Zotac GTX 580 AMP²! Review

The GTX580 is a great card, everytime we test a new model we get reminded of why it has been such a big seller for Nvidia. Thankfully, today this Zotac AMP²! is supplied with an excellent custom cooler design. It makes up for the rather disappointing and overpriced AMP! Edition we reviewed last week which came equipped with a reference cooler.

The AMP²! heatpipe custom cooler design is clearly one of the best coolers on the market, managing to reduce the temperatures from 89c to 60c when loaded in the Furmark stress test. This really is a massive difference and you can be assured that the card should last a very long time thanks to the excellent proprietary cooler design.

The overclocked card powers through all the major gaming engines, leading the performance charts until it faces the AMD HD6990. Now you may think that this seems unfair, but unfortunately at time of press Zotac are claiming that this card will cost £500 inc vat. Yet again we have to scratch our heads in bewilderment, because this is putting it almost head to head against the HD6990 which can be bought in the UK for only £10 more today.

Zotac have further price related problems because Asus have the fantastic GTX580 Direct CU II available in the UK for £420 inc vat, which is £80 less. The AMP²! would have won our top award, but at £500 inc vat we feel it is pricing itself out of the market. Other cards are offering similar configurations, for much less money.

Pros:

• Cooler is one of the most capable on the market
• extremely quiet
• GTX580 design is still a class leader

Cons:

• price point is too high, it is £10 less than a HD6990 in UK today

KitGuru says: A fantastic card design from Zotac and one of the best GTX580's on the market. The price is much too high as it has to compete against the AMD HD6990. It can't win at this price. If you find it online for under £450 snap it up.

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