Conclusion
After spending a lot of time with these sub-€100 Zotac cards, it turns out there is no grand conclusion, you'll get as much as you're willing to pay and everyone can find the flavor which suits them best. Apart from the cards we featured today, Zotac has a few more 8600 GT, 8500 GT and 8400 GS cards to offer.
You can also get 8600 GT cards with GDDR2 memory, they're a bit cheaper than the 8600 GT Zone edition card, you can also get 8500 GT cards with GDDR3 memory. There's a low profile 8400GS too, which is a bit cheaper than the tested 8400 GS card.
We found 8400 GS ATX cards listed for € 50, and they're a good choice if you're not a gamer and just want to use your card for multimedia or in the office. You can also play a few rounds with them, but on low detail settings.
The
Geforce 8500 GT AMP is one of the fastest 8500 GT cards on the market and it can run most games on slightly lower resolutions.
Its passive cousin, the Geforce 8500 GT Zone Editon, is one of the latest cards to be offered by Zotac and we recommend it to anyone looking for a silent card. The heatsink isn't too big, the card uses up just one slot and you'll easily find enough room for it in your case. The AMP is a better choice for gaming, but don't forget that you can overclock the Zone edition and get similar performance. Both cards retail at around € 80.
The absolute performance champion of the test is the 8600 GT Zone edition. A bit more expensive than the fan cooled version, this silent Geforce 8600 GT is a very good choice and one of the most interesting 8600 GT cards on the market.
Zotac is giving away DVI to HDMI dongles with all its cards, which means you'll be able to use it on all cards. If you feel the cards we tested today don't get you enough performance, you should wait for the soon to come 8600 GTS cards with HDMI. We're not sure about the high end 8800 cards, since nobody has redesigned them yet, and that's necessary for full HDMI support.
All in all, if you're looking for a DirectX 10 card, chances are Zotac has something for your needs. Offering HDMI on Nvidia cards was a very good move by Zotac.