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Since the Nvidia GTX970 and GTX980 launch last month, we have looked at a wide cross section of partner solutions. Today we review the MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G – the big brother of the formidable MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G, which we reviewed back on September 19th. Should you be treating yourself to an MSI GTX980 upgrade before the end of the year?
The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G is a stunning looking product, the Cameron Diaz of graphics cards. The two tone red and black colour scheme is eye catching, and we love the red vertical ‘flashes' over the black section of the cooler. The attention to detail is commendable.
A quick recap over the Maxwell architecture, in case you have missed all the details of the GTX970 and GTX980 in the last month. You may already have studied our multiple analysis of the lower level GTX750Ti solution throughout the year however.
The GTX750ti has been one of the most exciting cards that Nvidia have released in recent years – performance is close to the HD7850 while consuming half the power at the socket – and all without the need for a PCIe power cable. It produces such a modest heat emission that the Asus GTX750Ti Strix OC we reviewed recently didn’t need to spin the fans most of the time, even when gaming.
AMD really are so far behind now when it comes to power consumption that they will need to release a new architecture to compete. Not an easy thing to do overnight, but we hope they can become competitive again in the coming months. Competition is good for us – the consumer.
The Maxwell architecture has been designed to deliver twice the performance per watt of previous generation Geforce hardware. It sounds easy enough on paper to achieve, but the real world challenges for Nvidia have been complex.
| GPU | GeForce GTX 680 (Kepler) | GeForce GTX 980 (Maxwell) | Geforce GTX 970 (Maxwell) |
| Streaming Multiprocessors | 8 | 16 | 13 |
| CUDA Cores | 1536 | 2048 | 1664 |
| Base Clock | 1006 mhz | 1126 mhz | 1050 mhz |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1058 mhz | 1216 mhz | 1178 mhz |
| Total Video memory | 2GB | 4GB | 4GB |
| Texel fill-rate | 129 Gigatexels/Sec | 144.1 Gigatexels/Sec | 109.2 Gigatexels/Sec |
| Memory Clock | 6000 mhz | 7000 mhz | 7000 mhz |
| Memory Bandwidth | 192 GB/sec | 224 GB/sec | 224 GB/s |
| ROPs | 32 | 64 | 64 |
| Manufacturing Process | 28nm | 28nm | 28nm |
| TDP | 195 watts | 165 watts | 145 watts |
The new GM204 GPU is very efficient. The Maxwell SM has been rebalanced so that the CUDA cores are fully utilised more often. Doing so saves power and enhances overall performance. The L2 cache size in the GM204 is 2MB, or four times larger than the GK104. The addition of extra cache means that fewer requests to the GPU memory are needed – again reducing power consumption and pushing more performance.
The Geforce GTX 980 is equipped with 7Gbps memory. Those of you with higher resolution monitors, or running in a multi screen configuration will also be pleased to hear that there is 4GB of GDDR5 memory on the card, not 3GB – this memory will push 224 GB/s sec. Nvidia have added a new compression engine to reduce the demand on DRAM bandwidth.
The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G has received a core clock enhancement to 1,216mhz, from 1,126mhz on the reference design. The GDDR5 memory is running at the default clock speeds of 1,753mhz (7Gbps effective).
MSI box artwork is instantly recognisable. The iconic Dragon is shown across half of the box width with some key details alongside.
MSI highlight the cooling system on the rear of the box. We will talk about this a little more shortly.
Inside the package is a driver/software disc, literature on the product, with power/video converter cables.
MSI also include a ‘Gaming App’ on this disc which may prove useful for some people (you can control each fan individually). I have to admit after playing with it for a few minutes I deinstalled it completely. The only MSI software I like to run is MSI Afterburner (more on this later in the review).
The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G is a two slot solution, built on a black PCB. MSI use two large ‘Torx' fans, to maximise airflow and performance. The card dimensions are 279x140x36mm.
From any angle, the Gaming 4G really is very tasty.
The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G takes power from two 8 pin power connectors.
The card is SLi capable, if you feel the need for more frame rate power.
The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G has a single DVI connector on the back (DVI-D), alongside three full sized DisplayPort connectors and a single HDMI connector. This HDMI port will handle 4K resolutions at up to 60hz. MSI earn bonus points for using full sized connectors – no silly adapters needed.
The new MSI cooling system looks formidable. There are four heatpipes in total. These are all running into various positions into aluminum fins on either side of the cooling base. High grade Samsung GDDR5 memory features on this card, cooled by a dedicated heatsink.
MSI claim the card is certified to MIL-STD-810G standards to help improve stability and longevity.
The GTX980 is built on the 28nm process. It has 2,048 Cuda Cores, 64 ROP’s and 128 Texture units. The 4GB of Samsung GDDR5 is running at 1,753mhz (7 Gbps effective) and is connected via a 256bit memory interface. The core clock speed has been increased by MSI to 1,216mhz with a boost speed set at 1,317mhz.
On this page we present some high resolution images of the product taken with a Fuji XT1 camera. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.
For the review today we are using the latest Nvidia Forceware 344.16 and AMD Catalyst 14.9.1 beta drivers. All of the AMD and Nvidia hardware in our reviews today used these drivers, tested between the 8th October and 20th October.
We are using one of our brand new test rigs supplied by DINOPC and built to our specifications.
If you want to read more about this, or are interested in buying the same Kitguru Test Rig, check out our article with links on this page. We are using an Asus PB287Q 4k and Apple 30 inch Cinema HD monitor for this review today.
Comparison cards:
Asus GTX780 Ti Direct CU II OC (954mhz core / 1750 mhz memory)
Nvidia GTX980 Reference (1126 mhz core / 1753mhz memory)
Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC (1040 mhz core / 1300 mhz memory)
Palit GTX970 Jetstream OC (1152mhz core / 1753 mhz memory)
MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G (1140 mhz core / 1753 mhz memory)
Palit GTX780 6GB (902 mhz core / 1502mhz memory)
Asus GTX970 StriX OC (1114 mhz core / 1753 mhz memory)
Asus R9 290 Direct CU II OC (1000 mhz core / 1260 mhz memory)
Software:
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Unigine Valley Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
3DMark
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
Games:
Grid AutoSport
Tomb Raider
Metro Last Light Redux
Thief 2014
All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.
Game descriptions edited with courtesy from Wikipedia.
Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.
The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G takes top position in our performance chart for this older Direct X 10 Futuremark benchmark.
3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads. If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page.
The overall score of 18,744 points puts the MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G in top position in our chart.
3DMark is an essential tool used by millions of gamers, hundreds of hardware review sites and many of the world’s leading manufacturers to measure PC gaming performance.
Futuremark say “Use it to test your PC’s limits and measure the impact of overclocking and tweaking your system. Search our massive results database and see how your PC compares or just admire the graphics and wonder why all PC games don’t look this good.
To get more out of your PC, put 3DMark in your PC.”
The latest Direct X 11 benchmark from Futuremark shows a final score of 13,559 points. Another top position, just ahead of the Asus GTX980 Strix OC.
Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.
Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk. Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:
- Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
- Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
- Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
- Multicore CPU support
- Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
- Powerful C++ API
- Comprehensive performance profiling system
- Flexible XML-based data structures
We set Quality to ‘High', Tessellation to ‘Normal' and resolution to 1600p.
Excellent performance from the GTX980 cards. The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G claims top position, averaging just over 65 frames per second.Valley Benchmark is a new GPU stress-testing tool from the developers of the very popular and highly acclaimed Heaven Benchmark. The forest-covered valley surrounded by vast mountains amazes with its scale from a bird’s-eye view and is extremely detailed down to every leaf and flower petal. This non-synthetic benchmark powered by the state-of-the art UNIGINE Engine showcases a comprehensive set of cutting-edge graphics technologies with a dynamic environment and fully interactive modes available to the end user.
We toggle quality to HIGH, and resolution to 1600p.
Nvidia cards score better in the Unigine Valley benchmark, and the MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G claims top position with an average frame rate close to 82.Grid Autosport (styled as GRID Autosport) is a racing video game by Codemasters and is the sequel to 2008′s Race Driver: Grid and 2013′s Grid 2. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 24, 2014. (Wikipedia).
On this page we test at 1080p and 1600p using the ‘Ultra' image quality profile with 8x MSAA.
Super smooth frame rates at both 1080p and 1600p.Grid Autosport (styled as GRID Autosport) is a racing video game by Codemasters and is the sequel to 2008′s Race Driver: Grid and 2013′s Grid 2. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 24, 2014. (Wikipedia). 
We test at Ultra HD 4k with 8MSAA. The Ultra Profile is selected for maximum image quality. 
The substantial overclock helps push the frame rates close to an average of 60 – even at 4K with 8x anti aliasing. A slight drop in image quality would certainly help get closer to the sweet spot – of a constant 60 frames per second.Thief is set in a dark fantasy world inspired by Victorian, gothic, and steampunk aesthetics. Garrett, a master thief who has been away from his hometown for a long time, returns to it, a place known only as The City, and finds it ruled with an iron grip by a tyrant called The Baron. While The City is ravaged by a plague, the rich continue to live in isolation and good fortune while the poor are forming numerous mobs against the authorities, Garrett intends to use the volatile situation to his favor. (Wikipedia).
We test with the ‘very high' image quality preset at 1080p and 1600p.
A demanding engine that really could do with a little more optimisation if we were being honest. Still, the GTX980 manages to power through, even at 1600p.Thief is set in a dark fantasy world inspired by Victorian, gothic, and steampunk aesthetics. Garrett, a master thief who has been away from his hometown for a long time, returns to it, a place known only as The City, and finds it ruled with an iron grip by a tyrant called The Baron. While The City is ravaged by a plague, the rich continue to live in isolation and good fortune while the poor are forming numerous mobs against the authorities, Garrett intends to use the volatile situation to his favor. (Wikipedia).
We test at the ‘very high' preset for maximum image quality. Resolution is set to 4k for this particular test.
A super demanding engine at 4k. If you take the view that 25 frames per second is the ‘cut off' point for acceptable motion, then an overclocked GTX980 solution is the only single GPU to deliver playable frame rates.Tomb Raider received much acclaim from critics, who praised the graphics, the gameplay and Camilla Luddington’s performance as Lara with many critics agreeing that the game is a solid and much needed reboot of the franchise. Much criticism went to the addition of the multiplayer which many felt was unnecessary. Tomb Raider went on to sell one million copies in forty-eight hours of its release, and has sold 3.4 million copies worldwide so far. (Wikipedia).
We test with the ‘ultimate' image quality profile at 1080p and 1600p.
Tomb Raider is based around one of the most impressive game engines in recent years. The GTX980 is a great partner for this at high resolutions, maintaining smooth frame rates throughout.Tomb Raider received much acclaim from critics, who praised the graphics, the gameplay and Camilla Luddington’s performance as Lara with many critics agreeing that the game is a solid and much needed reboot of the franchise. Much criticism went to the addition of the multiplayer which many felt was unnecessary. Tomb Raider went on to sell one million copies in forty-eight hours of its release, and has sold 3.4 million copies worldwide so far. (Wikipedia).
We test at Ultra HD 4k resolution with the ‘Ultra' image profile enabled. Single GPU solutions find the ‘Ultimate' image quality preset too difficult to power properly.
Smooth gameplay at 4K, holding between 36 and 42 frames per second.On May 22, 2014, a Redux version of Metro Last Light was announced. It was released on August 26, 2014 in North America and August 29, 2014 in Europe for the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Redux adds all the DLC and graphical improvements. A compilation package, titled Metro Redux, was released at the same time which includes Last Light and 2033. (Wikipedia). We test with following settings: Quality-Very High, SSAA-off, Texture Filtering-16x, Motion Blur-Normal, Tessellation-Normal, Advanced Physx-On.
At 1600p this engine demands powerful partnering hardware. The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G scores well however, holding an average of 75 frames per second. Only a couple of sections of the environment drop the frame rate to just below 40 frames per second.On May 22, 2014, a Redux version of Metro Last Light was announced. It was released on August 26, 2014 in North America and August 29, 2014 in Europe for the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Redux adds all the DLC and graphical improvements. A compilation package, titled Metro Redux, was released at the same time which includes Last Light and 2033. (Wikipedia). We test with following settings: Quality-High, SSAA-off, Texture Filtering-16x, Motion Blur-off, Tessellation-Normal, Advanced Physx-off. 
At 4k, you really do need a GTX980 to get acceptable frame rates from this engine.The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 23c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.
MSI's Hybrid Frozr cooler is exceptionally good, holding a gaming temperature around 60c. We recorded 1c improved performance over the Direct CU cooler on the Asus GTX980 Strix.We have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with almost completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests.
We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the closed chassis and 4 foot from the ground to mirror a real world situation. Ambient noise in the room measures close to the limits of our sound meter at 28dBa. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on only the video card. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
All GTX980's we have tested so far have been quiet, and the MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G is no different. We registered around 33dBa when gaming, which under most circumstances (and in real world terms) is almost inaudible.To test power consumption today we are using a Keithley Integra unit and we measure power consumption from the VGA card inputs, not the system wide drain. We measure results while gaming in Tomb Raider at 4k resolution and the synthetic stress test Furmark – recording both results. 
All the GTX980 cards are very efficient, thanks to the advancements with the Maxwell architecture. The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G consumes around 163 watts under gaming load.To overclock today we are using the latest V4.0.0 of MSI's Afterburner based on the excellent Rivatuner.
We managed to push the core clock to 1,363mhz before instability would occur (12.1%).
The additional overclock on the core helped to push performance further – the score in 3DMark 11 increased from 18,744 points to 20,540 points.We have reviewed many of the GTX970 and GTX980 partner cards in the last month, but there is no question that MSI are leading the way with their Gaming 4G series of cards. Their GTX970 Gaming 4G was our personal favourite at launch, and the GTX980 Gaming 4G on show today is going to be a very tough act to follow.
The MSI Gaming 4G products are without doubt the best looking video cards money can buy. A lot of effort has gone into the appearance, and while for many it will be a case of ‘fit and forget' there are many enthusiast users on our busy Facebook page adopting these into windowed system builds. If you are opting for a red and black system colour scheme, the Gaming 4G is as good as it gets.
As a high resolution gaming card you would be hard pressed to get anything better on the market today. The ‘out of the box' clock speeds of 1,216mhz are at the upper end of the scale, and there is plenty of additional headroom if you are willing to use a software tool such as MSI Afterburner. We managed to increase the Boost clock to 1,464mhz before minor artifacting would occur.
The new MSI Twin Frozr cooler is class leading and while very closely matched to the Asus Direct CU cooler fitted to the Strix, it left with a 1c advantage. Sure, in the real world you would be hard pressed to notice any difference, but as minor as it is, the MSI card has a miniscule advantage.
If you want to buy an MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G they are available from Overclockers UK for £479.99 inc vat. There is a deal however this week, with a price drop to £439.99 inc vat. When weighing everything in, we come to the conclusion that this is the best GTX980 we have tested, to date.
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Pros:
- the Cameron Diaz of GPU's.
- very quiet.
- very high build quality
- 4GB of GDDR5 memory.
Cons:
- the reference GTX980 is excellent and cheaper.
- still need two of them for smooth 4k gaming.
Kitguru says: The MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G is a looker, but it is also one of the fastest cards on the market.
no backplate, no sale
Agreed…nearly £500 for a GPU and it doesn’t have a backplate…ridiculous.
They would lose a sale from me because of it, same for their 970 as well with no backplate.
Your penny pinching will be costing you sales MSI.