1 Attachment(s)
MSI Dresses GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z GPU in Carbon Fiber
MSI brought a lot of new toys to the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) this year. Based on the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, the limited edition MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z was among one of the graphics card manufacturer's more lavish items on display at its booth.
The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z's cooler rocks a stunning carbon fiber design with gold accents. Marketing is kept to a minimum and only the Lightning monicker is imprinted on the shroud. There are three Torx 3.0 fans with double ball bearings to provide the graphics card with active cooling. Curiously, only the middle fan lacks RGB lighting while the other two fans come with tiny RGB LEDs implanted directly into the blades.
MSI's RGB Mystic lighting is also present on the blackplate and on the side of the shroud. As usual, users can personalize the graphics card's addressable RGB lighting and effects through the MSI Dragon Center software. Speaking of the backplate, MSI outfitted the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z with a beautiful carbon fiber backplate. Although it's there to provide rigidity and prevent bending, the full-cover backplate definately gives the graphics card a premium feel.
The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z is a beast that occupies up to three PCI slots, and MSI even includes a support bracket for it. The graphics card features a customized PCB with a robust 19-phase power delivery subsystem and 60A power stages. According to MSI, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z employs a massive heatsink and eight heatpipes for optimal heat dissipation. The graphics card is even equipped with a customizable OLED panel on the side where users can monitor its vitals, such as the operating clocks, voltages, and temperatures. Additionally, the OLED panel also allows users to display personal animations to show off to their friends.
Because it is a graphics card that focuses on overclocking, three 8-pin PCIe power connectors provide the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z with ample power. Experienced overclockers will be happy to know that there are four special connectors on the back of the graphics card and voltage readpoints for meticulous tweaking. As for video outputs, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z comes equipped with three DisplayPort outputs, one HDMI port, and the typical USB Type-C port for Nvidia VirtualLink.
The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z will come with dual BIOS support. The default BIOS applies a factory overclock of 1,770MHz while the LN2 BIOS drops the boost clock back down to Nvidia's reference speed but raises the power limit to 350W. We can expect the graphics card to employ cherry-picked GPUs with excellent overclocking potential. A couple of HWBOT submissions, which have since been removed, showed the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z running with a boost clock as high as 2,475MHz and the memory overclocked to 2,054MHz (16,432MHz effective).
The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z will be available in the first quarter of this year. However, MSI hasn't revealed its pricing yet.
