MSI GeForce GTX 680 Power Edition

[Mungri]

Just picked up a pair of these on GTX 680 sales for ?270 each. At first I was only going to get one and SLI it with my reference card, but then I found out that they are actually Lightning editions in disguise so splashed out on a second and will just sell my reference card.

They were also ?100 less than GTX 770 Power Editions, only main difference being the slower ram but for ?100 less on each one thats not really a problem, and they seem to be cards that will retain more value when selling them in the future, and beat a GTX 780 while costing the same, and being much more fun for OCing and solidly built:











The black stickers over the word lightning on the bottom of the card werent even properly stuck on, they simply lifted off with minimum pressure, MSI didnt really make much effort to hide that these are just lower clocked lightning editions with a weaker bios. I dont think I can install them yet though as my PSUs 24 pin cable blocks my primary PCI-E slot a bit and these cards might be a bit too long, so I'll have to wait until I get a 24 pin extension cable first (recently bought new PSU after my old one died, and the CPU 8 pin, and mobo 24 pin cables are a bit too short to fit through the back of the PC case).

I might be crazy enough to try benching them in tri SLI too with my reference card on an 850 watt PSU

[Mungri]

Installation into my ancient Antec P182 case was a complete pain. I had to wire the 24 pin motherboard cable and the bottom cards power cables from the front of the case as wiring them through the back blocked off the PCI-E slots too much and the cards wouldnt fit. Also to fit the bottom card, I had to unscrew the plastic rails for the middle 3.5" drive cage to give the card enough clearance to fit. At first I thought there was no way they were going to fit until I bought a new case, but then I managed to get them in so I can hold off on buying an Antec P280 as I was about to do. Airflow in this case is also outdated, with only one intake fan and two exhausts, but with this phanteks CPU cooler and the MSI VGA coolers, I dont need to worry about that.





Still downloading the latest drivers, and them giving them a test. And I dont think tri SLI testing is going to be possible now, theres no room to fit in 4 molex cables and 2 molex > 6 pin converters, though theres space for the reference card to fit in the middle

Also I couldnt figure out how to remove the plastic dome on the back of the cards to make them fit in adjacent slots.

[HuffPCair]

Nice where did you buy those from?

[Mungri]

OCUK had them on today only for 260 GBP, and still on this week only for 280 GBP:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-213-MS

Although they are still expensive, at that price I had to grab a pair and have a lot of old cards left to sell anyway. I had to get just one for 260 GBP because that price was limited to one per customer, but then they put them at 280 GBP so I got a second one too because SLIing one with my previous reference design would have been a waste. Basically a pair of the best GTX 680s on the market for the same price as a single GTX 780, and much cheaper than GTX 770s too, I had to have them :p

My PC is also completely silent again now, my reference 680 had a bit of coil whine, and ofc the reference cooler is very noisy under load when OCed.

[Mungri]

Well they're rather dissapointing overclockers, one card does 1267 Mhz, and the other only 1202 Mhz and both those are with an unlocked bios at 1.215v.

I'm considering returning the 1202 Mhz one for an exchange using OCUKs 14 day satisfaction guarantee, its too lousy for one of these and my reference card does 1293 Mhz with 1.215v.

Obviously they are just GPUs that failed to make itto the Lightning specifications it seems, but some people have been able to get these running at over 1300 Mhz, Im just terribly unlucky.

[lowfat]

You need more voltage

[Mungri]

Yea, but still with 1.215v they should do at least 1250 Mhz. I have an RMA for the crappy clocker, just trying to see if OCUK will let me arrange a direct swap through their courier if I pay for another one first.

I hate all the lucky people with cards that do 1300+ MHZ on stock volts, I'll be fine with just 1250 on a KGB unlocked bios.

Oh and I just got my Akasa 24 pin extension cable, nice result:





So I still dont need a new case, though all of that was a PITA to install into this case. These are the absolute biggest cards and mobo the case will take.

I think its time to get nicer non led fans, though these ones I have are decent Xigmateks with a high air flow with no noise.