The Card

MSI's RTX 2070 Gaming Z features high build quality with lavish use of metal all around. A backplate is included, too. Dimensions of the card are 30.0 x 14.5 cm.


Installation requires three slots in your system.


Display connectivity options include three standard DisplayPort 1.4a, one HDMI 2.0b, and a VirtualLink connector, which is basically USB-C with DisplayPort routing and USB-PD, so a single cable can power, display, and take input from your VR HMD.

NVIDIA has updated their display engine with the Turing microarchitecture, which now supports DisplayPort 1.4a with support for VESA's nearly lossless Display Stream Compression (DSC). Combined, this enables support for 8K@30Hz using a single cable, or 8K@60Hz when DSC is turned on. For context, DisplayPort 1.4a is the latest version of the standard that was published in April, 2018.


The board uses one 8-pin and one 6-pin power connector. This input configuration is specified for up to 300 watts of power draw.


The GeForce RTX 2070 does not support SLI.


We shine the light from a self-leveling line laser on to the card, which shows no sagging.

Disassembly

MSI's thermal solution uses six heatpipes.


Once the main heatsink is removed, a black metal baseplate becomes visible, which provides cooling for the memory chips and some VRM circuitry.


The metal backplate protects the card against damage during installation and handling, and comes with some thermal pads to pick up heat from the backside of the card.

On the next page, we dive deep into the PCB layout and VRM configuration.