MSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming Z TRIO review (Page 26)

MSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming Z TRIO review

Graphics cards 1048 Page 26 of 26 Published 2019-10-25 10:17 by Hilbert Hagedoorn

Conclusion

Final words and verdict

The new Z revision of the TRIO RTX 2070 SUPER is simply put a beautiful card. On average the card is 5% faster compared to reference thanks to the 1815 MHz boost frequency, but moreover, the bump from 14 Gbps towards 15.5 Gbps graphics memory, that does make a difference. The GeForce RTX 2070 Super overall, on its end, sees a nice increase in perf over the non-Super model thanks to the added 256 shader processors resulting in 2560 of them for which NVIDIA needed the TU104. Here, however, the memory stays at 8GB and thus the ROP count remains the same as well as many other variables. However, the new clock frequencies do give it an advantage over, say, even a GTX 1080 Ti and close to the RTX 2080, which is an interesting performance level. The reference pricing sits at 499 USD, this Gaming Z TRIO will run towards 549 USD. MSI has done a good job with the GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming Z Trio, as really we cannot see what MSI should have done better.

Aesthetics

With a dark design, the cooler once powered on just looks amazing. The RTX 2080 Gaming Z Trio offers SUPER looks (great pun huh?). It sits in the Gaming line, was made a little darker to look at, and that works for me. The RGB lighting effects are funky to see. That LED inclusion that has been done subtly and can be configured in any manner you prefer with Mystic Light software, the choice is yours. While I always will remain skeptical about backplates (they potentially can trap heat and thus warm up the PCB) MSI does have vents there. The flip-side is that they can look better and can protect your PCB and components from damage and, well, they can look nice as they can have a certain aesthetic appeal. I have to admit, this is looking very nice but looks are always personal, of course. So in the end, on looks, you certainly get that premium feel of detailed aesthetics and quality.

Cooling & Noise Levels

The card tops out at roughly only 65 Degrees C while gaming. So that's not bad at all, the acoustics I'd rate as very silent, we doubt you'll ever hear the card once mounted into a chassis. We've heard no noticeable coil whine. But I do want to note that any graphics card at a high-enough FPS can make some coil-whine.

Overclocking

Anything and everything is regulated by NVIDIA these days. Speaking, in general, you can expect another 5 to 10% of extra perf out of both cards when you bump up the graphics memory and GPU a bit. That it is, however, paired with an increased board power limiter and, as such, that will cost a bit more energy. The graphics memory is of a new type, and we pushed it towards 17 Gbps, which is staggering to see. Combined with the GPU tweak we've been able to push the card 10% over reference seen from an average game performance increase. Our +100 MHz on the base clock resulted in the product Boosting in the ~2050 MHz range. Not bad.

Concluding

I absolutely adore the TRIO series, I think it is a fantastic looking product with a superb design and component selection. This card, being an RTX 2070 SUPER, also ensures that you are in that (somewhat more) comfortable 500~550 USD marker, and really should not be much higher in retail even with pimped up AIB cards. he PCB layout and component usage are good, the cooler I would qualify as excellent even. The factory tweak is a little dim, but the new graphics memory makes up for a lot. Overall the card is up to 5% faster than reference/founders and when tweaked you'll likely reach an extra 10% in performance. The 2070 Super is plenty fast for any gaming up-to Ultra HD based on shading performance. With Raytracing enabled you'll be in the 1080p or 1440p range. The good news is that the card is TU104 based, and that means it is fitted with an NVlink slot, yep you could pair up two of these and go for SLI. However, given its track history, Multi-GPU is dying. As stated, the factory tweak is pretty weak, however manual tweaking makes up for that. Thus far this has been the fastest RTX 2070 SUPER we've gotten our hands on. If MSI won't price it absurdly premium (say close to 599 USD), it might just be what the doctor ordered. The card is amazingly silent, offers strong performance and just looks fabulous. Highly recommended as such.