MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Gaming X Trio review: Premium price and performance

It doesn't get much better than the MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Gaming X Trio. With the king of the Ampere architecture under its hood and a sleek cooler studded with RGB lighting, this card serves up everything you could possibly want in spades.

With a boost clock of 1,920MHz (just a tad less than the water-cooled Gigabyte) 10,752 CUDA cores, and a whopping 24GB of GDDR6X memory, this card is on the cutting edge of performance. While it may no longer be the latest and greatest, it is still among the fastest cards on the planet.

The other highlight is the Tri Frozr 2 cooler, featuring three 10-blade Torx 4.0 fans engineered for maximum cooling performance. The fan blades are linked in pairs, which helps channel air through the heatsink. If this sounds familiar, the previously reviewed MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Suprim X features the same cooler combo.

The cooling design brings the heat pipes in direct contact with the GPU die. These pipes are machined to ensure they are perfectly smooth, maximising the surface area and heat transfer efficiency.

The heatsink itself is also equipped with deflectors to improve airflow dynamics. These deflectors provide additional surface area and guide air to where it is needed for better cooling. Elsewhere, what MSI calls wave-curved 2.0 fin edges further help disrupt unwanted airflow harmonics in order to reduce noise.

No detail has been overlooked. The VRAM modules are covered by a dedicated copper baseplate for improved heat dissipation, so no component has been neglected. The Torx 4.0 fans utilise double ball bearings for improved durability, while generous thermal pads provide additional heat dissipation capacity across the rest of the board.

Of course, there is support for semi-passive operation as well. Zero Frozr tech lets the fans completely stop spinning when your GPU isn't working as hard, providing moments of silence where needed, such as when you're working.

The PCB itself is a custom design that features additional fuses for extra safeguards against electrical damage. It also uses a 2oz thickened copper for better conductivity, improved heat dissipation, and enhanced reliability.

But MSI is fully aware that this is a very, very large and heavy card. A rigid metal anti-bending plate (as pictured above) ensures the structural integrity of the PCB, so it never bends under the weight of the massive heatsink. To top it off, a bundled support bracket can be attached to your PC case for even more reinforcement.

A separate metal backplate protects the PCB, complete with a bracket that encircles the GPU die for still more rigidity.

The card measures 325 x 140 x 62mm, so you'll definitely want to check how much clearance you have in your case before going out to grab one.

It is powered by the new 16-pin power connector, which helps reduce the number of cables you have to grapple with. MSI is recommending an 850W power supply unit to go with it, but I can see many enthusiasts opting for a higher-wattage 1000W unit for peace of mind and to better pair it with the latest high performance CPUs.

Round the back, the card has three DisplayPort 1.4a connectors and one HDMI 2.1 port. 

Test setup

Here are the specifications of our test rig:

• Intel 12th Gen Core i9 12900K CPU
• ROG Maximus Z690 Hero
• Samsung 980 Pro 1TB SSD
• Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5
• Windows 11 Home 64-bit
• ASUS ROG Swift PG43UQ 4K Gaming Monitor

We'll be comparing the MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Gaming X Trio against the liquid-cooled Gigabyte Aorus GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Xtreme Waterforce 24G.

The following synthetic benchmarks and games were run, with the games chosen from a wide range of genres to give a better indication of performance across different segments:

• 3DMark
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Metro: Exodus
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• Guardians of the Galaxy

3DMark

3DMark is a synthetic benchmark that tests graphics and computational performance at different resolutions, starting at 1080p and going all the way up to 4K. A series of two graphics test, one physics test, and then a combined test stresses your hardware in turn to assess its performance.

The Gigabyte card has a slightly more aggressive boost clock of 1,935MHz, compared to the MSI's 1,920MHz. It managed to edge ahead by a hair, coming in at just under 5% faster in Time Spy.

1080p Benchmarks (Max Settings)

At 1080p, the Gigabyte model was marginally faster too, pottering ahead by roughly 4% in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

1440p Benchmarks (Max Settings)

The already small differences narrow further at higher resolutions. At 1440p, the performance differential in Shadow of the Tomb Raider is hardly worth speaking about at just over 2%.

4K Benchmarks (Max Settings)

At 4K settings, there are no significant differences with just a couple of frames separating the two cards. 

4K @ Max Settings (Ray Tracing)

As expected, ray tracing comes with a massive performance hit. Nevertheless, both cards remained neck-and-neck, although the Gigabyte unit continued to maintain its sliver of an advantage.

Temperature and Power

As with most custom cards, thermal performance is really the main differentiator. It almost doesn't seem fair to compare the MSI card to the Aorus Waterforce, with an over 10°C gap thanks to the latter's liquid cooling.

However, it comes at the price of a considerably higher power draw.

Conclusion

At S$3,299, the MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Gaming X Trio sits at the tippy-top of custom cards, complete with a hefty feature set to boot. If you want a slightly leaner setup with an air-cooled beast, it definitely won't disappoint you since a liquid-cooled card has the added radiator component to be managed and not everyone might appreciate the added complexity.

However, this isn't a card that will make it into most builds. With its steep price tag and monster performance, few will need the sheer power it offers and even fewer will be able to stomach the price. Having said that, if you're feeling flush, it is well worth a look.

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