The story to these overclocking session is in fact a very amusing one since we weren't intended to break any world record with the card. When this first article was posted on the front page, MSI called and asked where the LN2 overclocking results were as the Lightning series are designed to be used for some extreme overclocking. Although the card was going to be tested on LN2 somewhere later this month, having a vendor request for LN2 testing is something extraordinary, especially for reviewers. So, instead of postponing this session, we decided to do it last Friday. As agreed, their graphics card landed on our desk a few days early to prepare it for the LN2 session for some serious overclocking. - Madshrimps

MSI GeForce GTX 275 Lightning LN2 Extreme Review

After dismantling the Core 2 Duo setup, my colleague suggested to offer his Core i7 950 system to be used in combination with the GeForce GTX 275 in order to maximize the scores. And the most impressive result is of course, the 1375MHz core frequency which was perfectly stable through 3DMark Vantage. This is the highest frequency we have seen so far on an NVIDIA based graphics card, so needless to say we are quite proud of such results. Combining this massive core clock with an also very impressive 2870MHz memory frequency obviously leads to the NVIDIA single GPU world record in 3DMark Vantage.

In the past we have had our share of bad luck when putting graphics cards under LN2 cooling, but after some practice rounds with the low-end cards, we found the way to insulate the motherboard and graphics card to minimize the damage done by condensation and other cold related problems. Combining that experience with the overly impressive GeForce GTX 275 Lightning and you have a winning. The card has impressed us beyond what we can describe with words. We were so impressed and the session ended an insane 165MHz higher. All superlatives aside, we are convinced that this is the strongest card we have ever overclocked.