MSI teasing GeForce GTX 980 Ti Lightning

Silent_Scone · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:08

MSI teasing GeForce GTX 980 Ti Lightning

Source: http://videocardz.com/56288/msi-teasing-geforce-gtx-980-ti-lightning

In case you don’t remember, MSI has not released GM204-based Lightning, because ‘they were waiting for the big Maxwell’.
Well, the Big Maxwell is already here, so it’s about time we see the successor to GTX 780 Ti Lighting (the Big Kepler).

MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning would be most powerful GTX 980 Ti model from MSI’s garage. We do not expect to see TITAN-X Lightning anytime soon (actually ever), so this card could potentially be the actual MSI’s flagship GPU till Pascal.

MSI GTX 980Ti Lightning is said to arrive with updated TriFrozr cooling solution.

It is yet unclear if company is planning Radeon Fury X Lightning (sounds odd, does anyone have any better idea for the name?).

Given the layout it's likely to be very similar to the 290x vreg layout and have the same cooler - same colour scheme to boot given the artwork.

Only thing that I want to know personally is are they binning these, or like with the 290X could we be left with an expensive paperweight core, and an awesome pcb and cooler. Probably the best cooler I've ever used

Geeman1979 · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:10

This or the Classified could peak my attention.

Agreed on the coolers, they are corkers.

r7slayer · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:10

They binned the 290x gpu on the lightning as far as I know. Also the 290x Lightning had 2x8 and 1x6 connectors not just 2x8 looks like this absorbs less power

Silent_Scone · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:11

Geeman1979 said:
This or the Classified could peak my attention.

Something people waiting for Fury should keep in mind is we've not really seen what GM200 can really do other than obviously with eboards and hard mods

r7slayer said:
They binned the 290x gpu on the lightning as far as I know.

I'd love to know to what clocks in that case...the other thing is that the 290x throttles the amperage past a certain point and I can't remember where exactly. It was actually more beneficial to buy reference boards made by Sapphire when pushing the top end. To overcome the throttling one has to obtain a copy of MSI Afterburner Extreme, which isn't something you can get on request at a whim. Basically the AMD boards are so tanked in the vreg department anyway, there's not much point if you're planning on stripping the card of the cooler.

Totally different story with this card, as the reference Flextronic boards are mediocre at best and at worst down right adequate for normal (non 'rag it' operation

)

Geeman1979 · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:14

Silent_Scone said:
Something people waiting for Fury should keep in mind is we've not really seen what GM200 can really do other than obviously with eboards and hard mods

True, the beefed up boards on the Classy/Lightnings can take some serious hammer.

From what I can remember, the Lightnings are not binned.

Silent_Scone · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:23

r7slayer said:
They binned the 290x gpu on the lightning as far as I know. Also the 290x Lightning had 2x8 and 1x6 connectors not just 2x8 looks like this absorbs less power

I've removed that photo as it was of the 680 PCB

. They follow the same layout however, but it's likely to have similar power input to the 290x

Geeman1979 said:
True, the beefed up boards on the Classy/Lightnings can take some serious hammer.

From what I can remember, the Lightnings are not binned.

I didn't think they were either. Mine could do 1280Mhz with close to 1.5v lol.

Kaapstad · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:24

Silent_Scone said:
Something people waiting for Fury should keep in mind is we've not really seen what GM200 can really do other than obviously with eboards and hard mods

+1

I think the Fury will have very little overclocking headroom compared to the GM200 cards and if NV feel under pressure they could very easily release reference cards with a 1200mhz+ base clock.

As to the non ref ones I think the Kingpin version will be both fast and expensive.

Full credit to EVGA with the 980 Ti cards they have said up front that there will be a Kingpin version so people know what's what.

Geeman1979 · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:25

Silent_Scone said:
I've removed that photo as it was of the 680 PCB . They follow the same layout however, but it's likely to have similar power input to the 290x

I didn't think they were either. Mine could do 1280Mhz with close to 1.5v lol.

1280 is a very good clock for a 290X. Not many reached that on air.

Plenty struggled on water to reach that speed.

Geeman1979 · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:27

Kaapstad said:
+1

I think the Fury will have very little overclocking headroom compared to the GM200 cards and if NV feel under pressure they could very easily release reference cards with a 1200mhz+ base clock.

As to the non ref ones I think the Kingpin version will be both fast and expensive.

Full credit to EVGA with the 980 Ti cards they have said up front that there will be a Kingpin version so people know what's what.

**** the Kingpin. I'd take my chances with the vanilla Classified.

Silent_Scone · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:27

That's a testament to the cooler more than anything. The VRM didn't exceed 70c at that voltage if the software polling was to be believed. It's a behemoth. I doubt reviewers are at liberty to try these things though lol

Geeman1979 · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:29

True, the Lightning cooler surprised me on how well it coped when upping the volts.

Silent_Scone · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:32

Now try fitting 3 of them in one system though

Kaapstad said:
+1

I think the Fury will have very little overclocking headroom compared to the GM200 cards and if NV feel under pressure they could very easily release reference cards with a 1200mhz+ base clock.

As to the non ref ones I think the Kingpin version will be both fast and expensive.

Full credit to EVGA with the 980 Ti cards they have said up front that there will be a Kingpin version so people know what's what.

Kingpin Ti could well come with a 1200 base clock. The GTX has a base clock of just under 1300 core so I'd expect the Ti to come in at slightly less. I don't think NVIDIA would bother with a clock ramped reference card. Like the 390X for example

Sorrysorry!

Geeman1979 · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:33

2 we're enough.

Bonjour · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:40

Bound to be a great card. Could cost close to a Titan X though.

Geeman1979 · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:45

But you could have more fun with it, plus it will run cooler and quieter.

Silent_Scone · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:49

We'll find out soon enough, Ian (8-Pack) will have MSI tattooed on his chest before long lol

Geeman1979 · 13 Jun 2015 at 08:53

This is the one I'd probably go with, even though I prefer EVGA as a brand.

mahius · 13 Jun 2015 at 09:31

I prefer MSI's TwinFrozr cooler, that thing is so damn quiet. Unless the lightning is also just as capable of quietness?

yoyo59 · 13 Jun 2015 at 09:39

now im excited, im glad they skipped the 980 unlike EVGA who will kingpin/classy anything.

I hope it comes in @ £629..

Silent_Scone · 13 Jun 2015 at 09:48

mahius said:
I prefer MSI's TwinFrozr cooler, that thing is so damn quiet. Unless the lightning is also just as capable of quietness?

Trust me, if it's the same cooler as the 290x you'll be happy as Larry.