MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z Review

Reviews
By Igor Wallossek
published

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Gaming Performance

2560x1440 Results

There's no reason to test a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti at 1920x1080; at that resolution, even our high-end host processor bottlenecks performance. Rather, these cards are designed for 2560x1440 and up.

Image 1 of 6

At QHD, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z is, depending on the game, between 11 and a bit more than 13 percent faster than a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition or Titan X (Pascal).

3840x2160 Results

Image 1 of 6

At this high resolution, MSI's Lightning Z is, again, depending on the game, between nine and ~12 percent faster than Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition and Titan X (Pascal).

Many of these titles are playable at 4K. Those that aren't can be made smoother by dialing down the quality settings somewhat.

Comparison GPUs
Asus Radeon R9 Fury X
Nvidia Titan Xp 12GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FE


MORE: Best Graphics Cards


MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table


MORE: All Graphics Content

Igor Wallossek
See more GPUs Reviews
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