Who is it for ? – Judging from N480GTX Lighting’s extensive array of overclocking features and high-quality components, the one group of users who would reap the most benefit from this graphics card is obviously the overclockers, especially those who often resort to extreme cooling solutions (such as LN2) in their overclocking attempts. Overclocking-oriented features like the Triple Over Voltage will aid them in their pursuit for higher speeds. Nevertheless, the more common groups of users could also use this “monster”, provided they have sufficient amount of money to obtain the graphics card in the first place, and a powerful enough PSU to keep it well-fed.
Right now, the N480GTX Lighting is yet to be released. According estimations, the graphics card will have a price tag of above US$ 600 when it’s finally launched. For a casual user, the pricing may seem outrageous, in spite of the fact that the graphics card is one of the fastest on the planet. However, the N480GTX Lightning could well be worth the price, for it is equipped with a non-reference heatsink that performs much better than the regular cooler, high-end components, as well as some unique features that you won’t find on any standard GTX 480 graphics card.
The high price might even scare off some overclockers. Still, there are people who are willing to spend that much money on an overclocker-friendly, high-end graphics card capable of bringing more performance into their hands. For such people, the N480GTX Lighting might just be the card to go for.
Pros
- Equipped with the high performance, Twin Frozr III HSF
- Overclocked right out-of-the box
- Rich overclocking features
- Lower idle power consumption compared to standard GTX 480
- High overall performance
- Complete selection of display output connectors: HDMI, DVI, and Display Port
Cons
- Rather large and heavy
- Twin Frozr III’s twin fans generate lots of noise when running at full speed
MSI N480GTX Lightning
TECHNICAL DATA
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 480
Interface: PCI Express 2.1 x16
Memory Size: 1536 MB
Core Clock: 750 MHz
Shader Clock: 1500 MHz
Memory Clock: 4000 MHz
Stream Processors: 480
D-Sub Output: N/A
DVI Output: Yes (x2)
HDMI Output: Yes
Display Port Output: Yes
Memory Type: GDDR5
Memory Interface: 384-bit
