Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Extreme Review

Reviews
By Igor Wallossek
published

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Final Analysis

Whether Zotac's GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Extreme is powerful enough to claim a heavyweight championship belt remains to be seen. After all, there are still more GeForce GTX 1080 Tis we need to test.

We can, however, tell you that Zotac opted for a very different approach than what we saw from MSI or Gigabyte, choosing to brute-force its thermal solution. At least according to the GPU Boost clock rates, the effort pays off. But our acoustic measurements aren't as overwhelmingly positive. Due to poor cooling of the voltage regulation circuitry, the PCB gets very hot, even affecting GP102's packaging. This forces the fans to work overtime as they try to keep temperatures under their 70°C target.

The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Extreme has good overclocking potential, the extent of which depends on the quality of your GPU. However, we have to be a little worried about the option to fully utilize this card's power target, since you need to manually adjust the fan settings or risk Saharan temperatures inside of your closed case.

The bespoke fan control solution goes a long way to solve issues we previously identified. We like what Zotac did there, even if we're still scratching our heads wondering how. After all, the values measured externally using a laser tachometer don't match the firmware's fan curve or what monitoring software tells us to expect. Enthusiasts might want to configure a customized fan curve with fan speeds cranked all the way to 100%. As the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Extreme stands, though, this is only possible when the card reports temperatures beyond 50°C.

We do recommend this card for its good GPU cooling, plenty of overclocking potential, higher-clocked memory, and good overall workmanship. But we also have to note some of its flaws, including lackluster VRM cooling, relatively loud and bass-heavy fans, and VRM noise. Weigh your priorities and decide where you can compromise. After all, none of the 1080 Tis we've tested thus far are perfect.


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Igor Wallossek
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12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dstarr3
    Boy, looking at how hard it is to keep these things cool, I'm thinking it'd be better to wait until the next generation and the efficiency improvements that'll bring. May only be a 10-15% bump in performance, but if it means a card that's producing reasonable amounts of heat again with a not-triple-slot cooler, that's worth the wait.
    Reply
  • EpIckFa1LJoN
    I have this card. It cools great. I have a pretty low airflow case and it never goes over 66C and thats on BF1 in "The Runner" at 3440x1440. Very consistently at 2000MHz or higher on stock settings (fan too). You can easily set a fan curve as long as it doesn't conflict with the idle profile. Zotac set the card to always be at 0% fan speed under something like 39C (not 49C I know that for a fact). The fans are completely unresponsive until it goes into active mode. I also know unless you set the curve to kick in right as it comes out of idle mode the fans will spin up past 100% before settling down to whatever value they are at.

    As for the noise... I have 5 ML140's all (were) set less than 900RPM, and I have a Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W PSU, in a Corsair 750D case, also a Corsair H115i cooler also with ML140 fans set about 900rpm, and I could never even hear the GPU until it hit about 58% (which it never does under normal circumstances). I consider my rig extremely quiet even as it sits 3 feet away from my face on my desk I can't hear it even in a dead silent room, where even a whisper would disturb the peace. You must have bat-like hearing to call this card loud.

    I have since upped all my fan speeds as I have overclocked my 6700K to its thermal limit so far. H115i pump is set to almost 3000rpms, fans on that are set to around 1350rpms, the case fans are set to 1100rpms, and I always keep my ceiling fan on now to help the air flow in my room. With my gaming headset on the GPU could go up to 75% before I hear it. And the ceiling fan is still louder than the rest of my rig FYI.

    I absolutely love this card, it is a brute-force method of cooling and overclocking, but I don't mind at all, it's an absolute beast when it comes to running my Acer Predator X34. There isn't a (at least decently) optimized game I can't play at 100Hz Ultra 3400x1440.
    Reply
  • Nei1
    Re: GPU for computing, http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/GPU_computing

    And the other thing besides gaming is to use the computational power of today's GPUs for processing Distributed Computing Project work-units, as described in the Berkeley link. Do any of Tom's measurements indicate if this GPU would survive if it were driven to 100% load continuously, or what percentage would be catastrophic (given ambient temperature or whatever)? Or shall we project-participants assume that if we set our project-clients to run the GPU at 100%, it wouldn't be a problem? Heat is the enemy; it would help to know what heat sensors are available, what apps are available to monitor the temp(s), so that we may reduce the load as necessary, possibly automatically. One could use some guidance about how to run the GPU, perhaps not at its maximum limit, for longevity and error free computations.

    Thanks.
    Reply
  • JDubstep
    I don't know that the fuss about the noise was. I hear my case fans and water cooling pump before I hear the card. Even still, I wear headphones most of the time I'm at my computer gaming and the only noticeable detail? Card sag. My riser cable came in today and I'll address that accordingly. Other than that, my gripes are: a) the YouTube tech community still failing to review and publicize this beast b) you might have to hit the weights more in order to put this card into your system. Other than that, it's money well spent. I'd even go as far to say better than the KingPin cards coming out soon too.
    Reply
  • FormatC
    19788805 said:
    Re: GPU for computing, http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/GPU_computing
    And the other thing besides gaming is to use the computational ... Thanks.
    Feel you free to send me any files to check it. But I measure all things on an offline-system. It is secure. I measure the VGA cards with Furmark over a longer time, not only a few minutes. That gives me a good overview about the quality of the PCBs and the cooling. This Zotac is simply to hot for my taste (VR area).

    Reply
  • EpIckFa1LJoN
    19789269 said:
    I don't know that the fuss about the noise was. I hear my case fans and water cooling pump before I hear the card. Even still, I wear headphones most of the time I'm at my computer gaming and the only noticeable detail? Card sag. My riser cable came in today and I'll address that accordingly. Other than that, my gripes are: a) the YouTube tech community still failing to review and publicize this beast b) you might have to hit the weights more in order to put this card into your system. Other than that, it's money well spent. I'd even go as far to say better than the KingPin cards coming out soon too.

    Exactly! The only problem I have with mine (since I have a GPU Brace) is the fact that there are basically two fan profiles and the fans are 100% unresponsive under 40C. So you have to set a fan profile that kicks on AFTER the stock profile for it to work. It's a workaround at least. TweakTown's review has it beating every other 1080 Ti that has come out so far.
    Reply
  • threecs
    You can deactivate the "always idle" fan functionality through the Zotac Firestorm software. Install and run Firestorm. Select Spectra. The middle panel will have a small - easy to miss - down arrow. Press it and it will reveal a "Fan stop setting ON/OFF". When set to OFF the fans will always follow any custom settings.
    Reply
  • JDubstep
    Prior to running stress tests I did the following:
    -opened up the card and applied Thermal Grizzly in lieu of MFR thermal paste
    -mounted my card to the side of my case with a riser cable and mount

    Notables:
    -ambient temperature was 23ºC
    -ran FurMark at the following settings: 1920x1080 AA-8X MSAA
    -GPU runs a three monitor setup; all are 1080p/144Hz/1ms and monitor 1 was used
    -GPU clocks were stock with the boost clock at 1974 MHz and memory at 5599 MHz
    **edit**
    -two tests consisted of approximately 30 mins of stressing with ample cool-down time in between (44ºC)

    End results
    -min FPS: 67, max FPS: 71, avg FPS: 70
    -GPU utilized 85% TDP, 69% fan speed, temperature 70ºC
    -no SLM was used; most prevalent noise was due to water pump, case fans, and coolant being flushed back into reservoir

    My take:
    Not the most 'sound' way to prove a point, but since my parts came in I decided to apply some decent thermal paste while I had the case open and the card out. The board sag was irking me, so I rectified that as well. I do believe in the process that by positioning the card in this manner I have: a) probably reduced the ambient heat in the case and b) increased the level of sound I would hear from the fans as it sits right up against the tempered glass panel. This being said, I honestly have yet to see my card fans push 100%. I don't dabble in overclocking GPUs, and with this beast you really shouldn't have to do that. With an MSRP of $729 (currently on sale), this price point not only trumps a majority of the non-reference cards in price, but all of them in performance as well. I'm quite happy with my purchase, and I really think all this talk of 'coil whine' is either a farce or a fluke. Go buy the card off of Newegg and return it after 20 days if it whines. After that, go buy your FTW3 or Strix. Neither one of these will compare, IMHO.
    Reply
  • EpIckFa1LJoN
    Threecs, you da real MVP.
    Reply
  • rlssetiawan
    Anyone experience have to underclock the core clock ? I have to underclock it -20 up to -40 just to have stable performance. Fire strike/heaven or gaming will be freezing in default setting. Experienced this on 2 cards of zotac 1080 ti amp extreme.
    Reply