MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING Z 8G review - Product Showcase

Overall you are looking at a card that consumes roughly 180 Watts under full load. The new TwiNFrozr revision VI cooler is as always impressive in both cooling performance as well as its low noise-levels. The card remains passive, as up-to a GPU temperature of 60 Degrees C the fans do not even spin. The fans (Torx) used are a new revision and should also offer a bit more airflow. MSI will try to force as much performance out of the cards at a maximum cooling threshold of roughly 70 Degrees C for this 1080 model with the TwiNFrozr series VI cooler.
  

The GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming Z is roughly 11 inches in length which is 28 cm so it should fit comfortably in pretty much any decent chassis. Precise measurements btw are 279x140x42mm. 
  

 

Above the TwinFrozr VI cooler stripped away, you'll notice that MSI placed extra shielding heatsinks over the GDDR5X memory as well as a heatsink directly on top of the VRM area. Good stuff alright. The PCB board design is custom from MSI build upon their Military Class IV standard. It is a bit of marketing yes, but the component selection does follow MIL-STD-810G certification, these components have proven to be able to withstand the torturous circumstances in both gaming and overclocking. The GPU empowering the product is called the A1 revision of the GP104-400 GPU
 
 

For those that wonder, the board is equipped with Micron GDDR5X memory ICs. An actual 10 phase power supply is responsible for supplying the GP104-400 GPU with power. The card (with cooler) weights 1100g.
  

 
RGB LEDs are a bit of a trend and like everybody MSI is following. They did it right and subtle though. The LED system can be controlled individually by choosing any of the animation effects available in the MSI Gaming App, ranging from responding to your game sounds or music to steady light, breathing and flashing. Of course, you can also turn them off.
 

And yes, I do thing that is a terrific looking product with the red accents and all matte black. The backside backplate has a Gaming series logo, LED activated. Again I am not a fan of too many logos, a more subtle LED lit dragon would have had my preference opposed to the product branding. By the way the LED color of the logo (white parts in the photo) can be chanhed as well as being animated.