Zotac GTX 980Ti AMP! Omgea Edition - freaking sweet card!

I recently made the move from two GTX 570s in SLI to a single GTX 980Ti from Zotac. One of the best upgrades I've ever experienced, even more so than moving from my Phenom II x4 940 to an i5-4670K.

I play some games across 5760x1080 and the 570s, while able to run games at that resolution, they lacked the power to provide a constant fluid performance. I had to sacrifice some settings (not really a big deal, usually I turned shadows down/off and took off any AA or AF). I benched some games I've recently (over the past few years) played across 5760x1080 on my 570s and then compared them to the GTX 980Ti.

Here are the configurations of the PC:

• ASRock Extreme4 Z87
• Intel i5-4670k @ 4.4GHz
• ADATA 2x4GB DDR3 1600
• 250GB Crucial MX200 SSD
• 1TB WD Black Caviar (all games installed here)
• 1000W CoolerMaster Silent Pro
• 3x ASUS VE248H (2D Surround 5760x1080) (1 connected with DVI, 1 connected with HDMI, 1 connected with DP to HDMI adapter)

GPUs used

• GTX 570 in SLI OC'ed to 882/2050 (stock was 732/1900) on driver 344.48
• GTX 980Ti (1178/1755 w/ boost to 1279) on driver 353.30

Here are the benchmark results. I tested the following benchmark program and games:

Benchmark program: 3DMark Fire Strike

Games: Batman - Arkham Origins, Borderlands 2, FarCry 3, Just Cause 2 and Sniper Elite 3

3DMark - Fire Strike

• GTX 570s link to results
• GTX 980Ti link to results

As you can see, as expected, the 980Ti blows the 570s out of the water. The combined test, the 570s ran at about 11.5fps, it was a painful slide show while the 980Ti runs around 38fps. This was the first time I've seen the combined test run at a smooth level and not a horrid slideshow.

Batman: Arkham Origins

While the game was certainly playable with the settings maxed out on the 570s, there was the slight hiccup here and there as you'd run around - most likely due to the low VRAM of 1.25GB the 570s have. The 980Ti ran the game smooth, no hiccups and it also provides at 87% performance boost over the 570s.

Borderlands 2

Here's another game that ran fine on the 570s with the settings maxed, but just like in Batman, the hiccup from time to time would happen. The 980Ti performance jump of 62% isn't as large here, but the extra VRAM and power gave a smooth performance.

FarCry3

FarCry 3 was one of the more demanding games I ran on the 570s at 5760x1080. I had to sacrifice settings to get a playable level of 30-40fps, but I still enjoyed the game. The low VRAM at this high resolution, just like in Batman, had the hiccups from time to time. The 980Ti, crushed the 570s and gave a silk smooth performance. An almost 300% in performance on the 980Ti made the gameplay flow and put the 570s to shame.

Just Cause 2

This game is a bit older, but still one I enjoyed playing across my 3 monitors. The 570s ran the game without any issues, no hiccups and held a good frame rate. The 980Ti just makes it look easier. A 220% increase in overall performance is impressive. It wasn't needed to enjoy this game, but it is nice to see just how powerful the 980Ti is.

Sniper Elite III

This game was a bit odd - it worked the 570s hard and I had to tone down the game settings because the 570s were running 90-95C. With the settings used in the benchmark, the 570s only hit about 85C. As you can see they ran the game well and could have had the settings pushed more, but they just ran too hot. The 980Ti gives about a 62% boost in performance, plus it only hit around 62C.

Overall, I'm greatly impressed with just the sheer power that one card can provide at 5760x1080. The 570s performed well for me over the past 4 years and 1 month, but I needed to move on if I wanted to keep gaming across my 3 monitors. If I were strictly to stay with 1920x1080p, I wouldn't have upgraded. The 570s can max most games across 1080p.

I went with Zotac since I've always had good experience with them. In the US, you can only get a 2 year + 1 year extended (3 year total if you register the card online) warranty. I personally don't see this as an issue, most of us upgrade every 3 years or so....it would be nice if it was 5 years, but oh well. My Zotac GTX 570 has been going strong for just over 4 years and an old 7600 GT card that gave to someone, still works in their web-surfing computer I built them to this day. I've seen posts about people complaining bad coil whine on the AMP! editions from Zotac or people complain that these factory OC'ed cards can only have the max power limit up to 111%. Let's get real here.....this card, as it stands, is powerful as hell. I see no reason to worry about bumping the clocks up another 100-150MHz, you won't gain much of a performance gain that'll be worthwhile.

For those on the fence about what card to get if you're on 1440p or gaming across 3 monitors like I do for 5760x1080, this is the card to get.

How comes you didn't get the Extreme Edition?

I got the 980 Ti extreme version and it's absolutely awesome. Zotac doesn't get enough attention... They build really good cards.

Don't think I'll buy any other brand from now on... Unless they lose the performance crown per $.

@neatfeatguy Enjoy! =)

I didn't mind the few extra bucks over the regular AMP! Edition to get the Omega, but I couldn't get myself to drop $700 on the Extreme. The Omega has the same cooler and I can always OC it more (hopefully) if it should ever come down to it.

The GTX 570 I have from Zotac, she can take really good OC. Stock clocks are 732/1900 - I can set her to (if memory remember correctly) 925/2100 when I push the voltage to 1.1V. The EVGA I have can OC well, but after 882/2050 at 1.1V she crashes. So I was running both of them at 882/2050.

I've had nothing but good experience with Zotac and EVGA. If EVGA had a sexy version of the 980Ti like Zotac did, I might have gone with them....but I just don't like the looks of any of the EVGA models.

I was very, very tempted by the Zotac AMP Extreme when I ordered a new card last week. In the end I went with the KFA2 980ti HoF. I won't get it till early next week but hopefully it turns out to be a good choice;)

Very nice. If I left my case in it's normal black and white paint, this card would good perfect with it. I'm not disappointed at all with the Zotac card. I hope you enjoy yours when it comes in.

Because (AT LEAST SOME) 900 series Zotac GPUs can not be SLI'd with any other brand.

While all other brands EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, ASUS, PNY, etc can be SLI'd with any other card.

@insane_metalist: what the hell? Only SLI with orher Zotac cards? Where dis tou hear that.

Either only Zotac cards or exact same model Zotac. I remember people that bought Zotac 900 series when they first came out weren't happy about that. I'm pretty sure it was also mentioned in reviews? I wasn't paying too much attention since I don't care much for Zotac.

I recall hearing back when the 970s came out that some people were having issues running different models in SLI. I don't remember any specific model, though.

i have a 970 gtx made by Zotac. Its the first time buying their brand but i've had no problems at all. Only thing negative i can say is their firestorm overclocking software is confusing and doesn't work well.

For overclocking use Afterburner or Precision X. Your card might have locked voltage though.

@insane_metalist: good suggestions. I've used both actually. Currently im using MSI afterburner... but ya, my voltage is likely locked so i can't overclock much, just around +125mhz on my gpu & +340mhz on memory. Any higher the driver stops responding randomly.