So, when we looked at the GeForce GTX 260 Lightning from MSI recently it was really a bit of a mixed bag. On the performance side of things we really liked this card, the aftermarket cooling option that MSI opted for was also really good. On the other side we thought the airforce panel just proved to be more of a pain than anything else and what we didn't like was that in order to achieve these highest speeds MSI advertised you needed to install their own overclockings software. Really, at the end of it all though, this GeForce GTX 260 we saw from MSI offered some serious performance and for the most part that's the most important feature for so many users. But that certainly isn't our only point of interest. - TweakTown

MSI GeForce GTX 275 Lightning Black Design Review

The GeForce GTX 275 Lightning actually sparked our interests a bit as it was the card of choice at these overclocking champions that MSI held earlier this year. Though what we want out of the model is easy, we want to see the same high performance that their GeForce GTX 260 offered and the great cooling the model had as well. What we also want however, is not have to install any software to get these promised clocks. Looking at the front of the box we can see an almost identical design to what the GeForce GTX 260 lightning series offered. We can see across the top the MSI logo and below that a plane with a bunch of lightning.

Below the picture we have a little graph that gives us an idea of the performance the model can offer. Moving down, we have the model and below that we have some of the main features like the amount of memory and the mention that this is also one of the company's military class products. Looking at the back of the box, we have a fair bit of information regarding the features the card offers. Like the GeForce GTX 260 Lightning board it uses an aftermarket cooling option that differs from this stock design. This particular one is their second Twin Frozr and while covering up most of the card, we do get to see a fair bit of the cooler itself.

We've got a two fan design which sits on top of a giant heatsink that carries with it an huge amount of fins along with five heatpipes to help move that heat away from their cooler. The power is coming through via two 6-pin PCI Express power connectors. Closer to the front we have our two SLI connectors and unlike we have seen before, this cooler doesn't interrupt the connectors. One of the more important aspects to the whole Lightning series is the cards overclock settings. Unlike the GeForce GTX 260 we looked at, the clocks that MSI advertise are that out of the box without any software having to be installed to achieve those.

We are a fan of the Lightning series and this version of the card really gets rid of the issues we had with the first one where the advertised clocks could only be achieved with the MSI software being installed. There's also no airforce panel with this one which is good for two reasons, the device on a whole is a bit of a pain and secondly it helps keep the price down. The performance on a whole is pretty good, we saw a consistent boost over the standard GeForce GTX 275 and with the Afterburner software included in the box you can do a bit more overclocking yourself if you feel like getting even more performance out of the graphics card.

Now we have to admit though, when it came to the temperature we became a bit worried that the fancy aftermarket cooler was doing nothing but looking good. But once you have a look at the noise levels the cooler puts out you can't help but be impressed with the cooler on a whole. If you are looking for an GeForce GTX 275 that packs a bit more power, carries with it just one of the quietest active cooling solutions on the market and some overclocking software, this GeForce GTX 275 is actually pretty good to say the least. These Lightning series look like they are going to become something special, and that certainly isn't a bad idea either.

Though we are not sure if companies are mixing it up a bit in preparation for the new GT300 models or simply because they're bored, but we always like to see this happen with models that have been around for a while as a freshening up.