MSI GeForce GTX 1080 SEA HAWK X review

Glottiz

2016-07-01 10:03

Again a great product from Msi.I really dig this one. The cards tempratures are astonishing low in idle and full load.And above all she is a beauty 🙂. Thx Hilbert for the great review.

i'm puzzled why MSI insists on having a fan on GPU. Gigabyte's hybrid 1080 is fully cooled by AIO, no extra fans. http://i.imgur.com/KY40nLL.png

#5298692

0blivious

2016-07-01 10:04

Am I missing the point of the Seahawk for a 10 series card? Isn't it pre-water cooled to get a great overclock? These cards don't overclock past the Pascal wall so why go overboard on the cooling? Placebo? Are we depending on a tweaked bios or something to make this worth it? Don't get me wrong, it's a cool piece of kit, nonetheless. 🤓

#5298694

Glottiz

2016-07-01 10:06

Am I missing the point of the Seahawk for a 10 series card? Isn't it pre-water cooled to get a great overclock? These cards don't overclock past the Pascal wall so why go overboard on the cooling? Placebo? Are we depending on a tweaked bios or something to make this worth it? Don't get me wrong, it's a cool piece of kit, nonetheless. 🤓

not placebo. pascal starts throttling at above 50C in steps, so if you can keep it under 50C, and you can with hybrid cards, you'll have higher and more stable core clock, as confirmed by this review, too.

#5298696

fantaskarsef

2016-07-01 10:07

Thanks for the review Hilbert, I was really waiting for this one! Great review as always.

i'm puzzled why MSI insists on having a fan on GPU. Gigabyte's hybrid 1080 is fully cooled by AIO, no extra fans.

Maybe MSI will clock better because it's that extra few degrees cooler, or can hold it's boost a tad higher under certain games, only direct comparison can tell if the fan's a waste, or indeed does something at least.

#5298697

0blivious

2016-07-01 10:08

not placebo. pascal starts throttling at above 50C in steps, so if you can keep it under 50C, and you can with hybrid cards, you'll have higher and more stable core clock, as confirmed by this review, too.

The numbers I saw seemed to indicate it performed like every other 1080 out there. Within 1%.

#5298699

Glottiz

2016-07-01 10:11

Maybe MSI will clock better because it's that extra few degrees cooler, or can hold it's boost a tad higher under certain games, only direct comparison can tell if the fan's a waste, or indeed does something at least.

i think it's merely a cost saving measure. it's simpler to just cool the core, unlike gigabyte's method that cools core, vrm and vram all with AIO and no extra fans.

The numbers I saw seemed to indicate it performed like every other 1080 out there. Within 1%.

check overclocking section of review, it's above all other 1080s. still think it's a placebo? 🙂

#5298704

0blivious

2016-07-01 10:16

check overclocking section of review, it's above all other 1080s. still think it's a placebo? 🙂

That's what I meant. Even over the lowest of the bunch, the overclocked STRIX, it's a mere 1.3% better. I guess 1% is something but I seem to recall the older generation of water-cooled cards to be more impressive.

#5298710

Hilbert Hagedoorn

Administrator

2016-07-01 10:21

That's what I meant. Even over the lowest of the bunch, the overclocked STRIX, it's a mere 1.3% better. I guess 1% is something but I seem to recall the older generation of water-cooled cards to be more impressive.

You are totally right looking at it from a pure perf point of view and I mention that in the conclusion. The GTX 1080 is complex in that manner. This product however is for those that like low GPU temps, silence and aesthetics in an AIO package. Obviously the cheapest 1080 you can find will make a lot more sense value/perf for money wise ... thing is, this product is just not about that. It's something different and more unique.

#5298716

fantaskarsef

2016-07-01 10:43

i think it's merely a cost saving measure. it's simpler to just cool the core, unlike gigabyte's method that cools core, vrm and vram all with AIO and no extra fans.

The fan does look like it's on top of the GPU, but I seriously doubt it cools the GPU just by itself, I more think it's cooling 'everything', whereas the AIO cools the GPU only. But I guess you can only be sure about that when somebody takes it apart. But, as we've seen, in general it's irrelevant for stock BIOS cards, to say the least. Maybe a custom BIOS could help with anything there, but I have the feeling overclocking gets more and more restrictive again the way Nvidia designs it's GPU boost (which, just mentioning it, is useless and actually a drawback for people that toy with their own cards, afterburner, and even more vBIOS flashes).

#5298729

cryohellinc

2016-07-01 11:13

Thank you for a fantastic review Hilbert. Impressive card indeed. Sadly cannot find it on the market right now. However temperatures are impressive indeed. And with this overclocking, for 1440p it seems like a very future proof card. Grabbing one as soon as its out here on the market, I've had enough of SLI and all issues that come with it, most importantly temperatures. When @ SLI 980's @1440p turn a game all on Max and temperatures go sky high instantly. Cant wait!

#5298750

DangerousQQ

2016-07-01 11:45

Overclockers have really yanked the price up on this to an eye watering £899.99..Ouch. Scan on the other hand are more realistic at £829.49. That's still £200+ over a founders edition. The prices are out of control. If and when I get a 1080 It seems the best option (for me at least) is to find one of the cheaper 1080 cards and slap an EK water block on it.

Perhaps you need to check these sites again, the prices you quote are for the EK waterblock version of the seahawk X. The corsair AIO version is still expensive but not unpalatable at £698.99. I personally dont think its good value as its still over £100 more expensive than the base card without water.

#5298765

Spets

2016-07-01 12:10

Awesome review HH.

#5298766

Netherwind

2016-07-01 12:11

I'm very happy with this review Hilbert, thank you!

Am I missing the point of the Seahawk for a 10 series card? Isn't it pre-water cooled to get a great overclock? These cards don't overclock past the Pascal wall so why go overboard on the cooling? Placebo? Are we depending on a tweaked bios or something to make this worth it? Don't get me wrong, it's a cool piece of kit, nonetheless. 🤓

The point of this AIO solution is to eliminate throttling thus hopefully have a higher boost clock than normal. But the chip lottery still has to be taken under consideration since you can still get a bad chip.

i think it's merely a cost saving measure. it's simpler to just cool the core, unlike gigabyte's method that cools core, vrm and vram all with AIO and no extra fans. check overclocking section of review, it's above all other 1080s. still think it's a placebo? 🙂

This sample yea, but if HH would test 5 different SeaHawks, one of the might not clock past 2050 for example? No chip is guaranteed to overclock at a specific value.

#5298783

Xuanzang

2016-07-01 12:31

What a great review, thanks. 🙂 Really impressed by the numbers when it came down to temperatures, and i love the look of this card.

#5298785

FranciscoCL

2016-07-01 12:33

Thanks for the review, is a really nice card. This model was my first option, but was sold out everywhere. Finally I chose a Zotac AMP! Extreme that is already on it's way.

#5298791

Hilbert Hagedoorn

Administrator

2016-07-01 12:45

I heard some rumors on other sites that MSI and ASUS were shipping review samples with different BIOS, enabling higher clocks than what customers will buy. I wonder if this is true? Anyone verified that?

"Good cooling means good clocks and especially with Pascal we can achieve a state where the temperature limiter does not kick in, thanks to a base clock of 1683 MHz with a boost clock at 1822 MHz the cards adds a little extra performance (the default BIOS clocks btw are correct and as advertised)."

#5298795

geogan

2016-07-01 12:51

Perhaps you need to check these sites again, the prices you quote are for the EK waterblock version of the seahawk X. The corsair AIO version is still expensive but not unpalatable at £698.99. I personally dont think its good value as its still over £100 more expensive than the base card without water.

I reckon that price is a typo as it is "preorder" - once i comes into stock I bet it shoots up to the scan.co.uk price of £829 price for this... I mean at around that price they are selling Founders and normal non-water cooled 1080's so no way they will sell at that price I think... Anyway at current exchange rates with UK, £829 is about €1,001.41 which is way too much to be spending on a "soon-to-be-not-top-of-range" GPU - just ask all the 980/980Ti owners currently falling over themselves trying to flog their cards on second-hand sites... if I see another ad saying "unwanted present" or "never used" or "just bought two weeks ago" I'm going to virtual punch them in the face - do they think buyers are complete idiots? :bang:

#5299012

Embra

2016-07-01 16:28

Great review, great temps! The price??

#5299045

Agent-A01

2016-07-01 16:52

i'm puzzled why MSI insists on having a fan on GPU. Gigabyte's hybrid 1080 is fully cooled by AIO, no extra fans.

Because passive cooling on VRM is stupid. Those AIOs only cover the GPU. oh cool 50c max on gpu but VRMs are hitting 90+c I don't see the logic in the gigabyte one.

#5299054

GeniusPr0

2016-07-01 16:59

This is $1100 CDN. I would rather have an eVGA hybrid. The price is quite high though. Same price as 2 1070s.