MSI GTX580 Lightning Review
Introduction
Marketing is always full of semantics. Companies love to proclaim their card as the ‘Fastest in the World’. Sometimes that’s true only because there is more than one GPU on the board. So the HD6990 is the Fastest Graphics Card in the World, but not the fastest single GPU.
For those of us in the know, we always respect being able to do the most with the least, which is why the GTX580, the “Fastest Single GPU in the World” always makes us smile and drool, in equal quantities. Anyone can be super-fast with a multi-card setup. To have crushing performance from a single chip, that’s something special.
In case the standard GTX580 isn’t quite enough for you though you might look to a pre-overclocked model. If you’ve been around OC3D for a little bit you know how highly we rate the Twin Frozr cooling solution from MSI and here we have a Twin Frozr equipped, pre-overclocked model in the form of the MSI GTX580 Lightning.
Seems like a perfect combination. Is it?
Tech Specs
Out of the box the Lightning is overclocked on the Core all the way up to 832MHz which should provide more than a handy boost. The GDDR5 Memory is pushed from 4000MHz up to 4200MHz to ensure that it’s not left behind that monster core.
| Graphics Engine | GeForce GTX 580 |
|---|---|
| Bus Standard | PCI Express x16 2.0 |
| Memory Type | GDDR5 |
| Memory Size(MB) | 1536 |
| Memory Interface | 384 bits |
| Core Clock Speed(MHz) | 832 |
| Memory Clock Speed(MHz) | 4200 |
| Memory Bandwidth(GB/sec) | N/A |
| Texture Fill Rate(billion/sec) | N/A |
| DVI Output | 2 |
| D-SUB Output | 2(optional, via DVI to D-Sub adaptor) |
| HDMI-Output | 2(Optional, via Mini HDMI to HDMI dongle) |
| Mini HDMI-Output | 1 |
| TV-Output | N/A |
| DisplayPort | N/A |
| Mini DisplayPort | N/A |
| VIVO(Video-in/out) | N/A |
| HDTV Support | N/A |
| HDCP Support | Y |
| HDMI Support | Y |
| Dual-link DVI | Y |
| Display Ouput(Max Resolution) | 2560×1600 |
| RAMDACs | 400 |
| DirectX Version Support | 11 |
| OpenGL Version Support | 4.0 |
| SLI Support | Y |
| 3-way SLI | Y |
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Let’s take a closer look.
