Zotac RTX 3070 AMP Holo Review

Final Score: 82%

Let’s face it. We all buy these cards not for folding proteins or advancing science… or even for work. Instead we spend our money so as to help shut the real world out for a while. So, it is a real shame when politics introduces into entertainment escapism. We are of course referring to the downright punishing tariffs and duties the US has placed upon Hong Kong based manufactures such as Zotac. We make mention of this fact as, for consistency, we typically use U.S. Dollars and US MSRP’s for all reviews. That will continue but equally obvious is if a price is out to lunch will do our best to put it into its proper perspective.

In the case of the Zotac RTX 3070 AMP Holoblack the USD MSRP is indeed out to lunch. So much so that it not only is one of the most expensive RTX 3070’s we know of, it costs basically as much as a NVIDIA F.E. RTX 3080. Needless to say… if you are in the US that makes the Zotac RTX 3070 AMP Holoblack almost a non-starter. It really does not matter how good a x70 is it is never going to equal the performance of the same generation’s x80 -especially when the NVIDIA has stepped up the F.E.’s abilities. Only those interested in silence may be able to justify the US cost of this card. Even then, there are others that also take a low noise approach to RTX 3070 performance and can equal or even exceed its abilities.

Make no mistake this is a good NVIDIA RTX 3070 video card. It works and it works well at both being rather quiet and offering extremely good pixel pushing power. It just is not a RTX 3080. It is a GA104-300 “RTX 3070” based card. Thankfully, when you start looking around at other countries MSRP things are much, much better for the HoloBlack. It still is no Palit Jetstream OC with a 330watt board limit but it is not priced like one either. Instead, it will set you back about the same as Gigabyte’s Gaming OC or an ASUS’ TUF OC RTX 3070.

In many ways this a very good price class to be in for the Zotac RTX 3070 AMP Holoblack. While it is indeed true you are talking about a two larger fan vs three smaller fan RTX 3070 card options there are pros and cons to both configurations and one where the Zotac can easily hold its own. Arguably even make a compelling case for opting for it over the others. After all, the Zotac will be easier to work with in smaller cases, simply looks better, and really does not cost buyers all that much on the overclocking or noise front. In other words, for basically the same cost (for non-US buyers) as the other mid-high end RTX 3070’s you get a card that is drop dead gorgeous, nearly silent, and offers performance levels that do indeed easily justify the step up from the various RTX 3060 Tis’ and even RTX 3070 Founders Edition class cards. Put bluntly, this is an excellent card that offers a lot of value for non-US tariff impacted buyers. One that we whole heartedly recommend. It just is a shame those punishing tariffs will make it an endangered species in the USofA.