MSI N480GTX Lightning Review EXCLUSIVE

3D Mark Vantage

Well I think it’s fair to say that the results are pretty conclusive. It’s rare that when we’re comparing like for like, as we are between the MSI N480GTX Lightning and the reference GTX480, that the stock “upgraded” card outperforms the reference when overclocked, but here the graph is perfectly linear throughout testing.

The only time the reference card gets past the Lightning is when overclocked against the stock Lightning in Extreme mode. Otherwise the Lightning completely dominates.

 

Unigine Heaven 2.1

Normally when we move away from 3D Mark to Unigine the gap between the cards lessens dramatically. Here the Lightning actually increases its lead when we run zero anti-aliasing. Once the cards are fully stressed with 8xAA the MSI just romps off into the distance.

The only time the reference GTX480 gets close is at minimum frame-rate where the overclock definitely helps keep the card running. But the average frame-rate is King and the Lightning definitely takes the crown.

0xAA

 

8xAA