Official Zotac rep underfire on Reddit with regards to the 1 - 3 % lower performance..

GuitarGuy · 21 Sep 2020 at 08:06

So glad I based my plans on the wattage locks

Screw these locked cards, to some people it wont matter but I don't like leaving performance on the table - especially when I've paid so much for it.

Slam62 · 21 Sep 2020 at 08:06

When you're in a hole stop digging.
I'm not buying a zotec unless its mega cheap. Lol there's going to be such a glut of these cards soon.

Teal · 21 Sep 2020 at 08:18

I suspect we are going to see similar issues of 'consistency' with the bottom rank cards from most if not all of the manufacturers.

The silicone lottery and binning are going to mean more this time around than usual I think.

willhub · 21 Sep 2020 at 08:44

I hope MSI gets some coverage like Zotac, is there no MSI rep on reddit?

ShortWarning · 21 Sep 2020 at 09:23

This whole Zotac thing is so disappointing to me. It was one of the cards on my radar as most people on here praised Zotac (and I'm absolutely not blaming anyone, their last generation of cards were seemingly very good). I have one ordered and according to the "queue calculator" (which I know is not accurate) I'm not too far down the list.

Now, I was never planning to overclock whatever card I got so I know in actual terms it doesn't really matter what 3080 I get as the difference will not be noticeable but I can't help but be annoyed that the I've gone for the worst card and if I do cancel my pre order (which I'm still considering) there's no chance of getting any sort of graphics card upgrade until next year.

I place most of the blame on Nvidia for their stupid NDA's. If they allowed reviews earlier then everyone would have just avoided the Zotac card (myself included).

What if (and this is a really big "what if") AMD do come out with a competitive card which will undoubtedly be cheaper? What if the 3080 20gb cards come out in November?

I really don't know what to do and I'm pretty bitter about this whole release.

Deluxe1 · 21 Sep 2020 at 09:36

Kick in the teeth to everyone who has one or had one on pre order.

If they cancel could be weeks / months of more time waiting for another brand and also the risk of having to pay more.

justwondering · 21 Sep 2020 at 09:43

Deluxe1 said:
Kick in the teeth to everyone who has one or had one on pre order.

If they cancel could be weeks / months of more time waiting for another brand and also the risk of having to pay more.

Plus if you order a card from OcUK, they have removed the Watchdog free game offer, as they said they had been limited to 1000 codes, but hopefully with more codes coming....

ShortWarning · 21 Sep 2020 at 09:57

Has anyone else cancelled their Zotac preorder and decided to just wait it out?

Also pretty annoyed at the OCUK scalping. I've been buying from them for 10 years and big purchases (like GFX cards, and full builds) have always come from here. May just shop elsewhere in future.

DickieSharpe · 21 Sep 2020 at 10:12

I would suggest hanging in there if you have a Zotac Trinity on order.

Firstly, Steve at Gamers Nexus has shown that there is generally around a 3% deferential between base line and the current highest tier of cards. So currently there isn't really a top tier card that provides a great deal of added performance for the often significant price increase. This may change but that's the current state of play.

Secondly, the consistency issue mentioned by the Zotac rep appears to be caused by fluctuating boost clocks as a result of a different thermal profile and a passive default fan setting. Basically you need to keep this card cooler to achieve comparable boost clocks to the FE and the default fan settings are prioritising noise levels as opposed to thermals. Early reports of people with the card seem to suggest that it can achieve comparable boost clocks to the FE with a more aggressive fan cooling profile.

Thirdly, Zotac seem to be transparent about this and seeking to find answers. A bios update has been mentioned. An updated thermal profile and default fan setting seems very achievable. A change to the power limit to match the FE could be more challenging or not possible. I guess this will depend on how much the admittedly weak PCB can handle.

My plan is hang fire and see how all these factors develop. If more information comes to light around the Zotac being a dud or AIB cards start really getting meaningful gains then I will revaluate. Its not like the card is coming tomorrow so time is on my side. Also the price paid is key. I paid close to FE prices and so can accept close to FE performance IF I get my card soon-ish.

Please let me know if there are any glaring errors in my plan!!

BigBANGtheory · 21 Sep 2020 at 10:17

Zotac tend to do well with the latter product releases, the higher end skus like an AMP edition

ShortWarning · 21 Sep 2020 at 10:52

DickieSharpe said:
I would suggest hanging in there if you have a Zotac Trinity on order.

Firstly, Steve at Gamers Nexus has shown that there is generally around a 3% deferential between base line and the current highest tier of cards. So currently there isn't really a top tier card that provides a great deal of added performance for the often significant price increase. This may change but that's the current state of play.

Secondly, the consistency issue mentioned by the Zotac rep appears to be caused by fluctuating boost clocks as a result of a different thermal profile and a passive default fan setting. Basically you need to keep this card cooler to achieve comparable boost clocks to the FE and the default fan settings are prioritising noise levels as opposed to thermals. Early reports of people with the card seem to suggest that it can achieve comparable boost clocks to the FE with a more aggressive fan cooling profile.

Thirdly, Zotac seem to be transparent about this and seeking to find answers. A bios update has been mentioned. An updated thermal profile and default fan setting seems very achievable. A change to the power limit to match the FE could be more challenging or not possible. I guess this will depend on how much the admittedly weak PCB can handle.

My plan is hang fire and see how all these factors develop. If more information comes to light around the Zotac being a dud or AIB cards start really getting meaningful gains then I will revaluate. Its not like the card is coming tomorrow so time is on my side. Also the price paid is key. I paid close to FE prices and so can accept close to FE performance IF I get my card soon-ish.

Please let me know if there are any glaring errors in my plan!!

This makes me feel a little better and I did see the rep mention a firmware update. My understanding is that it's more a hardware issue with the PCB (poor power delivery) which is the bottle neck as opposed to the cooling though?

As you say, we're unlikely to be getting them anytime soon anyway so there's always time to re-evaluate.

willhub · 21 Sep 2020 at 11:01

I think a 1950mhz boost clock would be fine, a top tier one would probably 2050 to 2100 similar to says 2070s and performance negligible outside of benches

Ace Modder · 21 Sep 2020 at 11:10

Here are photos showing the Zotac PCB vs my Palit cards PCB.

I have added yellow circles showing something that isn't on either card that is present on the other card.

mjeccs · 21 Sep 2020 at 11:34

Can’t decide whether to cancel both of my Zotac orders and join the back of the queue :/.

mid I did not sure which card I would go with anyway...

acbluflame · 21 Sep 2020 at 11:48

Ace Modder said:
Here are photos showing the Zotac PCB vs my Palit cards PCB.

I have added yellow circles showing something that isn't on either card that is present on the other card.

The bottom card also doesn't have the black component on the left (that is highlighted with yellow circle on top pic) - it's just hidden by the long brown thermal pad.

Dnyeee · 21 Sep 2020 at 11:49

mjeccs said:
Can’t decide whether to cancel both of my Zotac orders and join the back of the queue :/.

mid I did not sure which card I would go with anyway...

I'm in the same boat. From my understanding it's a 1-3% performance lost in some titles. I'm not bothered.

skarpinis · 21 Sep 2020 at 12:00

all you cancel i will get it today

mjeccs · 21 Sep 2020 at 12:03

Anyone with knowledge of GPU’s have any idea if this is something which could be improved via bios?

acbluflame · 21 Sep 2020 at 12:22

mjeccs said:
Anyone with knowledge of GPU’s have any idea if this is something which could be improved via bios?

Only if it can stay below 336W stable from what I've read. Otherwise, it's a limitation of the fan curve which can def be targeted by a BIOS update.

Remember that even with these fixed, the FE is not a reference PCB.

DickieSharpe · 21 Sep 2020 at 12:22

mjeccs said:
Anyone with knowledge of GPU’s have any idea if this is something which could be improved via bios?

The weak fan curve - that can be improved easily yourself.
It down clocking more aggressively than the FE at 70c + - that can be improved by bios or mitigated by the user applying a custom fan profile.
The lower power limit than the FE - that can be improved by bios BUT the pcb may have components that cannot cope with the increased power.