MSI N580GTX Lightning XE 3GB Video Card Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,634
MSI N580GTX Lightning XE 3GB Video Card Review - We put MSI's new N580GTX Lightning XE 3GB video card to the test and find out what kind of gameplay experience can be delivered from a 3GB 580GTX beast. Will we be limited by our resolution and games, or will the Lightning XE push through and prevail, we will find out against a GeForce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 6970.
 
I so want to go in for 2 but gonna wait til next gen since I have 2 580's already.
 
Props to MSI on the power consumption. Card is running at 832/1664/4200 instead of 772/1544/4000 and it still uses ~25w less than a regular 580. That is some serious shit.

TechPowerUP confirms the same thing. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_580_Lightning/24.html

I presume that you guys will be doing SLI and TriSLI eventually? I'd love to see it. Shall we make a poll to gauge people's opinions?
 
Last edited:
I think some 3D artists will like this as well. I've read that consumer GPU's are usually limited by their amount of RAM (something about the entire scene that needs to be loaded)
It's not a tesla card, but it might help some.
 
That is absolutely a beautiful video card. Unbelievable how it has 3 gigs of VRAM and still draws less power than a reference GTX 580. I can't wait to see what you guys will do once you get hold of a 2nd one, but $600+ sure is a lot of swallow for a single video card.

I'm very glad to see that you guys have added DIRT 3 into the testing suite as I was hoping it would happen. I am jealous at the kind of hardware you guys get to play around with!
 
Wow- MSI is really turning up the innovation in the graphics business! Doubling the VRAM, increasing clocks and DROPPING 28W??? Very impressive. However, I still just don't see the point when you could drop in 2x6950's for less money and have much better performance. Heck- even 2x6970 is only another $100 and when you're already looking at $600 for graphics, whats another hundred? lol. Still- excellent card, just needs to be a couple hundred bucks cheaper.
 
Interesting on the Dirt3 settings 4xMSAA is listed as the highest playable settings for the vanilla 580 and 6970, however in the apples to apples test they both only lose 2-3 FPS on average by going to 8xMSAA, which appears would be a playable framerate, especially with both at a minimum of 33 FPS.

The 6970 really seemed to perform better than I recall against the vanilla 580 as well. Would love to have 2 of these cards, but I think my 2 6970s is a value sweet spot for 30" gaming. Now if only AMD could nail down the flickering issue in so many games I could enjoy it much more.

That being said, if you're set on a non-reference 580, I don't see why you wouldn't just get the 3GB lightning for only $75 more. The cooling and power savings is simply amazing and you would have more legroom for AA in more games, extrapolating out the results Dirt3 showed.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Interesting on the Dirt3 settings 4xMSAA is listed as the highest playable settings for the vanilla 580 and 6970, however in the apples to apples test they both only lose 2-3 FPS on average by going to 8xMSAA, which appears would be a playable framerate, especially with both at a minimum of 33 FPS.

The 6970 really seemed to perform better than I recall against the vanilla 580 as well. Would love to have 2 of these cards, but I think my 2 6970s is a value sweet spot for 30" gaming. Now if only AMD could nail down the flickering issue in so many games I could enjoy it much more.

That being said, if you're set on a non-reference 580, I don't see why you wouldn't just get the 3GB lightning for only $75 more. The cooling and power savings is simply amazing and you would have more legroom for AA in more games, extrapolating out the results Dirt3 showed.
Click to expand...

i noticed between 35-30fps game play goes to absolute crap. when i was screwing around with settings on my 8800GS, the game felt smooth down to 35fps then when i dropped below that it felt sluggish as heck. so i'm guessing thats why they stuck with 4xAA.
 
Flyinfinni said:
Wow- MSI is really turning up the innovation in the graphics business! Doubling the VRAM, increasing clocks and DROPPING 28W??? Very impressive.
Click to expand...

They probably just cherry pick the GPU's that will hit these frequencies at the lowest voltages out of all the GTX580 GPU's they get from Nvidia, and then put the chips that are closer to nvidias specs in their more pedestrian GTX580 boards.
 
Zarathustra[H];1037349931 said:
They probably just cherry pick the GPU's that will hit these frequencies at the lowest voltages out of all the GTX580 GPU's they get from Nvidia, and then put the chips that are closer to nvidias specs in their more pedestrian GTX580 boards.
Click to expand...

good point, but still- 30W difference is still significant, and even with binning chips, thats a nice gain. I would guess they have also improved the power efficiency of the PWB apart from the GPU itself as well.
 
Wow, 600$.. how can they justify this?

You can get a GTX 590 for 100$ more.
 
Amazing review as per. MSI are looking like the best partner by far these days in the UK. Since when did the 6970 become 99% as fast as the 580, is that new drivers or something?
 
Good Review!

Nice looking piece of hardware there... Seems very late in getting here though... $600 and if you're in the market for one you're really looking at $600 x 2 = $1,200 for surround minimum setup for +/- 6 to 8 months (worst case scenario I'd venture to guess) before a complete refresh?

Also, I guess the constant AMD driver updates & optimizations are adding up if a 6970 really benches that fast now, VERY surprising!

The price difference between a 6970 & 580 3GB is simply HUGE now, it's almost a no contest (for 1 screen at least), never seen anything like it!
 
would love to see a review of 1.5gb vs 3gb clock for clock. having the reference card in there is kinda pointless cause ya it's got faster clocks so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know it'll be faster.
 
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU for doing a review of these, been waiting for HardOCP to do one. I read all the others but you guys tend to have much more realistic results and testing environments as well as actually pushing the cards.

Did you get this card from MSI actually get one from a store?

Anyways, I'm very excited for mine. First system that I didn't have to watch my budget.

Trackr said:
Wow, 600$.. how can they justify this?

You can get a GTX 590 for 100$ more.
Click to expand...

And have the heat limit as well as the vram limit. These cards have a purpose for some people. I consider myself one of them. I'm buying two when they are released on amazon or newegg.

Zarathustra[H];1037349716 said:
So, has anyone seen these for sale anywhere yet?
Click to expand...

They were listed on ++++ for 630, but I wanna buy from amazon or newegg since on average they have lower prices and as well I'm more comfortable with their customer support. I'm dropping 2.5G's on a build next week and want to be confident in the store.
 
Last edited:
XacTactX said:
Props to MSI on the power consumption. Card is running at 832/1664/4200 instead of 772/1544/4000 and it still uses ~25w less than a regular 580. That is some serious shit.

TechPowerUP confirms the same thing. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_580_Lightning/24.html

I presume that you guys will be doing SLI and TriSLI eventually? I'd love to see it. Shall we make a poll to gauge people's opinions?
Click to expand...

^ this

I like how AMD has streamlined their video cards and reduced the power greatly and still getting great performance. I would like to see more nvidia cards doing the same. I think people are finally coming out of their power hungry modes and looking for more efficiency, even in computer systems. I reduced my beast of a build and I have a much more "eco" friendly system now running with far, far less energy.
 
I wish these were out 6 months ago, as I would have bought two instead of the Palits.
 
Zarathustra[H];1037350525 said:
I was a little bit surprised that there was no overclocking attempt in the review
Click to expand...

Most reviews show 950mhz-1ghz oc on both this and the 1.5gb version. Think I'm going to hold out for Kepler, personally... :D.
 
I'd hold out but I've been running on subpar hardware for so long, I feel like just going for it. I won't be dissappointed. Worst case, the cards drop in price when the new ones come out. I'll still be set for all the top games for the until end of 2012 no doubt.

Edit:
2sbf
 
Last edited:
I felt like i was being shafted when i paid $650 for my GTX280 years ago. I can't imagine buying two of them at the time only to know that the 580 I have in my computer now is pretty much the same speed.
 
Trackr said:
Wow, 600$.. how can they justify this?

You can get a GTX 590 for 100$ more.
Click to expand...

The only problem with that plan is that the GTX 590 has gimped GPU clocks, RAM clocks, consumes way too much power and lacks the necessary RAM for high resolution / multiple monitors. If you have a need for the fastest and best GPU setup on the planet today, the GTX 590 doesn't make the cut. However 2 or 3 GTX 580 3GB cards do.
 
Nice review

I have some questions here

Day 2 of this month There was a review for MSI N580GTX Lightning, And performance Bad Company 2

June 02

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/06/02/msi_n580gtx_lightning_video_card_review/6

But in June 06

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/06/06/msi_n580gtx_lightning_xe_3gb_video_card_review/7



June 06


GTX 580 With AA4 = 42

June 02

GTX 580 With AA8 = 45

June 06

MSI N580GTX Lightning With AA4 = 44

June 02

MSI N580GTX Lightning With 16XQ = 48

:confused:

Anything about it?
 
cold2010 said:
snippet
Click to expand...

BC2 has no benchmark utility, they run through an area as consistently as they can. So between those dates they probably didn't remember exactly how they went through it.
 
Last edited:
crest congrats on your new 1200 upgrade u lucky mofo
 
I'd like to see The Witcher 2 added as a benchmark (though there are issues with both nvidia and ati cards atm). Its an extremely beautiful game on a unique engine and I think would provide some great insight into the more modern features/performance of GPU's.
 
gigatexal said:
crest congrats on your new 1200 upgrade u lucky mofo
Click to expand...

This is only the vidcards, I have a remaining 1100 I'll be buying next week. I just wanted to make sure I grabbed these before they went out of stock. I wonder if I could run them in my current 680i SLI mobo while I wait. My Q6600 and 600watt Seasonic S12 will have some work to do lol.
 
I dunno if that psu will handle them. What other hardware will you use to feed those beastly cards?
 
I wasn't serious, I wouldn't bother installing it, I'll save them for the build next week. But to answer your question, 5 7200rpm harddrives, Dvd drive, all the normal HAF 932 fans, sound card, and stock q66 at 1.18v
 
How in the fuck does this card get gold? Yes, it outperforms a 6970 in ONE game...But the 6970 is $250 cheaper! It's not the highest performing single card, not the best bang for the buck single card, what warrants gold? IF, we were talking about SLI performance (which is not in the article) or some massive overclocking ability (also not in the article), I could see it potentially getting a silver at most because it costs so much more than any comparable setup. But as it stands with the data shown, for $600 it's a complete and total rip off. I'm just left scratching my head...This fits no use case. If you're after the best single card, you get a 6990 because it performs better and allows multi monitor gaming. If you only have room for a single card and have a single monitor, you get a 6970, no way you shell out $250 to get 8x AA instead of 4x AA in a single game.

If you're giving it a gold because of it's SLI abilities, why the hell aren't SLI results in the article? As a single card and with the results shown, this card warrants nothing, as nobody in their right mind would buy it.
 
bobzdar said:
How in the fuck does this card get gold? Yes, it outperforms a 6970 in ONE game...But the 6970 is $250 cheaper! It's not the highest performing single card, not the best bang for the buck single card, what warrants gold? IF, we were talking about SLI performance (which is not in the article) or some massive overclocking ability (also not in the article), I could see it potentially getting a silver at most because it costs so much more than any comparable setup. But as it stands with the data shown, for $600 it's a complete and total rip off. I'm just left scratching my head...This fits no use case. If you're after the best single card, you get a 6990 because it performs better and allows multi monitor gaming. If you only have room for a single card and have a single monitor, you get a 6970, no way you shell out $250 to get 8x AA instead of 4x AA in a single game.

If you're giving it a gold because of it's SLI abilities, why the hell aren't SLI results in the article? As a single card and with the results shown, this card warrants nothing, as nobody in their right mind would buy it.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I have to agree with everything above.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's a nice piece of hardware, but the price makes no sense whatsoever.

What was the criteria for awarding it Gold?
 
It is the highest performing single GPU card. It runs 20 C cooler than the reference card, which before these MSI cards I can't recall an aftermarket cooler being that effective. With double the RAM and a decent OC it consumes less power than the reference design.

Although it isn't included in the article, I think it is easy to extrapolate out that this card would be the absolute best card to run in SLI for multi-monitor resolutions. Sometimes [H] gives out the gold based on the value per dollar and sometimes they give out the gold for the pure performance and quality of the item, which I would say is the case here. If you wanted to build the highest end setup possible at this point in time, IMO this is the card you would use, thus very deserving of a Gold.
 
Wtf crest those sli'd beasts need a 2600k

Lol

Also 3GB vram needs to be stock on the 580s
 
TwistedAegis said:
It is the highest performing single GPU card. It runs 20 C cooler than the reference card, which before these MSI cards I can't recall an aftermarket cooler being that effective. With double the RAM and a decent OC it consumes less power than the reference design.

Although it isn't included in the article, I think it is easy to extrapolate out that this card would be the absolute best card to run in SLI for multi-monitor resolutions. Sometimes [H] gives out the gold based on the value per dollar and sometimes they give out the gold for the pure performance and quality of the item, which I would say is the case here. If you wanted to build the highest end setup possible at this point in time, IMO this is the card you would use, thus very deserving of a Gold.
Click to expand...


To be able to compare gold awarded hw to gold awarded hw the criteria for obtaining a gold rating or any rating for that matter should be consistent
 
TwistedAegis said:
It is the highest performing single GPU card. It runs 20 C cooler than the reference card, which before these MSI cards I can't recall an aftermarket cooler being that effective. With double the RAM and a decent OC it consumes less power than the reference design.

Although it isn't included in the article, I think it is easy to extrapolate out that this card would be the absolute best card to run in SLI for multi-monitor resolutions. Sometimes [H] gives out the gold based on the value per dollar and sometimes they give out the gold for the pure performance and quality of the item, which I would say is the case here. If you wanted to build the highest end setup possible at this point in time, IMO this is the card you would use, thus very deserving of a Gold.
Click to expand...

Highest performing single GPU card ONLY matters if you're using 3 cards or more, and no SLI, 3 card or 4 card performance was shown in the article, so awarding it Gold based on something not shown or analyzed is completely crazy. Even saying that it deserved a sliver because it's better than a reference 580 GTX is a stretch because it costs $100 more than an already overpriced card.

In pure performance, it's not the fastest single card. For 2 card performance, it probably won't beat a pair of 6990's, but we don't know because there are no results. For 3 card performance, then maybe you'd have an argument, but we don't know because there are no results. So awarding it Gold based on what it could possibly do is stupid, and awarding it gold because it just barely outperforms an already overpriced reference GTX580 is equally preposterous. Just because MSI polished up a turd for $100 extra won't make it stink any less like shit.

If this thing came in at the same or within $20 of a reference 580, then I would be on board with a silver or gold rating. Then there might be some reason to buy it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top