MSI GTX 770 Lightning Review

I just finished putting this card into my machine and I'm going to run it through its paces. I'll bring the numbers tomorrow.

Alright, as promised I have my review and benchmark of the MSI GTX 770 Lightning Edition GPU. To start, here is the test system setup: (Note: I have not put an overclock on the card yet)

Intel Core i7-960 @ 3.3gHz

ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Motherboard

Corsair Dominator 6gb @ 1600mHz

Corsair Builder Series 600w 80+ Bronze PSU

MSI GTX 770 Lightning Edition

Initial Thoughts:

When I unboxed the 770 Lightning I was a little put off by it's sheer size. It looked amazing however and with a little magic it fit snugly into my case. In the box you get your standard cables and drivers. You also get a certificate of quality with gold trim which is a very nice touch. On the back of the card is the "Moose Knuckle" that houses the GPU Reactor. Inside is a few blue LEDs that light up when you power on. All in all the card looks amazing and, if you have a good case, is easy to install.

Performance Testing: Battlefield 3/Ultra Settings/1080p

Max FPS: 92

Average FPS: 85

Minimum FPS: 82

I tested BF3 on Strike At Karkand. In the test I had building casting shadows, explosives blowing through buildings and large group battles. In tight areas the FPS would spike as high 92 and in wide open ares with physics and other effects it would drop as low as 82 FPS.

Performance Testing: GTA 4 Benchmark/Very High Settings/1080p

Max FPS: 70

Average FPS: 65

Minimum FPS: 30 (GTA had a little glich half way through the benchmark for about one second)

I set GTA 4's settings as high as they would go and ran the built in benchmark. The benchmark included multiple lighting sources as well as explosive effects. For the most part it hovered around 65 FPS throughout the whole test with small jumps and drops here and there. I then played the game and in high resource instances (very large police chase with explosive effects and gunfire) I got an average that was near as makes no difference to the benchmark.

Performance Testing: Need For Speed: Shift 2/High Settings/1080p

Max FPS: 60 (The game has a 60 FPS limit)

Average FPS: 45

Minimum FPS: 29

I set Shift 2's settings as high as they would go and ran a race on the Miami International Circuit. This track offers lighting casting shadows as well as a large city scape in the back ground. At the starting pits the FPS hovered around 35. Once all the cars started off the FPS jumped up into the 50s with the 60 FPS limit being reached.

Performance Testing: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier/Max Settings/1080p


Max FPS: 72

Average FPS: 57

Minimum FPS: 30

I started on one of the final missions. Said mission included large firefights and explosive effects. The evening setting offered lighting casting large shadows. On average the FPS stayed in the high 50s with small drops here and there as the effects got more intense.

Performance Testing: Far Cry 3/Max Settings/1080p (Note: I maxed out the field of view and had stuttering frame rates. I reset it to 100 and I got expect frame rate)

Max FPS: 40

Average FPS: 37

Minimum FPS: 29

I set the settings to max and loaded into the heart of the jungle. The morning light cast large shadows off of the jungle vegetation. I then drove off to an enemy base to test large battle effects. The base was an open space which pushed the FPS a bit higher in the battle. The battle included lighting from muzzle flash as well as multiple shooters and explosive effects.

Benchmarking: 3DMark 11/Extreme Setting/1080p

Score: X3780

The 3DMark 11 test at 1080p put an extreme load on the GPU. It tested lighting, tessellation, and physics. On average I saw an fps that was in the low 20s. In certain environments the FPS would drop as low as 9. The test really put the card through it's paces.


Benchmarking: Catzilla @ 720p

Score: 16313

Catzilla from AllBenchmark offered a range of tests. These included physics, lighting, fluid effects, fur effects and tessellation. The free version only offered testing at 720p so the average frame-rate was around 120. The test was very entertaining and put a large load on the gpu.


Benchmarking: Unigine Heaven/High Quality/No Tessellation/1080p

Score: 1915

Average FPS: 65

Unigine ran through all of its lighting and environment testing and the 770 chewed through like it was cake. In low load areas the FPS would spike as high as 144 and in high load areas the FPS would drop as low as 37. All in all the 770 passed through with flying colors.

Benchmarking: 3DMark Basic: Cloud Gate/720p

Score: 20319

The 3DMark Basic test on Cloud Gate offered lighting casting shadows as well as tessellation and cloud effects. Through out the entire test the FPS never dropped below 50 and went as high as 80. The test offered dynamic lighting from multiple sources casting multiple shadow sets.

Final Thoughts:

I am thoroughly pleased with the card's performance. No matter what I threw at it (aside from 3DMark 11) the card took it in stride and plowed on. The adaptive fan technology makes fan speed increases almost unnoticeable. Throughout all of the testing the card never got and hotter than 65C. On idle it hovers around 29C. Twin Frozor IV keeps this card cool and looking great. If you are on the knife about buying this card, let me say that it is definitely worth the $450 price tag.

I have an album of the unboxing here.

If you want any other games tested or if you want more specific FPS scored leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

C.C.Edling

SWEET!

I just made a build for a friend with the 770 EVGA acx cooler & 8350 I'll have to put somenumber up against yours once the parts come.

I'm getting all the benchmarking done as we speak. I'm running all of these without an overclock (althought the thing is insane to begin with).