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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB Graphics Card Review Ft. MSI Gaming X Trio & GALAX EX

Hassan Mujtaba

MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio Overview

The MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio is the flagship variant in the MSI RTX 3060 family. It is a powerful graphics card, rocking the 2nd generation Tri-Frozr cooling for MSI's Gaming graphics cards. In overall size and weight, this thing is just tons of massive performance packed in a 2.5 slot form factor.

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In addition to the custom design, the RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio comes with a non-reference PCB, featuring a 13+3 phase design that features higher quality components than the reference variant which is already a really good design by itself. In terms of clock speeds, the graphics card features the same base frequency of 1320 MHz but the boost clock is rated at 1852 MHz over the Founders boost of 1777 MHz.

Following are some of the features of the MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio before we go into detail:

Boost Clock / Memory Speed

  • 1852 MHz / 15 Gbps
  • 12GB GDDR6
  • DisplayPort x 3
    HDMI x 1 (Supports 4K@120Hz as specified in HDMI 2.1)

TRI FROZR 2 Thermal Design

  • TORX Fan 4.0: A masterpiece of teamwork, fan blades work in pairs to create unprecedented levels of focused air pressure.
  • Core Pipe: Precision-crafted heat pipes ensure max contact to the GPU and spread heat along the full length of the heatsink.
  • Airflow Control: Don't sweat it, Airflow Control guides the air to exactly where it needs to be for maximum cooling.

RGB Mystic Light

  • Mystic Light gives you complete control of the RGB lighting for MSI devices and compatible RGB products.

Dragon Center

  • MSI's exclusive Dragon Center software lets you monitor, tweak and optimize MSI products in real-time.

MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio Graphics Card Gallery:

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The MSI Gaming X Trio Graphics Cards With 2nd Tri-Frozr Cooling

With the differences out of the way, now let's talk about the similarities and the main highlights of the Gaming X Trio design. The Gaming X Trio is a toned-down variant of the much higher-end card, the MSI Lightning. Both cards use advanced Tri-Frozr coolers which are the replacement of the MSI Twin Frozr series which have been widely used in current and last generation graphics cards from MSI.

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The latest iteration of MSI’s iconic GAMING series once again brings performance, low-noise efficiency, and aesthetics that hardcore gamers have come to recognize and trust. Now you too can enjoy all your favorite games with a powerful graphics card that stays cool and silent. Just the way you like it.

MSI has incorporated and refined a couple of things in the new Tri-Frozr design for Gaming X Trio graphics cards. First is the TORX fan 4.0 which uses a ring design that connects two fan-blades with each other to increase airflow towards the internal heatsink assembly. These fans are made up of a double ball bearing design which ensures silent functionality in heavy loads.

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The fans are fully compliant with the Zero Frozr Technology and are actually comprised of three areas. All of these would stay at 0 RPM (idle state) if the temperatures don't exceed 60C. When it does exceed 60C, all fans would start spinning. You can change that through the MSI configuration panel if you want more cooling performance over noise load but it's a nifty feature that I do like.

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In addition to the cooling fans, the heatsink has been designed to be denser by using the brand new wave curved 2.0 fin design. The new heatsink makes use of deflectors to allow more air to pass through the fins smoothly, without causing any turbulence that would result in unwanted noise. MSI estimates a 2 degrees (C) drop in temperatures with the updated design versus the previous generation cooling system.

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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 higher thermal interface and heat transfer compared to traditional TIM applications.

Rocking a classy brushed look, the backplate on the GAMING TRIO series provides a nice visual finish to the card. It also strengthens the card and thanks to some cleverly placed thermal pads even help to keep temperatures low.

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Hassan Mujtaba Photo

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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