ZOTAC has today launched what it calls the world's fastest air-cooled GeForce GTX 400-series graphics cards in the form of the GeForce GTX 480 AMP! Edition and GTX 470 AMP! Edition.
Both cards make use of a custom PCB that's said to be "engineered to maximise performance" and a custom cooling solution designed to prevent meltdown.
The oversized cooler, used on both GTX 480 and GTX 470 variants of the AMP! designs, features a heatsink with a pure copper base and an array of heatpipes that distribute heat across numerous aluminium fins. Occupying the best part of three expansion slots, the cards are then topped off by a pair of orange 92mm fans.
Certainly looks as if it's up to the challenge of cooling NVIDIA's latest - so much so that ZOTAC provides a healthy out-the-box overclock for both cards.
The GeForce GTX 480 AMP! Edition, pictured above, will ship with its core bumped from a reference 700MHz to a supercharged 756MHz. The 480 stream processors are moved up a notch from 1,401MHz to 1,512MHz and the 1.5GB GDDR5 frame buffer is set to run at 3,800MHz - up from 3,696MHz.
The GeForce GTX 470 AMP! Edition, pictured below, gets similar treatment. The card's core, shaders and memory are factory overclocked to 656MHz, 1,312MHz and 3,402MHz, respectively - all decent increases from NVIDIA's reference 607MHz, 1,215MHz and 3,348MHz.
There's no mention of pricing or availability as yet, but ZOTAC's extended warranty is starting to look mighty useful.
