is the gtx 780 lightning good?

[Valhallatier]

After researching for what graphics card to buy, i now think that i want to buy the gtx 770 lightning. but turns out that its out of stock EVERYWHERE.

so i decided to bump it up to the GTX 780 lightning. but i have some concerns
 

1. Some reviewer said that this graphics card uses Elpida memory chips which is said that it's bad for OC? is it true or should i just not care about it?

2. Also they said that the middle yellow fan doesn't seem to help alot... really?
3. Each three fans is controlled seperately by software, is it required for the card to run? also there's reviewer stated that the software is buggy (especially for the middle fan?) :unsure:
4. Can i configure the glowing LED Lightning logo on the side of the card? If so How? is it by the geforce experience LED visualizer?

and last noobest question, Can i just use this card the same way as my 660 ti? Because all of its features makes me too lazy to deal around with it.

 

*note: i made some text bold for more easier reading experience.*

 

 

 

[Lays]

It's basically in the top tier of 780's, top 3 I'd say.  If I could of gotten 2 when I bought my evga's I would of definately.

 

Evga's 780 classified, Asus's dcu2 780, and the lightning are probably hands down the best in terms of build quality, and just general over-builtness.  (in no particular order)

 

The yellow fan doesn't really help much it's mostly there for looks.  You don't need the software it'll run with just drivers, you just won't have any customization for the fan curve.

 

I'm not sure about the LED. About the memory, I'm not 100% sure. But it's basically the most over-built card in the 780 series. You can't really go wrong.

[Andrew0472]

After researching for what graphics card to buy, i now think that i want to buy the gtx 770 lightning. but turns out that its out of stock EVERYWHERE.

so i decided to bump it up to the GTX 780 lightning. but i have some concerns

 

1. Some reviewer said that this graphics card uses Elpida memory chips which is said that it's bad for OC? is it true or should i just not care about it?

2. Also they said that the middle yellow fan doesn't seem to help alot... really?

3. Each three fans is controlled seperately by software, is it required for the card to run? also there's reviewer stated that the software is buggy (especially for the middle fan?) :unsure:

4. Can i configure the glowing LED Lightning logo on the side of the card? If so How? is it by the geforce experience LED visualizer?

i thought the led light changes depending on the gpu usage or temps, i forget which one. 

[SuperStroopwafel]

Your mom is good......

 

No its pretty good like @Lays said in the top 3.

[Lays]

i thought the led light changes depending on the gpu usage or temps, i forget which one. 

Usage

[cerulean]

I don't think the ram is all that bad, the middle fan does nothing substancial and I'm not sure about the fans or LED's

 

IMO the Asus Direct CU2 and Gigabyte Windforce are much better designed coolers and I'ld go one of them over a Lightning.

[Jasmin]

I made some research on this card so might as well share:

 

1) It does use Elpida memory which is worse than Samsung, because when the card was manufactured there was a shortage of Samsung dies. Unless you are going for the balls to the wall OC using LN2 it will not matter. There are some videos on youtube of people OCing it with LN2 and still getting amazing clocks (not talking about the 15 cards that had Samsung's dies for the promotional purposes)

 

2) Yes, there are people saying that the middle fan doesn't do anything (Tom Logan from OC3D TV for example) but not becuase they have tested it but because it's not located over any crucial component like the other 2 fans (it hovers over heatpipes). There are some people who tested it and going from default to 100% on the middle fan only decreases the temps by ~ 2-3 degrees which is not much, but it's hardly doing 'nothing'. This is the coolest card with highest clocks. Middle fan is less important than the other 2, but it does decrease temps and help with moving air.

 

3) Only middle fan is seperate from normal controls. In the special software you can control the 2 bigger fans (together as one group) or the middle one. It is not required. If you change the speed via Afterburner it will affect the big fans only though - but again, it is not game breaking.

 

4) The glowing LED acts on its own. Expect to see it in Green when Idle or RED when on full load. There's blue for light load, but it's close to impossible to see it due to GPU boost kicking in almost immediately.

 

 

Overall If you have the money and the card is available I'd wholeheartedly recommend it. If the 780ti didn't come out in the meantime I'd be an owner of 2 of those babies. If you are not going to slam a waterblock on it you cannot go better (there's Gigabyte's GHZ edition and EVGA classy right behind, with Asus' DCII trailing slightly behind).

[Bluuz]

I made some research on this card so might as well share:

 

1) It does use Elpida memory which is worse than Samsung, because when the card was manufactured there was a shortage of Samsung dies. Unless you are going for the balls to the wall OC using LN2 it will not matter. There are some videos on youtube of people OCing it with LN2 and still getting amazing clocks (not talking about the 15 cards that had Samsung's dies for the promotional purposes)

Is there still a shortage of Samsung memory? If so, is there any news of MSI switching back to Samsung memory?

[Jasmin]

Is there still a shortage of Samsung memory? If so, is there any news of MSI switching back to Samsung memory?

They never announced switching back to Samsung (thought they would since this was the biggest concern from all the reviewers) and the last post on this is from November, quoting MSI's rep stating it's still Elpida.

 

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=174437.0

 

Elpida is now Micron

www.micron.com/about/about-the-elpida-acquisition 

 

And you are wrong about Elpida and those "lost in space" 100Mhz.

It depends on the batch.

Micron, Samsung and Nanya are excellent DDR3/GDDR5 manufacturers.

Even if it is those 100 mhz it's not much. You won't be reaching those 100mhz cap when not on LN2

[Xiao]

From what I've heard, the Lightning has switched back to Hynix memory since a few (1-2)nmonths ago.