Today MSI finally launches their new high end graphics card, the GTX 780 Lightning. Since months there are rumors on pixel monster and today they get confirmed. With the GTX 780 Lightning, MSI strives for perfection and for that they started building an entirely new and very powerful PCB from scratch.

MSI did not only rework the PCB, they also changed the design and layout of the Twin Frozr cooler, which is now a TriFrozr. This already implies, that there are now three instead of two fans. The new cooler is powerful enough, that the card can run at 980 MHz base clock and 1033 MHz boost clock. When it comes to the memory frequencies, MSI didn't touch them. The 3 GB memory is running at 6.00 GHz and their connected to the chip via a 384 bit wide interface.

Now it's becoming interesting: the VRM design features no less then 16 + 3 phases. Apart from that there are two 8-pin PCIe power connectors. On the backside of the card there is a so called PCIe reactor module, which is there to ensure, cleanest power delivery to the GPU, by filtering electrical noise. A closer look at the components used, shows that there are high-quality chokes, PowIRstage driver MOSFET's from International Rectifier as well as tantalum capacitors.

Regarding the cooler, there is a large finstack, which has been built around a bunch of 8 millimeter heatpipes. Ohter than that there are three fans, of which everyone gets connected via a 4-pin header. Using Afterburner you can control fan speeds individually. Furthermore there are voltage measuring points on the PCB.

That so much high-end doesn't come cheap, that's obvious. The new card, which should be faster than a reference Titan, costs 749.99 US-Dollar.








Source: MSI