MSI GEFORCE RTX 3090 GAMING X TRIO 24GB
RTX 3090 GAMING X is a big ferocious GPU (BFGPU) with TITAN class performance. It's powered by Ampere—NVIDIA's 2nd gen RTX architecture—doubling down on ray tracing and AI performance with enhanced RT Cores, Tensor Cores, and new streaming multiprocessors. Plus, it features a staggering 24 GB of G6X memory, all to deliver the ultimate gaming experience. MSI GEFORCE RTX 3090 latest iteration of MSI’s iconic GAMING series once again brings performance, low-noise efficiency, and aesthetics that hardcore gamers have come to recognize and trust. Now you too can enjoy all your favorite games with a powerful graphics card that stays cool and silent. Just the way you like it. It’s time to put on team colors. Synchronize lighting with other compatible devices to take the light show to another level. Going dark is as easy as turning the lights off.
MSI GEFORCE RTX 3090 TRI FROZR 2 thermal system has been designed for efficiency. Expect a perfect balance of cool and quiet for more fun during endless gaming sessions. TORX FAN 4.0 is built on teamwork, with pairs of fan blades bound together with a linked outer ring design that focuses airflow into the updated TRI FROZR 2 cooling system. Core Pipes are precision-machined for maximum contact over the GPU and spread the heat along the full length of the heatsink for optimal cooling. GAMING has been crafted to serve you well during intense gameplay.
MSI GEFORCE RTX 3090 legendary item has extra power unlocked through the Custom PCB. Additional fuses built into the custom PCB provide additional safeguards against electrical damage. An enhanced PCB material design with 2oz thickened copper increases conductivity, improving heat dissipation, and high-performance reliability. Solid build quality in key areas is strengthened with a rigid metal anti-bending strap. A bundled support bracket can be attached to your PC case for additional graphics card reinforcement. MSI's exclusive Dragon Center software helps you get the most out of your MSI products. Monitor, tweak, and optimize in real-time with just a few clicks.
MSI GEFORCE RTX 3090 GAMING X TRIO 24GB GRAPHICS CARD Review
There are only two key differences on the spec sheet (well, aside from the price) compared to the Founders Edition. First up: The GPU clock speed. While Nvidia’s card comes clocked at the 1,700MHz reference spec for the RTX 3090, MSI bumps it up to 1,785MHz on the Gaming X Trio.
That doesn’t tell the whole story though. The way Nvidia’s boost clock algorithms work, they’ll increase speed as much as thermal headroom and fan profiles allow. In practice, during a 5-lap run in F1 2020, we saw the Nvidia Founders Edition deliver consistent clock speeds of 1,785MHz to 1,815MHz. The Gaming X Trio, on the other hand, fluctuated clock speeds with much more variance. We saw speeds between 1,740MHz and 1,935MHz in the same GPU-focused benchmark, most often falling in the mid-1,800s. The wild variance likely explains why we see varied results versus the Founders Edition in our gaming benchmarks later.
MSI GEFORCE RTX 3090 also uses a different power delivery system. While Nvidia’s radical cooler uses a just-as-radical proprietary 12-pin connection that requires the use of an (ugly) adapter with a pair of 8-pin power connectors, the Gaming X Trio sticks to a trio of standard 8-pin power connectors. That theoretically gives the card more overclocking headroom, and lets it reduce power demands on your motherboard’s PCIe connection. Nvidia recommends using a 750W power supply with its GeForce RTX 3090, but at the time of publication, MSI didn’t provide PSU guidance for its card.
MSI GEFORCE RTX 3090 real difference lies in the cooler, though. Nvidia expanded the RTX 3080’s dual-slot Founders Edition cooler to fill three slots with the RTX 3090, but MSI slapped the same massive triple-slot “Tri Frozr 2” cooler on both versions of the Gaming X Trio. It kicks ass though, running cool and quiet.
MSI GEFORCE RTX 3090 threw a ton of custom engineering into the Gaming X Trio’s design, and you can read all about it in our RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio review. The gargantuan cooler drops a trio (hence the name) of MSI’s Torx 4.0 axial fans atop a fat heatsink bristling with metal fins and five full-length heatpipes. This is a big card, so to help it stand robust, MSI reinforced its design with additional metal straps, a graphene-infused backplate that’s both stronger and dissipates more heat than plastic alone, and an optional support bracket bundled in the box. MSI also packed extra fuses onto the board for power protection and enhanced the PCB with copper to help with heat dissipation and reliability.
This is a significant custom cooler. Again, go read our review of the RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio for a much deeper dive into the tech under the shroud. We didn’t get into it much with the RTX 3080 version, but since we’re talking about a nearly $1,600 graphics card now, I wish MSI opted for a metal shroud rather than the plastic this card uses, just to make it feel a bit more premium. That would have added even more weight, though.
Speaking of the shroud, you know this card comes with RGB LEDs. The Gaming X Trio includes a thin RGB light strip on the edge of the card, accent lights around the fans in the shroud, and the MSI logo on the side of the card also illuminates. You can tweak them using MSI’s “Mystic Light” RGB controls via the company’s Dragon Center control app, and tweak your card’s performance using MSI’s fantastic Afterburner overclocking and GPU monitoring app, which remains a go-to for enthusiasts.
Specification:
| Graphics Chipset |
Nvidia GeForce® RTX 3090 |
| CUDA Cores (Nvidia) |
10496 |
| Memory Type |
GDDR6X |
| Core Clock |
Boost:1785 MHz |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) |
19.5 Gbps |
| Memory Size |
24GB |
| Memory Bus (Bit) |
384-bit |
| Recommended PowerSupply |
750W |
| Power Consumption |
370W |
| Resolution |
7680x4320 |
| Interface (PCI Express) |
PCI Express 4.0 |
| Power Connector (Pin) |
3 x 8-pin |
| DirectX |
DirectX 12 Ultimate |
| Ports |
DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a) +HDMI 2.1 x 1 |
| Multi Display |
Up to 4 Displays |
| OpenGL |
OpenGL®4.6 |
| Dimensions |
335 x 140 x 56mm |
| Warranty |
2 Year Warranty |
