With a slightly overclocked core, dual TORX fans, and based on NVIDIA's Pascal architecture, the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 ARMOR 8G OC Graphics Card provides major improvements in performance, memory bandwidth, and power efficiency over its predecessor, the high-performance Maxwell architecture. It also introduces innovative graphics features and technologies that redefine the computer as the platform for playing AAA games and taking full advantage of virtual reality via NVIDIA VRWorks.

The front panel of the card features a variety of outputs. There are three DisplayPort 1.4 outputs in addition to an HDMI 2.0b output and a DVI-D Dual-Link output. The GTX 1080 is not just about high-resolution gaming. Computationally intensive programs can utilize the GPU's 1920 cores to accelerate tasks using CUDA or other APIs.

For cooling, MSI implemented dual TORX fans, which maximizes downwards airflow and air dispersion to the heat sink below them. This GPU also utilizes MSI ZeroFrozr technology to eliminate fan noise by stopping the fans in low-load situations.