ZOTAC GTX 570

The Zotac GTX 570 is a great option for those looking for a high-end graphics card with a balanced set of features and decent performance while on a tight budget. The graphics card is built using the Nvidia GeForce GTX 570 GPU clocked at 732 MHz and sports 1280 MB of GDDR5 video memory. The card is based on the reference design from Nvidia and sports the same clock speeds too. ZOTAC has followed the reference design very closely and apart from their sticker, it’s pretty much identical to Nvidia's description. The GTX 570 uses a vapor chamber cooler so the fan doesn’t have to be very large. The card is built well and the heatsink's plastic covering does a good job of channeling air directly outside the case, ensuring other components don’t overheat. Two dual-link DVI ports and a mini-HDMI port are located on the rear panel of the card. On the performance front, the card is good enough for regular, high-end games as the average frame rate is around 50 fps. Some of the most enjoyable games for this card are Dirt 3 and Battlefield, which should give you average frame rates of around 80 to 85 fps. While the performance is a bit lower than the other good performers in the round-up, you should be able to overclock the card to get a bit more out of it. A mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter is bundled along with the card for those who would prefer using an HDMI interface with their monitor, or large-screen LCD TVs. You also get software like Badaboom, vReveal and Firestorm bundled with the card. ZOTAC has also thrown in a free game — Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. Overall, if you are looking for a strong DX11 graphics card while on a limited budget, then the GTX 570 from Zotac should serve you well for at least a year or two. If you definitely need a great performing card and are willing to shell out around Rs 6,000 more, then you could opt for the Zotac GTX 670 Amp edition. The GTX 670 was the second best performer in the round-up and has a decent price of Rs 24,000. Not only is the price good, Zotac is presently the only manufacturer off ering a five-year warranty period on all of its graphics cards.