Testbed:

Motherboard:
EVGA 680i SLI (Supplied by EVGA)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6800 Extreme edition (Supplied by Intel)

Memory:
OCZ FlexXLC PC2 9200 5-5-5-18  (Supplied by OCZ)
        during testing CL5-5-5-15-CR2T 1066MHz at 2.2V

PSU:
OCZ Silencer 750 Quad Black (Supplied by OCZ)

Hard disk:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA (Supplied by Seagate)

CPU-Cooler:
Freezer 7 Pro (Supplied by Artic Cooling)

Case Fans:
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 12 PWM
Artic Cooling - Artic Fan 8 PWM



Benchmarking

We tested our Zotac 9800 GTX AMP Edition card running at 756MHz but we ended up using two more 9800 GTX cards in order to better paint the picture of how overclocking affects performance.



Futuremarks



In 3DMark06, Zotac 9800 GTX AMP card scored 12748 marks. The difference between this card and the reference one isn't that significant, but gaming usually puts things in perspective.



Gaming




In the first two games that we tested, Company of Heroes and Crysis, Zotac handled overclocking well and it clearly outperformed not only the reference card, but also MSI's 9800 GTX running at 720MHz but with memory speeds at reference 1100MHz.







Conclusion

Geforce 9800 GTX is one of the fastest cards ever built, and Zotac’s 9800 GTX AMP Edition card really goes a long way to show its overclocking potential and push the performance limit even further. This card is simply top-notch and will satisfy even the most demanding gamers. Thanks to overclocking, some results can be boosted by as much as 15% using Zotac’s 9800 GTX AMP.

Although the card features reference cooling, it’s quiet enough. With 512MB of GDDR3 memory and nice multimedia capabilities this card can take whatever you throw at it, and then some. You also get the game “Lost”, based on the popular TV series that some fans might like.

At first we were not sure if we should award this card, as it is faster than the reference one, but on the other hand you get at least ten percent faster than reference score, and this will cost you some €20 more. As we are talking about a really small amount of money we can recommend you go out and buy AMP! rather than the reference card.

If you want the best from Nvidia’s current offer, 9800 GTX AMP is definitely one of our favorites.