MSI Announces GeForce GTX 1080 Ti LIGHTNING Z
by Nate Oh on June 21, 2017 11:00 AM EST
After posting a teaser video last week, MSI has followed up by announcing their latest ultra-high-end Lightning-branded graphics card: the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti LIGHTNING Z. The triple-slot-width, triple-fan, and triple-8-pin power connector card comes equipped with all the latest in thermal solutions, overclocking design, and shiny colors. Yes, for those hoping that ‘Lightning’ correlates with ‘lighting,’ the LIGHTNING Z comes LED-strewn and slickly-hewn with Mystic Light RGB control, backplate, and alternate colored shroud highlights.
A key feature of the LIGHTNING Z is a BIOS switch that toggles “LN2 Mode,” which lifts power/current and thermal limits. The allure here is that for extreme overclockers used to hard volt-modding (with pencil or otherwise) can simply flick the switch when necessary. At the same time, MSI also advertises Military Class 4 components, as well as card features such as V-Check Points, a hardware-based voltage measurement design, and Quadruple Overvoltage, a specialized auxiliary voltage system.
| MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti LIGHTNING Z | |||
| Boost Clock | 1721MHz (Lightning Mode) 1695MHz (Gaming Mode) 1582MHz (Silent Mode) |
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| Base Clock | 1607MHz (Lightning Mode) 1582MHz (Gaming Mode) 1480MHz (Silent Mode) |
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| Memory Clock | 11124MHz (Lightning/Gaming Mode) 11016MHz (Silent Mode) |
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| VRAM | 11GB GDDR5X (352-bit) |
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| TDP | 250W | ||
| Outputs | 2x DP1.4, 2x HDMI2.0b, 1x DL-DVI-D | ||
| Power Connectors | 3x 8pin | ||
| Length | 320mm | ||
| Width | 2.5 Slot (61mm) | ||
| Weight | 1.7kg | ||
| Cooler Type | Open Air | ||
| Price | TBA | ||
Keeping the beast cool is MSI’s Tri-Frozr design, armed with 3 TORX 2.0 Fans (1 x 9cm, 2 x 10cm). Alongside the main heatsink/heatpipe complex, the card has a flatter memory/MOSFET heatsink and heatpipe, as well as a rear heatpipe in between the PCB and backplate. The custom PCB itself possesses 10 layers, 14 GPU power phases, and 3 memory power phases.
And as for Mystic Light, MSI’s LED control software enables users to synchronize and adjust lighting across devices, other components, and peripherals, even changing color schemes from the luxury of your smartphone.
MSI has not released pricing information at this time. The LIGHTNING Z is “expected to be available in July.”
Source: MSI
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vladx - Wednesday, June 21, 2017 - link
Amazing, this might actually challenge my Titan Xp once overclocked.LauRoman - Wednesday, June 21, 2017 - link
F**k RGBSkOrPn - Wednesday, June 21, 2017 - link
Yay, yet another card impossible to purchase thanks to mining.BrokenCrayons - Thursday, June 22, 2017 - link
Eh, I'll wait the 8-10 years it takes for iGPUs to offer similar performance or maybe the 6 years it takes for bottom feeder dGPUs to do the same. I just can't see stuffing something that absurdly huge and power hungry into a computer just so I can play an early access garbage fire of a game that's been overhyped and pushed out the door without optimization, adequate bug stomping, or half the promised features. It just seems imprudent to spend a ton on purchase price and spend more on power and air conditioning only to have the privilege of spending release day prices on games so that I can be a beta tester for EA's latest steamer.BurntMyBacon - Friday, June 23, 2017 - link
This philosophy works for single player games and even some low requirement online multiplayer games that are popular enough to still have a following after a decade (I.E. CounterStrike). Online multiplayer games with a yearly release cadence and subsequent mass exodus to the new game in the series (I.E. Call of Duty) force players into upgrading into a system that can run it before it gets abandoned (or deal with limited gameplay types and long match making due to low player count).I personally spend up a bit (but not up to the flagship products) on the video card and look to play most releases between a year and two years out when I can find a good discount. There are very few game series that I am tempted to purchasing at or near release. In the last decade, I've only purchased XCOM Enemy Unknown and Deus Ex: Human Revolution at or near launch. I do miss out on some pretty nice titles for a little while, but I also miss out on a lot of disappointment.