MSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming X
August, 2019Type
Graphics CardPrice
$509.99 USMSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming X Closer Look + Teardown
MSI’s Twin Frozr heat sink may seem smaller than the Tri-Frozr but don't let the size fool you. With the RTX 20 series cards, MSI has further refined the Gaming X design. The RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming X measures at 297x 143 x 56 mm and weighs1421 grams. The card comes in a 2.5 slot design that requires you to free up some PCIe space for proper installation of the card.
You would have to keep in mind the height when going for a dual card solution as your case or motherboard PCIe slot combination may not allow such setup. The cooling shroud extends all the way to the back of the PCB and it requires a casing with good interior space for proper installation.
The back of the card features a solid backplate which looks stunning. The backplate offers a lot more functionality than just looks which I will get back to in a bit.
In terms of design, we are looking at an updated version of the Twin Frozr heatsink which is now in its 7th variation. The first graphics card to feature the Twin Frozr cooling was the MSI GeForce GTX 260 Twin Frozr, a card that launched all the way back in 2008. It has been over a decade since the first Twin Frozr and now we are gettings its 7th iteration with gorgeous aesthetics and also superb cooling performance.
The main changes of the Twin Frozr VII compared to Twin Frozr VI is the updated shroud and heatsink design that feature an aggressive shroud design on the front, absorbing the black and silver color platelets while featuring the RGB emitting four accent points on the front and the side.
Coming to the fans, the card features two fans based on the Torx 3.0 system. Both fans combine traditional and dispersion fan blade technology to offer better cooling performance.
The dispersion fan blade technology has a steeper curved blade that accelerates airflow and as such increases effectiveness in keeping the GPU cool. All fans deploy double ball bearing design and can last a long time while operating silently.
MSI also features their Zero Frozr technology on the Twin Frozr heatsink. This feature won’t spin the fans on the card unless they reach a certain threshold. In the case of the Twin Frozr heatsink, that limit is set to 60C. If the card is operating under 60C, the fans won’t spin which means no extra noise would be generated.
I am back at talking about the full-coverage, full metal-based backplate which the card uses. The whole plate is made of solid metal with rounded edges that add to the durability of this card. The brushed silver finish on the backplate gives a unique aesthetic.
There are cutouts in screw placements to easily reach the points on the graphics card. There are open vents for the hot air to move out from the back too. We can also see the MSI Dragon logo on the back which looks stunning. MSI is also using heat pads beneath the backplate which offer more cooling to the electrical circuitry on the PCB.
Gone is SLI and now we have the latest NVLINK gold finger connectors. The RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080 SUPER, RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 SUPER come with a single NVLINK connector which allows for 2-Way multi-GPU functionality. The top-end graphics cards ($500 US+) are the only ones to support NVLINK connectivity so multi-GPU is only for the high-end spectrum of cards and for good reason. Only these cards have enough bandwidth that can drive another GPU of their tier as anything below wouldn't have the power to interlink to the other card.
A single x8 NVLINK channel provides 25 GB/s peak bandwidth. There are two x8 links on the TU102 GPU and a single x8 link on the Turing TU104 GPU. The TU102 GPU features 50 GB/s of bandwidth in parallel and 100 GB/s bandwidth bi-directionally. Using NVLINK on high-end cards would be beneficial in high-resolution gaming but there’s a reason NVIDIA still restricts users from doing 3 and 4 way SLI.
Multi-GPU still isn’t optimized so you won’t see much benefits unless you are running the highest-end graphics cards. That’s another reason why the RTX 2070 and below are deprived of NVLINK connectors. The NVLINK connectors cost $79 US each and are sold separately. Currently, only NVIDIA is selling them as the AIB cards don’t include any such connectors but that may change once the standard is adopted widely.
With the outsides of the card done, I will now start taking a glance at what's beneath the hood of these monster graphics cards. The first thing to catch my eye is the humungous fin stack that's part of the beefy heatsink which the cards utilize.
The large fin stack runs all the way from the front and to the back of the PCB and is so thick that you can barely see through it. It also comes with the wave-curved fin stack design which I want to shed some light on as it is a turn away from traditional fin design and one that may actually offer better cooling on such power-hungry graphics cards which utilize the TU102 and TU104 GPUs.
The heatsink has been designed to be denser by using a wave curved fin design. It allows more air to pass through the fins smoothly, without causing any turbulence that would result in unwanted noise. Airflow Control Technology guides the airflow directly onto the heat pipes, while simultaneously creating more surface area for the air to absorb more heat before leaving the heatsink.
Talking about the heatsink, the massive block is comprised of six 8mm copper squared shaped heat pipes with a more concentrated design to transfer heat from the copper base to the heatsink more effectively. The base itself is a solid nickel-plated base plate, transferring heat to the heat pipes in a very effective manner. To top it all off, MSI uses their exclusive Thermal Compound X which is said to offer higher thermal interface and heat transfer compared to traditional TIM applications.
MSI adds extra protection to their impressive PCB by including a rugged anti-bending plate. This also acts as a memory and MOSFET cooling plate while the PWM heatsink with micro fins keeps the VRM cool under stressful conditions.
I/O on the graphics card sticks with the reference scheme which includes three Display Port 1.4a, & a single HDMI 2.0b.
MSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming X Teardown:
MSI makes use of an 8+2 phase PWM design that includes their Military Class components such as Hi-C Caps, Super Ferrite Chokes, and Japanese Solid Caps. The memory chips are from Micron and have the '9JA77 D9WCW' model number which is for the 14 Gbps dies. The card has thermal pads placed on top of all 8 modules which cover the entire die and not just a partial area. There's a long thermal pad on the MOSFETs too which offers thermal transfer to the main heatsink, keeping them running stable.
The MSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming X is a powered by an 8+6 pin connector configuration. The card can sip in up to 300 Watts of power from its power delivery but has an official rated TDP of 215W by MSI.
MSI GeForce RTX SUPER Gaming X Series RGB Lighting Gallery:
MSI Gaming X series cards with Twin Frozr 7 design utilize their Mystic Light RGB technology to offer you a visually pleasing lighting experience on your graphics cards. There are a total of 8 different RGB effects which you can choose from and the cards have five RGB accent points, four on the front and one lightbar surrounding the side of the card which looks really good. You can fully customize the RGB lights to your preference using the MSI Mystic Light application from MSI's web page.
Following is what the graphics card looks like when lit up.
Contents
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MSI has done a great job with their GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming X by pricing it at $510 US. If you are in search for a premium RTX 2070 SUPER design without spending a premium sum over it, the MSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming X offers an exceptionally well-built design and even has a factory overclock for extra performance in gaming.
- Amazing Price, Only $10 US More Than Reference FE Models ($510 US)
- Great performance for 1440p and 1080p Gaming
- Great upgrade from GTX 970, GTX 1070, GTX 1080
- Factory Overclocked Out of Box (+30 MHz over Founders Edition)
- Tri Frozr heatsink cooling performance is great
- Refreshing new MSI Gaming design
- ZeroFrozr Technology Included on Torx 3.0 fans
- Great overclocking potential (GPU/VRAM), full tuning options
- Backplate includes heat pads for increased heat dissipation
- RGB Lighting support on the shroud and sides are a plus
- Support for real-time ray tracing and DLSS features in next-generation gaming titles
- Good driver support for GeForce products, compatibility with DX11, DX12, Vulkan, OpenGL titles
- Lot's of display connectivity, great for VR and multi-display PCs.
Pros
- High Power Consumption when overclocked
- No Memory overclock out of the box
Cons
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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