# [OCN LABS] Zotac GTX 1080 Ti AMP! Edition Review by bluedevil / Ryan Gendreau



## bluedevil

*Intro*










Today I am going to be a taking a look at the GTX 1080 Ti Amp! Edition by Zotac which features 11 GB of GDDR5X memory. Let me just start off with saying that this GPU is gorgeous, it just screams quality everywhere you look. Now the GTX 1080 Ti is a GPU that produces very good numbers, but the normal gamer isn't what Zotac is after here, is it?

So I will address what is on everyone's minds, why did Nvidia launch the GTX 1080 Ti so close to the Titan Xp (the Titan X little p) which was launched in July of 2016. Then about 1 month after the GTX 1080 Ti launch, along came the Titan XP (yes big P). So GTX 1080 Ti vs Titan XP? Not much difference, nope. Clock speeds, 1 less GB of GDDR5X, a few cuda cores and that's about it.

Good god, is this confusing yet?

So back to the Zotac GTX 1080 Ti Amp! Edition by Zotac, running the big Pascal chip, the GP102, the GTX 1080 Ti packs 3,584 cuda cores, 11 GB of GDDR5X, a normal gpu clock of 1582, with a boosted clock of 1683mhz. Direct support for Vulcan and DX12 APIs are built in as well.

Today I will be looking this beast of a GPU a little bit more closely.

*Overview*
Climb onto a newer flagship with the ultimate hardware. The ZOTAC GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti is the new flagship gaming graphics card, based on the award-winning NVIDIA Pascal™ architecture. It is packed with an incredible amount of cores and buffed with 11GB of ultra-fast GDDR5X memory, and the sheer force combines to deliver unprecedented gaming performance.

*Features*
IceStorm Cooling
Metallic blackplate
FREEZE Fan Stop
PowerBoost
SPECTRA LED Lighting System
16 + 2 power phase

*Packaging*
Just like any other GPU box, the GTX 1080 Ti Amp! comes in a yellow box with a lot of graphic art/specs/features on it.







The GPU comes very well packaged and inside you are greeted by a 2 x 6 to 8-pin adaptor, and a user manual.





The GPU itself is sporting a gunmetal finish, twin 100mm Freezetech enabled fans, huge Ice Storm finstacks with massive heatpipes within the heatsink is made to cool this mighty beast during the heaviest of loads.



A metal backplate is also included.



Spectra Lighting is also present, however only on this top of heatsink is the only place where the lighting is present, no other places on the GPU/Heatsink has this ability.





*Under the hood*

Upon closer inspection, the GPU die is label with the standard GP102. With 3,584 cuda cores and 11 GB of GDDR5X memory. To the right of the GP102 core is the AIO Power phases, which is in a 16 + 2 configuration. The VRMs, again to the right, are located under a black anodized heatsink that if I might add, is screwed in, not push-pinned. Further right, is a smaller black anodized heatsink. Nice touch Zotac.













Also wanted to take note, 2 8-pin PCIe cables are required to run the Zotac GTX 1080 Ti AMP! with a PSU rated at 600 watts.



*Test System*

CPU Intel i7 6700K
Cooling Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Motherboard EVGA Z170 Classified
RAM 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR4-2400
SSD Visiontek GoDrive 240GB SATA6
PSU EVGA G2 850w Gold
VGA Zotac GTX 1080 Ti Amp! Edition
Drivers Nvidia 382.05
OS Windows 10 Pro 64-bit



*Software*

You can use whatever software you want to OC your GPU, however if you want control over the Zotac name on the top of GPU, you will have to use Zotac's Firestorm software.



*Benchmarks*











*Temps*







*Conclusion*

So in conclusion, the Zotac GTX 1080 Ti Amp! Edition, is a great GPU. Most of us are used to the ever inclining pricing of the enthusiast level of hardware. But some of us can wait patiently for NEAR the best performance for a fraction of the price. That's what the GTX 1080 Ti delivers on versus the Titan Xp.

In terms of cooling, it was a hit or miss. Temps seemed to rise quickly, but eventually stabilized around the low to mid 80s with the Ice Storm cooling. Though at first glance, being an active watercooler, I was taken for a second or two at the sight of 80C+, but in reality, this is fully within the thermal limits of this GPU. It's so comfortable at those temps, that the GPU boosted up to 1949mhz almost all the time!



*Final Thoughts*

So those of you that are looking for a sleek, great performing GPU at its performance to price ratio, look no further. With around a $720 price tag in the US, this is a $50 premium for premium cooling with a custom PCB design. The only thing I would knock Zotac for is the use of rainbow cables on the fans. Not a huge thing but still for a premium card, you don't really expect to see this.



So if you are looking for a upgrade that will last you a bit longer than your GTX 1060 or GTX 1070, then the Zotac GTX 1080 Ti AMP! might just be the card for you!

So with that, I give the Zotac GTX 1080 Ti AMP! Edition a 4.5 Flames out of 5!





*Want this item ? Check out our UK and US links below*

(UK) Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AMP! Edition Boost Graphics Card









(US) Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AMP! Edition Boost Graphics Card


----------



## macwin2012

In my Country AMP extreme edition is 100$ more price , is it worth getting vs AMP edition ?


----------



## bluedevil

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macwin2012*
> 
> In my Country AMP extreme edition is 100$ more price , is it worth getting vs AMP edition ?


IMO only if you want more RGB. They share the very same PCB, so the silicon lottery should be considered. Also my sample only got 50 more mhz more than the boosted clock of 1949, totaling 1999mhz for a total OC clock. Pretty much not worth mentioning. They are good cards, just don't expect a ton of OC out of them.


----------



## Jedson3614

Nice write-up man, hope to see more reviews!


----------



## CryWolf

Very nice review!
I just got mine GTX 1080 TI AMP EXTREME and it is awsome. But for some reason, my temps are around 66C while stressing it with RealBench and playing games. Can't complain


----------



## Luciferxy

from G3D review, the vrm readings from FLIR is a bit too high, around 87 degC, and that's for the amp extreme. I wonder how hot the vrm for the amp edition is ?

is it insufficient cooling for the vrm is the culprit ?


----------



## Iwamotto Tetsuz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *macwin2012*
> 
> In my Country AMP extreme edition is 100$ more price , is it worth getting vs AMP edition ?


AMP extre has a larger cooler and higher base clock which means it should overclock more.
Base: 1645 MHz
Base: 1569 MHz non extreme

https://www.zotac.com/product/graphics_card/zotac-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-amp-extreme#spec
https://www.zotac.com/us/product/graphics_card/zotac-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-amp-edition#spec


----------



## outofmyheadyo

Did you notice any coilwhine on the card? I sold my founders 1080ti because of massive coilwhine, cant have that while watercooling.
The VRM part on this seems beefed up compared to founders so maybe less coilwhine ?


----------



## Nebulous

Great review! Friend of mine has the 1080 variation and it's a heater to say the least. During gaming it surpasses it's thermal limit quickly resulting in constant throttling and then system crash/bsod. I've got the 1070 AMP Extreme and I'm very happy with it. Managed 2100/4500 and during hours of heavy gaming temps don't pass 60c with a nice fancurve preset.

Unsure why the AMP editions run hotter. Is it because of the difference in heatsinks & fans compared to the Extreme?


----------



## crash4fun

I'm about to get this card tomorrow. I plan to put my AIO water cooler on it, and I will need to have heatsinks on the VRMs and the VRAM. In the review it states it has a black anodized heatsink for the VRMs. However they do not appear in the picture. Does this card indeed come with this VRM heat sink and does it happen to have anything that covers the RAM by default (that would not interfere with an AIO)?

Also does anyone know of any custom BIOS or have any advice on voltage for this particular card? This thing is not like an FE card so it seems to act different.


----------



## Nebulous

I know with my 1070 max voltage is 1.093v, so I'm sure that ti has a bit more. Looking forward in seeing that AIO mounted on it.


----------



## crash4fun

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nebulous*
> 
> I know with my 1070 max voltage is 1.093v, so I'm sure that ti has a bit more. Looking forward in seeing that AIO mounted on it.


I'll take some pictures







I'll also take some pictures of the AIO on my R9 390X currently. It served me well, with 150% power limit and OC to 1120, the card reads 68c max.

But anyway it fits both, so I'm going to swap it out. It's an ID Cooling Frostflow 240G btw, not a very well known brand.


----------



## crash4fun

I have the card now. Wow it's big. Although it does appear to have a VRM heatsink by default, I don't think I'm going to put my AIO on this thing for a number of reasons, but mostly because I don't think I can overclock this thing much further past 2GHz core. The temps are fine at this point anyway. Not going to do a "shunt" mod just for a negligible increase. We'll see, if anyone has more info to overclocking this specific card higher I'd give it a shot, but I think this thing eats too much power to push it any higher.


----------



## crash4fun

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nebulous*
> 
> I know with my 1070 max voltage is 1.093v, so I'm sure that ti has a bit more. Looking forward in seeing that AIO mounted on it.


Sorry for a triple post but I wanted to alert any subscribed people.

Okay so a total back track on my last statements, after some reading I realized that these newer cards are nothing like the old ones, and you simply gain performance from having a colder card (due to a more consistent boost clock). So here is the pictures you asked for, awful quality though, sorry... my good phone was thrashed a few weeks ago










Added 13 copper mosfet heat sinks and 6 small aluminum ones.


Mounted up!


In the case. Corsair 250D BARELY fits this card. I mean it, like 2mm more it would probably not have fit.

Here is a link to the product, ID Cooling Frostflow 240G.


----------



## Iwamotto Tetsuz

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Quote:


> Originally Posted by *crash4fun*
> 
> Sorry for a triple post but I wanted to alert any subscribed people.
> 
> Okay so a total back track on my last statements, after some reading I realized that these newer cards are nothing like the old ones, and you simply gain performance from having a colder card (due to a more consistent boost clock). So here is the pictures you asked for, awful quality though, sorry... my good phone was thrashed a few weeks ago
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Added 13 copper mosfet heat sinks and 6 small aluminum ones.
> 
> 
> Mounted up!
> 
> 
> In the case. Corsair 250D BARELY fits this card. I mean it, like 2mm more it would probably not have fit.
> 
> Here is a link to the product, ID Cooling Frostflow 240G.





I like it


----------



## crash4fun

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Iwamotto Tetsuz*
> 
> I like it


It's been running like a champ! Runs consistently at 1953MHz, which seems to be better then trying to overclock & get sporadic boosts to ~2050MHz. These cards truly are power limited.


----------



## Iwamotto Tetsuz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *crash4fun*
> 
> It's been running like a champ! Runs consistently at 1953MHz, which seems to be better then trying to overclock & get sporadic boosts to ~2050MHz. These cards truly are power limited.


I also managed to see more overclocks when keeping gpu chill, also same happens with cpu oc. So I absolutley agree with getting a little bit more when kept cool


----------



## Nebulous

I've got a Swiftech MCW-82 and another 480mm rad. Been thinking of slapping it on my 1070 .


----------

