WEBVTT 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:14.000 Buy an unlocked Intel 4th gen Core i7 or Core i5 processor and get a free copy of 00:00:11.840 --> 00:00:20.160 Rome 2: Total War. Click now to learn more. It's lightning time again, folks. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:22.240 MSI has their regular cards. Then their 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:27.199 gaming cards, both of which are pretty sweet, but they're truly flagship 00:00:24.880 --> 00:00:32.719 graphics cards are branded lightning, presumably because they are so flashy 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:37.399 looking. Or wait, no, hold on. It's probably because they're powerful and 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:42.840 lightning is made of electricity and clouds. Wait, hold on. Ju just 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:46.879 electricity? How does it even m So, the first thing you're going to 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:53.360 notice about this graphics card is the weight. Holy balls. It comes in an 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:58.640 awesome carrying case style box with a full set of accessories, including PCI 00:00:56.480 --> 00:01:04.640 Express six pin to 8 pin adapters and even an alternate back plate for the 00:01:01.680 --> 00:01:09.920 card if you swap decide to swap out the full length one for just a smaller short 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:16.000 one. Once the box is open, the next obvious thing is the fact that this is 00:01:12.320 --> 00:01:18.240 not a reference card. I mean, here's a 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:23.680 picture of a reference card for context. It is smaller and punier in every 00:01:20.880 --> 00:01:28.000 possible way. Because of this, you will need to make sure that your system is 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:32.640 capable of containing the greatness of the GTX 780 Lightning. side panel fans 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:37.119 could interfere with its increased height and you'll need to make sure that 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:43.439 you have enough expansion slots free because due to its two plus slot cooler, 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:46.000 it will take up one, two, three PCI 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:51.600 slots. Now, because the card is based on the GeForce GTX 780 GPU, there are no 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:57.680 real surprises in terms of normal NVIDIA graphics card features. You got support 00:01:53.360 --> 00:01:59.920 for SLI, 3D Vision, Fizzax, CUDA, 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:03.439 G-Sync, and of course, GeForce Experience, which has now added game 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:07.920 streaming to compatible devices like NVIDIA Shield. Low overhead gameplay 00:02:05.759 --> 00:02:12.160 recording, and Twitch live streaming to its ability to optimize your game 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:16.160 settings and keep your graphics drivers all up to date and all of that good 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:20.480 stuff. But that's not why you were shopping for a Lightning. Let's talk 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:24.959 about what makes this card special. First up is the fact that this is a very 00:02:22.959 --> 00:02:30.640 non-reference PCB. It utilizes components with MSI's military class 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:32.959 concept, including Dr. Moss 4, copper 00:02:30.640 --> 00:02:37.599 moss, high caps, new super ferite chokes, and their dark solid capacitors. 00:02:35.519 --> 00:02:40.480 So, unless you've got some electrical engineering under your belt, most of 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:45.760 that probably sounded like gibberish. But the point is that even though the 00:02:43.200 --> 00:02:50.720 mil standard 810G compliance doesn't really mean much, a lightning card is 00:02:48.160 --> 00:02:55.280 capable of running faster, cooler, and longer than a typical reference card. 00:02:53.440 --> 00:03:00.000 Second is their triple force architecture. So the lightning logo on 00:02:57.200 --> 00:03:05.200 the top illuminates green, blue, or red depending on the load. Their twin Frozer 00:03:02.640 --> 00:03:10.560 cooler design has been updated to triozer with three PWM controlled 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:15.680 propeller blade fans rather than two. And their power delivery system for the 00:03:13.519 --> 00:03:22.959 card itself has been decked out with an all digital design. Core, memory, and 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:25.040 auxiliary voltage are all digital. Next 00:03:22.959 --> 00:03:30.959 up is the GPU reactor, which is basically like an extra PCB strapped to 00:03:28.239 --> 00:03:35.920 the back of a card to reduce ripple and increase power delivery to the GPU core. 00:03:33.440 --> 00:03:40.720 In practice, this will be way beyond irrelevant unless you're using exotic 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:45.360 cooling methods, but hey, it's there. To go along with it, their V checkpoints 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:49.599 allow you to easily monitor key card voltages if you're performing mods and 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:54.560 want to use a dedicated multimedia rather than multimedia multimeter rather 00:03:52.239 --> 00:03:58.560 than software to find out how much juice you're giving to key components on the 00:03:56.480 --> 00:04:04.560 card. particularly when you're extreme overclocking. Their twin BIOS feature 00:04:00.959 --> 00:04:07.519 gives you two separate BIOS chips, which 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:13.959 is good because if you can find your way to get your hands on the non-nerfed LN2 00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:16.639 BIOS that allows a power limit over 00:04:13.959 --> 00:04:21.280 109%, then uh that might be pretty useful. Now, to be clear, guys, we 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:26.160 benchmarked our card assuming that end users will have to just deal with the 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:29.199 stock BIOS, but trust me, there is more potential in this card if you're willing 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:34.160 to get a little bit crazy. And that dual BIOS implementation means that there's 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:39.840 an easy bailout switch if something goes wrong during a BIOS flash. Triple over 00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:44.880 voltage that is cranking up the volts to the GPU memory and PLLL is all handled 00:04:42.880 --> 00:04:49.160 separately because of that feature and it is fully supported by MSI's 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:53.759 afterburner software. But again, it will have limited 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:58.560 relevance unless you perform the BIOS flash that I was talking about a moment 00:04:55.280 --> 00:05:01.600 ago because that is going to hold back 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:04.400 the true raw potential of this graphics 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:10.400 card in a very meaningful way. So the conclusion is this. The GTX 780 00:05:07.440 --> 00:05:14.320 Lightning is, how you say, uh, lightning fast. We threw a few games at it from 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:18.320 our usual suite of benchmarks, and while it doesn't really stand out from the 00:05:16.080 --> 00:05:22.000 crowd in terms of its performance, just as a reminder, guys, all of our cards 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:26.639 are overclocked as high as they can go, in my opinion, it's really very 00:05:23.840 --> 00:05:31.440 reasonably priced. For $50 more than a reference 780 running at reference 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:36.240 clocks and as little as 20 to $30 more than a normal non-reference card, if 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:40.080 nothing else, you're getting better build quality and cooler operation for 00:05:38.400 --> 00:05:44.800 your graphics card throughout its lifetime. It's also aggressively 00:05:42.080 --> 00:05:49.919 overclocked out of the box at a full 133 MHz faster max boost clock than a 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:53.440 reference GTX 780. and it has no difficulty hitting those numbers 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:57.759 consistently while running cooler and still being satisfyingly quiet. My only 00:05:55.919 --> 00:06:01.680 issue with the 780 Lightning actually has nothing to do with MSI, but rather 00:05:59.840 --> 00:06:06.880 to do with NVIDIA. Since it was released, the 780 Lightning has been 00:06:03.440 --> 00:06:08.639 nerfed with that 109% power limit BIOS 00:06:06.880 --> 00:06:12.880 that I was talking about before versus the aggressive one that it had available 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:18.000 to it at launch. This practice of NVIDIA's where non-approved card designs 00:06:15.440 --> 00:06:22.720 are limited puts some restraints on their partners' ability to deliver the 00:06:20.080 --> 00:06:27.680 best possible performance. And while I understand NVIDIA's perspective, um, and 00:06:25.520 --> 00:06:30.880 you know, I agree that maintaining a brand image of reliability is more 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:36.639 important than three more FPS in Battlefield in general. I wish that the 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:38.960 card partners and endusers were allowed 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:42.479 to make their own choice and forego warranty coverage if they really want to 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:46.639 push things to the limit. I mean, I guess the really extreme guys still can 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:51.520 if they go and find BIOS mods, but I just wish it was a little bit easier. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:55.440 Anyway, guys, thanks for watching this 00:06:51.520 --> 00:06:57.039 review of the MSI GeForce GTX 780 00:06:55.440 --> 00:07:01.360 Lightning. Don't forget to like this video if you liked it, dislike it if you 00:06:58.960 --> 00:07:06.720 disliked it. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Would you spend an 00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:11.280 extra 20 to $50 knowing that your card's going to run cooler and it's going to 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:14.479 look better and it's going to last longer, or is that not worth it to you? 00:07:12.960 --> 00:07:17.599 Do you upgrade so often that it doesn't really matter? And then finally, guys, 00:07:16.080 --> 00:07:32.739 as always, don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos.