Full review is at the link. Keep in mind that internal case ambient can run ~+10C in some cases we've tested, so it is not unreasonable to see this card run hotter still than what we've measured. Depends on the components within the build. More info: www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2927-msi-1080ti-armor-review-high-temps/ FYI: We are in Taipei right now and will be attending Computex. Be sure to subscribe to get all the news from the show!
For a company, there is always the question of is it necessary? You might spend more on something that yields no net benefits. So why spend the extra money verse have a higher return? This obviously just went too far in that direction.
lol Steve between this and the bloatware and VRM videos I'm sure MSI is loving you. Totally deserved though. It's refreshing to see people calling this shit out.
arias1234 Oh Yeah! I did forget that. Hopefully MSI actually learns from this shit and changes how they do things. I genuinely like their products. I use their tomahawk x99a board in my system. I'd have bought a msi laptop if they didn't have the bloatware. bought a fangbook from cyberpower instead.
XFX is another one with decent amount of BS included. Tested a few and all were noisy without overclocking (XXX, GTR, RS, Bestbuy edition.. all same crap at least what they send to East Europe). I don't understand many components manufacturers from their business point of view neither - doesn't it cost more to produce 5 different cooling solutions for the same gen GPU than to produce 1 proper for the all lineup? Rather put few dollars to different color schemes so we can choose easier what aesthetically pleases us! GamingX could satisfy all cards cooling needs from GTX 1050 to 1080TI, just remove some heatsink fins for low-end :O
Rami Bos I actually recommended the XFX RX 480 GTR to my brother. And you are right. The card is noisy without overclocking. With a thermal paste replacement and a undervolt it is very quiet though. I got a Gainward GTX 1080 Phoenix myself and are very happy with it. Fan speed at roughly 1200RPM and 73 degrees at a maximum overclock.
There are some xfx cards that i like. One of them are r9 280x Double D. Really quite card and does job well. Yeah some others might be shit. Idk but that XFX RX480 seemed nice to me, maybe its bit loud, but does job well.
THANK YOU!! I've been waiting on the EK WBs to come out for the MSI cards and was planning on buying the Armor version since I wasn't going to use the cooler anyway and wanted to make sure that the PCB was in-fact the same as the Gaming X performance wise. Of course, now I am considering just getting the Sea Hawk version with the EK WB included as it's cheaper than even the Armor + WB + Backplate separately.
Thank you for doing this video. I bought into the original shipment on Newegg and, while I am planning on WC if EKWB ever gets around to releasing the GamingX block, it's been a nightmare. The fact that this is a GamingX PCB has been the only saving grace of this card. The biggest problem is the way that this was handled by MSI forum moderators. If you had a problem, complaint, or even were trying to help out other buyers of the card your thread was locked and your account permanently banned. Regardless of being a good PCB, and the fact that moderators are not official employees, the 1080Ti Armor will be the last MSI product I ever buy. Edit 6/2/2017: Just got word back from EKWB support that the full cover block will release sometime next week.
I love how you guys are calling out all this bullsh*t from MSI. Plus on top of that it's clear so much work into all of your videos. It really shows. Patreon money coming your way. Keep it up.
I got this card. I'm one of the lucky ones, my cards works really well and never goes over 77c. After seeing this I spent $85 on newegg and got a cooler and a bracket. So worth it
@@angrygnome32 I upgraded to this a few months ago: "ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme IV High-End Graphics Card Cooler with Backside Cooler for Efficient RAM and VRM-Cooling DCACO-V800001-GBA01"
If you're playing at 1080p, an i5 7500 would be okay and if you want to overclock, a 7600K is good. If you're playing at 4K, a Pentium G4560 would suffice.
Maybe so you can test your card before putting it under liquid? that way you can test everything and see if your system works before you do all the work of watercooling the rig.
I got this exact card after the review, I hit a good promo from a legit shop and bought it for around ~100$ cheaper than the next model, slapped on a accelero extreme 3 and it still works like a charm, 4,5 years in and it does not seem I am chaning it with all the GPU pricing crazy now. Thanks GN!
I just did this with my GTX 980. The temps were fine when I first bought it but after a year and a half I noticed that it started creeping into the high 80s, sometimes reaching 90c. But honestly, I just wanted lower noise overall and I completely achieved that... having it drop 30-40c at full load(idles 26-36c max(depending on room temp) from the 50c before CLC) was just the icing on the cake. Definitely one of the best decisions I've made for one of my PCs components, ever. I'm glad I hoard most of my old hardware and was able to find a beat-up H55 from some years ago which saved me 60 bucks :P. If you're like me and considering doing this with an old cooler you have laying around, make sure to have it run for at least 5 minutes before even disassembling the GPU, just to see if there are any leaks or anything out of the ordinary. It might save you a ton of time and disappointment in the future(not to mention maybe your GPU too). Installing the G12 was relatively simple for me, the only difficult part about it was the screws that go into the back of the PCB and connects to the bracket, otherwise it was as easy as can be. For most people these should be good enough unless you want to spend hundreds or thousands to get into custom water cooling.
This reminds me of a time two years ago when I building a new machine. I ordered a card through Amazon from a third party. I had ordered an MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G card. I was sent an MSI GTX 970 Armor card. LOL. I sent that back very quickly. Thought they could pull the wool over my eyes. Eff you.
I recently got sent a card (MSI 1070ti Duke) which I 100% believe to be a returned product repackaged. Scratches on the fan shroud, but biggest give away was the 2 dents on 2 of the heatsink fins, hell even the cardboard box didn't have the plastic shrink wrap which I expected was the norm. Sent it back, waiting on their warranty or whatever process. Would rather refund so I don't support an online retailer that either did this on purpose, or ignorantly.
I did this with a reference R9 290 and it was night and day difference in temps and noise. One of the easiest solutions for cards with crappy coolers for sure.
I'm sure you're aware but keeping midplates and backplates on with a g10 or g12 bracket just requires a copper shim on the GPU. I used a 25mm x 25mm x 1.5mm one to put a g10 bracket with an h55 on a 970 ftw+ and then again on a 980ti SC+.
Armor models have always been more like entry level gpus. I have a 480 8g because I found it at less than $200 with a coupon. I know it's not even in the same category as a 1080. The only issue it has is noise of course but it can OC considerably if you can take the fans at 80% all the time. So because of this I kinda guessed the PCB were not as crap as the fans are. Good find there
I like this card. The fact that you can get a really good PCB for the same price as a reference card is nice. This is NOT for your average dude who wants to get the bast bang for his buck, but for budget minded custom water cooling people. Why spend $50 more on a card that has the same PCB and a cooler you are not going to use (MSI Gaming X)? And sure, you'll say that liquid cooling guys are not budget minded, but I bet that anyone would prefer to have 50 bucks more in their bank accounts than in the trash bin.
After this video, the 1080 Ti Armor is only available from 3rd-party sellers on Amazon from $1049 to $1249. The Corsair mouse earlier was the same. 2 sellers each of the wired and wiredless variants, for $140 and $170. By now, those offers have been removed and it is simply out of stock.
if the waterblocks for the gaming x fit this thing then many watercoolers will be happy to save 100 bucks (aka a free block) when they slap two of these in sli
I've got a question, I've got an Aero 1080 8gb MSI card on an x370 SLI Plus MB from MSI and a Coolermaster 120 radiator set up, where would I plug in the Pump for the GPU on the motherboard If i went with the NZXT liquid cooler converter, just in a regular 4 pin meant for a fan?
I cant agree really with your opinion, its 4 years later i i just got that card from amazon, i use ryzen 7 2700x with 16gb 3200, msi max carbon and my temps barelly reack 65c on FH5 Ultra settings, i played Assasins Creed Valhala 4 hours and i hit 63 even if my card is bended a bit, its 4 years old piece and im really satisfied to play with, even if it get hotter i'll liquid metal the card and i'll continue to use it, not a hate comment! Stay Safe
man i love this channel it seems to be by far the most in depth with respect to testing :D any chance you guys would do some test comparing the temp/ performance gains/ losses in regard to cases with a 90 degree rotated mobo tray like the silverstone raven line and the cooler master maker pro.
Coming back to revive my old msi gaming PC I used for animation work in college, originally was a gtx 1070. But it got fried using Ai on photoshop in 22. Amazon was running a flash sale and I got a refurbished one of the card in this review. I guess there were a bunch of bogus good reviews or something, but upon diving deeper kept seeing the over heating up to 90°. So going to do what you are here and add a water block. Looks like the Duke version the cooling system is bolted on, so maybe I lucked out.
I've got the 1060 with that Armor cooler/heatsink. IDK if it has any changes, but I put an additional 200Mhz on the core and 400Mhz on the vRAM and temps never go above 60 degrees Celsius. That leads me to believe they designed it to fit the 1070, then just slapped it on the 1060, 1080, and 1080 ti without modification.
People shouldn't buy *anything* from MSI. ASUS, EVGA and GIGABYTE offer far better and more reliable products. If you can't offer a Strix or something similar to it, there's the ASUS Turbo 1080 Ti which has far better components and is similarly priced as this MSI crap.
I got an 980ti because people praised MSI. The card has bad coil whine and doesnt handle modest overclocks (not a heat issue). Wont be buying MSI again anytime soon.
I bought this card because I still had an older Accelero Xtreme III laying around, fits perfectly. And because the memory (all but 4 chips) and VRM's already have a cooling plate on them it really is as simple as installing the Xtreme III with 4 screws...that's it :) Lower noise and better temps FTW :D
This is exactly what i did just got it on Ebay Newegg store for $639 and put a Kraken H55 combo on it, in the end still cheaper than any Hybrid 1080ti you can buy and even cheaper than some custom 1080 ti's.
With installing the G12 and a CLC do you need to install copper heatsinks onto the memory? Or will the 90mm fan be sufficient enough? Also if you do suggest copper heatsinks, can you link the ones you use.
The safe temperature may differ GPU by GPU, but most products can operate safely into the 80°C range and even into the low 90s. 71°C does sound like it's on the hot side for liquid cooling, but that's well within the safe zone, and if the temp is achieved with very little noise, then it sounds great to me!
Nice review bro 👍 I have MSI GTX 1080 Armor OC...stock heatsink is so thin and not good enough to cool the GPU, so I just replace it with Gelid Icy Vision 2 but still use stock Armor Fans... Now temperature is better 🙂
late to the party, i know, but i'm getting one of these today and slapping my accelero xtreme 3 on it, with 3 be quiet 92mm fans. can't wait! been thinking about this move since i got my 1070ti two years ago and saw this review for the 1080ti armor. thank you for the work you do, GN!
I have a similar set up, but with an accelero IV, which is the same at the end, since I am not using the backplate. I will look into getting custom 92mm fans for it.
@@SrSamuerto nice, go for the fans, yes! i got that 1080 ti in my rig now, 52C max temp, max oc. the stock accelero fans were pretty good at keeping things cool (around 60c at max oc) and quiet, but they can't compete with fat bequiet or noctua fans, just to name a few well known brands.. also, zip ties are you friend for this mod :)
the MSI Armor is the best for the Kraken G10 liquid cold 1080ti card........It is easy to remove the cooler and they even have a heatsink for the VRM so ur good to power mod it up
Hi. At First: Very great Video! Thanks 4 that :-). And my question is - Would you say, that the MSI 1080TI Armor have the same specs and heat problems like the MSI Founders Edition or the MSI Aero OC? Should every of this 3 cards like the Gaming X if you can install the Kraken G12? I heared that the MSI FE and the MSI Aero are also reach her heatlimit. Thanks 4 every answer! Best regards from Germany / Berlin.
I modded mine with an Arctic Accelero Xtreme III. It runs MUCH cooler, roughly 60c at 100% utilization and a 2025 MHz overclock. The Accelero Xtreme III is a VERY LARGE fan/heatsink, so you basically have to have a full tower or a larger mid tower. I wouldn't recommend buying this new and modding it with the accelero, but if you made the same mistake as me, and bought the MSI Armor 1080ti, then you definitely will be pleasantly surprised with the Accelero Xtreme III.
so tech City slapped on an Accelero extreme 3 cooler with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut as TIM on a 1080Ti FE and I was wondering if I bought this MSI Armor 1080Ti will I void my warranty if I replaced the armor cooler?
You never do Zotac as far as I can see and its a shame, their cooling is really good with low noise. 5 year warranty as well, highly recommended from me.
Did you guys end up adding additional heatsinks to any VRMs or memory modules when you did this? Are you still using this card in this config and has it been reliable? I was thinking about doing this mod as my card(1080ti armor) does lower clocks occasionally.
Hello Gamers Nexus, I bought a 1080 TI GameRock Premium Card for just 578 Dollar. I saw some reviews that the fans are loud and not cooling the card that good. How is the PCB on this card? Worth to put a Hybrid cooler on it? If yes, which one fits on the card? Thank you for all your videos.
I personally have a gtx 1070 Armor and its great.. a little disappoint in no Back plate but I never reach above 60c when max load though I never run any of my fans (CPU/Chassie/VGA fans less then 100% at any given time (idle/max) All fans run at 100% regardless of usage. I have something like a total of 17 fans in my case, I don't really care or believe in Liquid cooling or over clocking my self. A fan is easier to replace then a blown liquid cooled system
Last watercooled GPU i did was a GTX 1070ti , i choose the MSI Armor version because i could sell the cooler for 40 bucks , to someone who had the MSI GTX 1070 Armor , and his cooler was broken :-)
Hey can you do a video using the Kraken G12 with the Founders Edition PCB 1080ti and test the temps between NO backplate and Midplate (like you did here) and with the midplate modded so the cooler will still seat properly, i'm curious to see if modding the midplate is worth it or if it actually negatively effects the thermals of the FET's and VRM's.
Steve, would it be wise to buy Arctic 140mm AIO for GPUS and stick it on this card? it currently costs £650 and the arctic cooler is £90 which would allow me to have liquid cooled GPU for £740. Good idea?
The most interesting PC hardware channel ever. The ammount of infos, graphs, analysis in only 12 minutes is staggering. I wouldn't expect less from Jesus though.
How did Fet and Vram temps go down without any added cooling to those specific components? I did this exact mod to the 1080 Armor back when it was released, and just for curiosity and knowledge of my own components would like to know. Thanks for the great videos, and the level of depth that goes into them.
Bought a prebuilt because there was an unbeatable discount on it, it came with a GTX 1070 Founders Edition. Wish they would ship with a cheap custom card
I have a Zotac 1080 ti NON extreme version and it also runs super hot at stock. When I run it at 100% fan it hits mid 70's in a Thermaltake core v21 with extra fans, the case itself might as well be an open test bench with mesh all around so airflow isn't an issue that's for sure. side not my ambient temp is like 70-73F in my room
I bought the same cooler style, but, RX 580 version with 4GB VRAM. It was only $199. But, had to return it because GPU usage was going from 100% to 0% creating stutters in every game I played. Not sure if it was a hardware issue or a driver issue. But, I did notice that the card is very flexible and not sturdy at all since it's all PCB and a very thin or big one at that... creating aforementioned flexibility skills, which is not very reassuring.
I know this is a very old video at this point, but I was wondering if you could make a video on soldering a 6 pin connector onto the 1070 armor. Would it work since the armor and gaming x pcbs are the same?
MSI Armor cooler on the RX 470 and RX 480 were different to cool the RX 480 a lot more than on the RX 470. I own the RX 470 model and it doesn't really cool the card under load when overclocked.
I have this exact setup. I have the armor cooler in the box. The kraken on mine is mounting a generic corsair h55 AIO. it never goes above 55c and the temperature never throttles. It is absolutely silent. Anyone that wants the cheapest alternative to full waterblocks do it.
If MSI's plan was to provide a cheaper version of the Gaming X intended for liquid cooling with a shitty cooler attached just to make sure it works before going through the trouble of liquid cooling the card then, yeah, mission accomplished
Same with 480/580 Armor - you are better off buying *anything* else. People are fooled by the two fans, but it only got 2 heatpipes (the 480 one) where the gaming X has 4, one of which being quite thick.
I have the Armor 8g (non TI) version of this card. In a world where we cannot purchase new cards any time soon, I'm looking to at least replace the fans on my card. But I would prefer to upgrade the whole cooling side while I'm at it, using standard fan and rad rather than switching to water cooling. What model of the Arctic Accelero Extreme fits my Armor 8g? Or does someone have a better option?
I have a GTX 1080(non-TI) of this model. Do I expect the same aspects for MSI's design? (shitty 1070 cooler, Gaming X PCB). This thing can run loud, and it doesnt like any overclocks I put on it.
Nice review, I am running the Gigabyte RX 480 Windforce in a Thermal Take P3 open case and it runs right at 73c with pretty noisy fans that are ramped up to about 80% on the auto setting. I have thought about water cooling it but not really sure if it is worth it.
I'm planning on using an ultra book with Armor 1080 TI 11 GB. Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 6gen. What eGPU enclosure do you recommend for such card? I'm leaning towards Razer Core X. Has anyone tried to use such card as eGPU? Please help, I'll be much appreciated.
Im confused, I bought this card (upgraded from a R9 280x) and I love it, I get 100+ fps in most games on great settings and the temps never go above 75c? if you ramp the fan speeds up it seems to cool the card adequately, its not a "Terrible buy" but there are better cards out there for a little more.
STEVE NEVER CHANGE AND YOU ARE THE BEST! ALWAYS DO THESE IN DEPT ANAYLSIS PLEASE! TIRED OF ALL THESE OTHER CHANNELS! "How to install a gpu and how to install drivers" "Bessst gaming card?" "This gpu has 2 hdmi and runs 60c, the end" Steve keeps it real as fuck!
![FNAF vs TF2 - Episode 2 [SFM]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/z5b3V2-VLb0/mqdefault.jpg)
Full review is at the link. Keep in mind that internal case ambient can run ~+10C in some cases we've tested, so it is not unreasonable to see this card run hotter still than what we've measured. Depends on the components within the build. More info: www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2927-msi-1080ti-armor-review-high-temps/
FYI: We are in Taipei right now and will be attending Computex. Be sure to subscribe to get all the news from the show!
Gamers Nexus Content fillers to keep us entertained while we wait for Computex coverage.
Love it. Hope to hear some good things out of Computex.
For a company, there is always the question of is it necessary? You might spend more on something that yields no net benefits. So why spend the extra money verse have a higher return? This obviously just went too far in that direction.
The amount of work that go into these videos/articles is just baffling. You guys do an amazing job. Can't wait for the Computex coverage
Thanks! We're also looking forward to Computex coverage!
I agree. GN is direct, thorough and relentless. Glad they're on our side.
lol Steve between this and the bloatware and VRM videos I'm sure MSI is loving you. Totally deserved though. It's refreshing to see people calling this shit out.
Jominator don't forget about the video they made about the m.2 shields that increase temps!
arias1234 Oh Yeah! I did forget that. Hopefully MSI actually learns from this shit and changes how they do things. I genuinely like their products. I use their tomahawk x99a board in my system. I'd have bought a msi laptop if they didn't have the bloatware. bought a fangbook from cyberpower instead.
XFX is another one with decent amount of BS included. Tested a few and all were noisy without overclocking (XXX, GTR, RS, Bestbuy edition.. all same crap at least what they send to East Europe).
I don't understand many components manufacturers from their business point of view neither - doesn't it cost more to produce 5 different cooling solutions for the same gen GPU than to produce 1 proper for the all lineup?
Rather put few dollars to different color schemes so we can choose easier what aesthetically pleases us!
GamingX could satisfy all cards cooling needs from GTX 1050 to 1080TI, just remove some heatsink fins for low-end :O
Rami Bos I actually recommended the XFX RX 480 GTR to my brother. And you are right. The card is noisy without overclocking. With a thermal paste replacement and a undervolt it is very quiet though. I got a Gainward GTX 1080 Phoenix myself and are very happy with it. Fan speed at roughly 1200RPM and 73 degrees at a maximum overclock.
There are some xfx cards that i like. One of them are r9 280x Double D. Really quite card and does job well. Yeah some others might be shit. Idk but that XFX RX480 seemed nice to me, maybe its bit loud, but does job well.
How long until MSI demands that GN changes the thumbnail? :-P
THANK YOU!! I've been waiting on the EK WBs to come out for the MSI cards and was planning on buying the Armor version since I wasn't going to use the cooler anyway and wanted to make sure that the PCB was in-fact the same as the Gaming X performance wise. Of course, now I am considering just getting the Sea Hawk version with the EK WB included as it's cheaper than even the Armor + WB + Backplate separately.
One of the most detailed gaming hardware channels on RUclips. You guys deserve more views, imo.
A cooler worse than the reference cooler? Hey everyone point and laugh with me lol
Ha-ha ! (read in Nelson - The Simspons voice)
Algorythm44 I got two 980 Ti's and the temperature in my case is so fucking high like 40C. The GPU temps are extremely bad too.
@@Gilaric mhmmm, suuuuuure it is. fucking liar.
@E No, its not. Get a brain you fucking moron, he said its MAX 40. with two 980ti's, which is 100% bullshit.
Max means under load.
@@shawnpitman876 reread. He said the inside temperature of his case is 40c
Thank you for doing this video. I bought into the original shipment on Newegg and, while I am planning on WC if EKWB ever gets around to releasing the GamingX block, it's been a nightmare. The fact that this is a GamingX PCB has been the only saving grace of this card.
The biggest problem is the way that this was handled by MSI forum moderators. If you had a problem, complaint, or even were trying to help out other buyers of the card your thread was locked and your account permanently banned. Regardless of being a good PCB, and the fact that moderators are not official employees, the 1080Ti Armor will be the last MSI product I ever buy.
Edit 6/2/2017: Just got word back from EKWB support that the full cover block will release sometime next week.
I love how you guys are calling out all this bullsh*t from MSI.
Plus on top of that it's clear so much work into all of your videos. It really shows.
Patreon money coming your way. Keep it up.
this is the best tech channel on youtube. everything is explained in such a detailed way. subbed
Great Video. I get the impression MSI put a Bean counter in charge instead of an Engineer, quality always suffers when this happens.
I got this card. I'm one of the lucky ones, my cards works really well and never goes over 77c. After seeing this I spent $85 on newegg and got a cooler and a bracket. So worth it
what cooler did you get for it if I may ask
@@angrygnome32 I upgraded to this a few months ago: "ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme IV High-End Graphics Card Cooler with Backside Cooler for Efficient RAM and VRM-Cooling DCACO-V800001-GBA01"
whats the best budget cpu for gtx 1060 3gb armour? (right now i have fx8300 at 4.5ghz)
If you're playing at 1080p, an i5 7500 would be okay and if you want to overclock, a 7600K is good.
If you're playing at 4K, a Pentium G4560 would suffice.
Avocatul Poporului R5 1400/1500X/1600 for best results over your money.
thanks for replies, guys how much money i can sell my entire am3+ kit?
mobo msi 970a krait edition sli 12gb ram
I love how thorough and well made these videos are, keep it up!
I love the depth of your content. so meticulous and with the person shelling out hard earned cash in mind.
keep up the good work
So any thoughts on what the point is of the weaksauce cooler on such a powerful card? Just to make the cheapest option? What was MSI thinking?
Cost, probably. It's very nearly a Gaming X PCB, so seems like they just stuck a cheaper cooler on one and made some small changes.
Surpuppa it doesn't throttle, it just doesn't boost as much
2 slots? Cost cutting? Pure laziness and oversight?
To make a shark call a fox silly? Silly fox.
Maybe so you can test your card before putting it under liquid? that way you can test everything and see if your system works before you do all the work of watercooling the rig.
I mean it deos cool it somewhat it's not like it thermal throttles
I got this exact card after the review, I hit a good promo from a legit shop and bought it for around ~100$ cheaper than the next model, slapped on a accelero extreme 3 and it still works like a charm, 4,5 years in and it does not seem I am chaning it with all the GPU pricing crazy now. Thanks GN!
I just did this with my GTX 980. The temps were fine when I first bought it but after a year and a half I noticed that it started creeping into the high 80s, sometimes reaching 90c. But honestly, I just wanted lower noise overall and I completely achieved that... having it drop 30-40c at full load(idles 26-36c max(depending on room temp) from the 50c before CLC) was just the icing on the cake. Definitely one of the best decisions I've made for one of my PCs components, ever. I'm glad I hoard most of my old hardware and was able to find a beat-up H55 from some years ago which saved me 60 bucks :P.
If you're like me and considering doing this with an old cooler you have laying around, make sure to have it run for at least 5 minutes before even disassembling the GPU, just to see if there are any leaks or anything out of the ordinary. It might save you a ton of time and disappointment in the future(not to mention maybe your GPU too). Installing the G12 was relatively simple for me, the only difficult part about it was the screws that go into the back of the PCB and connects to the bracket, otherwise it was as easy as can be. For most people these should be good enough unless you want to spend hundreds or thousands to get into custom water cooling.
This reminds me of a time two years ago when I building a new machine. I ordered a card through Amazon from a third party. I had ordered an MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G card. I was sent an MSI GTX 970 Armor card. LOL. I sent that back very quickly. Thought they could pull the wool over my eyes. Eff you.
I recently got sent a card (MSI 1070ti Duke) which I 100% believe to be a returned product repackaged. Scratches on the fan shroud, but biggest give away was the 2 dents on 2 of the heatsink fins, hell even the cardboard box didn't have the plastic shrink wrap which I expected was the norm. Sent it back, waiting on their warranty or whatever process. Would rather refund so I don't support an online retailer that either did this on purpose, or ignorantly.
Why would MSI put out such a garbage card anyways? That's the real qestion here.
1080 ti is a garbage card?
He means the spcific msi armor card
Richard Patry
I guess for those who don't need the silence. For those it's simply the cheapest and they don't care they need high fan speeds.
A value 1080t makes no sense.
Kvlt Ov Freki
Spending $50 for a premium cooler when you don't need one, doesn't make sense either.
Thanks for calling them out on it. Not sure why they thought it would get by with that on a high end card.
i bought a GTX 1070 Armour card, this doesn't mean that the cooler is crap for the 1070, right? or should i return it?
dont return it the cooler is perfect for the gtx 1070 but not so much for the gtx 1080ti card because the 1080ti has a higher tdp
I did this with a reference R9 290 and it was night and day difference in temps and noise. One of the easiest solutions for cards with crappy coolers for sure.
80C is completely fine for this card. The GTX 1080 Ti has a preset thermal throttle at 84C and the max GPU temperature is rated even higher at 91C.
Bless you gamersnexus for the real talk
Pretty sure other reviewers wouldn't be able to talk so frankly
I'm in love with these charts thanks man keep it coming
I'm sure you're aware but keeping midplates and backplates on with a g10 or g12 bracket just requires a copper shim on the GPU. I used a 25mm x 25mm x 1.5mm one to put a g10 bracket with an h55 on a 970 ftw+ and then again on a 980ti SC+.
We kept the baseplate on without a shim, actually. This one isn't too thick.
Gamers Nexus Not needing a shim to keep using a midplate/baseplate is awesome then!
Appreciate the direct, high quality content. Subbed.
Armor models have always been more like entry level gpus. I have a 480 8g because I found it at less than $200 with a coupon. I know it's not even in the same category as a 1080. The only issue it has is noise of course but it can OC considerably if you can take the fans at 80% all the time. So because of this I kinda guessed the PCB were not as crap as the fans are. Good find there
Best hardware channel on youtube, keep it up ^^
I like this card. The fact that you can get a really good PCB for the same price as a reference card is nice. This is NOT for your average dude who wants to get the bast bang for his buck, but for budget minded custom water cooling people. Why spend $50 more on a card that has the same PCB and a cooler you are not going to use (MSI Gaming X)? And sure, you'll say that liquid cooling guys are not budget minded, but I bet that anyone would prefer to have 50 bucks more in their bank accounts than in the trash bin.
After this video, the 1080 Ti Armor is only available from 3rd-party sellers on Amazon from $1049 to $1249. The Corsair mouse earlier was the same. 2 sellers each of the wired and wiredless variants, for $140 and $170. By now, those offers have been removed and it is simply out of stock.
if the waterblocks for the gaming x fit this thing then many watercoolers will be happy to save 100 bucks (aka a free block) when they slap two of these in sli
I've got a question, I've got an Aero 1080 8gb MSI card on an x370 SLI Plus MB from MSI and a Coolermaster 120 radiator set up, where would I plug in the Pump for the GPU on the motherboard If i went with the NZXT liquid cooler converter, just in a regular 4 pin meant for a fan?
If you keep this up, MSI is going to partner with NZXT to send you overheating pucks loaded with bloatware 😉
I did a few videos on this card myself it was the first aib card available that's why I got it. I put a Accelero 3 on mine and it did well
Hello. Is it possible to use 1080Ti cooler from Gigabyte, Asus, etc, on Armor 1080 Ti? Are the PCB layout the same on 1080 Ti with open air cooler?
Big thanks to GN. loved this video
I cant agree really with your opinion, its 4 years later i i just got that card from amazon, i use ryzen 7 2700x with 16gb 3200, msi max carbon and my temps barelly reack 65c on FH5 Ultra settings, i played Assasins Creed Valhala 4 hours and i hit 63 even if my card is bended a bit, its 4 years old piece and im really satisfied to play with, even if it get hotter i'll liquid metal the card and i'll continue to use it, not a hate comment!
Stay Safe
you also have to consider re-sale value, with negative reviews this card will be much harder to sell and in the long term could still be a loss.
man i love this channel it seems to be by far the most in depth with respect to testing :D any chance you guys would do some test comparing the temp/ performance gains/ losses in regard to cases with a 90 degree rotated mobo tray like the silverstone raven line and the cooler master maker pro.
Coming back to revive my old msi gaming PC I used for animation work in college, originally was a gtx 1070. But it got fried using Ai on photoshop in 22.
Amazon was running a flash sale and I got a refurbished one of the card in this review.
I guess there were a bunch of bogus good reviews or something, but upon diving deeper kept seeing the over heating up to 90°.
So going to do what you are here and add a water block. Looks like the Duke version the cooling system is bolted on, so maybe I lucked out.
And I'm over here on my reference R9 290 like damn, that's cool and quiet.
I've got the 1060 with that Armor cooler/heatsink. IDK if it has any changes, but I put an additional 200Mhz on the core and 400Mhz on the vRAM and temps never go above 60 degrees Celsius. That leads me to believe they designed it to fit the 1070, then just slapped it on the 1060, 1080, and 1080 ti without modification.
Gamers Nexus declares WAR on MSI. Love it.
A friend has bought this card, we were wandering why was it so hot. Now we know. TY!!!
Shitting on MSI atm 😂
it isnt undeserved
Don't make shit, if you don't want to be shat on.
People shouldn't buy *anything* from MSI. ASUS, EVGA and GIGABYTE offer far better and more reliable products. If you can't offer a Strix or something similar to it, there's the ASUS Turbo 1080 Ti which has far better components and is similarly priced as this MSI crap.
I got an 980ti because people praised MSI. The card has bad coil whine and doesnt handle modest overclocks (not a heat issue). Wont be buying MSI again anytime soon.
I'd just like to say, I've purchased like 8 products from MSI at this point.
5 Motherboards, 2 Graphics Cards, 1 Laptop.
Do I need to buy a fan for cooling the VRAM if I'm going with the G12 bracket + AIO (need as in needed to get good temps for overclocking the VRAM)?
I bought this card because I still had an older Accelero Xtreme III laying around, fits perfectly.
And because the memory (all but 4 chips) and VRM's already have a cooling plate on them it really is as simple as installing the Xtreme III with 4 screws...that's it :)
Lower noise and better temps FTW :D
This is exactly what i did just got it on Ebay Newegg store for $639 and put a Kraken H55 combo on it, in the end still cheaper than any Hybrid 1080ti you can buy and even cheaper than some custom 1080 ti's.
With installing the G12 and a CLC do you need to install copper heatsinks onto the memory? Or will the 90mm fan be sufficient enough? Also if you do suggest copper heatsinks, can you link the ones you use.
Hi. I have an 1080TI armor and I have an issue with temps: idle 45-55 ; in game over 80 degrees celsius. Is this normal? Thanks
How much temperature can a compact liquid cooler take?
I´m using a kraken G10 with a H90 for my GPU (~300w-320W TDP) with 71°C, is this dangerous?
The safe temperature may differ GPU by GPU, but most products can operate safely into the 80°C range and even into the low 90s. 71°C does sound like it's on the hot side for liquid cooling, but that's well within the safe zone, and if the temp is achieved with very little noise, then it sounds great to me!
Nice review bro 👍 I have MSI GTX 1080 Armor OC...stock heatsink is so thin and not good enough to cool the GPU, so I just replace it with Gelid Icy Vision 2 but still use stock Armor Fans... Now temperature is better 🙂
late to the party, i know, but i'm getting one of these today and slapping my accelero xtreme 3 on it, with 3 be quiet 92mm fans. can't wait!
been thinking about this move since i got my 1070ti two years ago and saw this review for the 1080ti armor.
thank you for the work you do, GN!
I have a similar set up, but with an accelero IV, which is the same at the end, since I am not using the backplate. I will look into getting custom 92mm fans for it.
@@SrSamuerto nice, go for the fans, yes! i got that 1080 ti in my rig now, 52C max temp, max oc. the stock accelero fans were pretty good at keeping things cool (around 60c at max oc) and quiet, but they can't compete with fat bequiet or noctua fans, just to name a few well known brands..
also, zip ties are you friend for this mod :)
the MSI Armor is the best for the Kraken G10 liquid cold 1080ti card........It is easy to remove the cooler and they even have a heatsink for the VRM so ur good to power mod it up
Hi. At First: Very great Video! Thanks 4 that :-). And my question is - Would you say, that the MSI 1080TI Armor have the same specs and heat problems like the MSI Founders Edition or the MSI Aero OC? Should every of this 3 cards like the Gaming X if you can install the Kraken G12? I heared that the MSI FE and the MSI Aero are also reach her heatlimit. Thanks 4 every answer! Best regards from Germany / Berlin.
I modded mine with an Arctic Accelero Xtreme III. It runs MUCH cooler, roughly 60c at 100% utilization and a 2025 MHz overclock. The Accelero Xtreme III is a VERY LARGE fan/heatsink, so you basically have to have a full tower or a larger mid tower. I wouldn't recommend buying this new and modding it with the accelero, but if you made the same mistake as me, and bought the MSI Armor 1080ti, then you definitely will be pleasantly surprised with the Accelero Xtreme III.
so tech City slapped on an Accelero extreme 3 cooler with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut as TIM on a 1080Ti FE and I was wondering if I bought this MSI Armor 1080Ti will I void my warranty if I replaced the armor cooler?
Have you guys ever considered doing frame rate tests of console games?
You never do Zotac as far as I can see and its a shame, their cooling is really good with low noise. 5 year warranty as well, highly recommended from me.
Did you guys end up adding additional heatsinks to any VRMs or memory modules when you did this? Are you still using this card in this config and has it been reliable? I was thinking about doing this mod as my card(1080ti armor) does lower clocks occasionally.
Hello Gamers Nexus,
I bought a 1080 TI GameRock Premium Card for just 578 Dollar.
I saw some reviews that the fans are loud and not cooling the card that good.
How is the PCB on this card? Worth to put a Hybrid cooler on it? If yes, which one fits on the card?
Thank you for all your videos.
The ASUS 1080 Ti Turbo. Somewhat upgraded from the FE cards. I got it and put the NZXT Krakens G10 and X42.
MSI has done this before, they used the same cooler on the GTX 760 and 770, I have the latter and it either runs hot, or loud.
I personally have a gtx 1070 Armor and its great.. a little disappoint in no Back plate but I never reach above 60c when max load
though I never run any of my fans (CPU/Chassie/VGA fans less then 100% at any given time (idle/max) All fans run at 100% regardless of usage.
I have something like a total of 17 fans in my case, I don't really care or believe in Liquid cooling or over clocking my self. A fan is easier to replace then a blown liquid cooled system
Last watercooled GPU i did was a GTX 1070ti , i choose the MSI Armor version because i could sell the cooler for 40 bucks , to someone who had the MSI GTX 1070 Armor , and his cooler was broken :-)
Hey can you do a video using the Kraken G12 with the Founders Edition PCB 1080ti and test the temps between NO backplate and Midplate (like you did here) and with the midplate modded so the cooler will still seat properly, i'm curious to see if modding the midplate is worth it or if it actually negatively effects the thermals of the FET's and VRM's.
I have the MSI GTX 1070 Armor OC. The cooler works fine on that GPU, but I could see it being a problem for a 1080 Ti.
Steve, would it be wise to buy Arctic 140mm AIO for GPUS and stick it on this card? it currently costs £650 and the arctic cooler is £90 which would allow me to have liquid cooled GPU for £740. Good idea?
The most interesting PC hardware channel ever. The ammount of infos, graphs, analysis in only 12 minutes is staggering. I wouldn't expect less from Jesus though.
Will a Fullcover waterblock from ekwb for the gaming x fit on the armor card?
How did Fet and Vram temps go down without any added cooling to those specific components? I did this exact mod to the 1080 Armor back when it was released, and just for curiosity and knowledge of my own components would like to know. Thanks for the great videos, and the level of depth that goes into them.
Bought a prebuilt because there was an unbeatable discount on it, it came with a GTX 1070 Founders Edition. Wish they would ship with a cheap custom card
I hate the "Armor" range, not only do they not change the branding to "Armour" where I live, the cards cooler is is fucking half missing and shit.
I have a Zotac 1080 ti NON extreme version and it also runs super hot at stock. When I run it at 100% fan it hits mid 70's in a Thermaltake core v21 with extra fans, the case itself might as well be an open test bench with mesh all around so airflow isn't an issue that's for sure. side not my ambient temp is like 70-73F in my room
I bought the same cooler style, but, RX 580 version with 4GB VRAM. It was only $199. But, had to return it because GPU usage was going from 100% to 0% creating stutters in every game I played. Not sure if it was a hardware issue or a driver issue. But, I did notice that the card is very flexible and not sturdy at all since it's all PCB and a very thin or big one at that... creating aforementioned flexibility skills, which is not very reassuring.
I know this is a very old video at this point, but I was wondering if you could make a video on soldering a 6 pin connector onto the 1070 armor. Would it work since the armor and gaming x pcbs are the same?
Dudes that first graph had me hooked like "where does it end?"
So I assume this cooler cools the GTX 1070 fine though, right? Looking into buying one for a friend's PC and it's the cheapest 1070 at the moment.
On the text article I see a comment from the Newegg screenshot mentioning that removing the cover will void your warranty. Is that correct?
I have the 1080 variant of this Armor. If I buy the Gaming X 1080 fan can I replace the Armor one with that one?
MSI Armor cooler on the RX 470 and RX 480 were different to cool the RX 480 a lot more than on the RX 470. I own the RX 470 model and it doesn't really cool the card under load when overclocked.
I have this exact setup. I have the armor cooler in the box. The kraken on mine is mounting a generic corsair h55 AIO. it never goes above 55c and the temperature never throttles. It is absolutely silent. Anyone that wants the cheapest alternative to full waterblocks do it.
If MSI's plan was to provide a cheaper version of the Gaming X intended for liquid cooling with a shitty cooler attached just to make sure it works before going through the trouble of liquid cooling the card then, yeah, mission accomplished
Same with 480/580 Armor - you are better off buying *anything* else. People are fooled by the two fans, but it only got 2 heatpipes (the 480 one) where the gaming X has 4, one of which being quite thick.
I have the Armor 8g (non TI) version of this card. In a world where we cannot purchase new cards any time soon, I'm looking to at least replace the fans on my card. But I would prefer to upgrade the whole cooling side while I'm at it, using standard fan and rad rather than switching to water cooling. What model of the Arctic Accelero Extreme fits my Armor 8g? Or does someone have a better option?
I have a GTX 1080(non-TI) of this model. Do I expect the same aspects for MSI's design? (shitty 1070 cooler, Gaming X PCB). This thing can run loud, and it doesnt like any overclocks I put on it.
Nice review, I am running the Gigabyte RX 480 Windforce in a Thermal Take P3 open case and it runs right at 73c with pretty noisy fans that are ramped up to about 80% on the auto setting. I have thought about water cooling it but not really sure if it is worth it.
can you do a re-review now. Did the MSI fixed the heating issues or not.
Is the armor 1070 anygood then if not what u recomend for black and white 1070?
I'm planning on using an ultra book with Armor 1080 TI 11 GB. Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 6gen. What eGPU enclosure do you recommend for such card? I'm leaning towards Razer Core X. Has anyone tried to use such card as eGPU? Please help, I'll be much appreciated.
Im confused, I bought this card (upgraded from a R9 280x) and I love it, I get 100+ fps in most games on great settings and the temps never go above 75c? if you ramp the fan speeds up it seems to cool the card adequately, its not a "Terrible buy" but there are better cards out there for a little more.
Where i live, the Asus turbo 1080ti is the cheapest, even cheaper than FE, should i get it and do the swap you've done?
*please answer this* How does the Gigabyte Gaming OC 11G PCB compare to the MSI FTW3 PCB?
could you please tell me whether there would be any heating issues with the rx 570 msi armor? i am planning to buy one soon
STEVE NEVER CHANGE AND YOU ARE THE BEST! ALWAYS DO THESE IN DEPT ANAYLSIS PLEASE! TIRED OF ALL THESE OTHER CHANNELS!
"How to install a gpu and how to install drivers"
"Bessst gaming card?"
"This gpu has 2 hdmi and runs 60c, the end"
Steve keeps it real as fuck!
I might be wrong but afaik the armor cooler runs pretty well on my GTX 1070, it rarely goes above 70°c and is very quiet :)
Justin Buckley same but i guess 1080ti has a bigger tdp, so for1070 is ok
Yeah I suppose that could be the reason
Justin Buckley yeah i have msi armor 1070 ti and i never heard the card while i play intensive games
how much of an improvment is there if any really if you use a 240 over a 120 on the nzxt water cooling braket
Thank you very much for an advice!