Zotac Nitro OC Controller

But I don't own a Zotac graphics card...

Now, not everyone owns an Nvidia graphics card, never mind a Zotac-branded one – and many of you have taken our recommendation to buy an ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB as well. Sadly, the Nitro doesn't work with the latter, but with a tiny bit of jiggery-pokery you can get the Nitro working with an Nvidia graphics card that isn't Zotac-branded.

In fact, the first system we plugged the card into wasn't Zotac-branded—the one used for the pictures over the page—and instead featured a reference Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 graphics card.

Upon loading the application, we were greeted with a warning message saying that the application doesn't work on non-Zotac graphics cards. Clicking OK opened FireStorm and then quickly closed it again. No luck, initially.


So then we started playing around, holding keys down as we started the application. In the end, we found that you could get FireStorm—and the Nitro—working just fine on any Nvidia-branded graphics card by simply holding down the Shift key as you start the application. Click OK when the warning message appears, while still holding Shift down, and FireStorm appears and the Nitro will initialise – you're then free to use the application as if you've got a Zotac graphics card installed, for the most part.

We did find that fan control wouldn't work on some non-Zotac GeForce graphics cards, but it did work on others – your own mileage may vary. We did, however, find that it worked on a couple of Nvidia GeForce 7-series graphics cards that we had lying around in the office, which bodes well for it working on really old hardware. What didn't work though was an ATI graphics card – the application just threw up an error, regardless of what Radeon we had installed (both pre- and post-DirectX 10).

One thing that is worth mentioning at this point though is that while it does work with non-Zotac GeForce graphics cards, Zotac doesn't officially support other brands. If you are using a Zotac card though, any damage done while using the Nitro will be covered under the graphics card's five year warranty. So, with that in mind, if you're going to blow your graphics card up with some heavy-handed overclocking, make sure you're using Zotac's Nitro in conjunction with a Zotac graphics card.

Conclusions

The Zotac Nitro is an interesting piece of kit, but one with a massively limited appeal. A lot of that comes down to the price, which really is a lot when you think about what you're getting, but then if you're questioning how much it costs, it probably isn't the product for you. At over £75 though, there is no denying that this is an expensive e-peen pill to swallow.

But that isn't all that limits the unit's appeal – it only works properly with Zotac graphics cards and we couldn't get the overclocking profile system working at all. The former is completely understandable and expected, but the latter isn't as forgiveable. Without the overclocking profiles, you're forced to go into the Nvidia Forceware control panel (or another third-party overclocking tool) to force your overclocking settings at start up. While that's not a problem in isolation, Zotac itself has said that the device is targeted more at the user who doesn't know their way around these types of applications and it's intended to introduce overclocking to a new group of users.

On the positive front, the Nitro allows you to tweak your graphics card's clock speeds on the fly while you're playing games, which may or may not be something that interests you. If it isn't then you're going to think the Nitro is a complete waste of money and, with that in mind, it's hard to recommend the Nitro as a standalone device.

However, when Zotac starts bundling it with select graphics cards, it might be worth considering for the warranty nugget the company throws at you. Ultimately, that is going to come down to price though because it's unlikely that Zotac will give the Nitro away for a nominal amount.

• Features
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• 6/10

• Build Quality
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• 9/10

• Ease of Use
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• 8/10

• Value
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• 4/10

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• 6/10

Score Guide