MSI unveils its GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 Gaming Z cards

Back at Computex we told you that MSI would be unleashing higher powered, factory overclocked versions of its new Pascal-based GTX Cards. Dubbed the Gaming Z range, they’d offer more gaming juice – we just didn’t know how much extra. Now we do.

According to the press release, the “Z” cards represent the Zenith of custom Pascal cards – and that “As the last character of the alphabet, Z also represents the final form of MSI GAMING graphics cards.” While it’s no confirmation at all, it does seem to suggest that we’ll not see a Lightning Edition of the Pascal cards any time soon.

The cards, of course, sports MSI’s TWIN FROZR VI cooling solution, which means it can be overclocked even further. To aid that there’s a custom “10-phase PCB design using Military Class 4 components with an 8+ 6-pin power connectors,” which should give overclockers some headroom – but not as much freedom, it seems, as the Lightning Edition would have.

On top of that, the fancy backplate has RGB lighting, which means you’re able to illuminate the MSI Dragon logo in the colour of choice.

As for specs, the GTX 1080 is clocked by default at 1911 MHz (Boost) / 1771 MHz (Base) and utilizes super fast GDDR5X memory, while the 1070 is clocked at 1860 MHz (Boost) / 1657 MHz (Base) and runs regular old GDDR5. Both cards sport 8GB of VRAM.

Name	GeForce® GTX 1080 GAMING Z 8G	GeForce® GTX 1070 GAMING Z 8G
GPU	GP104-400	GP104-200
Clock speed (Boost/Base)	1911 MHz / 1771 MHz	1860 MHz / 1657 MHz
Memory size	8GB GDDR5X	8GB GDDR5
Thermal design	TwinFrozr VI	TwinFrozr VI
RGB LED Backplate	Yes	Yes
LED	Yes (RGB)	Yes (RGB)
Connectivity	DisplayPort x3, HDMI, DL-DVI-D	DisplayPort x3, HDMI, DL-DVI-D
Dimensions	279 x 140 x 42 mm	279 x 140 x 42 mm

Both cards are in reviewers’ hands – so we’ll know how well they perform, and just how overclockable they are soon.

Last Updated: July 7, 2016