Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsTrusted Brand, Quality Product, Excellent Performance
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2018
I have been hesitant to purchase a video card because of the GPU shortage and inflated costs. I decided to go for it and couldn't be happier. I upgraded from an MSI R9 390 8G, which is still a very nice card, but was really lagging behind in some games.
For example, I had put off playing Assassin's Creed Origins due to poor performance on the R9 390. I had most of the settings set to low or off and it just didn't make a difference. After installing the GTX 1080, the game automatically bumped up the settings, and the performance was vastly improved. Not only did it look like a completely different game, it plays like a completely different game. This has been the case for all the games I have been testing. Ghost Recon Wildlands is another example of a massive quality and performance jump.
I am new to Nvidia GPU boost, but if my understanding is correct, it will automatically boost as high as possible if power and thermals are in check. I am currently getting a boost level of 1924 on the Core. I don't overclock and I have not adjusting any settings to achieve this. This card so far is a fantastic performer and stays very cool under load. I have a more aggressive fan curve set in MSI afterburner.
I have owned many MSI products over the years and have always felt they have very high quality. When you remove the card from the packaging, it certainly has some weight and feels very sturdy. Due to the weight, it's possible you could have to deal with some slight GPU sag. It's actually lighter than the R9 390 I replaced which was causing sag. There are several inexpensive ways to alleviate GPU sag.
I was in need of a GPU upgrade and was waiting to see what the next Nvidia or AMD gpu is going to be "possibly" be later this year. If and when they even release the first versions they will probably be reference only with inferior performance and cooling. It can take a good while after that just non-reference cards hit the market. For me, jumping in now, even though there "could" be something arriving in the near future, I couldn't be happier with my purchase.
I have been supportive of team Red for many years, but AMD just isn't getting it done at the moment. I decided that I wanted to improve my gaming experience and Nvidia is the only real option in my opinion.
Highly Recommended
