MSI R6970 2GB Lightning Review
Introduction
Product on Review: MSI R6970 Lightning
Manufacturer and Sponsor: MSI
MSRP: Not listed
Street Price: £316.43
MSI’s company tagline is “Innovation with Style” and looking at their portfolio of custom engineered graphics on the market today, we can see that they have done their own philosophy justice. Currently, most graphics card manufacturers are trending towards using their own custom PCB and coolers to differentiate their products from the competition but the result is a market flooded with choice. This is no doubt beneficial to consumers as competitions drives innovation and most importantly leads to reduced pricing but choice can also cause confusion. Are custom cards worth the extra over reference designs? Which brand should I opt for? These are some of the questions that strike buyers when presented with a vast list of graphics cards on e-tailor websites.
A few weeks ago, we looked at ASUS’s custom solution at differentiating their high end graphics cards from the competition and this came in the form of the DirectCU II series which when teamed with AMD’s HD6950 produced very favourable results in both performance and noise. MSI have gone several steps further with their Lightning series and brings new meaning to the word innovation. To start, MSI have improved on their Twin Frozr concept and created the third rendition in the form of the aptly named Twin Frozr III cooler. Furthermore, they have taken AMD’s flagship Cayman GPU and teamed it with an unrivalled power circuitry using only the best selection of components to produce the fastest clocked version of the card on the market today. Our review sample comes clocked at a mighty 940MHz on the core, a 7% boost over the reference design and MSI state that the retail version will come clocked even higher at 970MHz! And to top it off, MSI have included a number of unique features such as voltage measuring points, triple overvoltage, a BIOS switch, dual 8 pin PCIe connectors and the popular Afterburner application.
The card we will be looking at today is the HD6970 and the specifications remain unchanged from the reference card. As such the same 1536 stream processors and 2GB framebuffer is present.
Let’s see what this card has in store for us. Next page please.
Product on Review: MSI R6970 Lightning
Manufacturer and Sponsor: MSI
MSRP: Not listed
Street Price: £316.43
MSI’s company tagline is “Innovation with Style” and looking at their portfolio of custom engineered graphics on the market today, we can see that they have done their own philosophy justice. Currently, most graphics card manufacturers are trending towards using their own custom PCB and coolers to differentiate their products from the competition but the result is a market flooded with choice. This is no doubt beneficial to consumers as competitions drives innovation and most importantly leads to reduced pricing but choice can also cause confusion. Are custom cards worth the extra over reference designs? Which brand should I opt for? These are some of the questions that strike buyers when presented with a vast list of graphics cards on e-tailor websites.
A few weeks ago, we looked at ASUS’s custom solution at differentiating their high end graphics cards from the competition and this came in the form of the DirectCU II series which when teamed with AMD’s HD6950 produced very favourable results in both performance and noise. MSI have gone several steps further with their Lightning series and brings new meaning to the word innovation. To start, MSI have improved on their Twin Frozr concept and created the third rendition in the form of the aptly named Twin Frozr III cooler. Furthermore, they have taken AMD’s flagship Cayman GPU and teamed it with an unrivalled power circuitry using only the best selection of components to produce the fastest clocked version of the card on the market today. Our review sample comes clocked at a mighty 940MHz on the core, a 7% boost over the reference design and MSI state that the retail version will come clocked even higher at 970MHz! And to top it off, MSI have included a number of unique features such as voltage measuring points, triple overvoltage, a BIOS switch, dual 8 pin PCIe connectors and the popular Afterburner application.
The card we will be looking at today is the HD6970 and the specifications remain unchanged from the reference card. As such the same 1536 stream processors and 2GB framebuffer is present.
A bit about MSI
Established in August 1986, MSI has always focused on four core values: Producing meaningful products, ensuring high product quality, the best customer service and achieving customer satisfaction. MSI’s product portfolio includes designing and manufacturing a diverse range of mainboards, graphics cards, notebooks, all-in-one PCs, server/workstations, industrial computing, barebone systems, communication devices, consumer electronics, car infotainment products and others.
“Quality Products Lead to Faithful Customers” is a motto that guides all that we do at MSI. Everyone at MSI goes all out to be the best of the best in research and development. Currently, 2,000 experienced engineers staff our research and development department. This talented team carries out its work with the latest research equipment, continuing to raise the bar on product quality and innovative product features.
Graphics Card
MSI graphics card is designed for 3D effect, heat dissipation, power control, reliability etc. With stringent design optimization to create the most reliable high performance graphics card without compromising on quality. Global acclaim made it the undisputed number one choice for magazines, website editors and players alike. MSI’s accumulated customer base exceeded 100 million users globally in the graphics card market.
MSI’s brand leadership is well established in the mind of the customers. It is this driving force that propels MSI to constantly move forward.
More here...
Established in August 1986, MSI has always focused on four core values: Producing meaningful products, ensuring high product quality, the best customer service and achieving customer satisfaction. MSI’s product portfolio includes designing and manufacturing a diverse range of mainboards, graphics cards, notebooks, all-in-one PCs, server/workstations, industrial computing, barebone systems, communication devices, consumer electronics, car infotainment products and others.
“Quality Products Lead to Faithful Customers” is a motto that guides all that we do at MSI. Everyone at MSI goes all out to be the best of the best in research and development. Currently, 2,000 experienced engineers staff our research and development department. This talented team carries out its work with the latest research equipment, continuing to raise the bar on product quality and innovative product features.
Graphics Card
MSI graphics card is designed for 3D effect, heat dissipation, power control, reliability etc. With stringent design optimization to create the most reliable high performance graphics card without compromising on quality. Global acclaim made it the undisputed number one choice for magazines, website editors and players alike. MSI’s accumulated customer base exceeded 100 million users globally in the graphics card market.
MSI’s brand leadership is well established in the mind of the customers. It is this driving force that propels MSI to constantly move forward.
More here...
Let’s see what this card has in store for us. Next page please.
