MSI GEFORCE GTX 1080 TI GAMING X 11G
MSI’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X 11G is a familiar sight with a similar Twin Frozr VI cooler sharing the same aesthetic as its predecessors.
Still, there’s a lot to like. For one, it’s the slimmest, and one of the shortest cards here, so it’s considerably easier to handle. That said, you’ll still need a 2.5-slot allowance to install this.
The card owes its more manageable dimensions to MSI’s dual fan design. The cooler features two large 100mm Torx 2.0 fans, which use a mix of steep and more gently curving blades to nd a balance between high airflow and static pressure.
But what’s really great is how silent it is. Even at maximum speeds, the fans were still far quieter than the competition, while only posting slightly higher temperatures in the range of a few degrees.
The display outputs have been tweaked here as well, and you get two HDMI ports to accommodate a VR headset and HDMI monitor at the same time. When it comes to cooling, you’ll nd a dedicated VRM heatsink that sits directly on top of the PCB. A nickel-plated copper base plate is in direct contact with the GPU, wicking heat away to the main heatsink. A secondary metal plate can be found to one side of the heatsink, and these make contact with the chokes and other circuitry to further assist with cooling.
When it comes to the VRM circuitry, MSI hasn’t bothered with phase doublers, opting instead for eight real phases for the GPU and two for the memory system. That said, we should stress that the number of phases doesn’t mean much; it’s the quality of the implementation that matters when it comes to overclocking.
However, this is also one of the lower clocked cards, even in OC Mode. Its 1,569MHz puts it in the same company as the GALAX card, but you’ll need to download the MSI Gaming App to get the extra boost as the card runs in the lower clocked Gaming Mode by default.