ZOTAC AMP2! GeForce GTX 580 Pro Reviews

The Zalman VF3000N cooler on Zotac's GeForce GTX 580 AMP²! delivers the lowest stock noise level and the lowest temperatures. In addition, this is the only card in our round-up equipped with 3072 MB of RAM. And while the advantage of that extra GDDR5 memory never manifested itself as increased performance in our benchmarks, there are scenarios where the extra memory come in handy.

If your budget stretches to it, and your PC has enough memory, and a powerful processor, then this is undoubtedly the card to get, but if not a cheaper, less powerful card will suffice.

You really shouldn't buy Zotac's GTX 580 AMP²! Yes, the Radeon HD 6970 is a little bit slower and a little bit noisier, but it's not that far behind on either front—and the 6970 costs more than $200 less. Plus, the 6970 draws less power and sends its hot air exclusively out of the expansion slots, reducing its likely contribution to overall system noise. If you can tolerate more noise and power draw, pairing a couple of GeForce GTX 560 Ti or Radeon HD 6870 cards will yield even higher performance than the AMP²! at well under half a grand. Both of those options are better values, all things considered. Your rational mind should understand this. But there's also the undeniable fact that the AMP²! is an incredibly sweet piece of gear, a near-silent killer whose virtues are easy for the discerning enthusiast to appreciate.