MSI GeForce GTX 580 Lightning 1536 MB

W1zzard · Mar 30, 2011

MSI has engineered their own version of the GeForce GTX 580 called "Lightning", which is geared toward enthusiasts and overclockers. The card brings several exciting features like advanced voltage control and on-board DIP switches for tuning. A dual-BIOS feature with a special liquid nitrogen BIOS is also available.

Show full review

dumo · Mar 31, 2011

Thanks for review :toast:

Msrp also competitive

Zubasa · Mar 31, 2011

This is what I call a factory OC.

Edit: W1z, I think it is time to move on from COD 4 for overclocked performance.
Something like BF:BC2 or Metro 2033 will be a better representation.

HalfAHertz · Mar 31, 2011

*drool*
This is one delicious GPU!

W1zzard · Mar 31, 2011

Zubasa said:
Edit: W1z, I think it is time to move on from COD 4 for overclocked performance.
Something like BF:BC2 or Metro 2033 will be a better representation.

my cod 4 test completes quickly, usually doesnt crash the whole system, puts decent load on the card, quickly shows rendering errors, is fully automated and easy to abort at any time

LifeOnMars · Mar 31, 2011

W1zzard said:
my cod 4 test completes quickly, usually doesnt crash the whole system, puts decent load on the card, quickly shows rendering errors, is fully automated and easy to abort at any time

Crysis is probably even better for this tbh. That said, I still see COD 4 as a viable solution and if it works, why try to fix it

chuchnit · Mar 31, 2011

Excellent review as always Wizzard! I am surprised at the competitive pricing and will order as soon as they are available.

Lionheart · Mar 31, 2011

Any chance of the HD 6970 Lightning edition Wizz? :eek:

newtekie1 · Mar 31, 2011

W1zzard said:
where reader comments then claimed "GF110 can't take 1.2 V".

I think most of us were say that the card couldn't take 1.2v, not the GPU core itself. The GTX590 is only a 5 phase design, the GTX580 is 6 phase and still struggles with 1.2v. This card is what a 12 phase design essentially? I would think someone of your knowledge would understand the difference this makes.

W1zzard · Mar 31, 2011

Lionheart said:
Any chance of the HD 6970 Lightning edition Wizz?

yup, working on it next

Lionheart · Mar 31, 2011

W1zzard said:
yup, working on it next

Sweet, thankyou :toast:

yogurt_21 · Mar 31, 2011

awesome review, this lighting seems to be much better timed than the 480 version. 480 version was good, but the 580 was out by the time it launched.

TheMailMan78 · Mar 31, 2011

I wish I could afford one of these things. I'm Broke Samson. This whole family thing is cramping my gaminepicness.

Taskforce · Mar 31, 2011

Very nice card, lesson learned, always wait for custom, reference just doesn't cut it anymore, but sadly for $520 we have nothing to play other than horrible ports?

The Von Matrices · Mar 31, 2011

I know you have a template for video card reviews, but could you at least change this line you've been using for the past year to be more up to date? You say in every review:

[chipset manufacturer] also claims full support for the 3D portion of the HDMI 1.4 specification which will become important later this year when we will see first Blu-Ray titles shipping with support for 3D output.

Blu-ray 3D titles shipped in the end of 2010, not 2011. You should change this to something like:

[chipset manufacturer] also claims full support for the 3D portion of the HDMI 1.4 specification which is important to support Blu-Ray 3D

v2.0HeLLBRinGeR · Apr 1, 2011

Why didn't MSI copy the ASUS 6970 DCUII by using 4 displayports+ 2 DVI input in the 6970 Lightning in order to avoid screen tearing in Eyefinity resolutions! A 2-slot compared to Asus 3-slot will sell more especially when LGA2011 is coming soon!

Anyway, I'll be waiting for Wizzard's review of the 6970 Lightning. Great review!

mayankleoboy1 · Apr 1, 2011

with a card that is custom made for overclocking on LN2, it would have been better to atleast do the review with air cooled OC first. that would have shown the real potential of the card

anyone who is going to buy this card, will definitely be OC'ing it. to give him an idea of the real performance, a OC should have been done first.

@ W1zzard

you are awesome man!
you are probably the most quoted/referenced person on most of the computer hardware forums.

theonedub · Apr 1, 2011

Wow, this card seems like the 580 to have. That small premium is crazy for what you are getting.

OneCool · Apr 1, 2011

Sounds like its BIOS stealing time :rockout:

W1zzard · Apr 1, 2011

bios is in the bios collection, but i doubt it will work on any other cards

OneCool · Apr 2, 2011

W1zzard said:
bios is in the bios collection, but i doubt it will work on any other cards

Whats you talkin bout Willis?

cowie · Apr 2, 2011

OneCool said:
Whats you talkin bout Willis?

I think he means it wont work on other 580 cards..

This card is the bomb! great review wizz
Now we just need to be able to buy it sooner then later

blibba · Apr 3, 2011

TheMailMan78 said:
I wish I could afford one of these things. I'm Broke Samson. This whole family thing is cramping my gaminepicness.

No worries... your gaming rig looks overkill already to me

I mean c'mon... 3.8GHZ six core and a mid-high end DX11 GPU, u srs bro

Funtoss · Apr 3, 2011

I wish i had one, dam this gpu is so awesome!!

Hayder_Master · Apr 3, 2011

best deal

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

Processor	Core i7-12700k
Motherboard	Z690 Aero G D4
Cooling	Custom loop water, 3x 420 Rad
Video Card(s)	RX 7900 XTX Phantom Gaming
Storage	Plextor M10P 2TB
Display(s)	InnoCN 27M2V
Case	Thermaltake Level 20 XT
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster AE-5 Plus
Power Supply	FSP Aurum PT 1200W
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64-bit

System Name	penguin
Processor	R7 5700G
Motherboard	Asrock B450M Pro4
Cooling	Some CM tower cooler that will fit my case
Memory	4 x 8GB Kingston HyperX Fury 2666MHz
Video Card(s)	IGP
Storage	ADATA SU800 512GB
Display(s)	27' LG
Case	Zalman
Audio Device(s)	stock
Power Supply	Seasonic SS-620GM
Software	win10

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

System Name	Bad Moon Ryzen
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard	Asrock B450M Pro4-F
Cooling	Vetroo V5
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 32Gb (8gb x 4) 3200 MHz DDR 4
Video Card(s)	GTX 970
Storage	Samsung 860 Evo 1Tb, Samsung 860 Evo 500Gb,WD Black 8Tb, WD Blue 2Tb
Display(s)	Gigabyte G24F-2 (180Hz Freesync) & 4K Samsung TV
Case	Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact w/Dark Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	MSI MPG A850GF (850w)
VR HMD	Rift S

MSI GeForce GTX 580 Lightning 1536 MB

W1zzard

Administrator

dumo

Zubasa

HalfAHertz

W1zzard

Administrator

LifeOnMars

chuchnit

New Member

Lionheart

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

W1zzard

Administrator

Lionheart

yogurt_21

TheMailMan78

Big Member

Taskforce

Guest

The Von Matrices

v2.0HeLLBRinGeR

New Member

mayankleoboy1

New Member

theonedub

habe fidem

OneCool

W1zzard

Administrator

OneCool

cowie

blibba

Funtoss

New Member

Hayder_Master

System Name	Apple MacBook Air M2
Processor	Apple M2 8 Core CPU
Motherboard	Apple Motherboard
Cooling	Laptop Passive Cooling
Memory	16GB LPDDR5 RAM
Video Card(s)	Apple M2 8 Core GPU
Storage	256GB SSD
Display(s)	13.6-Inch Liquid Retina display 2560x1664
Case	Apple Laptop
Audio Device(s)	Generic Apple Audio
Power Supply	Laptop Battery
Mouse	Track Pad
Keyboard	Laptop Keyboard
VR HMD	( ◔ ʖ̯ ◔ )
Software	MacOS Sequoia
Benchmark Scores	Don't do them anymore.

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	Thought I'd be done with this by now
Processor	i7 11700k 8/16
Motherboard	MSI Z590 Pro Wifi
Cooling	Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4, 9x aigo AR12
Memory	32GB GSkill TridentZ Neo DDR4-4000 CL18-22-22-42
Video Card(s)	MSI Ventus 2x Geforce RTX 3070
Storage	1TB MX300 M.2 OS + Games, + cloud mostly
Display(s)	Samsung 40" 4k (TV)
Case	Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic EVO Black
Audio Device(s)	onboard HD -> Yamaha 5.1
Power Supply	EVGA 850 GQ
Mouse	Logitech wireless
Keyboard	same
VR HMD	nah
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	no one cares anymore lols

System Name	TheMailbox 5.0 / The Mailbox 4.5
Processor	RYZEN 1700X / Intel i7 2600k @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard	Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 / Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Intel LGA 1155
Cooling	MasterLiquid PRO 280 / Scythe Katana 4
Memory	ADATA RGB 16GB DDR4 2666 16-16-16-39 / G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB DDR3 1866: 9-9-9-24
Video Card(s)	MSI 1080 "Duke" with 8Gb of RAM. Boost Clock 1847 MHz / ASUS 780ti
Storage	256Gb M4 SSD / 128Gb Agelity 4 SSD , 500Gb WD (7200)
Display(s)	LG 29" Class 21:9 UltraWide® IPS LED Monitor 2560 x 1080 / Dell 27"
Case	Cooler Master MASTERBOX 5t / Cooler Master 922 HAF
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec / SupremeFX X-Fi with Bose Companion 2 speakers.
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS Plus Series SSR-750PX 750W Platinum / SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Mouse	SteelSeries Sensei (RAW) / Logitech G5
Keyboard	Razer BlackWidow / Logitech (Unknown)
Software	Windows 10 Pro (64-bit)
Benchmark Scores	Benching is for bitches.

System Name	My Surround PC
Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
Motherboard	ASUS STRIX X670E-F
Cooling	Swiftech MCP35X / EK Quantum CPU / Alphacool GPU / XSPC 480mm w/ Corsair Fans
Memory	96GB (2 x 48 GB) G.Skill DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s)	MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X 24GB
Storage	WD SN850 2TB, Samsung PM981a 1TB, 4 x 4TB + 1 x 10TB HGST NAS HDD for Windows Storage Spaces
Display(s)	2 x Viotek GFI27QXA 27" 4K 120Hz + LG UH850 4K 60Hz + HMD
Case	NZXT Source 530
Audio Device(s)	Sony MDR-7506 / Logitech Z-5500 5.1
Power Supply	Corsair RM1000x 1 kW
Mouse	Patriot Viper V560
Keyboard	Corsair K100
VR HMD	HP Reverb G2
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Mellanox ConnectX-3 10 Gb/s Fiber Network Card

System Name	My Next 5-Years PC
Processor	i7 2600k
Motherboard	Asus WS Revolution
Cooling	Noctua NH-D14
Memory	Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey Series 1600Mhz
Video Card(s)	3x MSI R6970 Lightning
Storage	Intel 510 250GB SSD + 2x500GB RE4 WDCB Raid0 + 1x1TB WDCB Backup
Display(s)	3x HP ZR24W @ 5760x1200
Case	Silverstone Raven03
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar Xense 7.1
Power Supply	Antec HCP 1200
Software	Windows 7 Professional 64bit

System Name	Erakith \|\| AsRock NUCS
Processor	AMD ThreadRipper 2990WX ES (32c/64t 3.5ghz@1.02v) \|\| Intel i7 1360P Raptor Lake-P
Motherboard	MSI X399 MEG Creation \|\| AsRock OE
Cooling	EK Supremacy TR4 Full Nickel, D5 w/ EK Top, 2X EK-CoolStream XTX 360 & Photon 270 Res \|\| OE
Memory	32GB (4x8GB) Corsair Vengeance PRO RGB DDR4 3000\|\| 2x16GB Corsair DDR4
Video Card(s)	Vega 64 EK FC\|\| Intel Iris Xe
Storage	250gb WD Black NVMe & (2) 2TB Intel 660p NVMe \|\| 2TB Corsair MP600 Pro
Display(s)	34" Dell Ultrasharp U3415W
Case	CaseLabs Merlin SM8 \|\| Aluminum Unibody
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000
Mouse	Corsair Harpoon Wireless RGB
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB w/ Cherry MX Silent
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 \|\| WIndows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	WCG & F@H Only

System Name	NEW
Processor	Intel 4770 non-K
Motherboard	Gigabyte H81M-DS2V
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 plus
Memory	16gb Muskin
Video Card(s)	XFX 380X 4gb
Storage	Sandisk 120gb plus WD blue 1tb
Display(s)	AOC 23.5 LED bl
Case	XIGMATEK
Audio Device(s)	motherboard
Power Supply	Cooler Master 500

System Name	The one under the desk / Media Centre
Processor	Xeon X3730@3.6GHZ / Phenom II X4 805E
Motherboard	Gigabyte P55M-UD4 / Asus Crosshair III
Cooling	Corsair H70 + 2*PWM fan / Arctic Alpine 11
Memory	16GB DRR3-1333 9-9-9-27 / 4GB Crucial DDR3-1333
Video Card(s)	Asus DirectCU GTX 680 / Gigabyte 560TI
Storage	Kingston V200 128GB, WD6400AAKS, 1TB Seagate 7.2kRPM SSHD / Kingston V200 128GB
Display(s)	Samsung 2343BW + Dell Ultrasharp 1600*1200 / 32" TV
Case	C'M' Silencio 550 / Some ancient SilverStone brushed aluminium media centre
Audio Device(s)	No.
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower XT 675W / EVGA 430W
Mouse	Mionix Naos 3200 / Generic PS2
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos TKL Pro / Evoluent Mouse Friendly Keyboard (Logitech OEM)
Software	Windows 7 Ult x64
Benchmark Scores	Nah.

System Name	My Heater
Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2ghz
Motherboard	Asus P5B-E Plus
Cooling	Zalman CNPS 9700 NT
Memory	Patriot 4GB 800MHz DDR2
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 460 1GB
Storage	2x Western Digital 640GB (1.28TB)
Display(s)	Viewsonic VX2349wm 24"
Case	Raidmax Hurricane
Audio Device(s)	C-Media 8738
Power Supply	Aywun Megapower 650w 80+
Software	Windows 7 64 Bit

System Name	MASTER
Processor	Core i7 3930k run at 4.4ghz
Motherboard	Asus Rampage IV extreme
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	4x4G kingston hyperx beast 2400mhz
Video Card(s)	2X EVGA GTX680
Storage	2X Crusial M4 256g raid0, 1TbWD g, 2x500 WD B
Display(s)	Samsung 27' 1080P LED 3D monitior 2ms
Case	CoolerMaster Chosmos II
Audio Device(s)	Creative sound blaster X-FI Titanum champion,Creative speakers 7.1 T7900
Power Supply	Corsair 1200i, Logitch G500 Mouse, headset Corsair vengeance 1500
Software	Win7 64bit Ultimate
Benchmark Scores	3d mark 2011: testing