Packaging

The Card

MSI's Gaming X clearly looks like a MSI graphics card, thanks to the unique aesthetic that combines various dark shades with an edgy product design. While the main cooler shroud is made of plastic, the backplate is metal, with a cutout to let air flow through.


Dimensions of the card are 24.5 x 13.0 cm, and it weighs 588 g.


Installation requires two slots in your system.


Display connectivity includes three standard DisplayPort 1.4a ports and one HDMI 2.1a (same as Ampere).

The new 8th Gen NVENC now accelerates AV1 encoding, besides HEVC. You also get an "optical flow accelerator" unit that is able to calculate intermediate frames for videos, to smooth playback. The same hardware unit is used for frame generation in DLSS 3.


MSI opted for a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, this configuration is good for up to 225 W.

Teardown

The thermal solution on the MSI Gaming X uses three heatpipes. The main heatsink also provides cooling for the memory chips, the VRMs are cooled by the airflow provided by the fans.


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