Review: MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z

Conclusion

The MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z is the antithesis of Nvidia's Founders Edition.

Whereas the reference card is designed to give users a safe factory overclock in a sleek package that'll fit most systems with minimal fuss, MSI's Lightning Z is the polar opposite, occupying three slots, measuring 340mm long, weighing 1.85kg and pushing the TU102 GPU to its limits.

Big, thirsty and hot-running graphics cards have almost been relegated to the annals of history, but there are still plenty of enthusiasts who prefer things a little more extreme. MSI has those users in mind, and the firm's latest Lightning Z is outlandish in almost every way.

A 1,770MHz, out-the-box overclock ensures chart-topping results, there's plenty of headroom to go further, and the card looks as formidable as they come. In-game performance is about as good as it gets, however graphics cards of this ilk typically come with a caveat or two, and MSI's Lightning Z can get hot enough and loud enough to suggest that liquid cooling is the way to go on a heavily-overclocked RTX 2080 Ti.

Bottom line: want the fastest RTX 2080 Ti that money can buy? MSI's Lightning Z isn't perfect, but it's a contender for that title and smashes benchmarks at the 4K UHD resolution.

MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z

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The MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Lightning Z graphics card is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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