# MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6 GB



## W1zzard (Jul 2, 2015)

Today, we are reviewing MSI's highly anticipated GTX 980 Ti Gaming, which comes with a new TwinFrozr dual-fan cooler. In idle, the fans will completely turn off for the perfect noise-free experience. The card is also highly overclocked for the highest performance of any GTX 980 Ti we tested so far.

*Show full review*


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## rooivalk (Jul 3, 2015)

W1zzard said:
			
		

> MSI sent us a card with 1216 MHz base clock, a value that was never seen in the wild. Retail cards came with 1190 MHz instead


Sounds like Ferrari shenanigan, although to a far lesser extent. They both famous in red too


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## the54thvoid (Jul 3, 2015)

Strange that BIOS speed hike.  You'd think it'd only deliver micro fractions of perf increase.  Nonetheless, I disapprove.  

On another note, Perhaps they (MSI) are focussing their efforts on the 980ti Lightning.  It's well known (in rumourland) that they didn't even bother with a 980 Lightning because they knew their would be a 980 ti.  I've already marked my interest in EVGA Europe for a Classified.  Might even contact KFA2 for their monster HOF LN2 with their TDP limit disabling switch......


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## Joss (Jul 3, 2015)

The noise level doesn't make sense, those are 100mm fans aren't they?


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## Fluffmeister (Jul 3, 2015)

Thanks for the review, fighting the urge already... but I think this will be my next card!


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## chinmi (Jul 3, 2015)

Excellent card. Its beat the fury in everything !!! For an almost similiar price with the fury, this card is :
Its cooler
It consume less watt
It produce less noise
Its faster
It has better driver support
Its green !!!

Seriously, I still wonder why on earth people still buy a shitty fury.
Amd need to step up their game. Cut fury price by 50% and it will be a good contender for the 980ti !!


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## Darksword (Jul 3, 2015)

MSI is not playing fair.  They are sending review cards that are tweaked higher than retail cards. 

They did this with the sample they send to Guru3D as well.  Guru's sample MSI 980Ti allowed a 120% Power Limit, whereas retail cards are only set to 109% Power Limit.

Someone needs to call MSI out on this.  They shouldn't be sending review cards with specs that aren't available to retail customers.  They're obviously doing this deliberately to score higher in review comparisons.

Not cool, MSI.   Not cool.


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## the54thvoid (Jul 3, 2015)

Darksword said:


> MSI is not playing fair.  They are sending review cards that are tweaked higher than retail cards.
> 
> They did this with the sample they send to Guru3D as well.  Guru's sample MSI 980Ti allowed a 120% Power Limit, whereas retail cards are only set to 109% Power Limit.
> 
> ...





ZeroFM said:


> i'
> 
> AMD fanboy ... look at market https://www.dropbox.com/s/b4phchp5o89f830/Untitled.jpg?dl=0



@Darksword is quite correct and there's nothing Fanboyish about his statement.  MSI is playing low if they are allowing reviewers a higher TDP, although W1zzard suggests his is not TDP 'boosted' going on Furmark scores.  I'd be well pissed off if i bought a MSI gaming card based on a review that said 120% power limit, only to find out it wasn't.  That 120% gives a fair bit of OC headroom.


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## Dimi (Jul 3, 2015)

The card can operate in 3 modes, your card was obviously in OC Mode.

RETAIL SAMPLE SPECS:

*Core klok*      Silent Mode: 1000 MHz, Gaming Mode: 1140 MHz, OC Mode: *1178 MHz* 
Boost klok    Silent Mode: 1076 MHz, Gaming Mode: 1228 MHz, OC Mode: 1279 MHz

Please remove what you said about retail specced cards only coming at 1140 Mhz. That statement is false.


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## human_error (Jul 3, 2015)

Had this card for a week now and I have to say it's fantastic. First Nvidia card for me since the Geforce mx440 I had many years ago and am very happy with it.


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## $ReaPeR$ (Jul 4, 2015)

chinmi said:


> Excellent card. Its beat the fury in everything !!! For an almost similiar price with the fury, this card is :
> Its cooler
> It consume less watt
> It produce less noise
> ...




seriously, your post couldn't be more fanboyish even if you had typed it with green letters.. ffs dude..


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## zzzaac (Jul 4, 2015)

Wish OEM's stop with the "Modes". Just put it at one OC


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## toyota (Jul 4, 2015)

I have this card and it ticks me off about the 109% limit as its easy to hit that in benchmarks and games with an OC that is no where near the max this card can do.

so did this review card show the 120% power limit like in the guru3d review or is 109% like the retail cards?

if so then I guess the BIOS in the database here could be useful.


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## commando55555 (Jul 4, 2015)

chinmi said:


> Excellent card. Its beat the fury in everything !!! For an almost similiar price with the fury, this card is :
> Its cooler
> It consume less watt
> It produce less noise
> ...



so speaking the truth makes him a fan boy so what part of this isn't true.


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## toyota (Jul 4, 2015)

commando55555 said:


> so speaking the truth makes him a fan boy so what part of this isn't true.


it wasn't all true though. the Fury X is cooler, quieter and uses about the same power under average gaming load in the review here.  

he is clearly just an Nvidia fanboy and would have never even considered the Fury X.


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## commando55555 (Jul 4, 2015)

cooler may be quieter, don't think so pump noise coil wine and no silent mode.


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## toyota (Jul 4, 2015)

commando55555 said:


> cooler may be quieter, don't think so pump noise coil wine and no silent mode.


well the pump noise was defect that has been fixed in newer cards. of course that means sending it back for another which is a pain in the ass though.


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## commando55555 (Jul 4, 2015)

the  EVGA 980Ti Hybrid not only beats Fury in every category, but it also runs cooler.


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## Fluffmeister (Jul 4, 2015)

Dimi said:


> The card can operate in 3 modes, your card was obviously in OC Mode.
> 
> RETAIL SAMPLE SPECS:
> 
> ...



Indeed, regardless I've found both my 670 and 970 both boost well past their specified boost clocks, even at lower base clocks.


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## toyota (Jul 4, 2015)

Fluffmeister said:


> Indeed, regardless I've found both my 670 and 970 both boost well past their specified boost clocks, even at lower base clocks.


um every Kepler/Maxwell card boosts past their advertised  boost speed. 

what Dimi said was stupid as the point was the retail cards come with the 1140/1228 clocks as default not the 1178/1279 clocks reviewers are getting.


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## toyota (Jul 4, 2015)

commando55555 said:


> the  EVGA 980Ti Hybrid not only beats Fury in every category, but it also runs cooler.


well it better as it costs 100 bucks more.


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## Fluffmeister (Jul 4, 2015)

toyota said:


> um every Kepler/Maxwell card boosts past their advertised  boost speed.
> 
> what Dimi said was stupid as the point was the retail cards come with the 1140/1228 clocks as default not the 1178/1279 clocks reviewers are getting.



And my point is it's also pretty irrelevant when they will boost higher anyway.


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## toyota (Jul 4, 2015)

Fluffmeister said:


> And my point is it's also pretty irrelevant when they will boost higher anyway.


sigh, it is not irrelevant since BOTH cards will boost higher than their respective boost clocks. the card reviewed here is boosting about 50 mhz higher than the retail cards will boost at. can you not comprehend that? jeez no wonder companies can get away with stuff when they have customers like you.


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## Fluffmeister (Jul 4, 2015)

toyota said:


> sigh, it is not irrelevant since BOTH cards will boost higher than their respective boost clocks. the card reviewed here is boosting about 50 mhz higher than the retail cards will boost at. can you not comprehend that? jeez no wonder companies can get away with stuff when they have customers like you.



How do you know? Are you mad it's boosting higher than yours?


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## W1zzard (Jul 4, 2015)

toyota said:


> sigh, it is not irrelevant since BOTH cards will boost higher than their respective boost clocks. the card reviewed here is boosting about 50 mhz higher than the retail cards will boost at.


that is correct



Dimi said:


> The card can operate in 3 modes, your card was obviously in OC Mode.
> 
> Please remove what you said about retail specced cards only coming at 1140 Mhz. That statement is false.


what i'm complaining about is that my card has a different bios, which causes a different mode to be default than retail cards. you can not permanently switch modes, you need to install and run their software at every reboot to do that.


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## human_error (Jul 4, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> what i'm complaining about is that my card has a different bios, which causes a different mode to be default than retail cards. you can not permanently switch modes, you need to install and run their software at every reboot to do that.



Seems odd that they do this - they're either saying that the retail cards are clocked lower for no reason or that they're cherry picking cards for reviewers and giving them better clocks. Could be worth down-clocking the review cards to retail levels on future reviews if they let you know of the clock disparity before you start reviewing.


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## haswrong (Jul 4, 2015)

w1zzard, the project CARS benchmark is including anti-aliasing or without any form of aa?


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## pat-roner (Jul 4, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> that is correct
> 
> 
> what i'm complaining about is that my card has a different bios, which causes a different mode to be default than retail cards. you can not permanently switch modes, you need to install and run their software at every reboot to do that.


Mr. W1zzard,
I just got this card, and this may be a stupid question, but since your BIOS is "better" can I flash my card with your BIOS and get the same clocks?

Thanks


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## toyota (Jul 4, 2015)

Fluffmeister said:


> How do you know? Are you mad it's boosting higher than yours?


it is boosting by 52 mhz more than my card. I dont know why you cant get through your head why its wrong to have review cards with higher clocks than what retail will get.


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## toyota (Jul 4, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> that is correct
> 
> 
> what i'm complaining about is that my card has a different bios, which causes a different mode to be default than retail cards. you can not permanently switch modes, you need to install and run their software at every reboot to do that.


so can you answer my earlier question about the power target? guru3d showed 120% in their review so what did yours show when you where ocing as the retail cards only show 109.


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## Fluffmeister (Jul 4, 2015)

toyota said:


> it is boosting by 52 mhz more than my card. I dont know why you cant get through your head why its wrong to have review cards with higher clocks than what retail will get.



52Mhz!?!?!

Yeah, I'm not sure how you sleep at night.


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## toyota (Jul 4, 2015)

Fluffmeister said:


> 52Mhz!?!?!
> 
> Yeah, I'm not sure how you sleep at night.


you clearly lack the mental capacity to  understand what is being said no matter how many times you are told. I manually oc the card so that does not matter. what matters is that review cards look faster than what they really are. and other reviewers are also showing 120% power limit where the retail cards are only showing 109% which limits the max clocks the card can maintain when overclocking. bottom line is that its misleading as the card is faster than retail cards by default and offers more potential max overclocking than the retail card. now please stay out of the conversation if you have nothing halfway useful or intelligent to add.


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## haswrong (Jul 4, 2015)

Fluffmeister said:


> 52Mhz!?!?!
> 
> Yeah, I'm not sure how you sleep at night.


but you nailed it.. i had problems sleeping when i couldnt get my 670 to boost over 1300. it stopped at 1293. i was MAD about it! some people here should understand..


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## Fluffmeister (Jul 4, 2015)

haswrong said:


> but you nailed it.. i had problems sleeping when i couldnt get my 670 to boost over 1300. it stopped at 1293. i was MAD about it! some people here should understand..



Indeed, for the record my MSI 970 is a terrible overclocker/booster, I read about all these endless people banging on about their 1500Mhz+ boost clocks, when mine barely does 1400 odd without artifacting.

But your're right *toyota*, I'll move on, it's clear to me you're extremely anal and your boring me too.

Enjoy your card.


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## josho86 (Jul 5, 2015)

wow i was expecting this card to be quieter then 37 dbA....but still a very good card indeed

fingers crossed the "Asus 980ti strix" will be around the 30 - 34 dbA mark.


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## ZeroFM (Jul 7, 2015)

soon asus 980ti review ?


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## Vyse (Jul 7, 2015)

can someone explain why tomb raider has better performance at 4k then 1440p?


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## Joss (Jul 7, 2015)

Vyse said:


> can someone explain why tomb raider has better performance at 4k then 1440p?


The tables seam to be swapped.


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## haswrong (Jul 8, 2015)

Vyse said:


> can someone explain why tomb raider has better performance at 4k then 1440p?


becasue theres no aa in 4k?


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## W1zzard (Jul 8, 2015)

haswrong said:


> becasue theres no aa in 4k?


that


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## satikcz (Jul 9, 2015)

Fluffmeister said:


> Indeed, for the record my MSI 970 is a terrible overclocker/booster, I read about all these endless people banging on about their 1500Mhz+ boost clocks, when mine barely does 1400 odd without artifacting.



Then you must have been very unlucky and I probably very lucky my MSI GTX 970 Gaming was able to go up to 1562MHz/7900MHz (boosting to 1575 MHz in some cases) with just +20 mV...  


Spoiler: my MSI GTX 970 Gaming OC screen












Back to MSI GTX 980Ti Gaming - I got it OC to 1500 MHz with quite big voltage increase, now I am running it just fine on 1450 MHz with med voltage increase (arround +50 mV).

I can try in the evening at home how high will it boost with default settings.


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## psychok9 (Jul 9, 2015)

I've buyed a MSI GTX 980TI GAMING 6G... and I get hot temperature in OC.
1480MHz/1,205v (+38mv)/83°c/90%(!) fan speed.
My case is Case HAF XM with 200mm side fan.

Is it normal? I expected better...

Do you test card on open space or within a case?


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## W1zzard (Jul 9, 2015)

What temps do you get with stock everything ?


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## psychok9 (Jul 9, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> What temps do you get with stock everything ?


77°c/72% fan speed after some minutes in Unigine Heaven.
But still goes higher... now 79°c.


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## satikcz (Jul 10, 2015)

psychok9: That is quite high temp, mine temps were lower even when there was 30°C in room in those hot days.
What is your airflow in your case? Do you have good cable management for minimal breaking of airflow?
I have case Fractal Define XL R2 with 3 intake Noctua fans - one bottom, two front - and 3 outtake Noctua fans - one in the back, two in the top - (no fans on sides, it would break my airflow) running at 400 (idle) - 700 (in heavy load) rpm and my temps were arround 78°C with +60mV and 1500MHz in Furmark (1600 rpm on gpu fan).
All above infos are with MSI TwinFrozr.

There is screen of my airflow (with my old GTX 970, did not take photo with GTX 980Ti).
 

I was quite happy with the Twin Frozr, but my PC is Ultra-Low-Noise (CPU 400-900 rpm, case 400-800 rpm), so I changed the cooling to Raijintek Morpheus with 2 Noctua fans and now it is running in 400-900rpm with 71°C on 1450 MHz and +40 mV in Furmark.

This screen is with Morpheus cooler:
 
You can also notice in GPU-Z max temp was 78°C (that was with +87mV) and max core was 1539 MHz, but that was not stable.


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## psychok9 (Jul 10, 2015)

This is my case (I cleaned a bit after this photos lol):
http://imgur.com/a/a5TQt#0
I've 1x20cmx700rpm front intake , 1x20cmx700rpm side intake, 1x14cmx1250rpm on back out-take, 1x20cm out take on top and another 1x12cm on top (out take).

*I removed the dust filter* on the side and *I removed the top cover* of the case (HAF XM).
Now I'm getting 75°c/70% fan speed. It seems better! What do you think?
Unfortunately, it is dangerous without the "cover".


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## satikcz (Jul 10, 2015)

I am not familiar with the case, so I am not sure about the top cover.

Seems this case is not too so well prepared for better airflow - only one front intake and no bottom intake.

Also may be the soundcard can increase the temps.

But 75°C is quite fine for card with this power consumption


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## Joss (Jul 10, 2015)

psychok9 said:


> I've 1x20cmx700rpm front intake , 1x20cmx700rpm side intake, 1x14cmx1250rpm on back out-take, 1x20cm out take on top and another 1x12cm on top (out take).


That's more than enough airflow, and I mean _more than_, I'm also familiar with the HAF XM.
Search for your issue somewhere else.



> *I removed the dust filter* on the side and *I removed the top cover* of the case (HAF XM).


That's because you're daft.


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## psychok9 (Jul 10, 2015)

Joss said:


> That's more than enough airflow, and I mean _more than_, I'm also familiar with the HAF XM.
> Search for your issue somewhere else.
> 
> That's because you're daft.


Is it a popular case problem ?
You think that I'm stupid because I don't want dust on vga...?
It was a normal dust filter (and it was clean!)... but maybe the fan is very weak and it can't do  enough pressure.



satikcz said:


> I am not familiar with the case, so I am not sure about the top cover.
> 
> Seems this case is not too so well prepared for better airflow - only one front intake and no bottom intake.
> 
> ...



On bottom I've the PSU with its fan.

Yeah 75°c is fine now... but I can't leave the case open.
My previous card was a 280X, and temps wasn't so bad.


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## Joss (Jul 10, 2015)

psychok9 said:


> Is it a popular case problem ?
> You think that I'm stupid because I don't want dust on vga...?


When I said _daft_ I meant it as a joke, you don't need to take dust filters out, let alone the top cover.
The temps you are seeing are not normal for the airflow you have, the problem is not the case.


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## psychok9 (Jul 11, 2015)

Joss said:


> When I said _daft_ I meant it as a joke, you don't need to take dust filters out, let alone the top cover.
> The temps you are seeing are not normal for the airflow you have, the problem is not the case.



An MSI 6G user, on on another forum, posted the temp with his card (after 15 minutes of unigine heaven in loop like mine).
At stock his card get 76°c at 73% fan speed.

I have the impression that the top fans are smothered by the cover... the grid on it is dense and the distance from the fans isn't optimal.
I'm thinking to change side 200mm fan with a pair 140mm fans, more "aggressive", to push more fresh air and push out more hot air... would you recommend it to me?


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## psychok9 (Jul 11, 2015)

Without removing the cover, but removing the dust filter I get 76°c at 73°% fan speed (stock)...
It's 2°c colder with less 4-5% fan speed!
It's amazing how the physics win always, the side fan (and the air flow) was smothered from the dust filter.


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## psychok9 (Jul 11, 2015)

Now 79°c/80°c OC 1487MHz and overvolted.


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## Dalkamyr (Jul 17, 2015)

Is there a way to change the LED light color on that graphics card?
or a mod that could do the trick?

what about the msi 2way sli LED bridge?


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## Dalkamyr (Jul 17, 2015)

Any discoveries you guys make that help lower the temps on this card, please share thank you


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## jonathan1107 (Jul 17, 2015)

@W1zzard 

What was your fan profile for the test ?
I see you got 75c load temps. is that with fans @ auto or?


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## W1zzard (Jul 18, 2015)

I always test with fans on auto


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## satikcz (Jul 20, 2015)

Dalkamyr said:


> Any discoveries you guys make that help lower the temps on this card, please share thank you


Good airflow in case and enough space arround graphic card.

If that is not enough, you can think about changing cooler to Accelero / Morpheus.


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## Stenson (Jul 24, 2015)

Hi all,

First post but long time follower here.  I purchased the MSI gtx 980 TI gaming.  First card I have ever had with atrocious coil whine.  I RMAd it, got a second one in... Same exact issue.  The coil whine is most noticeable on high FPS bench marks (like included kombuster software)... But also noticeable at 60 fps on certain games. 

Am I just really unlucky or do most have this coil whine?  Getting ready for RMA #2...


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## Darksword (Jul 24, 2015)

That's very bad luck. My MSI 980Ti Gaming has no whine.  My previous MSI Gaming 970 didn't either.  Maybe you'd have better luck with a different brand though.  Two times in a row would have me looking elsewhere.


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## 64K (Aug 1, 2015)

Just put my MSI 980 Ti Gaming in my rig and downloaded the drivers. I tested the 980 Ti right out of the box on Heaven 4.0 with highest settings at 1080p for four runs and it averaged 64% faster than my MSI 970 GAMING at the same settings.  Of course that's just one test and real world gaming will vary.  No coil whine.

In case anyone is wondering why I upgraded from a 970 to a 980 Ti Gaming the reason is that the 970 was just a stopgap measure. I got in a hurry to upgrade my monitor to a 1440p a while back and the 680 2GB card that I had before the 970 just wasn't enough.


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## Darksword (Aug 2, 2015)

64K said:


> Just put my MSI 980 Ti Gaming in my rig and downloaded the drivers. I tested the 980 Ti right out of the box on Heaven 4.0 with highest settings at 1080p for four runs and it averaged 64% faster than my MSI 970 GAMING at the same settings.  Of course that's just one test and real world gaming will vary.  No coil whine.
> 
> In case anyone is wondering why I upgraded from a 970 to a 980 Ti Gaming the reason is that the 970 was just a stopgap measure. I got in a hurry to upgrade my monitor to a 1440p a while back and the 680 2GB card that I had before the 970 just wasn't enough.



Can you run some tests in Unigine Valley so I can compre?  My MSI 980Ti tested 53% faster than my MSI 970 at equal clock speeds in Unigine Valley.


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## 64K (Aug 4, 2015)

Darksword said:


> Can you run some tests in Unigine Valley so I can compre?  My MSI 980Ti tested 53% faster than my MSI 970 at equal clock speeds in Unigine Valley.



I've never used Valley before but I put the settings on what is listed on the Valley benchmarks thread

Preset: Custom
API: DX11
Quality: Ultra
Stereo 3d: Disabled
Monitors: Single
Anti Aliasing: 4X
Full screen: yes
Resolution: 1920x1080

i5 3570k @ 3.4 GHz

Did a few of runs with nothing overclocked except the MSI factory OC that the card comes with out of the box and averaged 100.6 FPS and 4208 Score. Seems a little low based on some of the scores I saw on the Valley thread but with overclocking GPU/CPU it would be better. GPU-Z said the core was running at 1367 MHz during the test.

What was your score?


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## Darksword (Aug 4, 2015)

With those same settings:

Score: 5330
Avg: 127.4

i7 5820K @ 4.3Ghz
980Ti @ 1250/1925


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## 64K (Aug 4, 2015)

ouch! I don't understand this unless my CPU isn't able to feed my 980 Ti fast enough in Valley 1.0 My 970 and 980 Ti Heaven 4.0 benchmarks were inline with scores from others members.


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## Darksword (Aug 6, 2015)

I think it's mostly the clock speed of your CPU @ 3.4Ghz.  Do you plan to overclock it at all?


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## 64K (Aug 6, 2015)

Darksword said:


> I think it's mostly the clock speed of your CPU @ 3.4Ghz.  Do you plan to overclock it at all?



I only use my desktop for gaming and so far I haven't needed to OC. I don't play RTS games anymore and I haven't played any of the newer games from 2013 and up. I had intended to do a new build on Skylake but I'm thinking it's not really worth it over the Ivy Bridge that I have now. I will most likely wait on 10nm Cannonlake some time next year to do a new build. When I get into some of the newer games I will probably need to do a medium OC and I will do it then.


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## mcraygsx (Dec 17, 2015)

Hey W1zzard I can confirm that my Brand new Geforce 980 TI Golden Edition has Power limit of 109% while running on EVGA SuperNova 1000 Platinum2


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## gasolin (May 10, 2016)

Vyse said:


> can someone explain why tomb raider has better performance at 4k then 1440p?



no aa in 4k 1440 4x aa


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## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 1, 2021)

Is the 120% bios for this card in the database? if so which one is it. My card is pretty good 1504core at +87 it is water cooled so temps are fine. just fancy trying the 120% bios.


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