MSI N480GTX Lightning Review EXCLUSIVE
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Published: 21st October 2010 | Source: MSI | Price: £425est |
Introduction
You may have noticed that the Internet is awash this morning with reviews of the latest ATI series of graphics cards, the 68 series. You might also be wondering therefore why we here at Overclock3D aren't doing the same.
The answer is simple. The 6870 and 6850 are as good as re-branded (and my heavens do we hate to hear that word) versions of the 58xx, youll hear much more from us on this subject over the coming weeks but for now its the turn of MSI's green team flagship card.
So given the choice between reviewing a rehash of an older product that isn't as good as the model on which it's based, or giving you a review a genuine game-changing piece of hardware that really drops a nuclear-sized chunk of power, it's no surprise that we'd much rather deal with the new, than try and get excited about the old.
Enter the MSI N480GTX Lightning.
We've reviewed a few Twin Frozr II equipped cards and always found it to be about the greatest cooling solution this side of moving our offices to an igloo. However if you cast your mind back to when we reviewed the GTX480 we discovered that it probably contributes more to global warming than any field of cows ever could. The Lightning has the updated variant, namely the Twin Frozr III to hand though.
So is this the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, or can MSIs Twin Frozr III really tame nVidias monster?
MSI clearly think so because besides being a Twin Frozr III card, this is branded as one of their Lightning series. The Lightning really is the top of the MSI technical tree being the equivalent to their Big Bang motherboards or similar. It has more bells and whistles than a troop of Morris dancers.
Technical Specifications
The basic technical specifications follow. We'll cover the more unique elements of the N480GTX Lightning on the next couple of pages.
Most Recent Comments
About time someone applied this kind of cooling to a 480. Fermi would have a much better name now if this was how it was released.
Really strange to see cool, quiet, and 480 in the same review
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Really strange to see cool, quiet, and 480 in the same review
.QuoteI would be curious to see how the Frozr III compares to the Frozr II that MSI already has on a 480 gtx.
Good to see that someone finally tamed the beast of the 480. Sales for that sucker should go up.Quote
Good to see that someone finally tamed the beast of the 480. Sales for that sucker should go up.Quote
hmm may have gone for this if i hadn't just bought my 2 gtx 460s 
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QuoteWOW thats fantsticQuote
Couple of questions for you
it looks like its a 2 slot card , can you confirm .
How is the cooling working , are the fans pulling in and venting out the back or is it dumping all the hot air into the case .
Presuming the above is good news , would this be much better or about the same as my current setup of 2*gtx280's in sli .
Thanx .Quote
it looks like its a 2 slot card , can you confirm .
How is the cooling working , are the fans pulling in and venting out the back or is it dumping all the hot air into the case .
Presuming the above is good news , would this be much better or about the same as my current setup of 2*gtx280's in sli .
Thanx .Quote
nice review id also like to see how it matches up the II versionQuote
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Originally Posted by andyvee
Couple of questions for you it looks like its a 2 slot card , can you confirm . How is the cooling working , are the fans pulling in and venting out the back or is it dumping all the hot air into the case . Presuming the above is good news , would this be much better or about the same as my current setup of 2*gtx280's in sli . Thanx . |
but still cooler than 2 280'sQuote
It does put most of the heat into the case, but with a decent case it will be way better than the 280's dude.Quote
is it weird i can listen to another guy talking for 12mins+? lol
luvly looking card their mate, but with the 6000 nearing they probably wont get much of a look in, price depending.Quote
luvly looking card their mate, but with the 6000 nearing they probably wont get much of a look in, price depending.Quote
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Originally Posted by ZodiarK
is it weird i can listen to another guy talking for 12mins+? lol luvly looking card their mate, but with the 6000 nearing they probably wont get much of a look in, price depending. |
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Originally Posted by ZodiarK
is it weird i can listen to another guy talking for 12mins+? lol luvly looking card their mate, but with the 6000 nearing they probably wont get much of a look in, price depending. |
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Originally Posted by ZodiarK
is it weird i can listen to another guy talking for 12mins+? lol |
From stuff ive seen around and about the 6000's are just rehashes of the 5000's, mabey 5-10% more performance at best, if they were realy hot like the 400 cards and the rehash made them cool for example it woulda made sense but tbh there already cool enough so a rehash seems kinda pointless.Quote
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Originally Posted by AMDFTW
it will port some out the back but most of it will be in the case but still cooler than 2 280's |
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Originally Posted by Heebs
lol I love how people are assuming the 6000 series will destroy the 400 gtx series without so much as seeing a real benchmark or price. |
QuoteOverclocked thats as loud as my two GTX470s at stock clocks while gaming lol. I need to change the coolers on my GPU's to better and quieter coolers. I cant OC my GPU's either because theyre already at 80c and 86C.Quote
so when is this card out in the uk then guys ? thanks Quote
Quotetom what monitor do you use in the vidsQuote
Why NV didn't come up with that kind of cooler and pcb in the first place, you ask?
PRICE!
Release prices would have been like 700 Euros, not 500 Euros!
Now, was that so difficult to figure out?
Of course NV would have been able to design such a cooler and pcb, but they had to watch the total costs too.
MSI just built an extreme enthusiasts card with practically no price limit- EASY
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PRICE!
Release prices would have been like 700 Euros, not 500 Euros!
Now, was that so difficult to figure out?
Of course NV would have been able to design such a cooler and pcb, but they had to watch the total costs too.
MSI just built an extreme enthusiasts card with practically no price limit- EASY
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Originally Posted by tombman
Release prices would have been like 700 Euros, not 500 Euros! |
Where are you getting an extra 200 euros from? because that would pretty much buy a GPU water cooling system.Quote
Hmmmmmmmm Nvidia fanboy alert. The Frozr is cheaper than the AC to produce aswell. Some people cant accept the fact the 480 cooler was a POS and they should have sorted it with all the extra time they had.
Also the Lightning isnt that expensive either even though its cram packed with better kit than the reference 480.Quote
Also the Lightning isnt that expensive either even though its cram packed with better kit than the reference 480.Quote
TBH Tom and I have thought about this hard..
The actual radiator and pipes on a stock 470 cooler look pretty good. I reakon it's nothing more than a fan problem tbh. I'm very tempted to remove the shroud (as it comes off in a few parts, very nice and modular) and strap a 120mm fan to the actual cooler and see what happens. If it's good I can easily make a shroud out of alu sheeting and possibly put twin 92mm fans in it. It's got to be better than the crappy blower.
Centrifugal fans only work well when -
There is enough pressure to boost air through. This means that the shroud would need to be 100% sealed and the fan seriously powerful.. Not possible on 12v. Maybe a blower from a car heating system yes lmao. It isn't, not by a long shot.
Looking at the heatsink on this wonderful MSI card the sink itself it's that much larger than a stock 470 cooler (the actual metal part).
Oh and FWIW I think this card here on review is actually very cheap. It would be one thing to whack a cooler on a 480 and over charge for it, but this one has had a complete bloody revamp, new board, new layout.Quote
The actual radiator and pipes on a stock 470 cooler look pretty good. I reakon it's nothing more than a fan problem tbh. I'm very tempted to remove the shroud (as it comes off in a few parts, very nice and modular) and strap a 120mm fan to the actual cooler and see what happens. If it's good I can easily make a shroud out of alu sheeting and possibly put twin 92mm fans in it. It's got to be better than the crappy blower.
Centrifugal fans only work well when -
There is enough pressure to boost air through. This means that the shroud would need to be 100% sealed and the fan seriously powerful.. Not possible on 12v. Maybe a blower from a car heating system yes lmao. It isn't, not by a long shot.
Looking at the heatsink on this wonderful MSI card the sink itself it's that much larger than a stock 470 cooler (the actual metal part).
Oh and FWIW I think this card here on review is actually very cheap. It would be one thing to whack a cooler on a 480 and over charge for it, but this one has had a complete bloody revamp, new board, new layout.Quote
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Originally Posted by AlienALX
TBH Tom and I have thought about this hard.. The actual radiator and pipes on a stock 470 cooler look pretty good. I reakon it's nothing more than a fan problem tbh. I'm very tempted to remove the shroud (as it comes off in a few parts, very nice and modular) and strap a 120mm fan to the actual cooler and see what happens. If it's good I can easily make a shroud out of alu sheeting and possibly put twin 92mm fans in it. It's got to be better than the crappy blower. Centrifugal fans only work well when - There is enough pressure to boost air through. This means that the shroud would need to be 100% sealed and the fan seriously powerful.. Not possible on 12v. Maybe a blower from a car heating system yes lmao. It isn't, not by a long shot. Looking at the heatsink on this wonderful MSI card the sink itself it's that much larger than a stock 470 cooler (the actual metal part). Oh and FWIW I think this card here on review is actually very cheap. It would be one thing to whack a cooler on a 480 and over charge for it, but this one has had a complete bloody revamp, new board, new layout. |
The 470 stock cooler is the first cooler I haven't replaced. My last few cards I replaced the coolers even before using the cards. The 9800 pro had an absolutely horrid stock cooler and caused premature deaths of those cards. I'd go as far to say that the 470 has the best stock cooler of any reference card produced. The build quality is impressive, definitely not what I have come to expect on a reference card.Quote
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Originally Posted by tinytomlogan
That will look like such a bodge. At the end of the day it should have been better from stock, thats kinda the point. |
I'll see how temps go but trust me when I say it wouldn't look bodged. I have a mate close by (same county) with a press break haha.Quote
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Originally Posted by AlienALX
I totally agree about the better from the start comment. The fan is absolutely bloody lousy. I'll see how temps go but trust me when I say it wouldn't look bodged. I have a mate close by (same county) with a press break haha. |
Well the card itself is fantastic. The noise levels are far better than the 5770s too. I suppose a good aftermarket cooler would allow for whacking great overclocks but I'm not sure I need them tbh.Quote
Hey since it has a display port does that mean you can run the Nvidia version of Eyefinity on one card? Or do you still need two?
As in triple monitors, 2 in DVI and 1 with the display port using one of those active display port adaptersQuote
As in triple monitors, 2 in DVI and 1 with the display port using one of those active display port adaptersQuote
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