MSIRawZ
New member
It hasnt effected the outcome of the review, its just pointing out that it would be the cherry on the top if aesthetically it would match a whole range of systems.
If you want your rig to look nice putting a yellow highlighted GPU in your rig kinda limits options......
The Gigabyte G1 with an RGB is all black and means you can really use the LED option to the max....
Do you get what Im trying to say?
They have still gone beyond what any other manufacturer has done. Matrix Platinums are predominately red and then have the totally uncontrollable LED but that wasn't really mentioned as a problem in the past. MSI made a lot of steps forwards, removing all the blue LED's, adding control and retaining their identity at the same time.
There are plenty of neutral motherboards it would suit amazingly well, both in and outside of MSI's range. The product in itself has a coherent and pleasing aesthetic. It's not like it clashes with all PC parts currently on sale (like the Titanium).
JR
Debate central today!

I agree with what Tom is saying and understand where he is coming from. From my own personal standpoint, it would be better if this (if not all cards) came in a black or a monochrome style fashion to suit all user builds. Then in the box there would be stickers or clip-ons etc that can match various different rig themes, likewise having RGB lightning as we now do on this card but without the yellow that may conflict with the planned user build.
However when the LIGHTNING is mounted in the case (regular cases of course), you won't see the yellow "OC" decal around the fans since it will be facing downwards so all you see really is the nice backplate and the RGB lightning on the side of the card.
I agree with JR as well. MSI has listened a lot and taken on feedback of the LIGHTNING since the first black/yellow GTX 780 (not Ti). It's been toned down a lot and LED's removed, not to mention the "GPU Reactor" on the back of the card.
Why is our LIGHTNING not silver to match the new Z170 XPOWER motherboard with Silver PCB? - This because there is always a transition phase. As you can see currently we have more yellow (7) motherboards than silver ones (1). Does that mean the next LIGHTNING will be silver? .. I have no idea but I'm sure HQ are watching user feedback closely and something will be changed again of course.
It would have been nice if MSI had used Samsung memory for this card like EVGA have done for their top of the range 980 Ti.
Hi Kaapstad,
Unfortunately Samsung memory hasn't yet been qualified/approved (or w/e NVIDIA need to do) by NVIDIA. This means it can hurt RMA processes internally for us.
Bear in mind that EVGA's top end KingPin edition card that uses Samsung memory isn't being sold in the channel. EVGA is selling this VGA card directly and only to Extreme Overclockers and in very LOW volume. So it’s pure marketing fap...

Hynix memory is on par or in some cases even better than Samsung.