ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition…

**UPDATE - August 14th, 2016: I have figured out that if I set the fan manually at 10% when the card reaches 40 degrees C, it will keep the card nice and cool at right around that temperature during normal everyday use. If the fan speed is set to auto, the fans only kick in above 60 C. I place my priorities on the card's longevity over the fans' longevity, and since they are replaceable, I prefer my manual fan settings. I have also set the fan speed at 30% when it reaches 50 C, 50% at 60 C, 70% @ 70 C, 90% @ 80 C, and 100% at 90 C and above. I have noticed this card going over 80 C when stressed, so the 90% fan speed allows it to cool down quickly. You can also leave the fan speed on auto and it also does a great job.** **UPDATE - August 12th, 2016: After stressing it with No Man's Sky on 4K full screen with all the options maxed out, the card did peak at 83 degrees C(yikes!). Right after quitting the game, the temperature immediately dropped to about 65 C, then steadily lowered before plateauing at 43 C for normal use. The fans peaked at 75% from what I can saw from the Zotac FireStorm program immediately after exiting the game to windows. Once it got the card down to 43 C, the fans idled steadily at around 5-6%. I was not able to benchmark the FPS playing No Man's Sky, but at Digital Cinema 4K resolution on my LG 31" 4K monitor, with all the graphics setting maxed, it was barely playable. There was noticeable screen tearing. I dropped a few settings down, and plateaued everything at HIGH settings(there are a couple options that could be set at ULTRA), and will try again next time. When you change the graphics setting, you have to quit and restart the game for it to take effect, so I'll try again this weekend when I more free time. UPDATE: I've read this is a bug on the game's part, and there is already a patch, so I will update if I play it again anytime soon(it seems rather boring to me. Witcher 3, XCOM 2, and Anno 2250 are much more exciting games).** **UPDATE - August 13th, 2016: Finally, here is a professional review from Tech PowerUp: techpowerup. com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_1080_Amp/ I was also able to play XCOM 2 and Witcher 3 with it. XCOM is not too graphics intensive, so everything is smooth and fine in 4K. In Witchter 3, I maxed out all the settings, in addition to 4K resolution, but turned HairWorks off, and it plays great. This is a beautiful game, and blows the PS4 version out of the water.** Since I did not want to overpay the eye-gouged prices of $700-900 for a new GTX 1080, I never really considered it in my upgrading plans. I was going to settle on the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X after trying out a reference version of the AMD RX 480 and wasn't really happy with it, especially the outrageous heat/temperature output of 80 degrees Celsius for normal everyday usage(not even gaming). Over the course of reading over 50 articles starting from the news of the (then)upcoming RX 480, to various incarnations of the GTX 1060, 1070, and 1080, it gradually and steadily pinched my "PC Master Race" nerve enough for me to want to upgrade to the MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X based on how much dough I would want to sacrifice. I am actually quite happy with that card, and would settle with it in a heartbeat. But upon finding this used Zotac for $590, then frantically searching the Internet for reviews and thus instantly falling in love with its aesthetics, I quickly took the bait and snatched it. I must say, when you pick this thing up in person, it is a thing of beauty. Obviously, beauty is subjective - I find the MSI Gaming versions to be beautiful as well, but in an aggressive way. If these were exotic cars, the MSI would be a Lamborghini with its hard and edgy style, while the Zotac would be the swooshes and swishes of a Ferrari. Be aware that not all Amp! editions look the same - like the GTX 1060 version does not look as good, in my opinion, and the three-fan aggressive look of the Amp! Extreme version is a bit overkill. This 1080 version has more carbon fiber looks and elements, so it oozes style and sophistication. I have grown to really love the aesthetics, and I think most people picking one up in person would agree. Speaking of the Amp! Extreme version, the three-fan setup, while louder, is more efficient in its cooling results, said so by the Internet of things. I have yet to push this card to the extreme, and I have heard it does run quite hot(vs the Extreme and MSI versions), so I will do more testing and come back with an update. In my computer case I have a total of six air fans(3 120, 1 140, 2 200), and it does a great job of cooling, so I don't think I will run into much trouble. By itself, the fans on the card do not turn on below 60 degrees Celsius, so in everyday usage, it would be totally silent. Even when on, the noise is very low and perfectly tolerable. Upon starting up to Windows, the card starts up at 36 degrees Celsius. During normal everyday usage of emails and surfing the Net, it plateaus between 41-43 C. The highest I have seen it rise up to is 56 C. This is with gaming at 4K with the card at its stock speeds. In the end, because of the price, I feel this is a great value. It is cheaper than the Founder's Edition, yet faster. It is also cheaper than most other custom GTX 1080 cards, and while it is not the most fastest of the bunch, with the price difference, I am perfectly fine with that. Paying an extra $100 for the AMP! Extreme, MSI Gaming Z, and Gigabyte Extreme Gaming versions and only gaining a maximum of 5 FPS on 1080p and 2 FPS at 4K to me is not worth it. Besides, we can always manually overclock and tinker around with any of these cards ourselves, so the best value are the ones that charge you the least while still giving you an easy option to overclock the card, which all of the companies allow for these days. So for me, the cheaper price option with the great aesthetics was what made me choose this version. NOTE: I also found this little gem which states the Zotac cards have great power delivery circuitry(which allows for better, safer, more stable overclocking): videocardz. com/60547/comparison-of-custom-geforce-gtx-1080-pcbs - delete the space between the .com