The Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition is the company’s newer version of their GTX 970 graphics card. This is their current top of the line in the GTX 970 series, and was redesigned to fit inside most of a gaming system even with multiple GPU configuration. Zotac previously released the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Edition which is a pretty badass looking graphics card. But the problem with that model was that it was too bulky and was thicker compared to most graphics cards that occupies two PCI slots. As a result you can’t put two of that card on top of each other since the cooler is just too thick. Another problem was it was also too wide as well due to its PCB and shroud design that comes with LED effects.
The newer GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition on the other hand has been simplified and was redesigned to make it narrower, and making sure that it will only occupy 2 PCIE slots, and is SLI friendly. Despite its toned down physical appearance, Zotac bumped up its core clock speeds, making it the fastest GTX 970 in their lineup. Honestly, it has been quite a long time since I last touched a graphics card from Zotac. I wasn’t a fan of their previous lineup since the designs were unattractive. But with their latest graphics card lineup, I believe they have been paying attention to what the gamers and enthusiasts really want from a graphics card. Please continue reading my Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition (ZT-90107-10P) review below and find out how good (or bad) this graphics card is. Perhaps this might be the graphics card you have been waiting all along. Before we proceed, I’d like to thank Zotac for providing the graphics card for the purpose of this review.
Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition Review
The Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition still features a triple fan design, but it has a narrower shroud. It measures approximately around 12-inches in length, 4.4-inch in wide and 1.6-inch thick. Under its hood, it has 1664 CUDA cores with a base clock speed of 1228MHz and boost clock speed of 1380MHz. This is factory overclock and is faster compared to the reference GTX 970. It also features 4GB of GDDR5 RAM running on a 256-bit memory interface, clock at 7200MHz effective.
The graphics card features ICESTORM technology combining superior heat transfer capabilities of copper heat-pipes, a large aluminum fin array, and triple 90mm fans to accelerate cooling while reducing noise. It also features ExoArmor Technology where a durable gunmetal structure provides full body protection that reduces turbulence, reduce vibrations, and stabilizes heat dissipation.
Like most modern day graphics card, it comes with a software or utility called FireStorm where you can monitor the graphics card’s performance, fine tune it or set different performance profiles that suites your needs.
By now I’m sure you have probably heard that all GTX 970 has a unique memory structure, were only the 3.5GB is the faster memory portion. I won’t go into details regarding the GTX 970 memory structure, since this issue has been long addressed and clarified.
Moving on, like most of the GTX 970 graphics card, the Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition comes with new technologies that were not available in the previous GeForce graphics cards. These new features include:
Dynamic Super Resolution – This feature can deliver 4K-quality images to 1080p displays for exceptional detail and fidelity.
Multi-Frame sampled Anti-Aliasing (MFAA) – MFAA delivers a 30% boost in performance while maintaining smooth, high-quality edges (reduced “jaggies”) by alternating sample calculations across each frame and each pixel.
Voxel Global Illumination (VXGI) – Part of the NVIDIA GameWorks™ library for developers, VXGI accelerates dynamic lighting effects for a truly immersive, cinematic experience.
GeForce Experience – Optimizes you games and keeps your drivers up to date.
NVIDIA Shadow Play – Let’s you record gaming footage or stream content in real time, with a minimal performance drop to the game. This feature in included in GeForce Experience.
NVIDIA G-SYNC – This display technology delivers the smoothest and fastest gaming experience. G-SYNC’s revolutionary performance is achieved by synchronizing display refresh rates to the GPU in your GeForce® GTX™-powered PC, eliminating screen tearing and minimizing display stutter and input lag. Scenes render instantly, objects look sharper, and gameplay is super smooth, giving you a stunning visual experience and a serious competitive edge.
NVIDIA GameStream – Stream extreme GeForce GTX PC gaming experiences to portable game-playing devices like NVIDIA SHIELD™ with super-smooth, low-latency performance.
NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 – This technology allows gamers to push PC performance to the maximum with precise controls. It monitors work with advanced controls like GPU temperature target, overclocking, and overvoltage to ensure that the GPU works at peak performance.
NVIDIA Adaptive VSync – Nothing is more distracting than frame rate stuttering and screen tearing. The first tends to occur when frame rates are low, the second when frame rates are high. Adaptive VSync is a smarter way to render frames. At high framerates, VSync is enabled to eliminate tearing. At low frame rates, it’s disabled to minimize stuttering.
NVIDIA Surround with up to Four Monitors – Play your favorite games across four monitors. At 5760 x 1080, the expanded field of view fully engages peripheral vision and provides for the most immersive experience in racing and flight simulators.
NVIDIA SLI Technology – SLI technology lets you link up to four NVIDIA SLI-ready cards together for astounding performance.
More features of the Zotac GTX 970! AMP Extreme Core will be discussed as we take a closer look on the graphics card on the following pages.
Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition Specifications
| Model name | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 | Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphics Engine | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 |
| Graphics Processor | GM204 Maxwell | GM204 Maxwell | GM204 Maxwell |
| Bus standard | PCI Express 3.0 | PCI Express 3.0 | PCI Express 3.0 |
| CUDA Core | 2048 | 1664 | 1664 |
| Video memory | 4GB GDDR5 | 4GB GDDR5 | 4GB GDDR5 |
| GPU base Clock | 1126 MHz | 1228MHz | 1050 MHz |
| GPU boost Clock | 1216 MHz | 1380MHz | 1178 MHz |
| Memory clock | 7000 MHz | 7200MHz | 7000 MHz |
| Memory interface | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| DVI output | 1x Dual-link DVI-I | 1x Dual-link DVI-I | 1x Dual-link DVI-I |
| HDMI output | 1x HDMI 2.0 | 1x HDMI 2.0 | 1x HDMI 2.0 |
| HDCP compliant | YES | Yes | YES |
| DisplayPort | 3x DisplayPort 1.2 | 3x DisplayPort 1.2 | 3x DisplayPort 1.2 |
| Power Consumption | 165 W, 2x 6-pin PCIE power, requires 500W PSU | 2x 6-pin PCIE power, at least 500W PSU | 145 W, 2x 6-pin PCIE power, requires 500W PSU |
| Dimensions | 4.38 " x 10.5 " x dual width | 4.38" x 11.97" x dual width | 4.38 " x 10.5 " x dual width |
A beast, great review, by the way, it has Coil Whine? it makes use of all VRAM?
Hi Jesús. Thanks! Glad you liked the review. The sample we got doesn’t have any coil whine issues. As for VRAM, it depends on the game you are playing. It’s usually just around 3GB, or less. Haven’t tested it on 4K yet.
Thank you very much, I’ll buy it on amazon, hopefully it arrives in perfect conditions, because I’m from Venezuela…