 From MSI we have the brand new GeForce GTX 580. This is an NVIDIA GPU. It features all of the latest technologies including GeForce CUDA, NVIDIA SLI, PhysX, 3D Vision, including 3D Vision Surround with up to 3 monitors. We've also got some other cool points here. Check this out. So this is a special sticker that goes on USA, Canada and Mexican models. So they've got a 3 year warranty in all of those countries. And this particular MSI card features all solid capacitors for improved lifespan. So we can actually find some more details about that on the back. So 10 years ultra long lifetime with no explosion. I think what they actually mean to say is no leaking because typically capacitors, although they can explode, typically they're just going to leak. So you've also got lower temperatures, higher efficiency, but bear in mind your card will not explode. Very good. So we've got a little list of the features here. So that is DirectX 11, SLI, that is up to 3-way and even 4-way SLI, Surround, PhysX, CUDA, Direct Compute, NVIDIA Pure Video, HD Technology, this is a PCI Express 2.0 card. You can read this I'm sure. Oh hey cool, we got HDMI 1.4a. So that means that you are able to play with appropriate software. 3D Blu-ray, oh appropriate software and appropriate TV, that's going to cost you. Minimum system requirements are as follows here. So NVIDIA recommends a minimum 600 water greater power supply with a minimum of 42 amps on the 12 volt rail. And up here, this is one of the coolest things about MSI video cards is that they all come compatible with MSI Afterburner. Which is, if you follow my blog, an outstanding little overclocking utility that I personally use very frequently and I really really like. And MSI has just done a great job in their partnership with Rivetuner of basically, well they've reskinned the program and they've added a couple features, they've made it really simple to use. And they've also added their little combustor utility which is in partnership with the Furmark guys so they've given you all the means to overclock and test your graphics card out of the box. Which is pretty cool. So accessory wise, we've got a 6 pin to 8 pin power connector. We've also got a dual 4 pin molex to single 6 pin power connector. And then we have, oh that's a nice long cable too, look at that. So we've got what looks to be about a 6 foot mini HDMI to HDMI cable. Let me just see what else we've got included here and then I'll stop teasing you guys and we'll look at the card itself. Next we've got a DVI to VGA adapter. Finally we have a utilities and driver DVD, or CD, I don't know what it is, but either way, throw it away, download the latest from the MSI website. We've got a quick user's guide which is big. There we are, so they show some other MSI products, how to plug it into your computer, all that good stuff. Just kind of throw that back together. And then finally we've got the 580 GTX series, so this shows you how to use their live update for the drivers and also access, well once again the quick start guide. So there you have it. Two quick start guides. Two for the price of one. You know someone should run that promo on GTX 580s. I bet they'd sell a lot of GTX 580s if they did two for the price of one. So one of MSI's kind of unique little things is they include these little blue covers on all of your connectors which means that people like me can safely handle the card without touching the contacts. Actually everyone gives me a hard time about this but I'm finally going to explain why I don't care about touching the contacts like this. Okay, here let me show you guys. So you see where my finger touches the side of the PCB? I actually am not making contact with the little golden contacts along the edge of the PCI Express 16X connector. Look at that, see? No matter how hard I press on there, I'm not going to touch them. So I'm only touching a completely inert part of the PCB when I handle a video card like this. So there you go. Now you know. Let's have a look at the back of this video card so you can see here where the GPU is situated. So that's going to be where most of the bulky cooling power is done. Now bear in mind the GTX 580 in the reference design does use a vapor chamber design so it's not using standard heat pipes. Next we have some VRM cooling, or VRM. VRM's here so that is delivering the power from these 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors over to all the power hungry parts that need them. Speaking of power hungry, the GTX 580 improves over the 480 in a lot of ways. One of which is performance, another of which is heat. That is to say it gives off less heat than the 580 and last but not least is power consumption. So the 580 performs better, runs cooler, and doesn't consume as much power as the GTX 480. So I think we've looked at the back of the card fairly in depth here. So you can actually see there's a little vent here. So when this fan spins it's going to exhaust just a little bit of air out the back, cool off those solid caps, and make sure that they're all staying nice and not toasty. So that is performing very well. So MSI has put on their customized branding on the card here. So we've got an MSI logo to go along with the GeForce one on the top. And then we've got a little, looks like some kind of like a jet or something. What is this? Here, there's a bigger one here. If you guys can tell me what that is I would very much appreciate it. Maybe it's like a spaceship? I'm not actually sure. Anyway, so it's got Afterburner branding on it as well as MSI branding on it and they've called out the name of the N580 GTX right there. You've got a standard fan that is to say a rear exhaust fan which Nvidia has been using on their reference high end cards for quite some time. Because it does allow you to remove the heat from the card and exhaust it out the back of your case rather than exhaust it into your case. Where it's just going to mean that all of the other components are going to run hotter. Which isn't to say that it's the only approach that works but it's worked quite well for Nvidia over the last little while so they've continued to use it. On the back we've got two DVI ports as well as a mini HDMI and MSI has generally, generously included the mini HDMI to HDMI cable. Because not many people have televisions that run off mini HDMI. So thank you for checking out my unboxing of the MSI GTX 580. So this is a 1.5GB graphics card. That's the amount of memory. And it also has the fastest graphics processor in the world. Right there. And don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips.