Zotac GeForce 8800 GTX AMP! Edition

Zotac GeForce 8800 GTX AMP! Edition:

Core Clock: 630MHz
Shader Clock: 1350MHz
Memory Clock: 2000MHz (effective)
Warranty: Two years (parts and labour) in Europe*

*subject to be extended if rumours hold true – more information below.

Since the manufacturing for all of Nvidia’s high-end GeForce 8800-series graphics cards is contracted out, it’s no surprise to see that Zotac’s GeForce 8800 GTX AMP! Edition follows the reference design. The only differences are the sticker on the cooler and the BIOS, which has been tuned to Zotac’s specifications.

Recently, some of Nvidia’s board partners adopted a green PCB on their cards, but it’s good to see that Zotac’s card has our preferred black PCB. We’re not sure whether this will be the case on every Zotac GeForce 8800 GTX because the cards aren’t actually manufactured by Zotac (well, PC Partner), but we certainly hope it stays this way.


The heatsink is the standard one that’s designed by Cooler Master and features Zotac branding on the plastic cover. There is no indication that this is an AMP! Edition card from looking at the sticker – it merely states that the card is a Zotac-branded GeForce 8800 GTX, but that could just be because this is a fairly early sample card as the photographs in the presentation we were given during our meeting earlier this month shows the GeForce 8800 GTX AMP! Edition with a special AMP! Edition sticker.

In terms of clock speeds, the Zotac 8800 GTX AMP! Edition has some healthy increases: the core clock has been increased from the standard 575MHz to 630MHz and the memory has been increased by 200MHz from 1.8GHz to 2.0GHz. The notable omission is the lack of a shader clock increase, but Zotac tells us that this is to ensure stability.


Of course, no graphics card would be complete without its own sci-fi character and Zotac delivers on that front – we’ve got a blond-haired guy dressed in a futuristic combat suit of some description. The box follows the same scheme too with a predominantly green design. The box does however advertise the fact that this card is an AMP! Edition card, along with the fact that it is HDCP capable amongst other things.

The bundle is fairly light in terms of software, with only a driver CD included, but on the cables front there is a comprehensive selection. There are two 6-pin PCI-Express power adapters, a pair of DVI-to-VGA converters, a TV-out to composite converter, a TV-out to component and S-Video and a component cable extension too. Altogether, these complement the card’s two dual-link DVI ports and single TV-out DIN connector very well and should be more than enough for anyone that’d be looking to purchase a graphics card like this.

Warranty:

Zotac currently offers a two year warranty that covers parts and labour on all of its products. In Europe, this is handled by PC Partner’s European service centre and is a fairly standard warranty in the region. However, if the rumours we’ve heard are true, the company is already looking to extend its warranty to something more in line with the warranties offered by both BFGTech and EVGA. If this does happen, I think it’s fairly safe to say that the warranties on cards sold with a two year warranty will be extended to whatever the new warranty period is deemed to be – we’ll be sure to keep you updated on this front as and when we hear more.