MSI RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio review - Specs | Overclock

MSI RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio review, style and performance at the service of gaming. Take a look at its Hashrate, Specs, Overclock and other important features.

It arrived in the editorial office just before mid-December and we showed it to you on our Instagram account , but as the saying goes “not all donuts come out with a hole”: in this case, not all the video cards you try work as expected. . We are talking about the MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio , the top of the range of the Taiwanese company based on the project of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.

Contents hide

1 Performance – Hashrate

2 Frequencies, consumption, temperatures and noise

3 Overclock

4 Conclusions

4.1 Related posts:

The sample received had already “turned” a few hands and we do not know if the GPU was flawed by a problem from the beginning or not, but in fact in our tests it showed lower performance than the Founders Edition, with consumption values halved compared to those expected, as if some kind of protection came into play as soon as it was put under load. So, we sent the sample back to MSI who promptly provided us with another one in recent days.

The new model works properly, so let’s see together how it is made and how it behaves the new proposal of the Taiwanese company. Having tried the Founders Edition, we already knew what to expect: a card as fast as – and sometimes a little more – than the RTX 2080 SUPER , a model that until a few months ago conquered the hearts and minds of many gamers.

The newcomer from Nvidia, based on Ampere architecture , has two fundamental advantages: the price and consumption. This at least on paper. Yes, because the price situation of the video cards, at this moment, is well known to all and the advantageous price lists announced by Nvidia and its partners for the proposals of the GeForce RTX 3000 family compared to the RTX 2000 models have “gone to fry” , literally. Thanks to the new architecture and improved manufacturing process, the RTX 3060 Ti consumes less than a RTX 2080 SUPER, and that (at least) nobody can change – meager consolation.

How does MSI’s Gaming X Trio differ from the Founders Edition? In all, practically. The two cards are already different starting from the size. MSI’s proposal is clearly longer and bulkier, as well as heavier : it measures 323 x 140 x 56 mm for about 1.45 kg, while Nvidia’s Founders is more compact and lighter (242 x 112 x 38 mm for about 1 kg) , as it adopts a shorter and denser PCB, as already seen on the more powerful models. It is no coincidence that MSI has included a bracket in the card bundle to relieve its weight on the PCI Express slot.

MSI’s board is equipped with a Tri Frozr 2 cooling system in which the three TorX 4.0 fans with ball bearings stand out . The fans are characterized by pairs of blades connected by an outer ring which, according to MSI, increases the air pressure up to 20% compared to the previous TorX 3.0, with a static pressure that goes from 2.76 mmAq to 3, 35 mmAq. This allows the fans to blow more fresh air down the radiator below. The fans, as always, are equipped with Zero Frozr technology to eliminate noise in the absence of load.

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Below the fans we find the voluminous radiator, formed by two blocks connected by different heatpipes and distinguished by fins with a new wave design that guides the air in a targeted way to optimize the cooling of the various components on the PCB and contain noise. Above the GPU is a direct contact dissipating block, a solution that MSI calls “ Core Pipe ” as it features a denser set of grooves in order to better spread the heat along the entire block and then towards the radiator. The company, compared to the previous “Oval Pipe” system, declares an efficiency improvement of 50%. Six Core Pipes disperse the heat in the radiators which increase the dissipating area. MSI, as on other proposals, has placed thermal pads on memory, VRM and capacitors, so as not to leave anything to chance.

At the rear there is a backplate to which thermal pads are anchored to improve heat capture from the back of the PCB. The new video card is also equipped with RGB lighting , with a strip that runs along the backplate, fully controllable via MSI software. Power is provided by a dual 8-pin PCIe connector.

	GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE	MSI RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio
Architecture and GPU	Ampere GA104	Ampere GA104
Productive process	Samsung 8nm	Samsung 8nm
Die Size	392 mm2	392 mm2
Transistor	17.4 billion	17.4 billion
CUDA Core	4864	4864
TMUs / ROPs	152/80	152/80
Tensor / RT Core	152/38	152/38
Base Clock	1410 MHz	1410 MHz
Boost Clock	1665 MHz	1830 MHz
Memory capacity	8 GB GDDR6	8 GB GDDR6
Memory bus	256 bit	256 bit
Memory speed	14 Gbps	14 Gbps
Bandwidth	448 GB / s	448 GB / s
TGP	200W	240W

On the back there are three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors and one HDMI 2.1 ; the latter allows you to manage 4K monitors up to 120 Hz. In terms of technical specifications, there is only one change between the Founders and MSI’s proposal: the factory boost clock that rises from 1665 MHz to 1830 MHz , thus increasing of 165 MHz. We know, however, that the GPU boost algorithms rise if possible well beyond the declared frequencies, so we will see in our tests the actual weight of this difference and how far both proposals are able to push themselves with the same load.

Performance – Hashrate

The tests were conducted at video resolutions of 1920 × 1080 pixels, 2560 × 1440 pixels and 3840 × 2160 pixels, always trying to use very high quality settings to shift the load as much as possible on the GPU. Below is the configuration of the system used for the tests:

Operating system: Windows 10 Pro Italian

Processor: Intel Core i9-10900K

Power supply: CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gold 1200 Watt

Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero WiFi

Memory: G.Skill Trident-Z 2x8GB DDR4-4000 (17-17-17-37)

SSD: Crucial P1 M.2 2280 1TB

To test custom video cards we run a scaled down version of our test suite that we apply to the launch of new AMD and Nvidia models. The reason is that you don’t need to test a large number of games to understand the differences between two models based on the same GPU design, with frequency being the only discriminant. The most interesting part is undoubtedly that which concerns the operation of the cooling system (temperatures and noise) and consumption.

As you can see, the increased boost clock of MSI’s Gaming X Trio does not involve major performance differences , but at least this sample performs as expected. As we will see when we talk about overclocking our sample, we need to set a much higher frequency – even raising that base – for a more sensitive speed improvement.

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Frequencies, consumption, temperatures and noise

To understand how the slight differences in performance between the Founders Edition and the Gaming X Trio let’s move on to the analysis of the frequency trend . We used the Metro Exodus benchmark at 4K resolution and Ultra details in loop (10 runs), in order to put the cards under stress. In the graph we see how the MSI proposal reaches a higher clock, which can be quantified – by isolating a segment of the test – in about 100 MHz more peak . The Founders Edition under load goes up to 1830 MHz, while the Gaming X Trio reaches around 1930 MHz.

If we go to the temperature – the MSI board starts from a higher level simply because we did the detection shortly after another test, nothing strange! – we see that the difference between the FE and the Gaming X Trio under load is about one and a half degrees in favor of the MSI solution. It can also be seen that the Trio’s cooling system leads to a more stable temperature during the test session.

MSI RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio

The images with the thermal imaging camera show us that at the rear there is a warmer stripe on the backplate , which touches an even higher temperature than the GPU. We removed the backplate: you can see not only the PCB shorter than the heatsink, but also that all in all the PCB is not dense with components. The only point where there is greater density is right near that hot strip, as the power phases of the GPU are positioned on the opposite face. MSI has placed a thermal pad there to capture the heat produced and aid in cooling the phases. Thermal pads are also present around the GPU, so as to capture the heat of the GDDR6 memory chips.

MSI’s card consumes more than the Founders Edition, with an average going from 190 to 230 watts in the middle of the test session. The Gaming X Trio touches peaks of 240W, against the 200W of the reference proposal. The gap is not so useful in terms of performance, as we have seen in the tests, as it is for those who want to overclock the card.

Finally, let’s talk about noise: the two cards are anything but noisy, but in general the MSI, thanks to an oversized cooling system for the type of card on which it is placed, produces a lower noise level . The fans on the Founders hit 1500-1600 RPM during the test with Metro Exodus, while those on the Taiwanese model stop at 1100-1200 RPM. When you play the game, you will more likely hear the noise of the fans in the case or that of the fans positioned on the liquid cooler of the CPU, certainly not that of the RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio.

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Overclock

We overclocked our sample of the MSI RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio by raising the GPU clock via MSI Afterburner by 150 MHz (from 1410 – 1830 MHz to 1560 – 1980 MHz), bringing the power limit to 104% without changing the fan profile. . The memory clock has been increased by 1000 MHz, reflecting the large margin of GDDR6 memory. The stability of this setting was always verified with Metro Exodus in loop for several sessions , recording a performance increase in 4K Ultra up to 48.1 fps (+ 8.1% on the 44.5 fps scored by the Gaming X Trio at settings factory).

Conclusions

The RTX 3060 Ti is, in theory, the least expensive new generation card of all and, by virtue of the excellent performance that allows you to play in WQHD at high details, probably also the most desired by gamers. With about 40% more performance than the RTX 2060 SUPER, an advance that puts it at or just above the RTX 2080 SUPER, the RTX 3060 Ti confirms the clear step forward of the Ampere architecture compared to the previous Turing. The theory, however, collides with a reality that from its debut to today, and alas for several months, makes any Ampere card unavailable and generally too expensive, far from the list prices.

To sum up, we just have to look at the MSI Online Store , where the Gaming X Trio in question has a price of 569 euros, or an increase of more than 30% compared to the 430 euros indicated by Nvidia for the Founders Edition or in any case for the less elaborate proposals. Taking these prices for granted, even if we know that in both cases they are entirely theoretical and do not correspond to reality (and we will not see the FE again), it is clear that the Gaming X Trio costs a little too much for what it offers ( even though there is a bundled bracket).

Mind you, the card is great and we’ve seen it, but in both the ranks of MSI and those of other manufacturers there are less elaborate models capable of similar performance. The Gaming X Trio is more a representation of MSI’s technical capabilities than a model to aspire to at all costs to the detriment of others. Of course, if you like to overclock you may have more opportunities to achieve better results with this proposition. In the same way, the design is undoubtedly beautiful, but “ de gustobus non dispuntandum est “, so you decide. Also keep in mind the dimensions, much larger than the Founders Edition and not suitable for particularly small and compact homes.