MSI's GTX 980 Ti Lightning is the pinnacle of GTX 980 Ti design. It comes with the highest clocks out of the box, boosts higher than any other GTX 980 Ti I tested, runs cooler and is quieter than any competing GTX 980 Ti while doing so. MSI's engineers delivered the perfect product.

Out of the box, the card runs 1203 MHz as its base clock, which is faster than most other GTX 980 Tis that usually dwell at around 1100 MHz. Memory is overclocked by a small 25 MHz, but every bit helps. Overall, at 4K, this makes the MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning 20% faster than the GTX 980 Ti reference! This is about the performance uplift I expect from NVIDIA's next-generation Pascal GPUs. Compared to AMD's Fury X flagship, the Lightning is 16% faster. The only noteworthy competition is GTX 970 SLI, which is only 3% slower, but comes at a lower price.

MSI has engineered a brand-new triple-slot, triple-fan TriFrozr thermal solution for their GTX 980 Ti Lightning, which is probably the best graphics card cooler I've seen in recent years. During heavy gaming, the fans run extremely quiet, making this the quietest GTX 980 Ti on the market. In idle or light gaming, the fans will stop completely for the perfect noise-free experience. Now, if you think that being so quiet results in high temperatures, you couldn't be more wrong. With only 65°C under full load, the MSI Lightning is the coolest GTX 980 Ti we have tested, making it the fastest, coolest, and quietest of them all at the same time!
Using a triple-slot cooler has definitely paid off, even when it means that some people won't be able to install this arguably huge card in their cases. For SLI users, MSI has included a long SLI bridge in the package. Also included is a VRM heatsink for LN2 users that comes into play with hardcore overclocking, which MSI also supports well with voltage measurement points, an LN2-optimized dual BIOS, and the fantastic Afterburner overclocking software.

So, is this the best GTX 980 Ti on the planet? Yeah, well, kinda.. if it wasn't for the price. Retailing at $780, the MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning is really expensive, clocking $160 higher than the cheapest GTX 980 Ti. Ok, it's still cheaper than NVIDIA's GTX Titan X, but unless you have the cash to burn, you should definitely consider cheaper GTX 980 Ti variants, especially if you are not afraid of some manual tweaking. Another interesting alternative could be MSI's GTX 980 Ti Lightning LE, which is more affordable, comes with the big cooler, but lacks the ultra-high clocks of the regular Lightning. GTX 970 SLI is another great option. It's only $580, just as fast, but noisier and requires optimum game support, which NVIDIA usually delivers on before a game's release. If the premium of MSI's Lightning were around $100 instead of $160, the Lightning would have received a perfect 10 as a score.