MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6 GB Review

Name: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6 GB
Brand: MSI

W1zzard

on Jul 3rd, 2015,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: MSI

(69 Comments) »

Introduction

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980 Ti was released just a few weeks ago. It is built on the same GM200 GPU as the GeForce Titan X, but has fewer shaders (2816 vs 3072). While the GTX 980 Ti's GPU is still produced on a 28 nanometer process at TSMC in Taiwan, it comes with the fantastic power efficiency optimizations of the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, which promises lower power draw, higher performance, and reduced fan noise all at the same time.

Our review of the reference design GTX 980 Ti revealed that it is barely slower than the Titan X, which means custom designs could surpass Titan X performance at a much lower price point.

Today, we are reviewing the MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming, one of the most anticipated custom designs for the GTX 980 Ti. MSI is using their large dual-fan TwinFrozr cooler we've seen on other recent models before. The card comes with a high overclock for 1178 MHz on the base and 1774 MHz on the memory is overclock.

The MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming can be found online for $680, which is a $30 premium over NVIDIA's MSRP for GTX 980 Ti.

GTX 980 Ti Market Segment Analysis
	Radeon R9 290	GeForce GTX 970	Radeon R9 290X	GeForce GTX 780 Ti	GeForce GTX 980	GeForce GTX 980 Ti	MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming	GeForce GTX Titan X	Radeon R9 295X2
Shader Units	2560	1664	2816	2880	2048	2816	2816	3072	2x 2816
ROPs	64	56	64	48	64	96	96	96	2x 64
Graphics Processor	Hawaii	GM204	Hawaii	GK110	GM204	GM200	GM200	GM200	2x Hawaii
Transistors	6200M	5200M	6200M	7100M	5200M	8000M	8000M	8000M	2x 6200M
Memory Size	4096 MB	4096 MB	4096 MB	3072 MB	4096 MB	6144 MB	6144 MB	12288 MB	2x 4096 MB
Memory Bus Width	512 bit	256 bit	512 bit	384 bit	256 bit	384 bit	384 bit	384 bit	2x 512 bit
Core Clock	947 MHz	1051 MHz+	1000 MHz	876 MHz+	1126 MHz+	1000 MHz+	1178 MHz+	1000 MHz+	1018 MHz
Memory Clock	1250 MHz	1750 MHz	1250 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	1774 MHz	1750 MHz	1250 MHz
Price	$250	$310	$300	$390	$480	$650	$680	$1050	$620

Packaging

You will receive:

Graphics card
Driver CD + documentation
PCI-Express power cable
DVI adapter

The Card

MSI's GTX 980 Ti Gaming comes with a new dual-slot, dual-fan TwinFrozr cooler that looks great thanks to its red highlights and metal construction. On the back, you find a baseplate. Dimensions of the card are 28.0 cm x 14.0 cm.

Installation requires two slots in your system.

Display connectivity options include one DVI port, one HDMI port, and three DisplayPorts.

The GPU also includes an HDMI sound device. It is HDMI 2.0 compatible, which includes HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies support.