MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio Review

1. Introduction2. MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio3. Testing Methodology4. 3DMark Fire Strike & Time Spy (1080p, 1440p, 4K)5. 3DMark Port Royal (1440p DXR)6. Battlefield V (1080p, 1440p, 4K)7. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (1080p, 1440p, 4K)8. Far Cry 5 (1080p, 1440p, 4K)9. Ghost Recon: Wildlands (1080p, 1440p, 4K)10. Metro Exodus (1080p, 1440p, 4K)11. Middle Earth: Shadow of War (1080p, 1440p, 4K)12. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p, 1440p, 4K)13. Battlefield V w/ DXR (1080p, 1440p, 4K)14. Shadow of the Tomb Raider w/ DXR (1080p, 1440p, 4K)15. Clock Speed16. Temperatures17. Acoustics18. Power Consumption19. Overclocking: 3DMark and Games20. Overclocking: Temperatures, Acoustics, Power21. Closing Thoughts22. View All Pages

Launching alongside our review of the new RTX 2080 SUPER Founders Edition, today we are also looking at a high-end custom card from MSI. The Gaming X Trio ships with a triple-fan cooler, factory overclocked core and custom PCB, so it's ticking all the right boxes on paper. It also has a MSRP of £752.99 here in the UK, making it almost £85 more expensive than the Founders Edition. Is it worth buying?

It seems MSI is being quite cautious with its factory overclocks of late. A couple weeks ago we reviewed the 2070 SUPER Gaming X Trio and were quite disappointed with its relatively meagre 30MHz factory overclock, but MSI has not pushed the boat out further with this RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio, as the clock speed again has only been factory overclocked by 30MHz.

Pricing is also interesting, as the £752.99 MSRP is certainly a heck of a lot of money, and it works out at a 13% increase over the £669 MSRP. The 2070 SUPER Gaming X Trio came in at £569, or 20% more than the £475 MSRP – so, in relative terms, this 2080 SUPER model is less of an increase over the MSRP than its 2070 SUPER counterpart.

GPU	RTX 2080 SUPER	RTX 2080 (FE)	RTX 2070 SUPER	RTX 2070 (FE)	RTX 2060 SUPER
SMs	48	46	40	36	34
CUDA Cores	3072	2944	2560	2304	2176
Tensor Cores	384	368	320	288	272
Tensor FLOPS	89	85	72	63	57.4
RT Cores	48	46	40	36	34
Texture Units	192	184	160	144	136
ROPs	64	64	64	64	64
Rays Cast	8 Giga Rays	8 Giga Rays	7 Giga Rays	6 Giga Rays	6 Giga Rays
GPU Boost Clock	1815 MHz	1800 MHz	1770 MHz	1710 MHz	1650 MHz
Memory Data Rate	15.5 Gbps	14 Gbps	14 Gbps	14 Gbps	14 Gbps
Total Video Memory	8GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6
Memory Interface	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit
Memory Bandwidth	496.1 GB/sec	448 GB/sec	448 GB/sec	448 GB/sec	448 GB/sec
TGP	250W	225W	215W	185W	175W

As for specification of this card, the 2080 SUPER uses a full implementation of the TU104 GPU. That means it has a slightly higher core count than the original RTX 2080, with 3072 CUDA cores versus 2944 on the original.

The memory has also been tweaked, with Nvidia using new 15.5Gbps GDDR6 VRAM with the 2080 SUPER, when all the other RTX-series cards use 14Gbps memory. This results in an 11% improvement to total memory bandwidth, with the 2080 SUPER memory giving 496.1 GB/s.

Lastly, as for power, despite being a factory overclocked card, the Gaming X Trio retains the same 250W total graphics power (TGP) rating as the Founders Edition, putting it 10W less than the RTX 2080 Ti.

The MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio ships in an identical box to the 2070 SUPER Gaming X Trio we reviewed a couple of weeks ago, with the only difference being the ‘2080 SUPER' logo instead of ‘2070 SUPER'.

On the back of the box, MSI highlights a few key features of the card including the heatsink, Torx fans and RGB lighting.

Inside, the accessory bundle is plentiful. We find 2x disposable coasters, 1x quick start guide, 1x Lucky the Dragon cartoon, and 1x ‘thank you' note from MSI.

More practical is the included GPU support bracket, which we've seen included with a few of MSI's other models. This will screw into your case, underneath the graphics card, and give it that bit of extra support to prevent any unwanted sagging.

Moving on to look at the card itself, it's probably not a surprise to hear it is exactly the same design as the 2070 SUPER Gaming X Trio – which, in turn, was the same as the original 2080 Gaming X Trio. This isn't a complaint – it of course makes perfect sense for MSI to re-use its existing design – but it is just something to point out, so if you're already familiar with this cooler, there's nothing new here.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this design, the card uses a gun-metal grey and black plastic shroud, with a total of three fans. These are MSI's Torx 3.0 design, and you will notice the fan closest to the I/O bracket is smaller, at 90mm across, while the other two fans measure 100mm.

It is also a monster of a card in terms of its size, as it measures 328 x 140 x 56.5mm. Now you can see why MSI thought it was a good idea to include that support bracket!

On the front side of the card we find the MSI and ‘GeForce RTX' logos, but most eye-catching is the silver backplate. This is brushed metal, but as the metal is actually brushed in two different directions, it creates a visually appealing two-tone effect depending how the light hits the card. It's one of my favourite aspects of the design as a whole.

We can also see that MSI has increased the power connectors, with the Gaming X Trio requiring 2x 8-pin connectors.

Display outputs are the same as reference, however, with 3x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI and 1x USB-C.

Taking the card apart, the first thing to note about the PCB is the metal frame which is screwed onto the left-hand portion of the board. This acts as a mini heatsink for the VRAM chips (it has thermal pads to contact with them) while it also provides some extra rigidity for the card. It screws into both the backplate and the I/O bracket.

With that removed, we get a better look at the PCB. Again, it's the same design as the 2070 SUPER model, this time with a beefed up 10+2 phase power delivery – the 2070 SUPER had an 8+2 phase configuration, and you could see two clear spots on the PCB where two phases had been removed. Those spots are now occupied for the 2080 SUPER.

We also get a look at the new 15.5Gbps memory. The modules on this card are from Samsung, labelled ‘K4Z80325BC-HC16'. Interestingly, the product page for these chips indicates they can run at 16Gbps, despite Nvidia rating the memory at 15.5Gbps. We asked Nvidia about this and were told it is due to the PCB design of the original 2080, with 15.5Gbps proving the maximum stable speed for the card. Getting the full 16Gbps would have required a re-design of the PCB, greatly increasing total cost.

Alongside the memory, we also get a look at the GPU die, labelled ‘TU104-450'.

The heatsink is also the same as the 2070 SUPER, meaning it uses two separate aluminium fin stacks that are connected by 7 nickel-plated heatpipes. Of these, 6 measure 6mm in diameter and the last one measures 8mm in diameter. There's a separate coldplate for the GPU die, and another for the VRM as well with all the necessary thermal pads.

Our newest GPU test procedure has been built with the intention of benchmarking high-end graphics cards. We test at 1920×1080 (1080p), 2560×1440 (1440p), and 3840×2160 (4K UHD) resolutions.

We try to test using the DX12 API if titles offer support. This gives us an interpretation into the graphics card performance hierarchy in the present time and the near future, when DX12 becomes more prevalent. After all, graphics cards of this expense may stay in a gamer’s system for a number of product generations/years before being upgraded.

We tested the RX Vega64 and Vega56 using the ‘Turbo‘ power mode in AMD’s WattMan software. This prioritises all-out performance over power efficiency, noise output, and lower thermals.

Driver Notes

• All AMD graphics cards (except RX 5700/5700 XT) were benchmarked with the Adrenalin 19.6.2 driver.
• RX 5700/5700 XT were benchmarked with the 19.7.1 driver supplied to press ahead of launch.
• All Nvidia graphics cards (except 2060/2070/2080 SUPER) were benchmarked with the Nvidia 430.86 driver.
• Nvidia RTX 2060/2070 SUPER cards were benchmarked with the 431.16 driver supplied to press ahead of launch.
• Nvidia RTX 2080 SUPER cards were benchmarked with the 431.56 driver supplied to press ahead of launch.

Test System

We test using the Overclockers UK Germanium pre-built system, though it has been re-housed into an open-air test bench. You can read more about it over HERE.

CPU	Intel Core i7-8700K Overclocked to 4.8GHz
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix Z370-F Gaming
Memory	Team Group Dark Hawk RGB 16GB (2x8GB) @ 3200MHz 16-18-18-38
Graphics Card	Varies
System Drive	Samsung 960 EVO 500GB
Games Drive	Crucial M4 512GB
Chassis	Streacom ST-BC1 Bench
CPU Cooler	OCUK TechLabs 240mm AIO
Power Supply	Corsair AX1500i 80+ Titanium PSU
Operating System	Windows 10 1903

Comparison Graphics Cards List

• Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition (FE) 11GB
• Nvidia RTX 2080 Founders Edition (FE) 8GB
• Nvidia RTX 2070 SUPER Founders Edition (FE) 8GB
• MSI RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming X Trio 8GB
• MSI RTX 2070 Armor 8GB
• Nvidia RTX 2060 SUPER Founders Edition (FE) 8GB
• Palit RTX 2060 SUPER JetStream (8GB)
• Nvidia RTX 2060 Founders Edition (FE) 6GB
• Gigabyte GTX 1660 Ti OC 6G
• Gigabyte GTX 1660 Gaming OC 6G
• Palit GTX 1650 StormX OC 4GB
• Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition (FE) 11GB
• Gigabyte GTX 1080 G1 Gaming 8GB
• Palit GTX 1070 Ti Super JetStream 8GB
• Nvidia GTX 1070 Founders Edition (FE) 8GB
• Nvidia GTX 1060 Founders Edition (FE) 6GB
• AMD RX 5700 XT 8GB
• AMD RX 5700 8GB
• AMD Radeon VII 16GB
• AMD RX Vega 64 Air 8GB
• AMD RX Vega 56 8GB
• Sapphire RX 590 Nitro+ SE 8GB
• Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB
• ASUS RX 570 ROG Strix Gaming OC 4GB

Software and Games List

• 3DMark Fire Strike & Fire Strike Ultra (DX11 Synthetic)
• 3DMark Time Spy (DX12 Synthetic)
• 3DMark Port Royal (DXR Synthetic)
• Battlefield V (DX12)
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (DX12)
• Far Cry 5 (DX11)
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands (DX11)
• Metro: Exodus (DX12)
• Middle Earth: Shadow of War (DX11)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12)

We run each benchmark/game three times, and present averages in our graphs.3DMark Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for today’s high-performance gaming PCs. It is our [FutureMark’s] most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.

Starting with our 3DMark benchmarks, here we see the MSI card take a marginal lead over the 2080 SUPER Founders Edition. Its 30MHz factory overclock may not be much, but it does (just about) score higher in all three tests.

3DMark Port Royal is the world’s first dedicated real-time ray tracing benchmark for gamers. You can use Port Royal to test and compare the real-time ray tracing performance of any graphics card that supports Microsoft DirectX Raytracing. As well as benchmarking performance, 3DMark Port Royal provides a realistic and practical example of what to expect from ray tracing in upcoming games.

3DMark's Port Royal ray tracing benchmark sees another very slim margin of difference between the MSI and Nvidia 2080 SUPER cards, with the MSI taking a 40-point lead. Compared to the original 2080, this is almost 500 points more.

Battlefield V is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts. Battlefield V is the sixteenth instalment in the Battlefield series. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 20, 2018. (Wikipedia).

We test using the Ultra preset with the DX12 API.

In Battlefield V, we see the biggest improvement for the MSI versus the 2080 SUPER Founders card, with a 4% difference. The two cards are essentially tied at 1080p, however, while the MSI is two frames faster at 4K.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is set in the year 2029, two years after the events of Human Revolution and the “Aug Incident”—an event in which mechanically augmented humans became uncontrollable and lethally violent. Unbeknownst to the public, the affected augmented received implanted technology designed to control them by the shadowy Illuminati, which is abused by a rogue member of the group to discredit augmentations completely. (Wikipedia).

We test using the Very High preset, with MSAA disabled. We test using the DX12 API.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided also shows very fine margins between both of our 2080 SUPER cards, with barely a frame between them across the three resolutions tested. Compared the original 2080, this MSI 2080 SUPER is 5FPS faster at 1440p.

Far Cry 5 is an action-adventure first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is the eleventh entry and the fifth main title in the Far Cry series, and was released on March 27, 2018.

The game takes place in the fictional Hope County, Montana, where charismatic preacher Joseph Seed and his cult Project at Eden’s Gate holds a dictatorial rule over the area. The story follows an unnamed junior deputy sheriff, who becomes trapped in Hope County and works alongside factions of a resistance to liberate the county from Eden’s Gate. (Wikipedia).

We test using the Ultra preset, with AA and motion blur disabled.

Far Cry 5 has the MSI Gaming X Trio as the second fastest card across all three resolutions. It's marginally faster than the Nvidia 2080 SUPER, and compared to the original 2080 it is 7% faster when looking at the 4K results.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is a tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Paris and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide on March 7, 2017, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as the tenth instalment in the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon franchise and is the first game in the Ghost Recon series to feature an open world environment. (Wikipedia).

We test using the Very High preset.

When playing Ghost Recon: Wildlands, again there is hardly any difference between this MSI card and Nvidia's Founders Edition. The 2080 Ti remains comfortably faster at all resolutions, too.

Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter video game developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver in 2019. It is the third instalment in the Metro video game series based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novels, following the events of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light. (Wikipedia)

We test using the Ultra preset, but with Hairworks and Advanced PhysX turned off. We test using the DX12 API.

We see a 3% improvement for the Gaming X Trio versus the Founders Edition when looking at the 1440p results in Metro Exodus. The MSI is also 9% faster than the original 2080 at the same resolution.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is an action role-playing video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the sequel to 2014’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 10, 2017. (Wikipedia).

We test using the Very High preset.

Middle Earth: Shadow of War has a 2% performance advantage for the MSI 2080 SUPER versus the Founders Edition, but that works out at just a couple of frames when gaming at 1440p.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Eidos Montréal in conjunction with Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. It continues the narrative from the 2013 game Tomb Raider and its sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider, and is the twelfth mainline entry in the Tomb Raider series. The game released worldwide on 14 September 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. (Wikipedia).

We test using the Highest preset, with AA disabled. We test using the DX12 API.

MSI's 2080 SUPER is just 1.3FPS faster than the Nvidia Founders Edition when playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 4K. At the same resolution, it manages an extra 4.4FPS over the original 2080.

Battlefield V is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts. Battlefield V is the sixteenth installment in the Battlefield series. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 20, 2018. (Wikipedia).

We test using the Ultra preset with the DX12 API. Battlefield V was the first game released with Nvidia RTX ray tracing features (called DXR in game) and we present average frame rates for the game with DXR Off, and then again with DXR set to Ultra.

 

No real surprises in Battlefield V when we enable DXR Ultra – frame rates drop considerably but the MSI is still averaging 60FPS at 1440p. It's very playable if you are interested in gaming with ray tracing enabled, but it's about a 50FPS performance hit compared to DXR off.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Eidos Montréal in conjunction with Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. It continues the narrative from the 2013 game Tomb Raider and its sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider, and is the twelfth mainline entry in the Tomb Raider series. The game released worldwide on 14 September 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. (Wikipedia).

We test using the Highest preset, with AA disabled. We test using the DX12 API. For these ray tracing benchmarks, we present average frame rates for the game with ray traces shadows (DXR) off, and then again with ray traced shadows set to Ultra.

 

Frame rates with ray tracing enabled are very similar to those in Battlefield V, but the difference is the relative performance hit is a little lower in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. That means you will still get a good experience at 1440p with the ray tracing shadows looking their best, but even then you are losing out on an extra 40FPS compared to playing with ray tracing off.

Here we present the average clock speed for each graphics card while running the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra stress test 20 times. We use GPU-Z to record the GPU core frequency during the Fire Strike Ultra runs. We calculate the average core frequency during the entire 20-run test to present here.

On paper, the MSI Gaming X Trio has a 30MHz clock speed advantage over the Founders Edition. In the real world, the gap is slightly wider, with the MSI running 53MHz faster across our 3DMark testing. It's enough to keep it ahead of the Founders Edition in every one of our game benchmarks, but not by much at all.

For our temperature testing, we measure the peak GPU core temperature under load, as well as the GPU temperature with the card idling on the desktop. A reading under load comes from running the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra stress test 20 times. An idle reading comes after leaving the system on the Windows desktop for 30 minutes.

We already know from our 2070 SUPER Gaming X Trio review that this cooler is very effective, and we again see impressive results here, with the 2080 SUPER peaking at 68C under load. This is a 7C reduction in temperatures versus the Founders Edition, and while it is 3C hotter than the 2070 SUPER from MSI, the 2080 SUPER has 512 more CUDA cores so we would expect slightly higher temperatures.

Hot spots, as revealed by our thermal gun, are nothing to worry about either, with a peak of 71C on the side of the card, and 68C on the back.

We take our noise measurements with the sound meter positioned 1 foot from the graphics card. I measured the noise floor to be 32 dBA, thus anything above this level can be attributed to the graphics cards. The power supply is passive for the entire power output range we tested all graphics cards in, while all CPU and system fans were disabled.

A reading under load comes from running the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra stress test 20 times. An idle reading comes after leaving the system on the Windows desktop for 30 minutes.

As with our temperature testing, the MSI 2080 SUPER is marginally louder than the 2070 SUPER model we looked at a couple of weeks ago, but with a peak reading of less than 39dB it is still a fantastically quiet card. By the time it is installed in a case – we test using an open-air bench – the fans would be essentially inaudible.

We measure system-wide power draw from the wall while the card is sat idling at the Windows 10 desktop for 30 minutes. A reading under load comes from running the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra stress test 20 times.

Despite having TGP rated at 250W – the same as the Founders Edition – the Gaming X Trio draws 12W more at the wall according to our testing, which is likely a result of the increased core clock and other ‘extras' that go along with the MSI card, like the third fan and RGB lighting.

Importantly, however, this actually takes the MSI card beyond the 2080 Ti in terms of power draw, despite Nvidia's flagship remaining a decent amount faster.

We used MSI Afterburner to overclock the Gaming X Trio, and while we could only add +70MHz to the GPU core, the memory was stable with +1400 – giving it a real-world speed of 18.3Gbps up from 15.5 at stock.

Average clock speed under load

This overclock saw the card breaking past 2GHz, with an average frequency of just under 2030MHz.

Games

Overlocking – Games testing part 2

Power consumption

Overview

This overclock netted us some decent gains throughout our 1440p testing, with frame rates increasing by up to 10FPS, but typically between 6-8FPS. This is a 7% performance increase on average.

While we got our first look at Nvidia's new SUPER cards three weeks ago, in the form of the 2060 and 2070 SUPER, we've had to wait until now for the 2080 SUPER to be officially released. This review has looked at MSI's custom Gaming X Trio card, but if you want to see what you get with the Nvidia Founders Edition, a full review of that card is over here.

Starting with the obvious, MSI has simply taken the same card design from its 2070 SUPER Gaming X Trio (and original RTX 2080, for that matter) and re-used it for the 2080 SUPER. That means it is a big triple-fan, triple-slot graphics card and MSI has even included a support bracket for it in the box. The PCB design is also the same, except now the 2080 SUPER uses a 10+2 phase power delivery, up from 8+2 with the 2070 SUPER.

Unfortunately, just as we found with the 2070 SUPER Gaming X Trio, MSI hasn't used this opportunity to really go ‘balls to the wall' with a factory overclock – instead, this card is rated just 30MHz faster than the reference card, with its 1845MHz boost clock. In the real world, thanks to GPU Boost, we saw frequencies settle at 1965MHz, but that is still only 50MHz or-so faster than the Founders Edition.

What that means is, there is very little to be gained in terms of raw performance by going with the MSI card. Across our set of benchmarks, it proved just 2% faster on average than the Founders Edition, meaning frame rates were typically just 2-3FPS higher when gaming at 1440p. Up against the vanilla 2080, the MSI is 5% faster across the board.

If we compare this card to the 2070 SUPER Founders Edition now, it's on average 13% faster, though that is reduced to just 10% when comparing to the MSI 2070 SUPER. Up against AMD's RX 5700 XT, the MSI 2080 SUPER is 17% faster.

So while gaming performance may be pretty much the same as the Founders Edition, MSI does make good strides when looking at temperatures and acoustics. The Gaming X Trio runs 7C cooler than Founders, for instance, while it is also noticeably quieter – producing around 39dB of noise during our testing. These are definitely the two biggest selling points for MSI.

Still, even with those improvements taken into account, we simply cannot recommend RTX 2080 SUPER – custom card or not, it simply makes no sense from a value perspective. In fact, with this card's higher price tag – it has a UK MSRP of £752.99 – it looks even worse value than the Founders Edition.

Let's put it this way – this MSI card is just 13% faster than the RTX 2070 SUPER Founders Edition, yet it costs 59% more. Let that sink in – 59% more! That's almost an extra £280 for a 13% improvement. It's laughable, really. Up against the 5700 XT, things look even more ridiculous, as you paying just shy of double the cost of a 5700 XT, for 17% improved performance.

I don't want to be too harsh on MSI here, they have built a good card and while it is disappointing to see another meagre factory overclock, it runs cooler and quieter than the Founders Edition. It's just that, with 2080 SUPER priced the way it is, I really cannot recommend any 2080 SUPER card to our audience. The price increase over 2070 SUPER is just not at all worth the extra performance gained by stepping up a tier.

If you are interested in the MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio, we found it on sale for £758.99 from Overclockers UK HERE. It also on sale for £739.99 from CCL HERE.

Pros

• Runs cool.
• Very quiet.
• Stylish backplate.
• Memory overclocked very well.

Cons

• Very poor value compared to 2070 SUPER.
• Disappointing factory overclock.
• Power draw is higher than 2080 Ti.

KitGuru says: MSI's Gaming X Trio is a good card and improves on the Founders Edition in every way, even if the factory overclock is quite weak. That said, pricing for the 2080 SUPER means it represents very poor value money and potential buyers should look at the 2070 SUPER instead.

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