Performance: 100%
The GTX 1080 Ti is no doubt the best card for 4K gaming right now. This is the resolution that puts other GeForce cards far behind. We can’t yet say it’s a perfect 4K/60FPS/ULTRA experience as in few games (The Division, Deux Ex MD and Ghost Recon Wildlands) we are not reaching that framerate. Of course, ultra preset is barely the best choice in most cases, but it does put all cards to their knees and that’s what we were testing in this review.
There is currently no competition in this segment for GTX 1080 Ti, even SLI or CrossFire configuration would never give you the same experience. We provided the following table as a quick overview of GTX 1080 Ti performance compared to GTX 1080 and 1070:
| VideoCardz.com | 1920×1080 | 2560×1440 | 3840×2160 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce GTX | 1080Ti | 1080 | 1070 | 1080Ti | 1080 | 1070 | 1080Ti | 1080 | 1070 |
| Battlefield 1 | 100% | 80% | 66% | 100% | 80% | 64% | 100% | 75% | 61% |
| Deus Ex: Mankind Divided | 100% | 76% | 60% | 100% | 75% | 58% | 100% | 72% | 56% |
| The Division | 100% | 78% | 40% | 100% | 75% | 60% | 100% | 75% | 60% |
| Doom | 100% | 100% | 93% | 100% | 78% | 60% | 100% | 69% | 55% |
| Ghost Recon: Wildlands | 100% | 80% | 69% | 100% | 81% | 66% | 100% | 76% | 63% |
| HITMAN | 100% | 90% | 75% | 100% | 80% | 64% | 100% | 79% | 62% |
| Metro: Last Light | 100% | 81% | 68% | 100% | 82% | 68% | 100% | 77% | 61% |
| Rainbow Six: Siege | 100% | 78% | 65% | 100% | 77% | 62% | 100% | 73% | 60% |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider | 100% | 85% | 68% | 100% | 76% | 60% | 100% | 72% | 57% |
| Sniper Elite 4 | 100% | 87% | 69% | 100% | 74% | 58% | 100% | 70% | 57% |
| Total War: Warhammer | 100% | 99% | 95% | 100% | 86% | 70% | 100% | 74% | 60% |
| Witcher 3 | 100% | 76% | 59% | 100% | 75% | 59% | 100% | 72% | 57% |
| AVERAGE | 100% | 84% | 69% | 100% | 78% | 62% | 100% | 74% | 59% |
Overclocking: 95%
As I mentioned earlier, this card is easily reaching 2.0 GHz mark (2025-2050 MHz). To get the most out of this card we need to use an unofficial build of Afterburner, which will unlock full voltage control. We were lucky to hit stable 2070 MHz with custom voltage curve during our test, however it was only suitable for benchmarking, not daily use. Overclocking is not the same for cards, so your sample may clock higher or lower, depending how lucky silicon lottery was to you.
Most of end users should stay with default Gaming profile. There is no point of installing Gaming App if you need OC Mode, as performance gain is minimal.
Cooling design & build quality: 95%
The Twin Frozr VI cooler is thick and heavy, but it does the job. There was no coil whine, no fan buzzing and no problem with sagging (thanks to backplate and baseplate).
During all tests GPU temperature did not exceed 70C. Idle temperature depends on Zero Frozr technology. If you don’t mind the fans spinning at reasonably low RPM you should expect around 30C. If you want silent operation then you should expect around 51C when the card is idle.
The card is full custom design with 8+2 phase power delivery through dual 8-pin power connectors. The I/O bracket has non-reference display output configuration: two DisplayPorts, two HDMIs and one DVID port (in other words, this card is ready for head mounted displays out of the box).
Price & bundles: 90%
The GTX 1080 TI GAMING X is available for around 749 USD and €825. That’s around 50 USD/EUR more than Founders Edition. I think that’s a reasonable price, considering that there are more expensive solutions. The game bundle depends on current promotions.
Closing thoughts
There is no denying that GTX 1080 Ti is faster than anything NVIDIA is currently offering under 1000 USD, but should MSI GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X be the card of your choice?
Having tested few MSI cards in the past I knew what to expect and what to look into. MSI GAMING X delivers on all fronts. This card is near silent under load and basically noiseless when Zero Frozr technology is utilized. It ships with widely tested and approved Twin Frozr VI design but in a thicker form. Sure, it’s red and glowing with red lights, but those lights can be turned off and most users will have it installed horizontally, so the cooler shroud won’t even be visible. Of course, if you want something else, MSI will likely deliver more color schemes, as they did with Quick Silver. But GAMING X is something more. This is the most powerful GTX 1080 Ti currently available from MSI. It’s not cheap and it’s not designed for everyone, but it’s quiet, fast and packed with features.
The MSI GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X simply does not disappoint and I recommend that you consider this particular model for your 4K gaming rig.
| Review Contents | |
|---|---|
| Page 1 | Overview MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X |
| Page 2 | A closer look MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X |
| Page 3 | Testing platform & methodology |
| Page 4 | Overclocking MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X |
| Page 5 | STABILITY GPU Temperature ● Core Clock ● GPU Usage ● Memory Usage |
| Page 6 | Benchmarks 3DMark ● VRMark ● Unigine |
| Page 7 | DirectX 12 Battlefield 1 |
| Page 8 | DirectX 12 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided |
| Page 9 | DirectX 12 The Division |
| Page 10 | Vulkan Doom |
| Page 11 | DirectX 11 Ghost Recon: Wildlands |
| Page 12 | DirectX 12 HITMAN |
| Page 13 | DirectX 11 Metro: Last Light |
| Page 14 | DirectX 11 Rainbow Six: Siege |
| Page 15 | DirectX 12 Rise of the Tomb Raider |
| Page 16 | DirectX 12 Sniper Elite 4 |
| Page 17 | DirectX 12 Total War: Warhammer |
| Page 18 | DirectX 11 The Witcher 3 |
| Page 19 | Conclusion |
