MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio

[W1zzard]

The MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X comes with the largest out of the box overclock today. Thanks to its large cooler, the card is nearly inaudible at full load, and the fans turn off completely in idle. In our review, we also saw excellent overclocking on the GDDR6 memory chips.

Show full review

 

[tabascosauz]

The backplate is made of metal and protects the card against damage during installation and handling.

@W1zzard you sure about that? Looks to me like the exact same stupid "graphene" backplate MSI used on the 3080.

Other reviewers are saying it's the same "graphene" plasticky deal as well.

 

[W1zzard]

@W1zzard you sure about that? Looks to me like the exact same stupid "graphene" backplate MSI used on the 3080.

Other reviewers are saying it's the same "graphene" plasticky deal as well.

Confirmed, this is indeed plastic, revising the review

 

[Searing]

$600 USD in Canada. So yeah, it costs more than the Radeon RX 6800, has half the VRAM, uses only 14gbps memory (because nvidia is being really cheap), and is probably 15 percent slower too...

Everyone wants the mythical $500 USD card but nVidia has got the art of lying about prices and availability down pat.

I'm ticked off again by the one minute pre-orders for the Founder's Card this morning. More fake pricing and fake availability. So much for 2 weeks extra stock.

 

[owen10578]

MSI at it again with the WEAKEST VRM design out of all the cards...45A x 9 phase is weaker than even the founder's 50A x 9 phase...just why?

 

[Turmania]

MSI at it again with the WEAKEST VRM design out of all the cards...45A x 9 phase is weaker than even the founder's 50A x 9 phase...just why?

Dunno, but it has the best performance and noise levels and 6 heat pipes. I suppose to improve one side, they cut corners from another.

 

[Chrispy_]

I like this graph:

To me, it's the most important graph because anyone can mess about with clocks, fan speeds, power limits on any AIB card, but how good the cooler is will always be your limiting factor.

 

[Al Chafai]

this is exactly a GTX 1070 to the 980Ti before it, feels like a deja vu
sadly this launch is messed up, reports saying that the shortage continues

 

[Chrispy_]

this is exactly a GTX 1070 to the 980Ti before it, feels like a deja vu
sadly this launch is messed up, reports saying that the shortage continues

Leather Jacket Man himself said that all Ampere product availability is screwed until at least Q1 2021 (so assume March 31st, 11:59pm at the earliest).

 

[hero1]

Nice review as usual. Interesting card but I can't make up my mind between 3080 and 3070. Canada Computers has stock but I am a bit hesitant because of what AMD has coming for us. Healthy competition ftw.

 

[Fluffmeister]

There is (was) stock around but it gets gobbled up real quick, with the strange times we live in people are happy to splash the cash stay home and game. AMD's new cards look great but you can't buy their shit either yet.

 

[W1zzard]

To me, it's the most important graph because anyone can mess about with clocks, fan speeds, power limits on any AIB card, but how good the cooler is will always be your limiting factor.

Thanks! That's exactly why I created it

 

[spnidel]

hard pass, will wait for the 6800 xt

 

[Gmr_Chick]

PLASTIC backplate?! No, no, Jeebus, no! C'mon MSI, even my lowly 1660 Super has a damn METAL backplate!

 

[rtwjunkie]

I’m actually confused on the plastic backplate. They have thermal tape, who’s purpose is to conduct heat to somewhere else for dissipation.

So why, oh why would I want a plastic backplate on a card if the card has components that apparently need cooling enough that they have put thermal pads on them. But transferring heat to a plastic backplate seems to be counterproductive to that goal.

 

[W1zzard]

But transferring heat to a plastic backplate seems to be counterproductive to that goal.

It actually works perfectly fine, because you don't have a lot of heat going through it either way. Makes like a 1°C difference, I tested this previously

 

[owen10578]

Dunno, but it has the best performance and noise levels and 6 heat pipes. I suppose to improve one side, they cut corners from another.

In this case maybe this isn't the biggest deal but when their RTX 3090 has a weaker VRM than the 3080 version that's just concerning and just annoys me.

 

[N3M3515]

Suddenly, the $579 RX 6800 seems much more atractive

 

[Tom Sunday]

Looks like the GTX 2080ti just gotten trounced by a seemingly lower-end but newer version GTX GPU. As a blue collar poor boy I was hoping to upgrade in early 2021 as cheaply and smart as possible! I now wonder that once the "3070" cards hit the streets in mass, for what I can buy a used 2080ti for? Was hoping for a about $250 or less? The Bangladesh boys however noted yesterday (at their stripcenter PC shop) that if I would be willing to fork-over $250 cash for a used 2080ti, that then I would be better off buying a brand new 3070 for $500 and be future proofed out of the box! They probably know something I dont about used GPU's coming out of the woodwork and especially those surfacing out of the basements now from crytocurency dwellers. I suspect there will be a glut of used 1080ti and 2080ti cards hitting the market by March/April 2021. Still mindblowing however is the cost in what a 2080ti once demanded versus what it can be had now in only a few months time. Just perhaps my poor boy dream may come true afterall and I can buy a 2080ti for $200 cash at the upcoming computer show in a brown take-away paper bag and with no sales tax. All thanks to the super low or competitive NVIDIA pricing of the 3070! Thoughts?

 

[rtwjunkie]

Thoughts?

You have some good points, however: I wouldn’t say “trounced”. The 2080Ti was within a few frames that you wouldn’t even notice in every game. Hardly a trouncing.

Also, your chances of finding one as cheap as you imagine/hope for will have to wait at least another year, since the xx80Ti tend to hold their (over)inflated value for a long time.

 

[N3M3515]

xx80Ti tend to hold their (over)inflated value for a long time

So much truth

 

[Tom Sunday]

The 2080Ti was within a few frames that you wouldn’t even notice in every game. Hardly a trouncing. Also, your chances of finding one as cheap as you imagine/hope for will have to wait at least another year, since the xx80Ti tend to hold their (over) inflated value for a long time.

Yes trouncing may be indeed a bit overstated. "Nicely holding its very own against the older 2080ti would be more like it." But then Super Bowl games are lost by a mere 1-point lead. For me it's all about the $500 it cost for a base 3070 and the performance it brings to the table when pitted against the 2080ti. It's hard to figure out NVIDIA and why they would drop a new generation 3070 on the market (with its measurable muscle) and then at less than 'half of the cost' for what enthusiasts had to fork over earlier for a 2080ti? With this I am still holding on to my dream in owning a used 2080ti for at least half of the cost for a base 3070. Meanwhile of course I will be 'chucking along' on my used and 'hobbled-together' ($250) Dell XPS 730x H2C compliments from the Bangladesh boys, still playing 2009 Wolfenstein and meeting Caroline Becker leader of the Kreisau Circle. Just perhaps my 2080ti train along with Metro Exodus will come in by April/May 2021 so that I can greet the Aurora crew at Novosibirsk station in maximum settings?

 

[N3M3515]

why they would drop a new generation 3070 on the market (with its measurable muscle) and then at less than 'half of the cost' for what enthusiasts had to fork over earlier for a 2080ti?

It's not that the 3070 is cheap, it's the 2080Ti that was outrageously expensive. Just look at 970($330), 1070($379).

The 970 was equal to the GTX 780Ti
The 1070 was almost 20% faster than the 980Ti
........and then they jacked up the price by $120 ($220 for the FE) for the RTX 2070 and guess what? it was 10% slower than 1080Ti........ LOL. Oh and they also jacked up the price of the 2080Ti to a whopping $1200 ($500 more than the launch price of the 1080Ti!)

So there you go, that's why the 3070 seems so "cheap" when it is not.

 

[Tibor Hazafi]

It should have been tested in a PCIe GEN4 motherboard. I think a GEN3 doesn't show its real power. But maybe we are talking about +1%.

And if the max power consumption is 268W, and the manual max power limit is 250W, it means it's impossible to prevent throttling? :O

 

[Randomoneh]

How do you guys calculate performance per dollar when items are almost unavailable?
You should have two values: in-store for those who can get it that way and scalper value.