# MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning 2 GB



## W1zzard (Jun 19, 2012)

MSI's GTX 680 Lightning combines the outstanding performance of the GTX 680 with the unique heritage of MSI's Lightning series. The card brings many features geared toward overclockers and advanced users, but even for gamers it's a good choice thanks to the overclock out of the box.

*Show full review*


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## cowie (Jun 20, 2012)

Nice review wizz thanks!


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## arnoo1 (Jun 20, 2012)

So this card is faster than a reference, is more efficient in multi monitor and idle and bleuray playblack
More silent under load en idle, a bettet card overall, i want one 
Nice score wizz


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## Animalpak (Jun 20, 2012)

Love the looks and its performance of this card... Well done MSI.


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## radrok (Jun 20, 2012)

Can't wait for the afterburner version that lets you tweak core voltage :O


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## Ikaruga (Jun 20, 2012)

Oh man, the card is such a beast, and still suffering under shitty coded games like metro2033, even in low-res. You buy one of the very best what's out there, and still can't max out 2 years+ old "games", not even in 1280x800:shadedshu


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## pantherx12 (Jun 20, 2012)

Ikaruga said:


> Oh man, the card is such a beast, and still suffering under shitty coded games like metro2033, even in low-res. You buy one of the very best what's out there, and still can't max out 2 years+ old "games", not even in 1280x800:shadedshu



It's not shitily coded.

On the very highest settings essentially everything becomes real time ( lighting, particles,shadows etc etc etc)

The setting just before it looks pretty damn good yet uses a lot less power.

It's been coded like Crysis is all the highest setting is an OTT one for people with the power to run it.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Jun 20, 2012)

oh man if this hits newegg at the $580 price in next week. I think ill get one.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Jun 20, 2012)

Hey Wizz does that blue thing that adds voltage to the card on the back side will that cause any clearance issues with big CPU coolers if you have the card the top slot on like a p67, z68, z77 board?

Nevermind I have plenty of room if i were to get this card. And if I did i think i would get some krylon Fusion to spray paint the yellow to a blue.


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## W1zzard (Jun 20, 2012)

yes, just fits. see the specs table in the review for cooler and mobo used.

you can safely remove the plastic thingie and put some insulating material on the addon pcb to gain a few extra millimeters


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## BababooeyHTJ (Jun 20, 2012)

Have you played with voltage control with this card at all? If I'm not mistaken they are advertising that support in Afterburner with this and the GTX 670 power edition. If so that would make those the only kepler cards on the market to have that ability.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Jun 20, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/120620/Capture1409.jpg
> 
> yes, just fits. see the specs table in the review for cooler and mobo used.
> 
> you can safely remove the plastic thingie and put some insulating material on the addon pcb to gain a few extra millimeters



sweet I want this card! Just hoping my paycheck comes as soon as its available on newegg and ill get one.


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## dj-electric (Jun 20, 2012)

radrok said:


> Can't wait for the afterburner version that lets you tweak core voltage :O



The MSI AB does support up-to 100mV+
NVIDIA inspector up to +187mV


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## tacosRcool (Jun 20, 2012)

Sweet card


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## BababooeyHTJ (Jun 20, 2012)

So, this card uses the same Chil 8318 as the reference GTX 680. I wonder why software voltage control will only work on the lightning.


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## WhoDecidedThat (Jun 20, 2012)

BababooeyHTJ said:


> So, this card uses the same Chil 8318 as the reference GTX 680. I wonder why software voltage control will only work on the lightning.



GPU Boost.


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## BababooeyHTJ (Jun 21, 2012)

Is there any chance of the Asus GTX 670 Direct cu 2 getting any voltage control in gpu tweak? I'm wondering whats holding back every other card on the market.



blanarahul said:


> GPU Boost.





The msi cards have gpu boost too.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Jun 21, 2012)

blanarahul said:


> GPU Boost.



What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with it.


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## alexsubri (Jun 21, 2012)

really digging the 670/680s..come ATI! your lagging!


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## Ikaruga (Jun 21, 2012)

pantherx12 said:


> It's not shitily coded.



Yes it is. :shadedshu Don't mix up game enignes with realtime renderer attempts, those are different things, and they require different programming approaches


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## BigBenn1 (Jun 21, 2012)

Has anyone noticed that overclocking the Core to super awesome jigahertz speeds doesn't actually help in game performance than overclocking the memory much more? I've realized over and over, higher memory overclock = better game performance. It'd be really cool if W1zzard would test this theory out, since I don't have my 670's ( SLI ) yet. Awesome review by the way, love the look of the card, but I don't think it's high price is justifiable.


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## radrok (Jun 21, 2012)

BigBenn1 said:


> Has anyone noticed that overclocking the Core to super awesome jigahertz speeds doesn't actually help in game performance than overclocking the memory much more? I've realized over and over, higher memory overclock = better game performance. It'd be really cool if W1zzard would test this theory out, since I don't have my 670's ( SLI ) yet. Awesome review by the way, love the look of the card, but I don't think it's high price is justifiable.



It is game dependant, some games benefit a lot more with memory overclock and some other games benefit more from higher clock speed


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## the54thvoid (Jun 21, 2012)

alexsubri said:


> really digging the 670/680s..come ATI! your lagging!



What you talkin' about Willis?

OC a custom and away you go.  AMD are just retarded at making quiet cards.  Anyway, the GHz (1100 core?) cards are just around the corner, hopefully customer versions are allowed at release.  That's the review I'm interested in.

But this card is too expensive (in the UK).  Most reasonable custom cards, like this are £500+ (equal to $780).  This specific card is £530 ($828), take off our tax it's still £440 ($688).

If the AMD GHz cards come out at more than the current 7970 prices, I'll boycott AMD out of spite next time I buy.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Jun 21, 2012)

the54thvoid said:


> What you talkin' about Willis?
> 
> OC a custom and away you go.  AMD are just retarded at making quiet cards.  Anyway, the GHz (1100 core?) cards are just around the corner, hopefully customer versions are allowed at release.  That's the review I'm interested in.
> 
> ...



the lightning GTX680 will be about $580


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## BigBenn1 (Jun 21, 2012)

radrok said:


> It is game dependant, some games benefit a lot more with memory overclock and some other games benefit more from higher clock speed



I just feel that the core is so highly clocked already, faster memory clocks are more efficient for the card. You're right though, that it depends on the game/engine it's running on, but till then, I'm probably spouting nonsense. I'll test it out when I recieve my own cards in the laters weeks, if anything happens, I'll probably post it up.


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## DrBoss (Jun 22, 2012)

Great review.

I hope you get a chance to review the MSI N670 Power Edition.  It also makes use of the Twin Frozr IV cooling system and will apparently have unlocked voltage (the same as the lightning) once the next version of Afterburner is released.


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## Cool Mike (Jun 23, 2012)

*Boost Speed?*

Not clear on the overclock here. 1225Mhz base core speed.

I purchased a Galaxy GTX680 SOC one week ago. During 3D runs (3Dmark11 and Heaven)  adding +15 on the core, I'm at 1308Mhz core and rock solid. Seems most are hitting 1300Mhz plus with the Galaxy GTX680 SOC.  

I see GPUZ indicates 1291mhz, but during 3D runs you will see a higher number...

What is your boost speed during a Heaven or 3Dmark11 run?


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## alexsubri (Jun 24, 2012)

the54thvoid said:


> What you talkin' about Willis?
> 
> OC a custom and away you go.  AMD are just retarded at making quiet cards.  Anyway, the GHz (1100 core?) cards are just around the corner, hopefully customer versions are allowed at release.  That's the review I'm interested in.
> 
> ...



I know what you mean, I got a 7950 Sapphire OC Edition @ 1120/1575..but even a 670 is faster in some cases


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