MSI N480GTX Lightning Preview – The Best Just Got Better

Who is it for ? – Judging from N480GTX Lighting’s extensive array of overclocking features and high-quality components, the one group of users who would reap the most benefit from this graphics card is obviously the overclockers, especially those who often resort to extreme cooling solutions (such as LN2) in their overclocking attempts. Overclocking-oriented features like the Triple Over Voltage will aid them in their pursuit for higher speeds. Nevertheless, the more common groups of users could also use this “monster”, provided they have sufficient amount of money to obtain the graphics card in the first place, and a powerful enough PSU to keep it well-fed.

Right now, the N480GTX Lighting is yet to be released. According estimations, the graphics card will have a price tag of above US$ 600 when it’s finally launched. For a casual user, the pricing may seem outrageous, in spite of the fact that the graphics card is one of the fastest on the planet. However, the N480GTX Lightning could well be worth the price, for it is equipped with a non-reference heatsink that performs much better than the regular cooler, high-end components, as well as some unique features that you won’t find on any standard GTX 480 graphics card.

The high price might even scare off some overclockers. Still, there are people who are willing to spend that much money on an overclocker-friendly, high-end graphics card capable of bringing more performance into their hands. For such people, the N480GTX Lighting might just be the card to go for.

Pros

• Equipped with the high performance, Twin Frozr III HSF
• Overclocked right out-of-the box
• Rich overclocking features
• Lower idle power consumption compared to standard GTX 480
• High overall performance
• Complete selection of display output connectors: HDMI, DVI, and Display Port

Cons

• Rather large and heavy
• Twin Frozr III’s twin fans generate lots of noise when running at full speed

MSI N480GTX Lightning

TECHNICAL DATA

GPU: NVIDIA GTX 480

Interface: PCI Express 2.1 x16

Memory Size: 1536 MB

Core Clock: 750 MHz

Shader Clock: 1500 MHz

Memory Clock: 4000 MHz

Stream Processors: 480

D-Sub Output: N/A

DVI Output: Yes (x2)

HDMI Output: Yes

Display Port Output: Yes

Memory Type: GDDR5

Memory Interface: 384-bit