A Closer Look

MSI's cooler uses two large fans and five heatpipes to keep the card cool. Just like on the MSI GTX 760 Gaming, which has four heatpipes total, one heatpipe is fat to provide better heat transfer properties.


A backplate has been installed on the back of the card. It provides protection against damage during handling and gives the card a much nicer look.


A second metal plate is located on the front of the card. It cools secondary components like memory chips and voltage regulation circuitry.


A little switch near the SLI connectors lets you switch between the normal BIOS and a BIOS optimized for liquid nitrogen usage.


Three connectors for easily accessible voltage measurements are also available on the card. These will come in handy when voltmodding.


The card requires two 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors. This configuration is good for up to 375 W of power draw. I found plugging the connectors in and out quite difficult because the heatpipe below the power connectors blocks access somewhat. ASUS flipped their power connectors by 180°, which would also solve the problem here.


MSI uses an OnSemi NCP4206 voltage controller on their card. It is a cost-effective solution but does not offer I2C voltage control or advanced monitoring.


The GDDR5 memory chips are made by Hynix and carry the model number H5GQ2H24AFR-R0C. They are specified to run at 1500 MHz (6000 MHz GDDR5 effective).


NVIDIA's GK104 graphics processor introduced the company's Kepler architecture. Manufactured at TSMC in Taiwan, it is NVIDIA's first chip to be produced on a 28 nm process. The transistor count is 3.54 billion.