4
GTA V
Dragon Age: Inquisition

Both cards combined came out to about 4 (7) each. At this price they are a steal. The cards running in SLI completely destroy the 00 dollar TitanX at every resolution and in every game and we are not just talking about a few frames.. it’s considerable.

Everything fits great in my micro atx case (pictured) The case is a Silverstone Fortress FT03.

I don’t think there is a better deal out there right now. The cards together are nearly silent and I was even ale to install another case fun below them (not shown in the photo).

For only about 80 dollars more than a single GTX980 I got 2 GTX970s!

I have never been more impressed with video cards before and I have pretty much owned every generation of Nvida cards since the RIVA TNT

I am running a mini-ITX build in a SilverStone FT03mini which has limited the graphic length to be under 10 inches. I have been looking for a while for a small card that can fit in this case and replace my GTX 680. Finally here it is! It is small, quiet and powerful. It even consumes lower power than my GTX 680. Isn’t that amazing! This card is also made of metal which looks good and helps keep the temperature low.