A Closer Look

MSI's thermal solution uses five heatpipes to keep the GPU cool.


Once the main heatsink is removed, you can see this metal baseplate which covers memory chips (the main heatsink covers the VRMs, too). MSI is using a different kind of thermal pad here, which breaks much more easily than the ones I've seen before. Use pliers or a flat screwdriver to lift them.


The backplate is made from metal and protects the card during installation and handling.


MSI has upgraded the power input of their GTX 1080 Ti to two 8-pins. This input configuration is specified for up to 375 watts of power draw.


We have seen the OnSemi NCP81274 on various other custom design cards. The reference design uses a uPI controller.


The GDDR5X memory chips are made by Micron and are marked with "D9VRL," which decodes to MT58K256M321JA-110. They are specified to run at 1375 MHz (11,000 MHz GDDR5X effective).


NVIDIA's GP102 graphics processor is the company's second-largest chip using the Pascal architecture. It is produced on a 16 nm process at TSMC, Taiwan, with a transistor count of 12 billion and a die size of 471 mm².