MSI GTX1080 Gaming X Review

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review

Up Close

It takes a particularly eagle-eyed nerd to spot the external differences between the Twin Frozr V and the new Twin Frozr VI. We still have two heavily-bladed fans. Still have the red streaks around the inward one. However, the red fan has got grooves cut in to help the air flow in SLI scenarios. Something which might be worth testing in the future. No spoilers, but perhaps come back on Monday…

The backplate has a matte finish with a gloss MSI Dragon, looking more and more like a Chinese Dragon as time passes. We like it.

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review     MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review  

The Twin Frozr VI isn’t quite as slender as the Strix cooler, but still has plenty of room for two of the cards to breathe, should a single GTX 1080 not prove quite enough graphical horsepower.

As you can see from our image at the top of the page, the red slashes light up on the MSI Gaming. They light up red. Which kinda makes the claim that the card supports RGB fairly pointless, as it’s only the MSI logo you can adjust.

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review     MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review  

The GTX 1080 Gaming utilises the 6+8 PCIe power input that we also saw on the Strix. Perhaps that’s the way that the partner cards are going to run, or perhaps the nVidia Founders Edition was closer on power draw than it first appeared. A little headroom is always good.

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review     MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review  

Once the cooler is removed you can see how much attention to detail has gone on with the design of the Twin Frozr VI cooler. There are large brackets bracing the PCB and spreading the heat from both the RAM and power phases of the GTX 1080 Gaming.

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review     MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review  

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review     MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review  

The underside of the card is extremely sturdily built. The bracket which cools the memory is both robust and screwed to the card to keep it rigidly in place.

Of interest for a future review or possible variant of the GTX 1080 is this power header found behind the two PCIe power inputs. On the Gaming it’s not attached to anything. It wouldn’t be there without a reason though. Anyone for a Lightning?

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review     MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Review Â