Zotac GeForce GTX 280 Amp! Edition

[Castiel]

Its kinda of fun to watch when a post comes up and if it has the letters GTX, or #'s 280/260 its like a flock of birds storm in to get it.

[Wile E]

How many cores on a card doesn't matter at all. All that matters is how it performs.

I'm sorry, but the Video card market has changed in the past year (thank you ATI). I feel it's no longer acceptable to charge this much for a video card. When ATI drops the HD4k series, I have a feeling NV will be left with no choice but to lower prices.

[Solaris17]

Originally Posted by Wile E

How many cores on a card doesn't matter at all. All that matters is how it performs.

I'm sorry, but the Video card market has changed in the past year (thank you ATI). I feel it's no longer acceptable to charge this much for a video card. When ATI drops the HD4k series, I have a feeling NV will be left with no choice but to lower prices.

and the onyl reason ATI does it is because their previous cards didnt perform as well..it had nothing to do with how cheap they could make them or how little they wanted to mark them up..they needed money and fast. im not bashing ATI its just fact.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by Solaris17

and the onyl reason ATI does it is because their previous cards didnt perform as well..it had nothing to do with how cheap they could make them or how little they wanted to mark them up..they needed money and fast. im not bashing ATI its just fact.

"Why" does not matter. All that matters is how much we pay as consumers. I see no reason why ATI won't undercut NV again, and force more price drops. Besides, you can't convince me that this card is actually this expensive to make. Expensive, yes. This expensive, no way.

[ShogoXT]

I agree with peoples assessment about the 4870 X2, if the scaling is nearly as good (not even counting if its better), then wouldnt it be faster then the 280? Also although people compare multi GPU cards to single ones saying they arnt in the same league for comparison, but does it matter since the 280 wont be able to be multi? Since its too big I mean.

[DaMulta]

Originally Posted by Wile E

"Why" does not matter. All that matters is how much we pay as consumers. I see no reason why ATI won't undercut NV again, and force more price drops. Besides, you can't convince me that this card is actually this expensive to make. Expensive, yes. This expensive, no way.

I can't remember a time when we didn't have a card that cost this much.

How much was the 1800XT, 7900GTX, 8800GTX, 8800Ultra, 2900XT, 9800GX2, 3870X2(on release day)

They're quick, but not that quick - I have a sneaking suspicion I can get GTX 280 performance for 180 pounds, so I'm not going to pay the 400+ nVidia are asking.
Therein lies the problem, nVidia have priced themselves out of the UK market, at 400 pounds for a GTX 280 and 270+ pounds for a GTX 260 these cards are terrible value.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by DaMulta

I can't remember a time when we didn't have a card that cost this much.

How much was the 1800XT, 7900GTX, 8800GTX, 8800Ultra, 2900XT, 9800XT, 3870X2(on release day)

But if you notice, the past year hasn't been that way. My point is the gfx market has changed. The way I see it, and judging by the reactions of people on the price, this price just isn't acceptable anymore, regardless of how the market may have been in the past.

[DaMulta]

The only reason why it was cheaper was because of rehashing everything IMO.

AMD 2900=38xx cards

Nvidia has been running the same cores more or less for 3 years now. Of course those prices are going to be cheaper. To top it off the size of that die is huge, and there is no doubt in my mind that that didn't rise the cost of them.


I also don't remember a time when people didn't bitch about the price.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by DaMulta

The only reason why it was cheaper was because of rehashing everything IMO.

AMD 2900=38xx cards

Nvidia has been running the same cores more or less for 3 years now. Of course those prices are going to be cheaper. To top it off the size of that die is huge, and there is no doubt in my mind that that didn't rise the cost of them.


I also don't remember a time when people didn't bitch about the price.

Again, to consumers it doesn't matter why they are priced this high. The only thing that matters is that they are. Regardless of the reasons why, I just don't see people wanting to pay this much anymore. They've been spoiled by the past year's events.

[DaMulta]

It's the top model

They will have other cards that are cheaper, and slower just like Intel has with their CPUs. The 260, 9800GX2, 9800GTX, 9800GT, and the 9600GT will still be around for some time to come.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by DaMulta

It's the top model

They will have other cards that are cheaper, and slower just like Intel has with their CPUs. The 260, 9800GX2, 9800GTX, 9800GT, and the 9600GT will still be around for some time to come.

Regardless, it doesn't make the price acceptable in the consumers eyes. The GX2 is $100 less, and is either only a few fps behind, or a dead match for it. The price is just too much, and not justifiable on a price to performance ratio.

[Solaris17]

Originally Posted by Wile E

Regardless, it doesn't make the price acceptable in the consumers eyes. The GX2 is $100 less, and is either only a few fps behind, or a dead match for it. The price is just too much, and not justifiable on a price to performance ratio.

and though i totally agree people you need the 2 fps increase will buy this card just so they can say they have it so unfortunately the price for future high end cards probably wont come down any time soon.

[DaMulta]

No one that isn't hardcore will buy one, or that doesn't want the best of the best. Most of the time.

When I do sell video cards in the PC Shop I normally do buy the best one. I tell them if you wan it to last for 3 or 4 years this is what you have to do, and yes it does cost more because of that reason. If you want one just for the year well put in the lowest card that will be cheaper, you just wont be really happy with it..

[WarEagleAU]

the point of price is kind of insane here. W1zz pointed it out in the POV Assassins Creed review...They change of design and the, perhaps unnecessary, adding of the NVIO2 to the PCB has caused costs to skyrocket. I believe it was Anandtech in a previews news story, citing that the huge transistors, less dies per wafer, etc were going to lead to higher prices. Granted, this may be the fastest card out, but NV really priced their ass out on this one. The PCB layout and design, the amount of transistors and the cost of production are probably really high. I dont know if its high enough to justify such a huge price on a release, but it has to be pretty high up.

On a good note, Im kind of happy with the noise, cooling and even at times, the power consumption of this massive card.

[trt740]

anyone who buys this card for 700+ is flat stupid the 9800 gx2 is a better deal or even a regular 9800 gtx at near 200.00. The best deal of all is a 3870x2. Heck you could buy 3 9800gtx cards for price that and kill that card and anyone who does that is a moron. ATI is gonna blow them away sales wise and anyone who owns a 9800gtx and 3870x2 just had the value of there cards hold steady.

[msgclb]

I'm wondering If I will have an expensive paper weight (although temporarily) if I use my OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU with a GTX 280? I noticed that you used one of these PSUs in your tests. Did you use the supplied PCI-E power adapter? Is this a temporary or can it be a permanent solution running a single GTX 280? I've notice almost all reviewers are using 1000W to 1200W PSUs.

[Solaris17]

Originally Posted by msgclb

I'm wondering If I will have an expensive paper weight (although temporarily) if I use my OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU with a GTX 280? I noticed that you used one of these PSUs in your tests. Did you use the supplied PCI-E power adapter? Is this a temporary or can it be a permanent solution running a single GTX 280? I've notice almost all reviewers are using 1000W to 1200W PSUs.

id actually like to know to as i have the same psu.

[Temps_Riising]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

No, you would be wrong. In overall performance, at least in this review, the GX2 was 8% slower.

OK, I'll re-phrase that....in most of the games I play....have played the GX2 is a match and a fair bit cheaper now.....although I appreciate these prices are likely to reduce fairly quick (well here's hoping at least!)......ohhhh and TBH.....in most things, 8% is pretty much un-noticable in any case unless of course tou are border line playable frames anyways.

Ohhh and one other thing, this being the Amp overclocked model might well actually suggest that the reference model would possibly be SLOWER than the GX2.

[OnBoard]

Nice it comes with GRID = more players online for me to beat (well if they use assists they'll beat me). Anyways if the owner has a big screen, 1920x1200 (throw in 16xQSAA+16xAF) will run silky smooth with this card and look droolable.

[tigger]

If you already have a highe end card,be it ati or nvidia,and you are itching for a new card.I think its wise to sit on it and wait till the 48xx cards come along rather than pay this ridiculous price(its really sick in the uk) Let the fanboys,the must haves buy 'em.

[W1zzard]

any half decent psu will work fine .. the whole system draws around 300w peak power so a 600w psu will be perfectly fine handling it

[DrunkenMafia]

I can't believe that things sux more juice than a 3879x2!!!!

Wicked powerful card though. can't wait to see if ati can keep up with this one..

[Live OR Die]

well why not test it in DX10 who cares about old DX9 the card will do better in DX10

[W1zzard]

Originally Posted by Live OR Die

well why not test it in DX10 who cares about old DX9 the card will do better in DX10

75% of gamers care. the remaining 25% use vista with dx9 games that were rushed to have some dx10 features