Conclusion
Conclusion
MSI’s GTX 980 Ti Sea Hawk has been launched into a market niche which may not have all that much competition (EVGA’s Hybrid model is really the only direct threat) but that doesn’t mean this card is above reproach. There are plenty of air-cooled alternatives that offer a lower price, comparable clock speeds and don’t require you to find place for a water cooling radiator. Also, despite all of the inroads water cooling has made in recent years, there’s still an admittedly unwarranted stigma attached to it by many gamers. With all of this being on the table and despite the adversity it faces, MSI’s Sea Hawk is a resounding success in our eyes.
From a raw performance standpoint, it is very hard to argue against what MSI has accomplished. While the Sea Hawk’s paper specifications put it within spitting distance of substantially lower-priced cards like the Gaming 6G and EVGA Superclocked, our frequency over time results told a different story. This is actually one of the faster GTX 980 Ti’s currently available with a sustained core clock around the 1400MHz mark and that does make a difference when compared directly to the reference design. Against other overclocked cards, the actual onscreen differences are negligible though.
While you will be hard pressed to see the minor framerate between top-tier GTX 980 Ti cards, where the Sea Hawk really shines is in the noise and temperature departments. The Corsair-provided all in one water cooling setup is compact, able to deliver incredible thermal numbers and is for the most part whisper quiet. Most importantly, MSI has deftly avoided the pump whine that continues to plague AMD’s R9 Fury X and the inductor noise that rears its ugly head in other GTX 980 Ti’s.
Personally, I think one of the most overlooked aspects of the Sea Hawk is the fact that its two fans can be independently controlled. Modifying the shroud’s fan with MSI’s Afterburner software and the radiator fan’s RPMs via your motherboard’s BIOS or integrated software suite may feel a bit clunky, once a good balance of cooling performance and noise output is found, no additional tuning will be required. With that being said don’t expect optimal, tailor-made results straight out of the box since the AIO’s fan will run at whatever speed your motherboard’s headers are set to (a mistake we’ve already seen in some other articles). That could lead to either higher temperatures or a louder gaming experience, neither of which anyone really wants.
Overclocking these GTX 980 Ti’s is starting to feel a bit repetitive since headroom largely depends upon the cores and NVIDIA’s voltage limitations rather than any magical selection of high end components. Then again, we’ve seen supposedly binned cores achieve clock speeds that weren’t any different from non-binned samples. The MSI GTX 980 Ti Sea Hawk isn’t any different in this respect since its frequencies’ climb northward is hindered by voltage even though there was plenty of thermal headroom left.
All of this leaves us with a relatively straightforward wrap-up. MSI and Corsair market the Sea Hawk as a high performance, low noise gaming solution and that’s exactly what they delivered. Its actual value will be entirely based the needs of each individual buyer.
