MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G RGB SLI Review

As we said around a month ago the MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G RGB is without doubt the prettiest GTX 1080 we have reviewed. I love the styling, accenting and sleek lines of the cooler, and the RGB lighting will appeal to a wide enthusiast audience who like to showcase their hardware from inside a windowed chassis.

There is no doubt that you need to have a fair bit of cash on hand to be able to spend £1,400 on graphics cards for a new system build. Most people couldn't comprehend spending this kind of money on a new system upgrade.

To make matters worse, thanks to Brexit, prices of these MSI GTX 1080 cards have increased by £70 a piece within the space of a month. £140 more in the space of a month is a tough pill to swallow.

We know that powering the most demanding engines at Ultra HD 4k requires two high end graphics cards in Crossfire or SLi, but there is a similar point to be made if you want to get a consistent 120-144fps at 1440p. If you have just bought a new super high refresh gaming panel such as the Asus ROG Swift PG348Q 100hz (KitGuru review HERE) then adding another GTX 1080 into the system reaps great results. Holding a frame rate on one of these screens above 100fps at all times will feel much better than it dropping below 60fps when the action heats up.

Instead of opting for a triple fan configuration cooler MSI have decided to install two bigger fans in their shroud. In regards to noise levels, the MSI GTX 1080 is quiet with plenty of options available to tweak the settings either in the basic MSI Gaming App or via the more sophisticated Afterburner tool. The RGB lighting is also fully customisable. This cooler is certainly not outperformed by the latest triple fan configurations from MSI's competitors.

Our MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G RGB sample ships with a BIOS speed set at 1683mhz/1822mhz turbo. The OC speed is only directly available by clicking a button in the MSI Gaming Application (shown earlier in the review). MSI list the available speeds on this page. There is also a slower setting available which downclocks the card and reduces fan noise further.

Overclockers UK stock the MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G RGB. Retail price was initially set at £629.99 in the UK, but due to BREXIT and the falling value of the pound the cost has risen lately to £695.99 inc vat. You can buy it HERE.

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Pros:

• the best looking GTX 1080 we have seen.
• good combination of noise and cooling efficiency.
• overclocks to 2ghz+ easy enough.
• this dual fan cooling system can compete.
• fans disable below 60c.

Cons:

• a little higher clock speeds out of the box wouldn't have hurt.
• expensive in the UK right now.

Kitguru says: The MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G RGB is the Cameron Diaz of graphics cards – its a beauty. MSI continue to make the best looking graphics cards on the market. The Gaming X combines top drawer performance with effective cooling proficiency and the ability to hit 2ghz+ in MSI Afterburner without much effort.

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