MSI N780 Lightning GeForce GTX 780 - A Titan in Disguise?

MSI N780 Lightning GeForce GTX 780: A Titan in Disguise?

The MSI N780 Lightning GeForce GTX 780 currently occupies the top spot for the company's range of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 graphics cards. On first impressions, the card is imposing in terms of its physical dimensions. According to the official specifications from its product page, the card weighs 1488g; and measures 295mm x 128.6mm x 51.35mm (length x width x height).

The main bulk of the card is contributed by its TriFrozr cooling system that mainly consists of three cooling fans, and a heatsink that features seven, 8mm Superpipes that transfer heat to the heatsink's fins for dissipation.

Besides providing cooling to the GK110 GPU and its video memory chips, the TriFrozr also cools the Military Class 4 components of the card. These components have MIL-STD-810G certification for stability and reliability; they are made up of the following:-

• DrMOS 4 - This next generation MOSFET was first seen on the company's Z87 XPower motherboard. This improved MOSFET is an updated version of the MOSFET found in the previous generation Military Class III VRM components.
• CopperMOS
• Hi-c capacitors (Hi-c Cap)
• Super ferrite chokes (SFC)
• Dark solid capacitors (Dark Solid Cap)

With the porting of such components to the N780 Lightning card, it is clear that the card is built for extreme overclocking. In addition, the card also features the GPU Reactor. It is an add-on PCB that holds a battery of tantalum capacitors, to provide extra voltage filtering to the GPU. This ensures the GPU operates stability when it is overclocked. The card has a metal back plate that prevents the 10-layer PCB from flexing from the weight of the attached components.

The GPU Reactor added girth to the card that is already very thick. When the card was installed, the neighboring PEG slot was made unavailable. Hence, we gather it would be a really tight squeeze if we had to set up a pair of N780 Lightning cards in a SLI configuration.

Even the usual run-of-the-mill parts of a typical graphics card has been given the royal treatment, the connectors of the card's rear video ports have been plated with gold. According to MSI, the gold plating enhances signal transmission, and also prevents rust. The video ports consist of the usual pair of  DVI ports, one HDMI port and one DisplayPort output.

From the bottom of the card, we can see a metal plate that is supposedly for providing additional cooling for the PWM power components of the card. This plate can be swopped out with the bundled MOS sink for extreme overclocking with LN2 cooling systems.

The photograph below shows how the MOS sink is attached to the power delivery components of the N780 when LN2 cooling, or other custom cooling system, is used for extreme overclocking.

There is a BIOS switch that is located near the top of the card, and it allows the card to be toggled between two different modes. In its default position, the BIOS loaded will automatically overclock the card. The other BIOS is used when there is a need to operate the card at the default specifications of the reference GeForce GTX 780 card.

This is the operating specifications of the N780 when it is normal operating mode. This switch is useful for overclockers who want to overclock the card to their preferences.

After examining the unique features of the card, let us determine its actual performance!

Test Setup

Here are the specifications of our graphics test bed we'll be running with:

• Intel Core i7-3960X (3.3GHz)
• ASUS P9X79 Pro (Intel X79 chipset) Motherboard
• 4 x 2GB DDR3-1600 G.Skill Ripjaws Memory
• Seagate 7200.10 200GB SATA hard drive (OS)
• Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 RPM 1TB SATA hard drive (Benchmarks + Games)
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1

Here's the list of cards and configurations that we'll be testing.

• MSI N780 Lightning GeForce GTX 780 3GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 320.49)
• ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II 3GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 320.49)
• MSI GeForce GTX 780 Twin Frozr Gaming 3GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 320.49)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 3GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 320.18)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan 6GB GDDR5 (ForceWare 320.49)
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (AMD Catalyst 13.9)

Note 1: In our overclocking testing, we overclocked the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II 3GB GDDR5 to simulate an overclocked reference GTX 780 card.

Note 2: For our reference AMD Radeon HD 7970 comparison, we downclocked the Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 OC 3GB GDDR5 to reference clock speeds. After that, we run our usual benchmarks for the card, with updated AMD Catalyst 13.9 drivers.

Here's a look at how the MSI N780 Lightning stacks up against the competing cards:

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Benchmarks

For this comparison, we'll be focusing on the overclocking upside, temperature performance and power consumption. The comparison GeForce GTX Titan was also tested in all of these aspects. As such, we've streamlined our benchmarks to highlight these specific differentiated aspects. For a full set of benchmark results for the GTX 780, and the GTX Titan, please refer to our earlier reviews of the reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan respectively. Here's the streamlined benchmark list:-

• Futuremark 3DMark 2013
• Crysis 3
• Overclocking (Futuremark 3DMark 2013)
• Temperature
• Power Consumption

3DMark (2013) Results

For the first test, the grueling benchmarks of the 3DMark (2013) were used; the first round was Fire Strike, with extreme levels of tessellation and volumetric illumination, as well as complex smoke simulation using compute shaders and dynamic particle illumination. With more tessellation, more particle effects and more taxing DirectCompute calculations, the Fire Strike Extreme tests will tax the cards more.

The clear winner for this benchmark is the MSI N780 Lightning in comparison with the other custom GTX 780 cards, with a winning margin in the range of 5- to slightly over 9%. This is expected as the winning card has a generously overclocked GPU. For the Fire Strike test, it was just a hair's breadth away from surpassing the GeForce GTX Titan. It managed to achieve a razor thin win over the Titan for the Fire Strike Extreme tests and we assume that this was just a lucky win by the N780 Lightning. In comparison with the AMD Radeon HD 7970, the N780 Lightning was approximately 29% better.

Crysis 3 Results

Besides gauging the performance of the card for artificial benchmarks, we also attempted to determine their performance for the graphically demanding game, Crysis 3. The MSI N780 Lightning emerged as the resounding winner in terms of in-game performance. It even managed to keep ahead of the GTX Titan by a thin margin of roughly 1%. Even at the lower resolution. the AMD card failed to maintain its average frame rate above 30fps.

Overclocking Results

As expected, the overclocked N780 Lightning card emerged victorious, and we managed to overclocked its GPU by 17% to 1148MHz, while its video memory was overclocked to 6452MHz, which was a 7% increment. This can be attributed to the card's superior digital power management system; while our overclocking efforts improved the Lightning's performance by 12- to 12.6%! To recap, the card boasts of a 20-phase power design; hence, its overclocked GPU and video memory buffer were able to perform reliably. In comparison with its strongest competitor of the lot, the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 DirectCU II OC, the winning N780 Lightning card managed to outpace it by approximately 6% on both occasions.

Temperature Results

The custom cooling system of triple fans performed well to keep the N780 Lightning operating at 53 degrees Celsius. This was the second lowest temperature recorded of the cards under load. Coincidentally, the N780 Lightning card also registered the same operating temperature as its counterpart, the MSI GeForce GTX 780 Twin Frozr VI Gaming OC.

Power Consumption Results

Its idle power draw of 149W made the MSI N780 Lightning card just second to the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 card that has the highest idle power draw of 156W. Under load, the N780 Lightning card drew the most power at 440W! Its power consumption profile is rather close to that of the GTX Titan.

Conclusion

The performance of the MSI N780 Lightning is nothing short of impressive. With its generous factory overclock in excess of 117MHz over the stock clock speed, the card is already to perform right out of the box. The attention to details to the engineering aspects of the card is also meticulous. From the BIOS switch that allows the card to operate at default specifications to the bundled MOS sink for extreme overclocking, the card aims to please as much as possible.

If we had to fault the card, it would be its high power consumption. Due to the presence of a pair of 8-pin power connectors, this roughly translates to a power draw of 300W and above. As a result, its power usage profile is quite similar to the GeForce GTX Titan. Users would therefore have to make sure their PSU is up to snuff.

The card is priced at S$1,070, which translates to a price that is about 10% more expensive than a typical high-end custom GTX 780 card. Also, it is only natural for us to compare the N780 Lightning with its "sibling", the MSI GeForce GTX 780 Twin Frozr VI Gaming OC. By paying an additional S$111, which is about 12% more than the S$959 price tag of the latter card, the user will get to enjoy performance gains of about 6%. Against the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 retailing at S$979, the price difference is narrowed to S$91, with performance gains of about 10%.

The premium that the N780 Lightning commands is pretty significant, but users would be able to enjoy an immediate performance increment over the competing custom GTX 780 cards that rivals even the fearsome GeForce GTX Titan. On top of that, the N780 Lightning features Military Class 4 components for its PWM system, making it ideal for stable overclocking for additional performance improvements. All in all, we feel that its high price is vindicated given what the card offers in terms of both performance and features.

The clear laggard in our tests was the AMD Radeon HD 7970 card. Clearly, AMD's fastest single GPU solution is no match for NVIDIA's. However, the add-in partners' version of this card currently retails for around S$659, making it a viable alternative for those with budget constraints. However, its performance level hovers between that of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 and 760, so for system builder who want to consider an AMD option, they would have to manage their performance expectations, or wait for the new AMD "Hawaii" GPU-based graphics cards to see that they have to offer.

According to the local distributor, Corbell Technology, the N780 Lightning is currently available in limited quantities. In closing, we would highly recommend this card to overclockers, power users, or anyone who is looking for performance levels that are higher than the current crop of GTX 780 cards.

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