Zotac GeForce GTX 950 AMP! Edition 2GB Review – Best GTX 950 in the Market?

Price and Availability

Zotac released three GTX 950 SKUs. These are the Zotac GTX 950 ZT-90601-10L 2GB, GTX 950 OC ZT-90602-10M 2GB and GTX 950 AMP! Edition ZT-90603-10M 2GB. All three variants are now available with the following respective retail prices: $159.99, $169.99 and $179.99. Zotac is offering 2 years of end user warranty, plus 1 year extended warranty provided that you register the product on Zotac’s website within 28 days of purchase and you must have original copy of the receipt.

Zotac GTX 950 AMP! Edition Review: Conclusion

NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 950 is an entry-level mainstream graphics card that is targeting the $150-ish market segment. It directly competes with AMD’s R7 370 graphics card. We don’t have any R7 370 yet to test with, but based on my experience with the card, the GTX 950 is definitely a step higher compared to the GTX 750 Ti.

Zotac’s GeForce GTX 950 AMP! Edition features a really good looking design and aesthetics. Todate, it’s only the graphics card I’ve seen that is fully armored just like a highend graphics card. The IceStorm with Carbon ExoArmor adds sturdiness and gives the card a premium feeling that sets it apart from other GTX 950 in the market.

Out of the box, the Zotac GTX 950 AMP! Edition comes with a high factory overclock settings. In fact, it’s higher than most competing GTX 950 in the market, if not the highest I’ve seen so far. The fans turn off and on depending on the graphics card’s temperature, which I think is a good feature. Support for SLI feature is also a good inclusion, but I think the 2GB memory will be a limiting factor, specially when playing GPU/Memory intensive games when in SLI. Getting a single GPU, like the GTX 970, is still the better option. Nevertheless, I would recommend the GTX 950 if you are simply playing on an HD or Full HD resolution.

When it comes to gaming experience, the Zotac GTX 950 AMP! Edition offers a very good gaming experience when playing MOBA games. Other online games like the CS:GO and Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward is very much playable as well. Monster Hunter Online is based on CryENGINE 3, so you may need to adjust the settings to get a smoother gaming experience.

Finally, when it comes to graphics intensive games or AAA games, you really can’t go wild on the settings. For example, Ryse and Crysis 3 were already unplayable at their highest graphics settings. You may need to adjust and lower the graphics quality to get higher frame rates. First person shooter games like Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty are very much playable, just tone down the settings a little bit. If you can allocate a little more budget for your graphics card, better get the GTX 960 instead.

Overall, the Zotac GTX 950 AMP! Edition is a fantastic entry-level mainstream graphics card; smashing other GTX 950s on the market with its higher factory overclock settings out of the box. There’s really no need to overclock it further. And let’s not forget, it’s armed with full metal armor protecting the graphics card. If you are planning to buy a GTX 950, the Zotac GTX 950 AMP! Edition should definitely be on your top list.