MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X Trio Review

MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X Trio Review

Introduction

When it comes to hardware certain manufacturers have an element that is so engrained in their design ethos that it is almost impossible to think of them without it springing to mind.

For MSI graphics cards that unquestionably is the Twin Frozr cooler. It’s been the best part of a decade since the first Twin Frozr appeared and there have been both a huge amount of graphics cards that were equipped with it, whilst MSI themselves have gradually refined the formula until their most recent iteration was labelled the Twin Frozr VI.

So we think MSI cards, we think two fans. Which makes the Gaming X Trio a big departure from their regularly scheduled programming. Given that when we reviewed the GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X we found it to be both cool and quiet, it seems strange that MSI have felt the need to add another fan to the mix.

However, as always the true nature of a product never becomes clear from merely looking at it, but in the testing. Perhaps once we’ve got it pumping out polygons it will be more obvious as to why the Trio has grown another fan on its cooler.

Technical Specifications

The most obvious upgrade we can notice between the regular twin fan Gaming X and this Gaming X Trio is the OC mode clocks are a small notch above that of the original Gaming X. We know that core clock speeds are pretty meaningless though because nVidia’s GPU Boost technology is so good at pushing the GPU even further depending upon thermal limitations, which might just give the edge to the theoretically better cooling from the Trio. Beyond that it’s much larger than the Twin Frozr version, which is to be expected. Let’s take a look.

MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X Trio Review Â