At first glance the card looks pretty much like any other card with the Twin Frozr III cooler as it dominates the top of the PCB. The grey, red and black effect, while discreet is starting to show it's age and may not appeal to everyone's tastes. It does however still look the part and as we will see later in the review, performs as good as ever.



At the rear of the card we see that the MSI GTX680 OC Twin Frozr retains the dark brown PCB. While you would be hard pushed to tell the difference between this circuit board and a black PCB inside a case with a window, I would still prefer it if MSI reviewed there PCB printing procedure as other manufacturers 'black' PCB looks so much more attractive which in turn would make the MSI card more visually appealing. Aside from the colour, the PCB layout looks none to dissimilar to the reference NVIDIA GTX680 design.



Here is where the MSI cards scores high. The MSI logo is the right way up for an ATX case so will look great in any PCIe slot. The nickel coated heatpipes bulging from the sides hint at the power the card possess and with the twin 6pin power ports at the end of the card, cable management shouldn't be too much of an issue.



The backplate From left to right we see that MSI have included a Displayport, HDMI port and both DVI-I and DVI-D ports. Other than the display ports, MSI have also included a small ventilation area to assist in heat dissipation.



Rather than add an 8pin port like some other GTX680 manufacturers, MSI have stuck to the reference twin 6pin PCIe ports in the vertical position. The power requirements for this card as recommended by MSI are a 550W PSU with a 12v line capable of providing 38A.



As with all GTX680's, the MSI example is capable of a maximum 4-way SLI when matched up with any other GTX680 and compatible motherboard.

Let's take a closer look shall we?