MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning X OC 11 GB Review – The Thunderous GeForce Gaming Graphics Card

Test Setup

We used the following test system for comparison between the different graphics cards. Latest drivers that were available at the time of testing were used from AMD and NVIDIA on an updated version of Windows 10. All games that were tested were patched to the latest version for better performance optimization for NVIDIA and AMD GPUs.

CPU	Intel Core i9-7900X @ 4.5 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS X299 PRIME Deluxe
Video Cards	MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning X (Overclock) MSI GeForce GTX 1080 TI Gaming X (Overclock) ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti OC (Overclock) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition (Reference) MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Gaming MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Titanium MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Armor X OC (Overclock) MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Lightning OC (Overclock) XFX Radeon R9 Fury X (Reference)
Memory	G.SKILL Trident Z Series 32GB (4 X 8GB) CL16 3600 MHz
Hard Disk	Samsung 960 EVO 500 GB M.2 NVMe
Storage Disk	Seagate 3 TB (7200 RPM) Hard Disk Drive
Power Supply	Corsair RM 750X Gold Plus
Drivers	NVIDIA GeForce 388.00 / AMD Radeon Software Crimson Relive 17.7.2
Operation System	Windows 10 64-bit (Creators Fall Update)

• All games were tested on 2560×1440 (2K) and 3840x2160 (4K) resolutions.
• Image Quality and graphics configurations have been provided in the screenshots below.
• Games with PhysX were benchmarked with the settings on Low or off for fair comparisons.
• The "reference" cards are the stock configs while the "overclock" cards are factory overclocked configs provided to us by various AIB partners.

Do note that the OC profile also overclocks the memory to 11124 MHz which is higher than what's usually shipped by other AIBs making 1080 Ti custom model. This would yield an additional gain in performance.

MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning X Overclocking:

For overclocking, I pushed the core to +185 MHz beyond it’s overclock profile and +500 MHz on the memory. The end result was the memory bandwidth boosting beyond 544 GB/s and the core boost beyond 2160 MHz under gaming load. By increasing the power limit, I managed to get a pretty big overclock which was shocking at first as most other 1080 Ti cards top out around 2050-2120 MHz. I guess we will be testing out the card whether it can stick with the overclocked speeds and deliver us a nice boost in gaming performance compared to the other GTX 1080 Ti's.

You can find additional information about our hardware review process and ethics policy here.

9.7

WCCFTECH RATING

The MSI GTX 1080 Ti Lightning X is an enthusiasts choice with a high-end PCB design, tremendous overclocking potential and tons of gaming performance packed inside its belly.

Pros

• Great performance at 4K resolution
• Factory Overclocked Out of Box. Ships with 3 profiles (Silent/Gaming/OC)
• Tri Frozr heatsink cooling performance is great
• ZeroFrozr Technology Included on Torx 2.0 fans
• Close quarter heatsink design promises optimal VRM, MOSFET, VRAM temps
• Great overclocking potential, full tuning options with MSI Afterburner app
• Memory modules on the Lightning X can hit more than 500 GB/s bandwidth
• Backplate includes heatpipe solution for increased heat dissipation
• RGB Lighting support on the shroud and backplate are a plus
• Included stickers for personalization on the front of the shroud
• Good driver support for GeForce products, compatibility with DX11, DX12, Vulkan, OpenGL titles
• Performance per watt is great on Pascal graphics cards
• Lot's of display connectivity, great for VR and multi-display PCs.

Cons

• High Price ($839.99 US)
• Requires Three 8 Pin connectors
• Triple Slot Design, May not fit in small cases
• Overclocking limited unless using custom vMods

Buy for from Amazon The links above are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Wccftech.com may earn from qualifying purchases.

Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.