Zotac GeForce GTX560 AMP! Edition Review

The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 25c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.

Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.

Furmark really pushes this card hard, rising to a maximum of 92c. When gaming however the card runs at a more modest 83c. Furmark stress test forces the cards fan to almost 3,300 rpm at 61% which is quite noisy, but tolerable. Gaming environments make more modest demands, and the fan speeds reduce to around 50% which lowers the noise considerably.

Return to Idle is a feature we have recently added to our reviews … we measure the time it takes for a solution to return to idle temperatures, immediately after full load. The faster the time, the better the cooler – for example a Noctua NH D14 cooler will return an Intel processor to idle temperatures much faster than a reference cooler. This is a good indication of how quickly a heatsink can dissipate heat.

The cooler quickly reduces temperatures to 70c, in the space of 8 seconds or so. The fan profile becomes less aggressive, slowly reducing the temperatures to just under 40c. It is a good cooler, and optimised to maintain reasonable temperatures.

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