MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X
March 2017Type
Graphics CardPrice
$749.99 USConclusion - MSI's 1080 Ti Breathes Fire Like a Dragon
Even with no competition, NVIDIA went ahead and bested themselves. For a whole year, they had the fastest consumer graphics card on the market, the GTX 1080. Sure they launched the Titan X but that behemoth sold for $1200 US and it wasn't a wise choice to get when economics are taken into consideration. The 1080 Ti launched and became the fastest graphics card on the planet. Soon afterwards, the 1080 Ti was made public in custom variants too but at the same time, NVIDIA launched another Titan, now known as Titan Xp. That is another $1200 US graphics card and currently reigns supreme as the fastest on the planet but our focus today is the GTX 1080 Ti gaming X from MSI.
The GTX 1080 Ti replaced the GTX 1080 as the fastest consumer graphics card at the same price of $699 US. The card I tested today goes for $749 US and you need to have a big wallet if you are buying one. At this price however, you get some of the fastest and most impressive gaming performance we have seen to date. It's 35% north of the GTX 1080, add more for the custom variants. The price point makes it seem really good once you get to know the performance potential.
The MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X makes every other card seem like a generation old already even though it's utilizing the same Pascal architecture that is featured on the GTX 1080, GTX 1070 and Titan X. It offers a massive uplift to game performance and has three different profiles for gamers who want silent card operation, good gaming performance and enthusiast caliber OC performance. But that's not it, this card allowed me to see the full potential of the Pascal GP102 chip. The overclock of around 200 MHz on the core and 500 MHz on the memory means that this card is theoretically on the same levels as the Titan Xp, closing the gap.
Also, I was shocked how well the Twin Frozr VI cooler performed under the OC profile and manual overclock load. I resorted to push the fans to 100% operation which was a bit too loud since I could hear the fans from my closed PC chassis but it resulted in a good drop of 6-8C which was impressive. And to top it all up, the Twin Frozr VI heatsink looks sexy as hell and anyone can tell from the design language of the custom cooler that it's purely aimed at the gaming market.
The Twin Frozr VI and Pascal GP102 GPU makes for a perfect combo. The MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X is literally a dragon in terms of performance and rather than breathing fire, it stays cool under the most heavy loads with OC profiles and manual overclocks reaching 2100 MHz. For $749.99 US, the MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X will offer you ample amount of gaming performance whether you are moving from a GTX 980 Ti or a GTX 1080. It's a beautiful card for the most high-end gamers and enthusiasts out there looking to upgrade their PCs.
Contents
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For $749.99 US, the MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X will offer you ample amount of gaming performance whether you are moving from a GTX 980 Ti or a GTX 1080. It's a beautiful card for the most high-end gamers and enthusiasts out there looking to upgrade their PCs.
- Massive Performance Improvement in Gaming Titles.
- Performance very good at the given price point.
- Upgrade From GTX 980 Ti and GTX 1070 will see huge performance leap.
- First card to achieve playable FPS at 4K resolution.
- Great overclocking potential, full tuning options with MSI Afterburner app.
- Memory modules on the Gaming X can hit more than 500 GB/s bandwidth.
- Factory Overclocked Out of Box. Ships with 3 profiles (Silent/Gaming/OC).
- MSI Twin Frozr VI cooler offers great cooling and low noise output.
- ZeroFrozr Technology Included on Torx 2.0 fans.
- MSI LED Lights configurable with Gaming App.
- Lot's of display connectivity, great for VR and multi-display PCs.
Pros
- Huge price, not for mainstream gamers. ($750 US)
- Overclocking gains not noticeable in some games.
- Bulky design, requires lot's of room for installation.
Cons
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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