MSI RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio Review

We measure system-wide power draw from the wall while running the 3DMark Time Spy stress test for 30 minutes.

Total system power draw comes in just over 470W, putting this MSI card in a similar position to the Gigabyte Eagle.

We also use GPU-Z to measure Board Power (graphics card-only power draw). This is currently only available for Nvidia cards, which is why we have excluded AMD results from the chart. Aside from the fact this is software-based reporting, and not a hardware measurement of the PCIe power cables and PCIe slot (for that we’d need something like PCAT), this should provide us more accurate data to work with as it is measuring only the GPU power, and not total system power which is a fundamentally imprecise measurement.

Looking at board power only, we can see the Gaming X Trio has a 340W power target, and it is pretty much bang on, with average power draw at 338W across our 30 minute stress test. This certainly suggests three 8-pin power connectors aren't really necessary, but I think MSI is perhaps trying to make this card appear more ‘enthusiast', as three 8-pins is certainly a talking point.

Become a Patron!

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here