MSI N580GTX M2D15D5 Review– A Reference Card with Some Interesting Extras

MSI N580GTX M2D15D5 communicates with the motherboard through a PCI Express 2.1 connector. It’s backward compatible with earlier versions (2.0 and 1.0).

Two SLI connectors on the top side means that you can employ more than two GTX 580s in 3-way or even 4-way SLI configurations. To get an idea of how much performance scaling you can expect, refer to our GTX 580 SLI and GTX 580 3-way SLI articles.

Power is supplied through one 8-pin and one 6-pin PCI Express connectors. You will need at least a 600 watt PSU for a system with a single GTX 580.

Display options consist of two DVI connectors and one mini-HDMI port. You can use the mini-HDMI to HDMI converter included in the package to connect an HDMI display to the MSI N580GTX M2D15D5.

The PCB layout, as seen from the back. Slightly different with GTX 480’s design, the PCB board has no ventilation hole on this part.

Utility – MSI Afterburner

Inside the driver disc, you can find a number of interesting tools, including the MSI Afterburner overclocking utility. With it, you can tweak various parameters like the core clock, memory frequency, and even supplied voltage. Adobe Reader, AIWI, LoiLoscope, MSI Live Update, Norton Internet Security, NVIDIA Design Garage, NVIDIA Supersonic Sled, and NVIDIA 3DVision Video Player are also included in the package.