When comparing MSI GeForce GTX 1080 SEA HAWK X vs Gainward GeForce GTX 1080 Phoenix GLH, the Slant community recommends Gainward GeForce GTX 1080 Phoenix GLH for most people. In the question“What are the best GTX 1080 cards?” Gainward GeForce GTX 1080 Phoenix GLH is ranked 4th while MSI GeForce GTX 1080 SEA HAWK X is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Gainward GeForce GTX 1080 Phoenix GLH is:
Under the massive fans there are two large heatsinks which in total amount to 120mm by 185mm at 30mm thick worth of heatsink. There are also three 8mm and two 6mm copper heatpipes used to improve efficiency. The great amount of air is pushed over the heatsink by two 100mm fans. Clearly, the massive size of this card has been put to good use and it's not designed to be large for the sake of being large. It offers excellent cooling and rarely exceeds 70 degrees C even under extreme strain.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Extremely cool
The AIO doesn't cool both the GPU and the VRAM so the corsair cooler cools the heck out of the GPU.
Pro Excellent cooling
Under the massive fans there are two large heatsinks which in total amount to 120mm by 185mm at 30mm thick worth of heatsink. There are also three 8mm and two 6mm copper heatpipes used to improve efficiency.
The great amount of air is pushed over the heatsink by two 100mm fans.
Clearly, the massive size of this card has been put to good use and it's not designed to be large for the sake of being large. It offers excellent cooling and rarely exceeds 70 degrees C even under extreme strain.
Pro Virtually silent
Other than managing to keep the card cool under extreme stress, the fans are virtually silent. At 1050RPM there's no noise to speak of, and ranking them to 1500RPM will generate a barely audible hum.
Pro Efficient power draw
As far as power consumption goes, the 1080 phoenix GLH is one of the most efficient 1080 cards out there. It even performs better than some cards which are clocked lower than the GLH.
Cons
Con Runs on the founder's edition PCB
You can't take full advantage of the aio because you are power limited by the pcb.
Con The lighting only supports red, green or blue
The logo on the back of the card has lighting which supports red, green or blue. That is, not the full RGB color spectrum, but only those three individual colors.
Con Weird color scheme
The red, black and gold color scheme is not for everyone. If it had been just red and black it would have been much better and much easier to find a suitable motherboard, case and everything else to fit that color scheme. While not a deal breaker for most people who are only interested in performance, it can be a bit annoying for people who care about how their build looks.