MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio Graphics Card Review

Final Thoughts

How Much Does it Cost?

Right now, the MSI Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 8GB Gaming X Trio Turing Graphics card is available for £815 at most retailers. That’s pretty competitive given it has one of the best coolers we’ve ever tested for any GPU. Not only that, but it’s also pretty competitive for the RTX 2080 series in regards to pricing, especially given the features. Sure, the GTX 1080 Ti is a thorn in its side, currently, you can get a high-end one for around £100 less. Of course, we’ve yet to see the full potential of the new architecture and its features, so only time will tell which one is better value.

Overview

RTX has landed with an impressive set of benchmarks this week. Sure, the public reaction has been mixed, and I’m more than well aware of that. However, most of that seems to be down to the price. When it comes to the hardware though, I can’t help but love the technology here. The non-Ti version of this generation is on par with the Ti version of the last gen for starters. However, this card runs cooler, quieter, and has a bunch of extra features on top. Albeit, they’re features that are yet to be unleashed.

RTX and DLSS

Nvidia has created a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist yet. The developers of the world can’t build games with ray tracing and DLSS without the hardware, and gamers can’t play the games on the hardware without both. They say good things come to those who wait and I expect they will. We’ve seen this before with 4K, with HDR, with PhysX. The hardware comes first, then the software filters in and with DirectX updates from Microsoft next month and games currently being updated to add these features, the RTX series still has a lot of tricks up its sleeves. Early adopters pay a premium, and that is clearly the case here. However, if you want to enjoy the ride first, you have to buy the ticket.

Performance

The Palit card we tested was no slouch, but the MSI has it licked in more ways than one. When it came to 1080p performance, this card can keep up with the best of them. However, it was at 4K that it really got into a good stride. The sophisticated cooling and power delivery helped this card maintain its boost clocks more consistently. This resulted in some of the highest minimum and average framerates we’ve ever seen at 4K. For the enthusiast gamer, this is great news. Of course, the 2080 Ti will go further still, but perhaps the RTX 2080 is better positioned for gamers due as it’s a few hundred quid cheaper than the Ti model right now.

Should I Buy One?

While you can get the GTX 1080 Ti right now for £100 less, at least if you’re shopping for a high-end custom and overclocked model like the Trio X, why would you? Short of saving money, obviously. This new chipset is more efficient, runs cooler and quieter, and has a bunch of cool features on top. DLSS and RayTracing are welcome additions, but even still, with a few driver updates, I’m confident the Turing chipset still have a lot of untapped performance. We’ll be retesting as new features and drivers roll out, and I expect we’ve all got a few good surprises to come from that. Right now, the Trio X is the card at the top of my own shopping list to upgrade my now quite old (in tech terms) GTX 1080.