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The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 is the first available graphics card using the 16nm Pascal architecture and is positioned as the top GPU in the high-end range. The 1080 has 8 gigabytes of GDDR5X memory, three DisplayPort 1.4 connections, a single DVI-D port and an input for HDMI 2.0b. The Gaming X model by MSI features a different cooler than the reference Founders Edition.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Excellent cooler
The cooler used on the Gaming X is the Twin Frozr IV and performs very well. In an idle situation, the chip measured at 36° Celsius in a room temperature of 21° C. That's a bit higher than the reference GTX 1080 - but the fans do not spin at all under 60° C for a completely silent operation. Under full load the chip heats up to 70° Celsius, which is a whopping 12 degree Celsius cooler than a GTX 1080 Founders Edition.
Pro Very quiet operation
The cooler does not spin under a temperature of 60° Celsius, making the card silent in normal situations. When the fans are needed however, the card remains very quiet. Measured from a distance of 75 centimeters from a closed environment, the Gaming X produces 39 dBA of noise. For comparison: that's a little bit more quiet than the noise a refrigerator produces. Irritating sounds such as coil whine are also not present.
Pro Smooth framerates even for 4K gaming on high graphics settings
The MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X 8GB offers great, smooth performance even with the most demanding graphics requirements. Here are some examples of framerates:
Rise of the Tomb Raider 4K (very high details): 49fps
Hitman (2016) UHD (Max. detail): 49fps
Fallout 4 UHD (Ultra detail): 59fps
The Witcher 3 UDH (Max detail): 51fps
While these aren't quite 60fps, they are all very close - and some of the best in-game performance available from any graphics card.
Cons
Con Requires additional 6-pin power connector
The MSI Gaming X version of the GTX 1080 requires an extra 6-pin power connector, for a total of one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector. A reference GTX 1080 only needs a single 8-pin connector, but this MSI card requires the extra connector because of the slightly higher clock speeds. Although the TDP (thermal design point and maximum power consumption) of the MSI Gaming X GTX 1080 has been rated at 180 watts just like the reference card, the TDP is around 198 watts in reality. It only uses 14 more watts than a reference GTX 1080 during full load, but the extra power connector can be inconvenient for cable routing or for power supplies with a limited power capacity and connectors.
Recommendations
Comments
Flagged Pros + Cons
Pro Well optimized
NVIDIA properly optimized the GTX 1080 for DirectX. This means that games supporting DirectX 11 will see a slight performance boost, but more-so for the upcoming games using DirectX12.
Pro Very power efficient
While performance is higher than its competitors, the GTX 1080 FE actually uses less power. The maximum amount of power consumption this GPU requires is around 185 watts, which is an improvement of over 35% compared to NVIDIA's previous generation high-end graphical card, the GTX 980 Ti. This also plays a positive role when choosing a power supply, or determining if you need to upgrade your existing PSU.
Pro Same performance as a regular GTX 1080
GTX 1080 is the most powerful consumer-level GPU offered by Nvidia that's currently on the market. At 1440p with highest available settings it has an average fps of 116.5 for Dirt Rally, 101.9 for Battlefield 4 and 75.8 for GTA V. Compared to the previous high-end NVIDIA GPU, the GTX 980 Ti, that's an average performance increase of 20%.
Con Brand new hardware, risk involved in early adoption
It is unknown if there are inherent issues with this GPU (such as quality control, motherboard compatibility issues, driver issues, OS issues, etc) as it was only recently announced and has not undergone large-scale testing in the consumer market.
Con No native support for 3- and 4-way SLI
SLI - short for Scalable Link Interface - is NVIDIA's technology of combining the power of two or more identical GPU's in order to reach a better performance. In other words, you can use multiple GTX 1080 videocards to further increase performance. Although the GTX 1080 supports 2-way SLI without a problem, NVIDIA does not offer support for 3- and 4-way SLI. The included SLI-bridge which serves as a connector between the two cards, is only compatible in a 2-way configuration. 3-way and 4-way SLI are possible, but aren't supported. You'll have to use an older SLI-bridge found on older GeForce models and you'll need to generate an 'Enthusiast Key' on NVIDIA's website. However, NVIDIA does not guarantee a 3- or 4-way configuration will provide any noticeable benefits.