MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio, MSI Radeon RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio, MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming X
May 2022Type
Graphics CardsPrice
$1099 / $549 / $449MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT, RX 6650 XT Gaming X Closer Look + Teardown
Both, MSI Tri-Frozr and Twin-Froze, are iconic designs. The first Twin Frozr cards were actually introduced all the way back with the GeForce 200 series cards and have seen various design upgrades over the years. MSI has further refined the Gaming X Twin Frozr design. The MSI Tri-Frozr design was first introduced in 2014 on the MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti Lightning. The Tri-Frozr design has also seen a major upgrade since then.
The MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT and RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio graphics cards are huge and require a lot of space. The MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X isn't a bulky card at all and would fit in nicely in standard ATX and even Mini-ITX cases with ease. The cooling shrouds on all cards extend beyond the PCB. The back of the cards features a solid backplate that 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 Tri-Frozr and Twin-Frozr heatsinks which are now in their eighth variation The design has seen various changes and now comes in a fully loaded graphics card design.
The new heatsink looks great with the main changes being the shroud and heatsink design which retains an aggressive shroud design on the front and a combination of either three or two fans, absorbing the black and silver color platelets while featuring the RGB emitting acrylic cutouts at the front (Gaming X Trio) and sides (Gaming X). The sides of the Gaming X Trio series also come with a large RGB accent bar which lights up when the card is powered on.
Coming to the fans, the cards actually features the brand new Torx 4.0 system. All fans feature a ring-based design to allow for higher airflow to be channeled within the main heatsink. All fans deploy a double ball bearing design and can last a long time while operating silently.
MSI also features its Zero Frozr technology on the Twin Frozr 8 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 that the card uses. The whole plate is made of solid metal with rounded edges that add to the durability of this card. The brushed matte-black finish on the backplate gives a unique aesthetic.
There are cutouts in screw placements to easily reach the points on the graphics card. 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. Additionally, each card has vents on the backplate that can push air through the backside of the PCB for further airflow.
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 that 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 2.0 fin stack design which I want to shed some light on as it is a turn away from traditional fin design.
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 seven 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 a higher thermal interface and heat transfer compared to traditional TIM applications.
MSI adds extra protection to its 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 cards sticks with the reference scheme which includes three Display Port 1.4a & a single HDMI 2.1 port.
Coming to the power connectors, the MSI Radeon RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio has three 8-pin plugs, the MSI Radeon RX 6750 XT Gaming X Trio has two 8-pin plugs while the MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming X has a single 8-pin plug.
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