Published: February 18, 2025 | Source: MSI | Author: Tom Logan

MSI RTX 5080 SOC Vanguard Review

Up Close

We were very fortunate and grabbed a launch edition of the Vanguard. You might think that the box art looks odd. However, the MSI Dragon – now called Lucky – is their merchandising powerhouse. With your Vanguard purchase you get a collectable Lucky, should you want one.

Lots of different ones are available. The Astronaut one, aka the one we think is the best,is what we hoped was in this box. But then we’re space hounds. Astrophiles? And we love the universe in all its forms. Sadly as we were not the first people to review this card the box was empty 🙁

The Vanguard follows a well trodden MSI formula. Their coolers are legendary and the one on the Vanguard, with three fans and enough angles and slashes to keep Adrian Newey happy, is another in that long line. If you can put up with a lack of lighting for the sake of low temperatures, you could almost stop reading right here.

The backplate continues the carbon accents we saw on the front. A great option if you’ve partaken in a MSI Carbon motherboard.

From the side the thickness of the Vanguard is clear. The heatsinks themselves are enormous, and the angled shroud that holds the fans turns it into a three and a half slot solution. This has been the pattern with the Blackwell cards. Big cases only.

Cut-outs for airflow remain a wildly popular option and with good reason. The difference it makes to the temperatures of your graphics card are significant. It also helps the overall temperatures, making it easier for the cool intake air to reach your CPU cooler.