Power, Temperature and Noise
Factory overclocked cards typically see an increase in power consumption, and Zotac's GTX 980 Ti AMP! is no exception. The near-seven-per-cent increase in system-wide power draw is in keeping with the overclock, however the under-load reading is still less than that of a previous-generation GeForce GTX 780 Ti.
That's handy to know. Even on a hot summer's day, Zotac's AMP! delivers impressively low idle and under-load temps and was found to run cooler than the EVGA Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+.
But there is a catch. Zotac's fans don't turn off at idle, so the card is never silent, and the 90mm trio aren't the quietest, either. Fan speed was recorded as 39 per cent at low-load (roughly 1,350rpm) and increased to 67 per cent (2,350rpm) when gaming.
As a result, it's audible the majority of the time and bordering on loud when running full tilt. Performance enthusiasts who favour low temps above all else certainly won't mind, but we reckon Zotac can find a better balance between cooling performance and fan noise. At the very least, a smoother fan profile would help as the AMP! can often be heard urgently reacting to changes in temperature. We've seen others produce overclocked GTX 980 Tis that are blissfully quiet, and Zotac has missed a trick in not following suit.
