When NVIDIA launched the GeForce 9500 GT near the end of July 2008, they also launched the GeForce 9800 GT version, and they are both aimed at the budget conscious minded. The GeForce 9800GT itself shares similar technical specifications with the GeForce 8800 GT, although the GeForce 9800 GT has a few added features and is based on the 55nm process, which makes it NVIDIA's first graphics card to be based on the 55nm process with the G92b core. The order of the day brings us a Zotac GeForce 9800 GT 512MB AMP! edition, which is Zotac's overclocked version of the GeForce 9800 GT, all set to deliver superior performance. So let's try and prove that it does just that. - t-break

Zotac GeForce 9800 GT AMP! Graphics Board Review

Before we get to the real deal, we have a bright orange box with a menacing fire breathing dragon on the front to deal with. A couple of stickers also feature on the box, one indicating there's a free game bundled and the other that this particular card is a limited edition. The first and most noticeable feature of the card itself is the bright orange PCB that Zotac has built this card on, it's just different. On the cooling front, we see a great similarity in the heatsink used to cool the GeForce 8800 GT card with the bigger fan for improved cooling while remaining slim enough to occupy a single slot and as such save some space.

Moving to the back end of the card we have the dual link DVI ports. On the other end, we see a single 6-pin PCI Express power connector that is used to supply to power the card from an outside source with the help of the supplied power adapter. We cracked off the heatsink from the PCB for a full view of the tangy orange PCB and the clean looking G92b 55nm GPU. And the Zotac AMP! edition making it a GPU with a core clock of 700MHz than the original GeForce 9800 GT core clock of 600MHz. The shader is also overclocked to 1700MHz against the original 1500MHz clock speed, which is a nice pre-overclocked setting.

Overclocking an overclocked card is a bit of a challenge. Using RivaTuner we were able to hit 770MHz on the core, 1850MHz on the shader and 2300MHz on the memory clock. The results following the overclock were quite impressive on the Futuremark benchmarks. Feature wise the GeForce 9800 GT is very much similar to its predecessor, the GeForce 8800 GT except for newer features like HybridPower and Hybrid SLI technology. Temperatures remained very steady at idle and at load with a middle average of 50°C which makes the card a great overclocker and probably even better with the use of an aftermarket cooling.

Performance wise the GeForce 9800 GT version isn't really here to make big revolutionary changes over its predecessor. Its performance seems no better and this particular overclocked version of the card isn't making much of a statement either. Value for money is an issue with this card. Even though the GeForce 9800 GT is aimed at the budget conscious, the price tag of $250 for the Zotac GeForce 9800 GT AMP! does not reflect the same sentiment. You can get equal or more mileage from a lesser priced card.