Review: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming OC

#5111114 Posted on: 06/30/2015 11:50 AM

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Awesome card, I would go for 2 of these if I didn't already own 2 MSI 970s 4G, which will last me until Pascal and whatever the name of the new GPUs will be next year.

GPU wise, MSI has started doing great in the last years, along with Afterburner it's a perfect combo. Motherboards are decent too, but imo they shine most in their GPU department.

#5111122 Posted on: 06/30/2015 12:03 PM

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Not really, as long as there are gaps or holes in the backplate at the right location I can pin through them, 1mm is all I need for the measure point. It only gets tricky once a hotspot is blocked though. But from a manufacturing point of view, that would not make sense so that hardly happens.

But a full cover / backplate, that would be an issue. But you could still use thermal imaging to see how a card behaves thermals wise.

#5111123 Posted on: 06/30/2015 12:05 PM

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I'm about to purchase 980Ti SLI and I need your help/oppinion.

MSI or G1?

This is very difficult decision to me.
What is your thought on this?


I've bought the MSI GTX 980Ti Gaming and I think its an amazing card. Have not overclocked it yet using Afterburner. But using MSI's OC mode on their gaming app its reaching 1380 on the core.

BF4 Maxed out settings at 2560 x 1440 getting 140 FPS!

Amazing card!

Can't comment on the Gigabyte but MSI's card is superb!

#5111125 Posted on: 06/30/2015 12:09 PM

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I'm about to purchase 980Ti SLI and I need your help/oppinion.

MSI or G1?

This is very difficult decision to me.
What is your thought on this?

I had them both. I can say both are good in different way.
It more deepend from Your preference - silence vs overclocking
TF5 is much more silent, have independent cooling solution on all parts on PCB.
When WF3 (other philosophy) all possille components on PCB connected into one huge radiator.

TF5 have 2x10 cm fan adventage, when WF3 have huge radiator adventage.

There is one thing worthy mention about TF5. They have independent fan controll. So if You prefer "custom fan profile" mode. U will have discomfort with that -coz only one fan will work for curve. And only MSI fan controll work for fan speed - there no "curve".

I will chose MSI solution. Coz great quality, sillent, also still should overclock - if U need throtling already OC'ed cards..

Go with MSI. I have heard lots of bad things about Gigabyte cards recently. I had bad luck with my MSI GTX 970 as it doesnt overclock _at all_, but I have found out to be alone with this. Gigabyte cards are known to have overclocking problems. As someone already explained, their software sucks. With MSI you also contribute in AfterBurner and its RivaTuner back-end, which is a good thing.

Both MSI and Gigabyte have/had problems.
TF5 had some fan issues when start their GTX 980/970.
Gigabyte when launch 980/970 had some bios issues.
Overclocking also deepend how bios is set itself, and even drivers version is - ye shame nvidia.. still fight with TDR isuess (it can reduce OC).

Its not same Gigabyte like 10 years ago.. I mean alot better anyway.

#5111127 Posted on: 06/30/2015 12:11 PM

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Great review, MSI Gaming cards are awesome.

Hilbert, on page 11 in the first chart (Noise level IDLE in DBa) there's a typo, it says Radeon R9 370 ASUS STRIX (4GB) instead of MSI GTX 980Ti Gaming 6G OC.