MSI Lightning Graphics cards, a trip down memory lane
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fantaskarsef
GTX 580 Lightning XE all the way!
AndyMutz
I still have my good old MSI R5870 Lightning 🙂
-andy-
Unwinder
Hehe, it was nice and productive 10 years. I still have engineering samples of most of those cards here, in my collection.
Undying
R9 290X and GTX780 are best looking.
airbud7
I like the 5870...kinda like a chromed-out sports car
https://www.guru3d.com/miraserver/images/2010/5870-lightning/bottom3.jpg
kings
I had a HD7970 and R9 290X Lightning back in the day, both fantastic cards with a huge OC margin.
Legacy-ZA
Great article, I would have loved to see the prices at the time included.
Undying
Thats the thing. They work and look great but price is only controversial thing about these cards (overpriced).
JaxMacFL
HH, left a “n” out of lightning.
jbscotchman
MSI is a great company. I've used their mainboards in my last two builds and current video card. I've used EVGA specifically for years when it comes to video cards, but I was not a fan of their triple slot, single fan 1660 Ti design. If I remember correctly my first MSI product was a Geforce 4 Ti4400.
Petr V
Can you show release prices of them?
Legacy-ZA
Yes, the lightning cards have always had the price premium, however, I also want people to see and note how much more nVidia has been charging them for the latest generations over the years. If things keep going as they are, by the time I am 60 I will pay $20 000 for a new GPU.
Solfaur
The MSI Lightning line will always have a special place in my hardware nerd heart. I always drooled at them with each generation, then I finally got to buy not one, but two GTX 680 Lightnings in SLI back in 2012. It was one of those moments where I bragged shamelessly for about a year every time I had the occasion, haha. Congratulations MSI, for many years now, my favorite GPU AIB brand!
Fun fact, I still have one of them to this day, as a "back-up" GPU. Who am I kidding though, it's mostly because I can't part with this beautiful peace of over-engineering hardware for peanuts, and it's actually in a pretty pristine condition too! Who knows, maybe 10 years from now it will be worth something to collectors.
fantaskarsef
I might try if I can bake mine to work properly again... I'm looking at it currently
H83
The Lightning editions are very cool but they can´t beat my Duke!... 🙂
Undying
I thought lightning editions are above duke and gaming.
H83
They are but my card is special...
chispy
I love those lightning cards 🙂 , i still have a few of them around.
cowie
275 lightning was THE card to get if you wanted the best overclocked for benching 275.
remember ali was just getting there with the 260 if I remember right and airforce pinel sucked before he got there.
was the bomb great hardware AND really kick ass software wit no limits he he,I was still running rt thou 😀
Ricepudding
I own the 1080ti MSI lightening, has to be the best card i have bought (beyond the performance which is ofc going to be higher than older cards) the lighting and looks are great, the fans even when on high barely make a sound and the cooling on this card is amazing, it's very rare i see this card go above 50 degrees even on a hot day.
Price may be higher, but they least seem to use far more premium parts compared to other vendors that i have used
