MSI GTX 680 Lightning Review

[siopao1984]

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IntroductionWe love it when a new MSI Lightning card hits our desk. The GTX 680 Lightning is the latest addition to the highly regarded range that MSI reserves for the highest end GPU's from the AMD and Nvidia ranges. Without even opening the box we expect that MSI will have produced a card that will be a strong contender for the best GTX 680 available.

We'll begin with a quick refresher on the cards base architecture. The MSI GTX 680 Lightning is built around the Nvidia GK104 GPU. It's a 28nm GPU built by TSMC and packs 3.54 billion transistors into a 294mm² die. We have a 256 bit memory bus and 1536 shaders or 'CUDA cores' in Nvidia parlance. The 680 Lightning follows these basic specs, surprisingly keeping the memory clock at 1502Mhz for the 2GB of GDDR5 memory.The biggest differentiating features of the 680 Lightning are its unlocked triple voltage control and the highly regarded Twin Frozr IV cooler. The reference PCB has been completely overhauled and now features MSI's trademark customized Military Class III components. Add in twin 8pin PCIe power connectors and clearly this is an altogether different beast from the rather bland reference design.MSI have substantially boosted the core clock over the reference card. It ships with a 1111Mhz base clock, which is able to boost to 1176Mhz when TDP conditions allow it. The memory clock remains at the reference clock of 1502Mhz (6008Mhz effective.) We would like to have seen this boosted a bit as the GTX 680 generally responds well to bandwidth increases. We'd also like to see a 4GB option. Perhaps MSI will release another version in the future like we saw with the GTX 580 Lightning Extreme Edition.Other noteworthy features include the addition of a separate rear mounted PCB called the GPU Reactor. It is designed to provide cleaner power with reduced ripple for the GPU. We also have voltage measurement points and a dual BIOS switch. One is the default bios that is set from the factory while the second one is optimized for subzero cooling that allows for a higher TDP limit and removes overclocker unfriendlies such as overcurrent protection and overvoltage protection. Obviously this isn't your common GTX 680.Specifications

Graphics Engine	GeForce GTX 680
Interface	PCI Express x16 3.0
Memory Type	GDDR5
Memory Size(MB)	2048
Memory Interface	256 bits
Core Clock Speed(MHz)	1111 (Boost Clock 1176)
Memory Clock Speed(MHz)	6008 (3004 x 2)
Memory Bandwidth(GB/sec)	192.3
DVI Output	2
D-SUB Output	1 (via adapter)
HDMI-Output	1
DisplayPort	1
HDCP Support	Y
Dual-link DVI	Y
Display Output (Max Resolution)	2560x1600
RAMDACs (Mhz)	400
DirectX Version Support	11
OpenGL Version Support	4.2
SLI Support	Y
Up to 4-way SLI	Y
Card Dimension(mm)	280x129x49.15 (w/ GPU Reactor)

Read more: MSI GTX 680 Lightning Review by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

A Closer Look at the MSI GTX 680 Lightning

As we can see from the box shot, unlocked digital voltage (software) control is the primary differentiating feature of the GTX 680 Lightning that sets it apart from other GTX 680 designs.



The box interior is loaded with marketing information that tells you everything you need to know about the card, and then says some more.



The bundle MSI ship with the GTX 680 Lightning is very basic. You won't find expensive.. err 'free' games or a heap of accessories you are unlikely to use. The card itself is what matters. In addition from what you see in the pic below, you'll also receive three pairs of voltage monitoring cables, software CD, user manuals and a flashy certificate that proudly details the various testing methodologies the cards components have passed to qualify for the Military Class III rating.



Now for the card itself. MSI have introduced the forth iteration of their highly regarded Twin Frozr cooler series and have added a splash of yellow. The card will be well suited looks wise to the company's upcoming MPower range of motherboards.



The MSI GTX 680 Lightning comes with four display outputs. We have Display Port and HDMI 1.4a connectors as well as a pair of DVI connectors. One is capable of working with a DVI-VGA adapter whilst the other is digital only. Any combination of the three can be used to drive a Nvidia surround triple monitor setup.

[siopao1984]

A Closer Look Part II

In the picture below we see the additional PCB that MSI calls the GPU Reactor. It connects to small headers adjacent to the GPU. Its function is to supply clean and filtered voltage to the GPU with the aim of minimizing ripple. This feature is obviously designed to maximize overclocking and further emphasizes MSI's focus on providing a real enthusiasts card, both as a stock air cooled card as well as catering to the ln2 cooling crowd.

The module is lit with blue LEDs and will be quite prominent in a windowed case. Do be aware that the protruding module could potentially interfere with some large CPU coolers and/or motherboard heatsinks. The same applies to SLI configurations. Running a pair of these in SLI will effectively require three slots between the first and second cards.









Previous Lightning cards have featured Proadlizer capacitors for a similar purpose. The GPU reactor takes this design feature to the next level. The card is simply begging to have extra voltage added to it. Running a card like this at stock voltage simply makes no sense and gives the finger to Nvidia's imposed 1.175v limit.





In the pic below we see the three cables that connect to the small voltage reading plugs. They are used measure the core, memory and PLL voltages when connected to a digital multimeter, hence the triple overvoltage moniker.

We also have a good view of the fans of the Twin Frozr IV cooler. A primary design feature of these fans is the ability to spin backwards for about 30 seconds at high speed. The purpose is to avoid dust buildup. Don't worry when powering it on for the first time. The fans really aren't that loud. By the time windows loads, the fans will already be spinning down to their regular levels.

Also note the slight protrusion of the fans. As they are not flush to the metal shroud, it makes it effectively impossible to run in SLI when sandwiched tightly together. When combined with the protruding GPU reactor, the cards can basically be considered as triple slot cards.





As we'll see later on, the Twin Frozr IV cooler does an excellent job, keeping the card very cool while maintaining low noise levels in most reasonable usage scenarios. There are a total of five nickel plated heatpipes. Two are of a large 8mm width that distribute heat to the furthest parts of the heatsink. The cooler hasn't changed much from previous Twin Frozr iterations, but then when it works this well, there's no need to change it.





The card prominently features components that pass military standard qualification testing. We have a very robust 12 phase PWM system, Hi-C Caps, copper mosfets and pretty nice looking gold plated chokes. We also see the twin 8-pin PCIe power connectors on the far right. Besides providing greatly enhanced power delivery capabilities, this means the cards components have the bonus of a greatly extended expected lifetime. The metal shroud that covers the pcb has the dual benefit of providing cooling for the memory chips and mosfets as well as adding a great deal of rigidity to the card.

In the top middle we see the small BIOS selection switch. As we briefly mentioned, the LN2 BIOS disables the protection mechanisms that can be a hindrance when overclocking with sub zero cooling. Phase switching and overcurrent protection are disabled when using this BIOS. This, along with a much higher TDP limit of 300% are major highlights for the LN2 overclockers. MSI claims that using by using this BIOS, up to 900w of power can be delivered! Features like this usually involve hard modifications so it is great to see MSI embracing the overclocking community by providing these options with a simple flick of a switch.



A CHiL semiconductor CHL8318 PWM performs most of the voltage control functions. This chip is i2C controllable and is found on several other GTX 680 models, however for whatever reason, Nvidia do not allow this. MSI have risked the wrath of Nvidia by allowing software voltage control, although this may be coming to an end sooner rather than later thanks to some high level phone calls. An enterprising user will still be able to do this thanks to BIOSes floating around in the wild. So if you buy a 680 Lightning in the future, you may still use the software voltage control by flashing to one of these unlocked BIOSes.

[siopao1984]

Software

The newly released MSI Afterburner v 2.2.3 now features full support for the GTX 680 Lightning. Created by Unwinder of Rivatuner fame, Afterburner has become the most popular utility to overclock cards and adjust voltages. It offers a simple user interface, monitoring functions, fan control, video capturing and the ability to save profiles. It really is an excellent utility offering ease of use, simplicity and reliability. Kudos to MSI for allowing not just their own cards to be used and abused with it, but tacitly many of those from other vendors as well. The video capture feature is useful for capturing things like in game sequences. There's a large range of configurable video settings.

The following two screenshots illustrate the maximum available clocks and voltages available using the LN2 BIOS. These settings will be more than enough for air users. Some may wish for a little more core voltage, but MSI is understandably reluctant to allow more. LN2 users will have to be nice to their MSI reps and demonstrate experience with ln2 cooling to get their hands on an extreme version that should extend these ranges further.







Overclocking

Surely anyone who is considering buying a GTX 680 Lightning is interested in overclocking right? We used the unlocked LN2 BIOS for most of our testing to allow that little bit extra over the regular BIOS.

At first we thought the card used for this review was a good overclocker, capable of running a boost clock of ~1350Mhz in some benchmarks. We ended up settling on a final boost clock of 1330Mhz (1331Mhz fluctuating) with +100mv on the core which was perfectly stable throughout all benchmarks in our test suite. The memory was set at 1777Mhz or 7108Mhz QDR. Not bad at all, but nothing too extraordinary compared to some cards we've tested.





Late in testing, everything changed and our overclocking satisfaction went up to another level. Another card arrived at the VRZone office. Our esteemed editor Lennard ran some quick tests at a boost clock of 1427Mhz!! No other GTX 680 we have tested has come close to this (albeit without increasing voltage) but since Nvidia is steadfastly refusing to allow increased voltage on Kepler cards, no other card is likely to get close either. Benchmarking junkies take note!





We cannot wait to see what the extreme crowd can do with this card in the coming weeks. What damage could a 2Ghz core clock achieve?

It is worth noting that the LN2 bios defaults to a core voltage of just over 1.21v, which, according to a digital multimeter is higher in reality. In fact, when pushing +100mv on the core the DMM measured voltage is not 1.31v as you would expect, but closer to 1.37v. While temperatures at this voltage remain in check, obviously this is quite a high level compared to other 28nm GPU's. MSI is highly unlikely to allow higher than this or risk an abnormally high RMA rate.

[siopao1984]

Test Setup

CPU i7 3960X @ 4.7Ghz
Motherboard Asus Rampage IV Gene w/BIOS 0013
Memory 4x4Gb G.Skill Trident @ 2133Mhz 9-10-9-27 1T
Power Supply Antec HCP-1200
Storage Intel 330 Series 180Gb SSD
OS Windows 7 x64 w/SP1

Graphics Cards
MSI N680GTX Lightning
Nvidia GTX 680 (reference)
(Nvidia Forceware 304.79 driver with PCIe 3.0 patch)

AMD Radeon HD 7970 (reference)
(AMD Catalyst 12.6 WHQL)

Benchmarks













The GTX 680 Lightning, like all GTX 680's performs well in situations involving tessellation. It's high default core clock allow it to perform strongly in most games. However, the fact remains that the competing HD 7970 performs strongly in some games. It is boosted by it's larger 3GB framebuffer and up to 50% greater memory bandwidth. Basing a purchase on benchmarks will likely come down to which games you play. The GTX 680 Lightning is of course easily capable of playing virtually any game at maximum settings at common gaming resolutions. It gets a significant boost when overclocked thanks to its amazing headroom. Overclocking the memory helps a lot too given the bus width penalty the GTX 680 inherently suffers from versus the 7970.

[andz]

very nice video card

[siopao1984]

Triple Screen Benchmarks








AMD's Tahiti cards are known to perform well at very high resolutions and which is what we see here especially when the card is overclocked. The HD 7970's 384-bit bus also gives it a ~50% bandwidth advantage. Based on what we've seen here and in other testing, the 7970 appears to be the better bet for triple screen resolutions. Don't forget that MSI also offers a 7970 Lightning which provides many of the same features we have on the 680 Lightning.

We saw evidence of the 680 Lightning running into memory limitations with usage in BF3 getting awfully close to the 2gb frame buffer limit.

[siopao1984]

Temperatures & Noise Levels

To measure temperatures, we ran MSI's own Kombustor software (similar to furmark) and used the on die temperature sensor to measure the results. We also used a sound level meter to record the noise levels generated by the Twin Frozr IV cooler.

With a room ambient temperature of an admittedly cool 19c, with the card at fully auto settings, we saw a peak temperature of just 55c! We expect temperatures like these on low end cards, not flagship performance cards! The fans of the Twin Frozr IV cooler were running at 40%. At this speed they are barely distinguishable over the background noise of the rest of the system. A Noctua NF-P14 fan used to cool the CPU was louder (hardly a noisy fan!) producing a low sound level reading of a largely irrelevant 36dB.



When overclocked, the temperatures and noise levels remained very impressive. With the maximum +100mv applied with Afterburner, temperatures peaked at a perfectly acceptable 65c. When left on the auto setting, the fans ramped up to 47%. At this speed the fans begin to become audible over the background noise of the system, but just barely. We recorded a noise level of 42dB, well below what we expect from a highly overclocked performance GPU. Overall the Twin Frozr IV cooler does a superlative job, both at keeping the card cool whilst maintaining excellent low noise levels. Awesome!

At maximum speed, the fans become quite loud as expected, but not too high pitched. Anyone running maximum fan speed is not likely to care about noise levels, such as while benchmarking.







Conclusion



MSI have taken the GTX 680 and given it what we wanted from the start. The ability to increase voltages via software really sets the card apart from other 680s. Despite reports of Nvidia clamping down on the feature, the genie is out of the bottle now that BIOSes are in the wild. The card is generally capable of overclocks above 1.4Ghz which provides best in class performance and goes a long way to justifying the extra price over many other GTX 680's. The fact remains that the competing 7970 performs very well in some games, even more so at triple screen resolutions and in some cases the choice of card may come down to what games you play. MSI of course covers both camps with its highly regarded 7970 Lightning which has many of the same features we see on the 680 Lightning.

The MSI GTX 680 Lightning is a very fast card with a hefty factory overclock, software voltage control, an excellent cooler and robust design. If you intend to overclock and want to do so with ease thanks to the newly released Afterburner software, then there's no other choice really. Yes, its expensive, but the MSI GTX 680 Lightning is a strong contender for the best single GPU graphics card on the market.



Price: US$569.99 (NewEgg) / SGD$855 (PC Themes)


Pros
Software Voltage Control
Big factory overclock
Huge overclocking potential
Cool & quiet thanks to the superb Twin Frozr IV cooler
Excellent custom PCB and PWM.

Cons
Could use a 4GB framebuffer for very high res
Expensive. Recent 7970 price drops don't help

[siopao1984]

Price: US$569.99 (NewEgg) / SGD$855 (PC Themes)

oh guys si andz oh namaligya na. sure ko mas barato if ad2 mo palit kang andz hahaha

[andz]

amazing video card, already selling this.