MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning review - Introduction

Introduction

All hail Megatron -- well seriously it's the first thing that went through my mind while looking at the GeForce GTX 680 Lightning from MSI today. A beast of a graphics card that breathes power to show its performance.

Fast and furious are another the two keywords that describe the Lightning product from MSI. Today they released their GeForce GTX 680 Lightning edition. An all customized PCB, extra features, a fast factory-overclock and that new TwinFrozr IV cooler is bound to make the Kepler GPU empowered MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning a very sexy product.

Kepler my, fellow gurus, is the codename for the architecture behind the GeForce series 600 graphics cards.  The GeForce GTX 680 2GB is a fact and selling in the stores as we speak. The all new product has some interesting new features which we'll happily discuss with you.

The end result is an impressive looking beast, the customized GTX 680 has an excellent looking two fan (dual-slot) cooler applied to it. The benefits of the TwinFrozr IV cooler are plentiful though, this is a product that you will not hear whilst retaining really good temperatures, yeah it works pretty darn well for both performance and silence as well..

The card's base clock frequency is set higher at default for you, at 1110 MHz with a dynamic turbo that clocks up-to 1167 MHz. The memory though runs at a reference stock clock frequency of 6008 MHz (effective datarate). Similar to the R7970 Lightning, the new GTX 680 Lightning will also use MSI's GPU Reactor, an add-on PCB that plugs into the back of the PCB and provides cleaner and higher power levels and reduces ripple for the GPU. The GTX 680 Lightning is armed with MSI Military Class III components and features like voltage check points and 8+8-pin PCI-Express power connectors; the card is bound to impress.

Obviously with such cooling we have got to look at overclocking it a little as well, but have a quick peek at the product after which we'll dive into the GPU architecture, photo shoot and benchmarks. Say hi to the new black/yellow design -- next page please.