Hardware Zotac GeForce GTX 470 Amp! Edition

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/10/20/zotac-geforce-gtx-470-amp-edition/1

 

Why no fps comparison with a stock speed 470?

I like the look of the cooler and nice to know that it's quiet too.

 

Because as the review says a stock 470 is hot, noisy and horrrible.

 

Graph, last page.

 

Would still be nice for comparison as you can change the cooler or watercool it and not all the stock speed 470's use the reference design.

 

Nvidia could of done with reviews like these a few months ago, not a couple days before ati are ready to unload the next salvo of GPUs. Still, good effort.

 

I have 2 of these cards running in SLI, (M4N82 Deluxe MB) they run cool and fast, and you can overclock them over the factory overclock, in games like Dirt 2 I'm getting 120+ FPS maxed out, but cap it to 60 to my refresh rate of monitor.

 

"The Zotac GTX 470 Amp! Edition uses the same Zalman VF3000F cooler we saw in our Zotac GeForce GTX 480 Amp! Edition review and suffered the same issue with one of the fan’s blades clashing the metal shroud. This isn’t an issue with all the Zalman VF3000 coolers and cards, it just seems to be pot luck. "

This doesn't make sense; did this cooler suffer the same problem or not? The solution back then was stated in this pargraph:

"Covering the fins of the heatsink is a flimsy black metal shroud which does little apart from give Zotac a place to put their brand name. When we removed the [480] from its box and gave the fans a playful little spin (Who doesn’t do this? No? Come on!) we actually found that the shroud fouled the rear fan, making the blades scrape against its inside edge. We made sure the fans we’re positioned correctly but the problem persisted and we were forced to remove the shroud before we actually powered up the card for the first time."

And that was enough to lead you not to recommend the 480, yet here the same problem is not a problem?

Stating that the fan fouling the shroud is just "down to pot luck" is confusing and/or misleading and flies in the face of having two examples, on two different cards, six months apart and BOTH WITH THE SAME PROBLEM! Apparantly.

 

Sorted. Ta.

 

Any ideas how much the Zalman VF3000F costs seperate? You could probably save a few bob getting a cheaper version of the card and install the heatsink yourself. Only downside would be warranty (and you could always replace the stock cooler if you need to get an RMA) and not getting a cherrypicked GPU.

 

Well the ATi version (Zalman VF3000A) is around £30 from Ebuyer so I guess it would be around the same price, but you also have to take in to account that this card has a cherry picked GPU suitable for overclocking and you may not get such a good GPU with a stock card.

 

The last line of the conclusion put a smile on my face...

" you’ll have to excuse us, as we have a three-course banquet of hats and humble pie to get through"

 

Good cooler but keep in mind that some people reporting problems with Zotac cards where fans touching shroud.*

* - This problem is non-existent if you testing/using card on/in a test bench/case where card is mounted vertically and motherboard horizontally.

 

465 > 470.... IMHO....

 

I'm kind of surprised you haven't kept on the 5870 card I remember you guys having the biggest hard-on for, the Sapphire Vapor-X. That would show a lightly overclocked custom cooler Radeon to compare too, with a lower idle heat and the same load heat.

Heck, I haven't seen a single mention of the fact there's a Rev.2 of the vapor-X, with a different PCB and supposedly new voltage regulators or something. Since the original Rev is out of stock now it seems, why not do a follow up to tell us if the card is still worth the Silver recommendation you gave it?

 

I think this is still poor value for money at £300, as 5870s can be got for £250 now... however, I just purchased a Palit GTX 470 dual fan model for £210 and overclocked it to about the same speeds managed in this review - now thats a bargain!

 

Correct, I've been asking myself the same (see latest "hardware buyers guide").
The Rev.2 VaporX is said to be a lot less overclockable, yet the VaporX 5870 itself is (beeing cool, performant and quiet) a desirable card that deserves an update.

 

I don't know how old are the nvidia drivers, but the 10.6 drivers are surely over three months old by now? I can imagine that retesting cards with newer drivers is a huge chore, so my small suggestion is to mention in the beginning of the review that : we tested with the newest drivers, and found no significant performance difference.
Or, to test the new card with new drivers as well, while keeping the results of the old. it would be a twofold win imho: we'd see if the new drivers are better, + would see the overall performance of the card in it's current state.
Also, it might save you the trouble of responding to angry fanboys who might claim the review is skewed towards one particular manufacturer or something.

 

Should've included the custom cooled Palit, very decent piece of hardware imho

 

I agree, every non-stock GPU should be compared against it's stock version with the correct drivers, might help some people decide for themselves.

Also, 5870 vapor-x revision 2, where is the review at?