Two MSI N580GTX Lightning XE 3GB video cards in SLI! Tested in NV Surround. We are going to find out if these 3GB video cards hold an advantage over two GeForce GTX 580′s and two Radeon HD 6970′s. This is the most VRAM per video card we have ever gamed with. We test with seven games, including the new F.3.A.R.

We have recently evaluated a couple of flavors of MSI’s latest, and fastest performing, Lightning series video cards based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 GPU. Earlier this month we put the MSI N580GTX Lightning video card to the test. The N580GTX Lightning sports 1.5GB of RAM, same as a stock GTX 580, with boosted frequencies and a custom cooling device. Beyond that, MSI engineered the Lightning series with the latest Military Class II hardware components. The end result was a video card that provided better performance, as well as better power efficiency when compared to a standard GeForce GTX 580. MSI took the GeForce GTX 580 GPU and made it better, was our overall conclusion.

MSI wasn’t stopping there however, and had another video card up its sleeve that pushed the awesome sauce even further. The MSI N580GTX Lightning XE 3GB video card is the epitome of GeForce GTX 580 based performance. We evaluated that video card, which features double the RAM of a standard GeForce GTX 580, and the same boosted frequencies as the non-XE Lightning video card. MSI went even further with this video card, providing a couple of new fan technologies, including fans that change color when they rise above 45c, and an automatic dust cleaning system that kicks in when you boot your computer. Along with MSI’s custom hardware components, this video card also proved to be more efficient at idle and full load Wattage compared to a standard GeForce GTX 580. Once again, MSI made the GeForce GTX 580 better.

• READ MORE (Source): Introduction – MSI N580GTX Lightning XE 3GB SLI Video Card Review | [H]ard|OCP