MSI RTX 5070 Ti Vanguard SOC Review

1. Introduction2. Meet the MSI RTX 5070 Ti Vanguard SOC3. Testing Methodology4. Game Benchmarks5. Clock Speed6. GPU Temperatures7. Acoustics8. Noise-Normalised Temperatures9. Power Draw and Efficiency10. Overclocking11. Closing Thoughts12. View All Pages

Today we are back with more RTX 5070 Ti coverage, as we check out MSI's Vanguard SOC model. Packing in a triple-slot, triple-fan cooler, this card also boasts plentiful RGB lighting alongside dual-BIOS support, making it a prime contender for anyone interested in a high-end solution. We put it through its paces today and see what it can bring to the table.

A lot has changed since we first got hands on with the RTX 5070 Ti back in February – primarily, AMD has since unleashed RDNA 4, with the RX 9070 XT proving to be a capable competitor in this market segment. However, the RTX 5070 Ti still has plenty of merit, primarily due to its superior ray tracing performance alongside its support for DLSS. Let's see what MSI's RTX 5070 Ti Vanguard SOC partner card adds to the mix.

	RTX 5090	RTX 5080	RTX 5070 Ti	RTX 4070 Ti Super	RTX 4070 Ti
Process	TSMC N4	TSMC N4	TSMC N4	TSMC N4	TSMC N4
SMs	170	84	70	66	60
CUDA Cores	21760	10752	8960	8448	7680
Tensor Cores	680	336	280	264	240
RT Cores	170	84	70	66	60
Texture Units	680	336	280	264	240
ROPs	176	112	96	96	80
GPU Boost Clock	2407 MHz	2617 MHz	2452 MHz	2610 MHz	2610 MHz
Memory Data Rate	28 Gbps	30 Gbps	28 Gbps	21 Gbps	21 Gbps
L2 Cache	98304 KB	65536 KB	49152 KB	49152 KB	49152 KB
Total Video Memory	32GB GDDR7	16GB GDDR7	16GB GDDR7	16GB GDDR6X	12GB GDDR6X
Memory Interface	512-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	192-bit
Memory Bandwidth	1792 GB/Sec	960 GB/Sec	896 GB/Sec	672 GB/Sec	504 GB/Sec
TGP	575W	360W	300W	285W	285W

First, a quick spec recap. Whereas the RTX 5080 is a full implementation of the GB203 die (378mm²), RTX 5070 Ti is cut down across the board. Comprised of six Graphics Processing Clusters (GPCs), each holds up to eight Texture Processing Clusters (TPCs), with a total of 35. Each TPC is home to two Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), giving us 84, and each SM still holds 128 CUDA Cores, meaning the RTX 5070 Ti has a total of 8960 shaders. We also find 70 RT cores, 280 Tensor cores, 280 Texture Units, and 96 ROPs.

This time around, however, there's no node-shrink, and GB203 remains fabricated on TSMC's N4 node, as per the RTX 40 series. As such, rated clock speed has not stepped forwards this generation, with the RTX 5070 Ti rated at 2452MHz, though MSI has increased this to 2588MHz using the Vanguard's Gaming BIOS.

The memory configuration is almost identical to the RTX 5080. That means we find 16GB of GDDR7 memory, but it's clocked slightly slower, at 28Gbps, and that puts total memory bandwidth at 896 GB/s, a 33% increase over the RTX 4070 Ti Super. L2 cache still comes in at 49MB.

Lastly, the RTX 5070 Ti features a 300W TGP, which MSI has not increased out of the box with the Vanguard SOC.

The MSI RTX 5070 Ti Vanguard SOC ships in a large black box – technically, we have the Launch Edition which comes with some extras in the box, but the graphics card itself is the same.

On the back, MSI highlights some key features of the card itself, as well as the included accessories.

Inside we find another box, and this houses the accessories including the quick-start guide, a GPU support holder, as well as the triple 8-pin power adapter.

You also get a unique Lucky the Dragon toy in the box – there's a few different options you could get, it's not really my thing but it may appeal to some people.

Above we can also see the GPU support in action – it's basic but effective at preventing any unwanted sag.

The graphics card itself looks fairly similar to MSI's Suprim family, with a slightly blocky aesthetic, though the shroud is mostly dark grey, but with some carbon fibre-style sections. It's nice and monochrome though, so it should fit in your system regardless if you have a specific colour scheme or not.

We can also note the three Stormforce fans, each of which measures 100mm in diameter. These form part of MSI's ‘Hyper Frozr' thermal design, and we take a look at the internals further down the page.

In terms of its size, the Vanguard SOC is a big card, measuring 357 x 151 x 66 mm, so it's over three slots thick and is very long – definitely worth checking this will fit if you have a more compact case! MSI lists the weight at 1945g, too.

The front side is home to the GeForce RTX and MSI logos, the latter of which acts as one of the card's RGB zones.

As for the backplate, MSI has opted for a single piece of metal that extends the full length of the card, but there's a few cut-outs to allow air to pass directly through the heatsink, which should help cooling performance. There's more carbon fibre-style sections on the backplate, too.

We can also note a dual BIOS switch, where MSI offers a choice between the Gaming or Silent modes, the former offering a higher clock speed but more aggressive fan curve.

Here we can see the RGB lighting in action, with a total of three zones – it adds a nice bit of bling without being too ‘in your face', but you can always turn it off if that is your preference.

Power is of course supplied by the 12V-2X6 connector, with the adapter shown above. Display outputs consist of three DisplayPort 2.1 and one HDMI 2.1 connectors.

Looking now at the PCB, it's quite densely packed, offering 15 phases for the GPU, and 3 for the memory. Monolithic Power Systems MP87993 MOSFETs are used throughout, and these are rated at 50A. The GPU VRM is controlled by a Monolithic MP29816 controller, while a Monolithic MP2988 handles the memory VRM.

As for the cooler, MSI is continuing to use a vapour chamber, and this contacts both the GPU die and VRAM modules. Secondary baseplates are used to cool the MOSFETs. The heatsink utilises a total of eight heatpipes, which MSI says have been designed with a ‘square-shaped contact area' to improve overall cooling efficiency.

There is a single thermal pad on the backplate too, so it will draw some heat away from the rear of the PCB, but it's unlikely to make a significant difference to thermals.

Driver Notes

• AMD GPUs (except RX 9070 series) were benchmarked with the Adrenalin 24.12.1 driver.
• AMD RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT were benchmarked with the Adrenalin 24.30.31.03 driver supplied to press.
• Nvidia GPUs (except for RTX 50 series) were benchmarked with the 566.14 driver.
• RTX 5090 was benchmarked with the 571.86 driver supplied to press.
• RTX 5080 was benchmarked with the 572.02 driver supplied to press.
• RTX 5070 Ti was benchmarked with the 572.43 driver supplied to press.
• RTX 5070 was benchmarked with the 572.50 driver supplied to press.

Results are only directly comparable where this exact configuration has been used.

Test System:

We test using a custom built system powered by MSI, based on AMD's Zen 5 platform. You can view the Powered by MSI store on AWD-IT's website HERE.

CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Motherboard	MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi
Memory	64GB (2x32GB) Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 6000MT/s CL30
Graphics Card	Varies
SSD	4TB Kingston NV3 Gen 4 PCIe NVMe
Chassis	MSI MPG Gungnir 300R Airflow
CPU Cooler	MSI MAG CoreLiquid i360
Power Supply	MSI MEG Ai1300P
Operating System	Windows 11 23H2
Monitor	MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED
Resizable BAR	Enabled for all supported GPUs

Comparison Graphics Cards List

• ASRock RX 9070 XT Taichi 16GB
• Sapphire RX 9070 Pulse 16GB
• AMD RX 7900 XTX 24GB
• AMD RX 7900 XT 20GB
• Sapphire RX 7900 GRE Nitro+ 16GB
• AMD RX 7800 XT 16GB
• Sapphire RX 7700 XT Pulse 12GB
• Nvidia RTX 5090 FE 32GB
• Nvidia RTX 5080 FE 16GB
• MSI RTX 5070 Ti Ventus 3X 16GB
• Nvidia RTX 5070 FE 12GB
• Nvidia RTX 4090 FE 24GB
• Nvidia RTX 4080 Super FE 16GB
• MSI RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X 16GB
• Gigabyte RTX 4070 Ti Gaming 12GB
• Nvidia RTX 4070 Super FE 12GB
• Nvidia RTX 4070 FE 12GB
• Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti FE 12GB
• Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti FE 8GB
• Nvidia RTX 3070 FE 8GB

All cards were tested at reference specifications. For factory overclocked cards, this means we manually ‘undo' the overclock via MSI Afterburner or AMD/Intel's built-in tuning tools. Or, for cards like the Sapphire RX 7900 GRE Nitro+, we enable the reference-clocked BIOS instead of the default OC BIOS.

Software and Games List

• Alan Wake II (DX12)
• Black Myth: Wukong (DX12)
• Cyberpunk 2077 (DX12)
• F1 24 (DX12)
• Final Fantasy XVI (DX12)
• Forza Horizon 5 (DX12)
• Ghost of Tsushima (DX12)
• Horizon Forbidden West (DX12)
• The Last of Us Part 1 (DX12)
• A Plague Tale: Requiem (DX12)
• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (DX12)
• Returnal (DX12)
• Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 (DX12)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12)
• Starfield (DX12)
• Star Wars Outlaws (DX12)
• Total War: Warhammer III (DX11)

We run each benchmark/game three times, and present mean averages in our graphs. We use FrameView to measure average frame rates as well as 1% low values (99th percentile) across our three runs.

Here we test three games, all at 3840×2160 resolution using maximum image quality settings.

We don't focus too heavily on game benchmarks in our partner cards reviews as performance doesn't tend to change a whole lot when compared to the reference models. That was certainly the case for the Vanguard SOC – it offered an extra 3fps compared to the reference clocked MSI Ventus 3X model in Cyberpunk 2077, but barely improved the frame rate in the other two games tested.

Here we present the average clock speed for each graphics card while running A Plague Tale: Requiem for 30 minutes. We use GPU-Z to record the GPU core frequency during gameplay. We calculate the average core frequency during the 30 minute run to present here.

On a technical level, we can observe a clock speed improvement for the Vanguard SOC over the Ventus 3X, though we're not looking at a huge improvement.

In fact, averaged over the thirty minute stress test, the difference was roughly 80MHz, so not a significant uplift.

For our temperature testing, we measure steady-state GPU temperatures under load. A reading under load comes from running A Plague Tale: Requiem for 30 minutes.

We see a much more significant improvement over the Ventus 3X when look at out of the box thermal performance. Here the Vanguard SOC delivers easily best-in-class performance, with the GPU topping out at just 52-54C, depending on the BIOS used, while VRAM temperatures remained below 60C, so that's two very impressive results.

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 Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

Likewise, the Vanguard SOC is incredibly quiet. When using the Silent BIOS, the fans spun at just 31%/1040rpm, proving to be effectively inaudible in my testing. The Gaming BIOS was barely any louder, running at 35%/1130rpm, and that only registered at 33dBa on my sound meter. Safe to say, you won't be hearing this card over any case fans.

Following on from our stock thermal and acoustic testing, here we re-test the operating temperature of the GPU, but with noise levels normalised to 40dBa. This allows us to measure the efficiency of the overall cooling solution as varying noise levels as a result of more aggressive fan curves are no longer a factor.

Noise normalised thermal performance confirms what we suspected – the Vanguard SOC cooler is more than a match for the 300W GB203 die, crushing MSI's own Ventus 3X (remember, that's an MSRP card) while also easily outperforming the Palit GamingPro OC model.

Power Draw

We use Nvidia PCAT to measure power draw of the graphics card only, with readings from both the PCIe slot and the PCIe power cables combined into a single figure. We use A Plague Tale: Requiem (4K/2160p) for this testing.

What's really interesting about power draw is that it's actually lower than the MSI Ventus 3X model, despite running at a higher clock speed. Both GPUs technically have the same 300W TGP, but the Vanguard drops to 293W for real-world 4K power draw. It's possible the enhanced VRM/power stages help contribute to a slightly more efficient design, but it could also just be the silicon lottery and my sample is able to achieve its clock speed at a lower voltage – there's no way to say for sure without testing significantly more cards!

Performance Per Watt

Combining the power draw values shown above with the performance data, we present performance per Watt for each graphics card tested:

That does mean performance per Watt is highly impressive though, sitting near the top of the chart, and marking a 5% improvement over the Ventus 3X.

For our manual overclocking tests, we used MSI Afterburner. Our best results are as below.

For our overclocking tests, we were able to max out the memory slider at +2000MHz, bringing effective speeds up to 34Gbps. My best GPU result came with +400MHz applied, and this brought real-world frequency to just over 3.2GHz. We also maxed out the power limit slider at +16%.

This overclock saw performance gains vary a fair bit from game to game, with just a 5% boost to Cyberpunk, a 7% gain in A Plague Tale: Requiem, and then a very impressive 11% improvement in Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.

Power draw did also rise accordingly, up to 317.4W, marking an 8% improvement over stock.

MSI's RTX 5070 Ti Vanguard SOC is another impressive graphics card from the Taiwanese manufacturer. Pricing and availability is complicated as we will get to below, but one thing is clear – MSI knows how to build a great graphics card.

We can see that first and foremost when looking at the thermals and noise levels. This GPU runs very cool and very quiet, especially if you use the Silent BIOS. When noise normalised to 40dBa, it was miles ahead of the other two RTX 5070 Ti cards we have tested.

Actual gaming performance didn't improve by much when compared to the Ventus 3X model we used for our launch day review, but that's to be expected from a partner card. Our model did overclock well however, hitting around 3.2GHz when pushed, and that saw performance increase by up to 11% in Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.

I also like what MSI has done with the design of the Vanguard SOC – it's smartly styled but is fairly monochromatic, so it should work in your system regardless if you have a specific colour scheme or not. There's also a healthy amount of RGB lighting on show, though that can always be turned off.

The real trouble is that, right now, I can't seem to find the card listed anywhere in the UK, and that is problematic. MSI told us it was exclusive to Currys, but promptly sold out and isn't even listed on their site anymore. It's a great card, but does it matter if you can't buy one?

In the US, we have at least seen it listed on MSI's official store for $900, though it's currently out of stock. Even if it was available, the price tag works out as a 20% premium over the baseline $750 MSRP, and that would make it a tough sell, especially considering the RX 9070 XT is a very capable competitor in this market segment but with a much lower MSRP of $650, even if it is still retailing above that figure.

MSI did confirm to us that the UK MSRP for the Vanguard SOC is £969.99, and that is staggeringly high. I can still see why someone would choose an RTX 5070 Ti over an RX 9070 XT if both cards are available at MSRP – ray tracing performance is often better, significantly so in path traced games, plus DLSS support is much more widespread than FSR 4. However, flagship partner cards like the MSI Vanguard SOC have bigger price premiums than ever. After all, the RTX 5080's UK MSRP is £979 – so the Vanguard is meant to retail for just £20 less! Surely something needs to change there.

In sum, it's a great card and I'd be very happy to have one in my personal rig – but this pricing situation is getting out of hand.

Pros

• Solid gaming performance on offer.
• Incredibly cool and quiet graphics card
• Our sample hit 3.2GHz when overclocking with relative ease.
• DLSS 4 has improved Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution scaling.
• Multi Frame Generation enables higher frame rates than would otherwise be possible.

Cons

• Huge price increase over the £729 MSRP puts it right in RTX 5080 territory.
• RX 9070 XT is a very capable competitor for less money (based on MSRP, at least).
• Not listed for sale anywhere in the UK that I can see.

KitGuru says: It's a very cool, very quiet graphics card that looks the part. Trouble is, it's not listed anywhere in the UK that we can see, while it's up for $900 in the US…

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