With all the difficulties with the supply of video cards, NVIDIA continues to update the lineup. The latest innovations are the solutions of the older price segment — GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. They received more powerful characteristics compared to the original versions without the Ti index. Another important innovation was the hardware limitation of Ethereum mining, which reduces their attractiveness for cryptocurrency miners. As a result, these video cards are more widely represented on the market, but the prices are still higher than recommended. In this review, we will get acquainted with the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti from the MSI Gaming line, which combines increased frequencies and efficient cooling.

MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio 8G

The video card comes in a big box.

The package includes an additional support, instructions and various printing.

The support is horizontal, screwed from below under the video card.

Before us is a massive device with a length of 32.5 cm. Visually, this model is completely identical to other MSI Gaming top segment.

Massive cooling occupies three slots. For blowing, three fans with specially shaped blades are used.

The reverse side is covered with a metal plate. There are small slots on the side of the backplate to reduce airflow resistance inside the case.

In the corner are two power connectors for eight pins. They are deployed with a latch up for easy cable connection.

An additional stiffening rib stretches along the side of the board. On the side of the shroud are the MSI and GeForce RTX logos.

A mandatory attribute of MSI Gaming video cards is RGB backlighting. Here it is implemented in the form of a large luminous strip and in the side MSI logo.

The rear panel has three DisplayPort ports and one HDMI.

Let’s disassemble the video card for a detailed study of the cooling system. Part of this system is the backplate, which removes heat from hot spots on the board. Thermal pads are located under the memory chips and under the VRM area. It is worth noting that the plate is made of metal, although some graphene material was used in the GeForce RTX 3070/3080 (according to the manufacturer).

A separate ribbed radiator is provided for the power elements of the supply circuit.

The side stiffener is attached to the board through a small thermal pad.

The design of the main heatsink is identical to that of the MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio. This is a large base with six heat pipes and three sections of plates. On the large side platform there are thermal pads for cooling the elements in the memory power circuit.

Implemented direct contact of heat pipes with a graphics chip. The imprint clearly shows that the tubes completely cover the entire crystal. To minimize gaps, they are tightly fitted to each other. The base also contacts the memory chips. Heat removal from the chokes in the power supply system of the graphics chip is provided. An additional gasket covers a small transistor heatsink — an unusual approach.

From the outside, three fans are screwed onto the radiator.

These are special MSI TorX Fan 4.0 fans with dual blades. This shape enhances the power of the air flow. Among other optimizations, it is worth noting the wavy surface of the fins, which improves the ventilation of the radiator with a dense arrangement of fins.

The PCB follows the design of the GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio board, but soldered one more phase.

The GPU of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is powered by 10 phases, the memory is powered by two phases.

Full marking of the processor GA104-400-A1. It operates on all available blocks including 6144 stream cores, 192 texture units and 192 tensor units, 48 ​​trace acceleration units and 96 ROPs. Soldered eight gigabytes of GDDR6X Micron IKT77 D8BWW memory.

MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G runs at higher frequencies. The base frequency of the GPU is 1575 MHz, and the Boost Clock has been increased from 1770 to 1830 MHz. The effective data exchange frequency of the memory corresponds to a value of 19000 MHz. The BIOS is programmed with a Power Limit of 310W, which can be upgraded to 330W.

Testing was carried out in an open case at 22–23 °C indoors. In such conditions, the GPU warmed up to 71-74 ° C with a fan speed of 1400-1550 rpm. In the 3DMark Time Spy stress test, Boost frequencies were kept in the range of 1890-1920 MHz, in Horizon Zero Dawn they did not fall below 1920 MHz. The peak value of Boost was 1965 MHz.

The temperature of the hottest point of the crystal reached 89 °C. The memory warmed up to 84 °C. These are normal figures for a top-end video card, even with such large-sized cooling. And it must be borne in mind that inside the closed case, the heating will be higher.

For comparison, we note that the ASUS ROG-STRIX-RTX3070TI-O8G-GAMING video card showed similar GPU frequencies at higher fan speeds. MSI Gaming’s Boost frequency drops were the strongest in The Division 2, at 4K resolution the GPU’s operating range was at the level of 1860-1900 MHz.

The power limit can only be increased by 6%, which did not prevent us from slightly surpassing the ASUS ROG Strix in overclocking. With an increase in the base frequency by 150 MHz, we managed to reach frequencies at the level of 2025–2050 MHz in most games (not lower than 2000 MHz in the most difficult modes).

The memory worked stably at frequencies up to 20900 MHz, and this is weaker than the result of ASUS ROG Strix. For stable operation, the fan speed was manually fixed at 60%, which provided the GPU temperature at 70-71 ° C.

With a long load, the Hot Spot can warm up to 89 ° C.