MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z Review

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Board & Power Supply

MSI uses its own design for this board, and that implementation is much different from what the company did for its GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning X card.

Behind a trio of eight-pin auxiliary power connectors, the board has three chokes to smooth out spikes in the electrical input, along with a shunt.

The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z employs a 7+3-phase power supply with doubling. Thus, each phase is able to distribute the load between two parallel 180°-shifted control circuits. You can see the memory's three phases over there on the PCB's right side.

MSI keeps the back of its card tidy-looking. It's home to the memory's PWM controller and a number of other components.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
GPU Power Supply
PWM ControllerIR3595AInternational RectifierEight-phase single or 6+2 dual-loop configurableSeven phases in use (doubled)

PWM DoublerIR3599International RectifierPhase multiplierDrives two power stages 180° out of phase

VRMIR3555MInternational Rectifier 60A PowIRstage Includes high- and low-side MOSFETsIncludes Schottky diode

CoilsFerrite core coils Lianzhen Electronics

Memory & Memory Power SupplyModuleMT58K256M321JA-110 Micron 11 x 1GB GDDRX5 11 Gb/s1391 MHz

PWM ControllerIR3570BInternational Rectifier3+2-phase PWM controller

Gate DriverCHL8510Infineon

VRMQM3816N6UBIQDual N-channel trench MOSFETsIncludes high- and low-side MOSFETs

CoilsFerrite core coils Lianzhen Electronics

Other ComponentsMonitoringINA3221Texas InstrumentsHigh-side current and bus voltage monitor

NCT7511YNuvotonTemperature and fan speed monitor

Fan Control8295FNITE

Shunts1x coil (smoothing) and shunt per PCIe connector (12V input voltage)

BIOSWinbond 25Q40Kynix SemiconductorEEPROMDual-BIOS (via switch)

Further DetailsOther Highlights(3) Eight-pin auxiliary power connectorsFilter coils for power inputVoltages and other sensor output


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22 Comments Comment from the forums
  • samer.forums
    20% more performance for 100% more price ?

    no ty .. I can GET 2x SLI GTX 1080 ti for the same price.
    Reply
  • mahanddeem
    Nice 1080ti, I had an msi 680 Lightning and it was the greatest gpu I ever had, and I had like 20 gpus thought the years.
    Reply
  • TMTOWTSAC
    After allowing for driver improvements since the review, the final result looks an awful lot like a Titan XP with maybe an extremely mild OC. Or a stock Titan XP in an 18C room rather than a 20C room. For $200 more.
    Reply
  • Gam3r01
    20297187 said:
    20% more performance for 100% more price ?

    no ty .. I can GET 2x SLI GTX 1080 ti for the same price.

    Well, thats not really the point is it?
    Nobody buys a Lightning card because its affordable, you buy it because its a Lightning card.
    Reply
  • Sam Hain
    $2K for??? There are several "high-end" Ti's in the $700 range (on air) that run better specs than this overpriced card and run same or better benches.

    What is the purpose of this card, LOL.
    Reply
  • redgarl
    Remember about the line, no bad products, just bad price... well this is the case. The price is just ridiculous.

    I cannot believe you gave an Award to this. So basically any overpriced piece of hardware deserve an award by the same logic.

    Also, you never talk about reliability or engineering flaws. For example, you gave that piece of garbage an award...

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-graphics-cards,4725-4.html

    Just take a look at this from a fellow user and me... you guys cannot even point out these simple issues and give feedback about the manufacturers design quality.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3547768/evga-ftw-1080-caught-fire.html
    Reply
  • jasonelmore
    This card does not even match the Asus ROG Poseidon's base clocks nor boost clock.. So basically your paying $2K for the cooler
    Reply
  • Lasselundberg
    why are the charts only stock nvidia stuff and none of the competitions overclocked cards.....why is there a stupid video on all pages i hate it....why is there a stupid email popup every time i visit this site. tomshardware i bid you goodbye i have been with you since the beginning, but all the spam video's and popups...and worst of all comparisons thats useless....bye
    Reply
  • derekullo
    For the most part you can always ignore the seemingly helpful prices that Tom's shows in the big green stickers.

    The price of the card is not $2000.

    Bit-tech did a review of the card and mentioned they bought it for $870.

    https://www.bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/graphics/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-lightning-z-review/1/

    When sites sell out of the cards they remove the price from the page making the overpriced $2000 cards the only ones left to actually advertise, hence the price grabber code pulling $2000 and saying that is the price.


    If you dig deep enough you can find the actual vendor Tom's is talking about, Ecotest with 33 whole reviews over the past year, that sells it for $2000 hoping some one will inadvertently hit purchase.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B074DKRWG3/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new
    Reply
  • Artakra
    I simply cannot imagine something of this weight and width is a good thing to be hanging off your PCI bridge...

    Ill pass thanks. And take just about any other similarly spec'ed 1080ti.
    Reply