MSI Vortex is a Mac Pro Inspired Dual-GPU Monster

btarunr · Jan 14, 2016

MSI unveiled its latest desktop under its coveted MSI Gaming logo - the Vortex. This compact gaming desktop features a design that's heavily inspired by the Mac Pro - a cylindrical case with three planes, and key components arranged along those planes, with a common air channel running through the bore of the cylinder. Much like the Mac Pro, the MSI Vortex packs a wallop.

In its base configuration, the MSI Vortex comes with an Intel Core i5 "Skylake" desktop quad-core processor, and two GeForce GTX 960 (desktop) graphics cards in SLI. The top variant gives you a Core i7-6700K quad-core chip, and two GeForce GTX 980 (desktop) cards in SLI, making it capable of 4K Ultra HD gaming. Sharp edges aside, the Vortex comes with RGB LED lighting. Not just design, MSI appears to have taken cues from Apple on even pricing - the base model is expected to be priced around US $2,000.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Darksword · Jan 14, 2016

Fugly.

HumanSmoke · Jan 14, 2016

Looks like a prop from Star Trek....the 1966 edition.

ZeDestructor · Jan 14, 2016

Show me the insides! If it's a "normal" MXM machine, I'm interested.

MxPhenom 216 · Jan 14, 2016

At least it doesn't look like a trash can.

JrockTech · Jan 14, 2016

Really cool. My best buddy is a graphic designer and uses the Mac Pro. You can't even tell if they're or on or not-whisper quite. Unfortunately the GPU's they use in them aren't meant for gaming. Two GTX 980's is a much better choice. Hopefully they can keep the heat down!

MxPhenom 216 · Jan 14, 2016

JrockTech said:
Really cool. My best buddy is a graphic designer and uses the Mac Pro. You can't even tell if they're or on or not-whisper quite. Unfortunately the GPU's they use in them aren't meant for gaming. Two GTX 980's is a much better choice. Hopefully they can keep the heat down!

Its a workstation system with FirePro GPUs, of course it wont be very good for gaming.

Frick · Jan 14, 2016

Looks ... I dunno. I don't like the looks. The Mac Pro looks great, but this looks off.

MxPhenom 216 · Jan 14, 2016

Frick said:
Looks ... I dunno. I don't like the looks. The Mac Pro looks great, but this looks off.

You must like the look of your standard cylindrical trash can.

JrockTech · Jan 14, 2016

MxPhenom 216 said:
Its a workstation system with FirePro GPUs, of course it wont be very good for gaming.

Yup, I didn't know those GPU's were meant for different applications up until a couple weeks ago. I assumed the Mac would run games just as good as a modern gaming rig.

Frick · Jan 14, 2016

MxPhenom 216 said:
You must like the look of your standard cylindrical trash can.

When it looks like this on the inside, sure.

JrockTech said:
Yup, I didn't know those GPU's were meant for different applications up until a couple weeks ago. I assumed the Mac would run games just as good as a modern gaming rig.

This has sadly never been true for any Mac, ever.

ZeDestructor · Jan 14, 2016

JrockTech said:
Really cool. My best buddy is a graphic designer and uses the Mac Pro. You can't even tell if they're or on or not-whisper quite. Unfortunately the GPU's they use in them aren't meant for gaming. Two GTX 980's is a much better choice. Hopefully they can keep the heat down!

JrockTech said:
Yup, I didn't know those GPU's were meant for different applications up until a couple weeks ago. I assumed the Mac would run games just as good as a modern gaming rig.

Frick said:
When it looks like this on the inside, sure.

This has sadly never been true for any Mac, ever.

Actually workstation GPUs are fine in games (what do you think triple-A gaming devs use to build games on?). They just need a bit of driver love, since they're the same chips mostly.

Frick · Jan 14, 2016

ZeDestructor said:
Actually workstation GPUs are fine in games (what do you think triple-A gaming devs use to build games on?). They just need a bit of driver love, since they're the same chips mostly.

Not a high end gaming rig. But yeah the most expensive Mac Pro could probably perform close to a HD 7970.

cssniper · Jan 14, 2016

Though obviously inspired by mac pro, this machine surely offers us a good platform for gaming.
After all, windows users are much more than mac users.
I am courious that how did msi put two destop gtx960 in it, metioned that the gtx980 is a laptop version.

ZeDestructor · Jan 14, 2016

Frick said:
Not a high end gaming rig. But yeah the most expensive Mac Pro could probably perform close to a HD 7970.

Actually, the twin D700 configuration the Mac Pro offers would be equivalent to a pair of W9000s a little underclocked, which are in turn basically expensive 7970/R9-280X/R9-380X chips. With crossfire and the right driver profiles, they should perform just as well. Granted, there's even bigger chips now, but good luck cooling the 300+W TDPs those put out in a mac pro.

HumanSmoke · Jan 14, 2016

cssniper said:
I am courious that how did msi put two destop gtx960 in it, metioned that the gtx980 is a laptop version.

The 960 has a pretty short PCB, so it might not be too tight a fit. The MSI Vortex video just shows the GTX980M SLI (MXM) version though

And here's a still from the video if you just want the quick reference

ZeDestructor · Jan 14, 2016

HumanSmoke said:
The 960 has a pretty short PCB, so it might not be too tight a fit. The MSI Vortex video just shows the GTX980M SLI (MXM) version though

And here's a still from the video if you just want the quick reference
<snipped>

Oooh, this has my attention. Too many of those SFF PCs have gone on using soldered cards rather than (the marginally thicker/larger/more expensive) upgradeable MXM cards.

TheGuruStud · Jan 14, 2016

I'll take stupid designs for 100, Alex.

PP Mguire · Jan 14, 2016

ZeDestructor said:
Show me the insides! If it's a "normal" MXM machine, I'm interested.

Uses 2 GTX 980m MXM-B cards.

trog100 · Jan 14, 2016

i think it wrong to say its Mac inspired.. its just an attempt to make something that isnt just a box.. there are only so many shapes to work with.. something different in a very competitive world.. and something more living room friendly..

trog

MagnuTron · Jan 14, 2016

ZeDestructor said:
Actually workstation GPUs are fine in games (what do you think triple-A gaming devs use to build games on?). They just need a bit of driver love, since they're the same chips mostly.

They don't use workstation cards. Why in gods name would they need FP64 for realtime performance...

buildzoid · Jan 14, 2016

MadsMagnus said:
They don't use workstation cards. Why in gods name would they need FP64 for realtime performance...

Work station cards come with more than just a ton of FP64.

ZeDestructor · Jan 14, 2016

MadsMagnus said:
They don't use workstation cards. Why in gods name would they need FP64 for realtime performance...

buildzoid said:
Work station cards come with more than just a ton of FP64.

^That

Mostly it's down to having a fully certified rendering chain, which lets you gain the ability to ring up some engineers over at nVidia/AMD at 4 in the morning and yell at them to make you a hotfix for that one edge-case that's not rendering properly. Like most things pro, it boils down to support contracts more than most things.

blibba · Jan 14, 2016

ZeDestructor said:
^That

Mostly it's down to having a fully certified rendering chain, which lets you gain the ability to ring up some engineers over at nVidia/AMD at 4 in the morning and yell at them to make you a hotfix for that one edge-case that's not rendering properly. Like most things pro, it boils down to support contracts more than most things.

That and gobs of RAM, which you need for games that are not yet optimised (and are "next-gen" even when they are).

silentbogo · Jan 14, 2016

At least it's not as bad as VIAO TP1
http://gizmodo.com/240190/sony-tp1-hands-on-cylindrical-pc-looks-like-a-roll-of-toilet-paper

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
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Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

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Processor	2600K @ 4.8
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Cooling	AC NexXxos XT45 360, RayStorm, D5T+XSPC tank, Tygon R-3603, Bitspower
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Storage	Kingston HyperX SSD (128) OS, WD RE4 (1TB), RE2 (1TB), Cav. Black (2 x 500GB), Red (4TB)
Display(s)	Achieva Shimian QH270-IPSMS (2560x1440) S-IPS
Case	NZXT Switch 810
Audio Device(s)	onboard Realtek yawn edition
Power Supply	Seasonic X-1050
Software	Win8.1 Pro
Benchmark Scores	3.5 litres of Pale Ale in 18 minutes.

System Name	Diablo \| Baal \| Mephisto \| Andariel
Processor	i5-3570K@4.4GHz \| 2x Xeon X5675 \| i7-4710MQ \| i7-2640M
Motherboard	Asus Sabertooth Z77 \| HP DL380 G6 \| Dell Precision M4800 \| Lenovo Thinkpad X220 Tablet
Cooling	Swiftech H220-X \| Chassis cooled (6 fans + HS) \| dual-fanned heatpipes \| small-fanned heatpipe
Memory	32GiB DDR3-1600 CL9 \| 96GiB DDR3-1333 ECC RDIMM \| 32GiB DDR3L-1866 CL11 \| 8GiB DDR3L-1600 CL11
Video Card(s)	Dual GTX 670 in SLI \| Embedded ATi ES1000 \| Quadro K2100M \| Intel HD 3000
Storage	many, many SSDs and HDDs....
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Case	Corsair Obsidian 550D \| HP DL380 G6 Chassis \| Dell Precision M4800 \| Lenovo Thinkpad X220 Tablet
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD \| None \| On-board \| On-board
Power Supply	Corsair AX850 \| Dual 750W Redundant PSU (Delta) \| Dell 330W+240W (Flextronics) \| Lenovo 65W (Delta)
Mouse	Logitech G502, Logitech G700s, Logitech G500, Dell optical mouse (emergency backup)
Keyboard	1985 IBM Model F 122-key, Ducky YOTT MX Black, Dell AT101W, 1994 IBM Model M, various integrated
Software	FAAAR too much to list

System Name	Ryzen Reflection
Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling	2x EK PE360 \| TechN AM4 AMD Block Black \| EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory	Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s)	Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G \| 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage	WD SN850 500GB (OS) \| Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) \| Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s)	Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS \| Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS \| LG 24" IPS 1440p
Case	Lian Li PC-011D XL \| Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s)	FiiO K7 \| Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse	Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard	Corsair K65 Plus 75% Wireless - USB Mode
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit

System Name	I overclock AMD setups
Processor	AMD 8320+ @ 4.95GHZ / AMD 6300 @ 4.8 Ghz / AMD 8350 @ In RMA
Motherboard	Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 / Gigabyte 970-D3P
Cooling	Corsair H100
Memory	16GB DDR3 Corsair Vengace
Video Card(s)	MSI GAMING GTX 980 @ 1545Mhz core
Storage	Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB
Display(s)	Acer 144hz
Case	Coolermaster CM 690 III (White Version)
Audio Device(s)	Creative Titanium Fatality Pro
Power Supply	Corsair Hx750i
Mouse	Logitech G300s
Keyboard	Microsoft Digital Media
Software	Windows 10 64
Benchmark Scores	23.0k on Skydiver, 8.1k on Firestrike. 1.5k single, 9.7k multi CPU-Z

MSI Vortex is a Mac Pro Inspired Dual-GPU Monster

btarunr

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Memory	32 gb corsair vengeance 3200
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Display(s)	27" Asus PG279Q ROG Swift 165Hrz Nvidia G-Sync, IPS.. 2560x1440..
Case	Gigabyte mid-tower.. cheap and nothing special..
Audio Device(s)	onboard sounds with stereo amp..
Power Supply	EVGA 850 watt..
Mouse	Logitech G700s
Keyboard	Logitech K270
Software	Win 10 pro..
Benchmark Scores	Firestike 29500.. timepsy 14000..

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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	WS#1337
Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X3D
Motherboard	ASUS X570-PLUS TUF Gaming
Cooling	Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Memory	64GB DDR4-3600(4x16)
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio
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Display(s)	Samsung Viewfinity Ultra S6 (34" UW)
Case	ghetto CM Cosmos RC-1000
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