Quick comparison with the Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X Tri-X we reviewed a couple of weeks ago. The Zotac is shorter, and as a high end graphics card, it is remarkably small, and doesn’t even push the limits of an mITX chassis.
We tested this in a BitFenix Phenom Mini ITX Chassis and it was a good fit.
Test Set Up
All updates to the Operating System, games and Synthetic benchmarks are assumed and a full defrag on the SSD after a fresh install before any benchmarks are carried out. Today we are using the 353.30 WHQL drivers for all tests which are the latest WHQL drivers at the time of writing.
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K CPU
- Motherboard: MSI Z97I GAMING AC (MS-7897)
- Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance (PC3-19200)
- Drive: Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series 256 GB x2 RAID 0
- Audio: On-board Realtek High Definition Audio
- PSU: Thermaltake Smart SE 730W
- Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
- 2048 x 1152 60Hz Native Resolution
- Driver Version 353.30 – WHQL
Driver settings used for synthetic and gaming tests.
Sound Performance
We tested the sound performance at idle and during heavy load using a certified Db meter at 15 inches range.
We use the MicroCool Banchetto 101 Chassis for testing which is an open chassis. This means you are hearing the graphics card cooling fans unobstructed. 36.8 Db idle and 40.7 Db under load are good results even if the idle is a little higher than we would want. In an enclosed chassis, this card would be really quiet at idle.
Synthetic Tests
- AIDA64 Engineer
- 3DMark
- Unigine Heaven 4.0
Real World Tests
- Battlefield 4
- Crysis 3
- Far Cry 3
- Watch_Dogs
4K Tests
- 3DMark
- Battlefield 4
- Crysis 3
- Far Cry 3
- Watch_Dogs
Testing Methodology
All synthetic and gaming tests are carried out three times with the best result taken. If the game is an online multi player, the same map is used each time and a ping constantly under 40ms is required before a test is valid.
Zotac Nvidia GTX 980 Ti Graphics Card Review
Package and Bundle - 8.5
Performance - 9.2
Price - 8
Consumer Experience - 9.5
8.8
If you have deep pockets this is a no brainer, it is intelligently fast, quiet and two, three or even four of these in SLi will set you apart for the next 12 months from just about anyone with cash to burn on the best gaming rig money can buy. As for the Titan X's bloody nose, well who would buy a Titan X now?
