MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning Overclocking Redux @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning Overclocking Redux - Today we are revisiting the MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning video card. with its long-promised GPU and RAM voltage tweaking Afterburner software. We test both the stock BIOS and "LN2 BIOS" to find the best possible gaming experience the Lightning has to offer, and determine if the performance justifies the price.
 
Looking at the numbers, it doesn't exactly feel like it "wipes the floor" with the oc'ed 7970 especially considering it's price. The card and MSI does wipe the floor with other MFGs and their 680 GTX cards with its features though.

I'm kind of at a loss with the incremental frames we're getting. Maybe I'm jaded but I just wish there was more to take advantage of these cards.
 
Yeah, the lightening is faster with it's potential OC, but gains look incremental and price difference very steep for it comparing to the Sapphire card OC which lists right now at relatively high $459 (for a 7970 card), and the Lightening listing right now at $599 on newegg.

Good, expensive card I guess.

Nice followup review.
 
Thanks for the extra eyes! Fixed link. - Kyle
 
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Still debating to cancel my order for my ASUS GTX 680 DirectCUII TOP and go with the MSI GTX 680 Lightning after this recent re-review.
Especially since if I do it will ship out right now, instead of me having to wait until who knows the hell when to get the ASUS card, and it would be only $50 more.
 
EVGA classified allows for voltage tweaking as well, so this is not the only product that allows it.
 
The long view is that this card 680 was actually meant to be a mid ranged card....because of those admitted quips I'v held off from anything high end untill GK114...aka the 780 comes out.

Now whether this will be a repeat of a "BULLDOZER" kinda wait, aka pointless, we'll see..........
 
mt2e said:
The long view is that this card 680 was actually meant to be a mid ranged card....because of those admitted quips I'v held off from anything high end untill GK114...aka the 780 comes out.

Now whether this will be a repeat of a "BULLDOZER" kinda wait, aka pointless, we'll see..........
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really? I'm waiting for the 880 Myself. :rolleyes:
 
Hm, posted some good results but it jumped from no award at all on the original review to an gold award in this review.... Did that have anything to do with the ability to adjust the voltages or am I missing something here?
 
DarkLegacy said:
Hm, posted some good results but it jumped from no award at all on the original review to an gold award in this review.... Did that have anything to do with the ability to adjust the voltages or am I missing something here?
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The entire reason they didn't give a reward in the first review was because they had not tested all the features yet.

This is from the original article:
The fact is this; we cannot give this card any kind of award yet because while the hardware has been out for a while, it was shipped with software that wasn't ready yet. The one feature that possibly brings the pixy dust to this video card is the one thing that MSI is not sprinkling. It is a shame that the potential of this video card is being held back by software, as it is, MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning video card simply does not justify its price.
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Hopefully other cards can clock like this and allow MSI enough sales to convince nvidia to allow them to sell with unlocked voltage.
 
looks like my card clocks roughly the same as yours, however, my voltages reported in MSI are about 20mv lower than yours. I wonder why my card delivers less power than yours seems to.
 
Great [H]article... almost perfect...

...but...

Only 4 games tested but never the less:

"It even went head to head with one of our fastest overclocked AMD Radeon HD 7970's and swept the floor with it."

This is free speech at its best !

Grady McKinney, would it be possible to make the same tests with Metro 2033 ? I'm curious to see how the floor would look like... ;)
 
Ronin said:
Great [H]article... almost perfect...

...but...

Only 4 games tested but never the less:

"It even went head to head with one of our fastest overclocked AMD Radeon HD 7970's and swept the floor with it."

This is free speech at its best !

Grady McKinney, would it be possible to make the same tests with Metro 2033 ? I'm curious to see how the floor would look like... ;)
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Yes, and please also test out Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. - because we need tests of older, not-as-popular games. :rolleyes:

7970s are great, 680s are great - they can't sit here and test every game to make you feel better about your purchase. :)
 
mt2e said:
The long view is that this card 680 was actually meant to be a mid ranged card....because of those admitted quips I'v held off from anything high end untill GK114...aka the 780 comes out.
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Wasn't it supposed to be the GTX 685?

Was that a rumor or did NVIDIA's plans change?
 
sk3tch said:
Yes, and please also test out Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. - because we need tests of older, not-as-popular games. :rolleyes:

7970s are great, 680s are great - they can't sit here and test every game to make you feel better about your purchase. :)
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It's you who defines what it popular or not ? Or do you have any hard numbers about the popularity of games ? :rolleyes:

Anyway chill out...

I just think that after ONLY testing 4 games the use of "swept the floor with it" is at least misleading.

And also there is no need to make sketchy assumptions... because I only have a old 4870x2 on my system... :p
 
Wow one GTX680 that finally broke my overclock core frequency almost 1400Mhz nice.

Well I didn't go overboard with voltages on my core yet like you did on this card. Might do it and see if I beat 1400Mhz core stable on some games.
 
Would this be a significant upgrade from 580GTX Lightning Extreme? Or am I better off waiting for the new kepler? I tried the Sleeping dog demo on extreme settings, and my EXTREME video is not so extreme anymore :(..
 
Betauser said:
Would this be a significant upgrade from 580GTX Lightning Extreme? Or am I better off waiting for the new kepler? I tried the Sleeping dog demo on extreme settings, and my EXTREME video is not so extreme anymore :(..
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Definitely
 
So, is this "LN2 BIOS" something the card ships with, or do you need to flash yourself?
 
It has a dual BIOS switch, with the "right" position being the unlocked LN2 BIOS. It comes with all lightning cards.

I don't think you'll be disappointed - I love my lightning 680s. They are awesome cards if you want the most from your overclocks!
 
Looks like MSI has succumb to pressure from nVidia and in the next version of AB, voltage is capped at 1.1.75mV.

Looks like I'll never be buying an MSI or nVidia product again, at least AMD doesn't limit us overclockers, they may have crap drivers, but they don't try to control us.
 
I don't blame MSI for this, but I don't like nvidia doing this at all. If AMD offers over voltage in the 8970 while nvidia doesn't with the GK110 - if they have comparable performance I know which way i'm headed.

This is really a slap in the face to enthusiasts.
 
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xoleras said:
I don't blame MSI for this, but I don't like nvidia doing this at all. If AMD offers over voltage in the 8970 while nvidia doesn't with the GK110 - if they comparable have performance I know which way i'm headed.

This is really a slap in the face to enthusiasts.
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Word. Nvidia has gone a bit too far with their controls that I am sure they claim are there to "protect us". Likely going AMD next gen myself.
 
And how is the noise of that card, when you hit 100% fans, to get it properly OCed? From other reviews it seems that it's one of most noisy 680s in the crowd...can't rather imagine it on 100% while gaming.

Other questions, if you set fans on auto, how far can you go, and can you get some decent overclockers, while not having a jet engine in the room :)

I'm asking, because I have a hard choice between this and EVGA Signature 2, but apart from high FPS, I do care about noise comfort :)
 
Good news, you can still over volt but you have to modify the profile in afterburner:

On 2.2.4 you may edit Lightning hardware profile files (.\Profiles\VEN_10DE&DEV_1180....cfg) and add the following lines there:

[Settings]
VDDC_Generic_Detection = 0
VDDC_CHL8318_Detection = 46h
VDDC_CHL8318_Type = 1
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This isn't published or advertised by MSI (to comply with nvidia I guess) but it allows full overvoltage just like 2.2.3
 
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