i would like to know this as well. never had any experience with zotac cards and actually never heard of this brand before. one of the reasons why i decided to get evga instead but it's giving me some frustrating issues. zotac prices are quite cheaper than most other name brands. i hope that doesnt reflect on their quality.
Are you looking to buy the cheapest Zotac model? The only one for 329.99$? Zotac is Sapphire for Nvidia, aka they are Sapphire, so its a solid brand. Though taking a 'small' card with reference PCB could mean somewhat less overclocks, the tiny cooler won't dissipate the heat that much, you'll see it hitting to 80c quite easily. Not recommended for SLI, though if you live in a cold country, might as well go for it. I don't think anyone has reviewed the cheapest Zotac model, only the AMP! Omega or the AMP! Extreme. Given the AMP! Omega is 10$ costlier than the G1 Gaming, I honestly don't think its a good offer.
Zotac is fine. I have a Zotac reference 780 and it's been solid for a year and a half now. I even spilled milk on it and it still works fine. The overclock potential is mediocre, but what do you expect really. They're a no frills brand for the most part. Although their AMP! edition cards are pretty respectable.
All I know is that Zotac clocks their reference cards absurdly compared to other different reference cards. I had the 9800GTX and damn if it wasn't good. I think I gave it away to a friend of mine.
For what I know, the difference stays in the coolers, and the best ones are Asus, MSI, EVGA. Maybe try reading some reviews!
You forgot the coolest one... Anyway it's not just the cooler. Custom PCB means more than just slapping a new fan on top.
Besides, reading reviews isn't enough for me. I did that. I like to talk to people who actually have one. See what they think of it.
I have an Zotac GTX970 sku ZT-90101-10P running in my PC right now. I got it about 3 weeks after they first came out. So far everything has been great! For $329 you get a nice card. It's a small card, about the size of an MSI 460 Hawk or an amd 4850. The fan shroud is metal not cheap plastic, it's built like a tank. Although, mine is sandwiched between a Sbz sound card, and an PNY GTX460, my card has never gone above 65C. But I run a custom fan profile, and all of this is enclosed in a Cooler Master Sniper Case that has extremely good air flow. Not much of an overclocker, hits around 1450 Mhz on a good day, but averages around 1400 Mhz that is with boost. But hey, it only has 2 x 6pin power connectors. No coil wine, that a thumbs up! I'm impress with it for they money.
Well G1 works well, Oc's well, stays cool. Manual fan curve ~10% lower speed no visible change in gpu temp - and that way it's also as quiet as it gets.
Mezball... I have the exact same card, and have had temps over 75c despite pc being in a cool room, with a window open near the back of the case during cool weather. The fans are noisy too over 50% and above. What are you using for the fan profile? And may I ask what settings do you use?
I had Zotac 460s in sli performed flawlessly for 2 years and sold them never got any complaints from the guy I sold them to and I had never heard of Zotac before that.They were great clockers as well.
Got the Zotac GTX 970 Amp Omega earlier this week. Seems solid so far, haven't tweaked anything. Real silent, 33% fanspeed in idle, 60% in load. Set any game to Ultra settings and you're good to go (playing at 1920x1200)
I have one of the lower Zotac 970 models (the $330 one) and it worked fine for me except that it did not want to SLI with my 970 STRIX - so I put it in my daughter's machine and got myself another STRIX. Otherwise the Zotac works as advertised and is pretty quiet.
I run the core voltage, power limit to the max, and run my fan curve really aggressive. I keep it at 50% up 42c, then arch it to run at 100% when it reaches 65c and over. I guess you could say the fans get loud. I hardly notice due to all the other fans running: 3x240mm (frt, side, top)1x140mm (bottom), 1x120mm (Back), and the 2x120mm on the cpu cooler. Also, while gaming I either have headset on, or running my 5.1 Klipsch's Pro media that are setup around me, lol. Earlier today I was playing BF4, and it topped out at 63c. As of the time of this writing, it is at 25c idle. I might just have got lucky with my card, because you aren't the first person I've seen mentioned their card hit in the mid 70's.
got my zotac 970 today the ZT-90101-10P model ($330). so far no issues except for a low coil whine noise which is only noticeable if you place your head right next to the card. which only happens when i start playing any 3d game. other than that everything seems fine so far.
I have received an email from Zotac saying the card temps are normal, but would like me to do a benchmark fan test? How do I do that?
http://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/accelero-twin-turbo-ii.html I have just fitted this to my Zotac GTX 970 and played Far Cry 4 with everything set to ultra and at 1920x1080 and temp hasn't gone over 50c. So a good 20c down. Anyone who has this card and is running hot, then get this.