The RTX 3070 graphics card was first released by Nvidia on September 16, 2020, with an MSRP of $499. Nvidia's Taiwanese partner, Micro-Star International (MSI), also released its MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio at the same time. What are the features and performance of this graphics card? We'll answer these questions in this article. This card is available online for approximately $955.
Introducing the MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio graphics card
This card is based on the Ampere architecture. This new Ampere architecture is 30% more powerful than the previous architecture (Turing). It features GDDR6 memory running at 14 GHz . With a 256-bit memory bus, the bandwidth used is 448 Gbps. This card connects to the motherboard via its PCIe 16x 4.0 slot. The card is 32 cm long and consumes 240 watts. Therefore, a power power supply with a minimum power of 650 watts is recommended. The MIS RTX 3070 card requires 2.5 slots in thickness and weighs 1.4 kg. It is a fairly powerful card, as it is 85.12% of the performance of the most powerful card currently available: the GeForce RTX 3090. This card has four outputs, including one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a. It supports, among others, the following APIs: DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.2 and CUDA 8.5.
Advanced features of the MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio graphics card
The MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio graphics card has 5888 CUDA cores. For comparison, the GeForce RTX 3090 has 10752 CUDA cores. The core operates at 1.5 GHz under normal conditions. In boost clock mode, the 17.4 billion integrated transistors can reach a frequency of 2 GHz Radeon RX 6900 XTX , on the other hand, has a texture speed of 771.2.
In terms of LED lighting, the MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio graphics card features three RGB zones: two on the edges and the small grooves around the central fan. With the Dragon Center , you can customize the colors and lighting effects. You can also control all LED peripherals, such as the keyboard, mouse, speakers, headset, etc., to create a cohesive color scheme or theme.
Regarding the cooling system, MSI uses Tri Frozr 2 . This consists of three heatsinks with wave-shaped fins for optimal airflow. Airflow Controls have been added for more efficient cooling. The two side fans cool the power supply , while the central fan cools the GPU and memory. Copper heat pipes effectively distribute heat for better overall cooling. The three 92mm Torx 4.0 fans feature mid-shutter blades. At the rear, a metal plate enhances heat dissipation and reinforces the card's structure. The card's average temperature is around 65°C. The fans automatically shut off when the temperature drops. The Zero Frozr noise-free cooling system is quite effective. Even under heavy load, the fans are barely audible.
Benchmarking of the MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio graphics card
Tested on Fortnite, this card delivers a frame rate of 285 FPS at 720p resolution. At 1080p, we achieved an average frame rate of 215 FPS. And at QHD/1440p, the card manages to deliver images at 13 FPS.
In terms of overall performance, the MSI RTX 3070 outperforms the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (93.77%), the GeForce RTX 2080 Super (90.66%), and the TITAN RTX (88.22%). However, it performs less well than the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (100.94%), the Radeon RX 6800 (105.92%), and the GeForce RTX 3080 (111.13%).
On G3DMark, the RTX 3070 achieves a score of 21393. It is faster than the following cards: GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER (G3DMark score 18089), Radeon RX 5700 XT (G3DMark score 16751), GeForce RTX 2060 (G3DMark score 13990), GeForce GTX 1070 (G3DMark score 13332), Radeon RX 580 (G3DMark score 8769), Radeon RX 470 (G3DMark score 7945), Radeon HD 7970 / R9 280X (G3DMark score 5257), Radeon HD 7950 / R9 280 (G3DMark score 4775), Radeon R9 270 / R7 370 (G3DMARK Score 4269), Radeon R9 270 / R7 370 (G3DMARK Score 4269)
Testing the RTX 3070 on 3DMark yielded a score of 13821. This puts it ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 (3DMark score 13728) and the NVIDIA Titan V (3DMark score 12951). However, it is slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (3DMark score 14765) and the NVIDIA Titan RTX (3DMark score 14939).
In short, the MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio is a very high-performance graphics card. MSI has implemented an efficient cooling system. This card is available online, notably on Amazon, for approximately $955.
