Tuesday, March 28th 2017
MSI Intros GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Armor and Aero Graphics Cards
MSI today launched the two other custom-design GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards apart from its Gaming X series, the GTX 1080 Ti Armor series, and the GTX 1080 Ti Aero series. Both lines further have variants that are factory-overclocked, and ones which stick to NVIDIA reference clock speeds. The GTX 1080 Ti Aero will be MSI's cheapest GTX 1080 Ti offering, which could sell on-par with NVIDIA's $699 Founders Edition SKU. It features a lateral-flow cooling solution that pushes hot air out of the case, much like the reference-design cooler. MSI improved upon the drab black plastic cooler shroud design of previous Aero series products with streaks of NVIDIA's favorite shade of green, which lends the card a Quadro-like appearance. The base GTX 1080 Ti Aero sticks to NVIDIA-reference clocks of 1480/1582/11000 MHz (core/GPU Boost/memory), while the OC variant ticks at 1506/1620 MHz, leaving the memory untouched.
The GTX 1080 Ti Armor series is a little more exciting. Part of MSI's Arsenal Gaming family, the Armor series cards are positioned between the Aero series and the Gaming X series. These cards feature an aluminium fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by a pair of fans that spool down to zero when the GPU is idling. The card also appears to be using the same PCB as the GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X. The GTX 1080 Ti Armor sticks to NVIDIA-reference clock speeds, while the Armor OC variant does 1531/1645 MHz (core/GPU Boost) out of the box, which is a little behind the 1569/1683/11200 MHz the Gaming X ships with.
The GTX 1080 Ti Armor series is a little more exciting. Part of MSI's Arsenal Gaming family, the Armor series cards are positioned between the Aero series and the Gaming X series. These cards feature an aluminium fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by a pair of fans that spool down to zero when the GPU is idling. The card also appears to be using the same PCB as the GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X. The GTX 1080 Ti Armor sticks to NVIDIA-reference clock speeds, while the Armor OC variant does 1531/1645 MHz (core/GPU Boost) out of the box, which is a little behind the 1569/1683/11200 MHz the Gaming X ships with.
27 Comments on MSI Intros GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Armor and Aero Graphics Cards
Also, if the Aero does work at higher RPM it will very likely have higher sound pressure. But assuming that they are indeed equally loud, the Aero will have a more annoying, higher pitched sound signature.
tho the Aero run cooler.
subjectivity is also indeed in cause ... the FE cooler is fugly and not worth any overprice at all be it 1$ or 0.01$, the 1080Ti Aero is not beautiful either (the previous model for the 1070/1080 looked better ) and the Aero 1080Ti is likely to feature the same heatsink of the FE, only the shroud differ, going for the look at the same price well yes the FE shroud looks better ... :laugh:
that being said ... it's rightly priced since the FE is nothing but a reference card ... so AIB own references card are to be priced like it, plastic or metal.
if anyone would look at a FE or a Aero OC in a normal case, i would always write : "Armor" good performances factory OC quite adequate and OC'ability also great + Zero Frozr fan tech and Twin Frozr V and only 10$ pricier, well where i live ... subject to variation as per country pricing ... both FE and Aero OC are 757 respectively 756chf and the Armor is 767chf at lowest ... since most etailer do a above 800chf pricing for it ... well that's an improvement over the 900chf+ 1080 that are still priced like that ... actually for the other AIB ... KFA2 : FE = above 920chf ... soo much for the 700ish pricepoint eh? thanks Nvidia...
from TPU review of the 1080Ti
"In gaming, the fan ramps up considerably, reaching almost 40 dBA. In my opinion, this is too much, and temperatures are high as well, reaching the thermal limit almost always as you game, which results in reduced boost clocks."
actually none of those blower are adequate, but the Aero fan run higher and can mitigate the temperatures issue but at what sacrifice and the only reason to buy a reference PCB, is for easy block compatibility (which was true in the past but nowadays custom block overrule that)
cramped in a mITX case ... well let's hope MSI will do a 1080 Ti Aero ITX :laugh: (afaik only the 1070 received that treatment ... not a blower but effectively better cooled than the FE )
FE are only a hardcore fan item in term of interest, just like the Aero, they hold no advantage, unless OC version for a mITX user that does not care about ramping up a slider in a OC software ... for the noise ... well both are bad :p