NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680 is a pretty spiffin' card as is, but that's certainly not going to stop partners from trying to outdo one another.
We've already seen extreme makeovers from the likes of Palit, ZOTAC and EVGA, and today MSI's getting in on the act with the launch of the GTX 680 Twin Frozr.
The card is MSI's first custom GeForce GTX 680 and employs a third-generation Twin Frozr cooler that uses two PWM fans and an array of heatpipes to cool the underlying GK104 Kepler GPU.
MSI's PCB appears to be in keeping with NVIDIA's reference design - meaning a standard 2GB frame buffer - but the custom cooler does bring a few upgrades to the table. According to MSI, the Twin Frozr III configuration will run 22°C cooler than a reference card, and, better still, it'll maintain low temperatures while running "at a ridiculously low noise level of just 28 dB under full load."
Rounding off the standard trio of improvements, the GTX 680 Twin Frozr also gets a mild factory overclock on the GPU - it's set to run with a 1,058MHz base clock and a 1,124MHz boost clock. Memory, though, is stock-clocked at an effective 6,008MHz.
MSI's yet to mention pricing or availability, but we suspect the N680GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC will soon appear priced at around the £480 mark. It's an impressive-looking card, but you can't help but feel as though a 4GB Lightning Edition might be just around the corner.
