MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT Review | 118 Data compared

The eTeknix review of the MSI RX 6800 XT GAMING X TRIO 16G highlights it as a highly capable, custom-engineered upgrade over AMD’s reference design, enabling smooth 4K resolution gaming with fluid framerates at maximum settings. Built on the breakthrough AMD RDNA 2 architecture, the card features 16GB of GDDR6 memory and an upgraded boost clock reaching up to 2285 MHz. The core performance pros focus heavily on its overbuilt TRI FROZR 2 thermal design, which implements paired TORX Fan 4.0 blades for intense focused air pressure, precise Core Pipe heat pipes for optimal GPU contact, and advanced Airflow Control. Additionally, the review notes excellent structural and aesthetic pros, including customizable RGB Mystic Light, a durable full backplate design, a thicker PCB with extra fuses for reliable power conditioning, and an included anti-sag bar to handle its large size. Despite its exceptional engineering, the reviewer points out a few prominent cons, noting that the card runs slightly warmer during idle states than expected. This higher resting temperature is a direct byproduct of its elevated clock speeds paired with zero-RPM silent...

The MSI RX 6800XT Gaming X Trio 16 GB is a highly competitive, factory-overclocked RDNA2 graphics card that features 4,608 shaders, 72 Ray Accelerators, and a robust 16 GB of GDDR6 memory paired with a 128 MB Infinity Cache. Weighing 1,552 grams and stretching to a stately 32 cm in length, this massive 2.5-slot card utilizes a two-tone plastic body reinforced by a frame and an illuminated backplate, all powered by two standard 8-pin sockets. Performance-wise, it fully embraces DirectX 12 Ultimate features like DirectX Raytracing (DXR) and Variable Rate Shading (VRS), alongside AMD’s Smart Access Memory (SAM) to enhance CPU-to-VRAM bandwidth. It provides solid gaming performance and leaves comfortable headroom for users looking to push clock rates further through manual overclocking. The review highlights several distinct pros and cons for this specific custom model. On the positive side, the card operates remarkably quietly on "silent soles" while maintaining excellent cooling efficiency and decent power reserves for overclocking. It also natively supports modern AV1 video decoding and features a robust display output layout consisting of one HDMI 2.1 port and...

The MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X Trio is a premium aftermarket card featuring a robust VRM, impressive cooling with a graphene backplate, and vibrant RGB lighting. It delivers excellent 1440p and 4K performance, trading punches with the RTX 3080 while offering higher efficiency and factory-overclocked speeds over the reference model. However, the card’s high $849 launch price offers limited value due to only marginal performance gains over cheaper 6800 XT variants, making it a premium purchase mostly for aesthetics and cooling. While strong in rasterization, it struggles with heavy ray tracing at 4K, and the review notes the initial lack of FSR support during testing.

The MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X Trio 16 GB graphics card is a factory-overclocked enthusiast model based on AMD’s RDNA 2 "Big Navi 21 XT" architecture. The card is packed with 72 Compute Units, 4608 Stream Processors, and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit bus. Its standout architectural features include 128 MB of on-die Infinity Cache, which boosts effective bandwidth up to 1.664 TB/s for 4K and 1440p gaming, alongside dedicated hardware-accelerated ray tracing and Smart Access Memory (SAM). While the reference AMD RX 6800 XT launched at an MSRP of $649 US, this custom MSI variant demands a $200 premium, pricing it at $849 US. The core advantages of this graphics card center around its custom Tri-Frozr 2S triple-fan cooling solution and out-of-the-box factory overclock. It is built to compete closely with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3080, often delivering superior performance in AAA titles utilizing modern Vulkan or DirectX 12 APIs while maintaining a 20W lower reference board power. On the downside, the primary drawback is its high $849 US price tag, which adds a significant...

The MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X TRIO is a custom-engineered graphics card based on AMD’s Big Navi architecture, designed on an optimized TSMC 7nm node with full PCIe 4.0 compatibility. Built with premium components on a custom PCB, the card features 4,608 shading processors, 72 RT cores, 16GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, and 128MB of Infinity Cache. It features an out-of-the-box factory overclock, boosting maximum core frequencies up to 2,285 MHz compared to the 2,250 MHz reference design. Architecturally, the card targets high-end performance to compete directly with Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3080 while supporting advanced features like DirectX Raytracing (DXR), Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders, and Sampler Feedback. The primary strength of this card lies in its outstanding acoustics and thermal design, utilizing MSI's massive 32cm, 2.7-slot TriFrozr triple-fan cooler to deliver exceptionally silent operation under default gaming modes. It also maintains a relatively efficient power envelope with a 300W TDP, utilizing dual 8-pin PCIe connectors. However, a significant drawback is its steep pricing; retailing at $849, it carries a hefty $200 price premium over...

The MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X Trio is a high-performance custom card featuring a factory-overclocked "Navi 21" core and 16 GB of VRAM, making it a strong 4K gaming solution. Its Tri Frozr 2 cooler ensures outstandingly low operating temperatures and quiet acoustics, complemented by excellent power efficiency and significant overclocking headroom. Conversely, the card requires a large, heavy, triple-slot footprint that may lead to sag, and it produces slightly higher noise levels than the reference design despite its superior cooler. Additionally, it lacks support for multi-GPU setups and shows significantly lower raytracing performance compared to competing NVIDIA cards.

The MSI RX 6800XT Gaming X Trio 16 GB leaves a highly positive overall impression in this igor'sLAB review due to its excellent technical implementation. Key pros highlighted by the reviewer include a smartly designed, well-equipped circuit board with stable voltage transformer phases and a built-in LC input filter that effectively minimises power consumption load peaks, making it highly compatible with simpler power supplies. Furthermore, its acoustic engineering stands out as a major strength; the custom cooling solution utilises new, newly geometric 10-rotor-blade fans to deliver outstanding, ultra-quiet thermal performance even under heavy dissipation. Performance-wise, it remains highly competitive, pushing an average of roughly 3 FPS higher than AMD's reference card when using Smart Access Memory (SAM). Conversely, the review notes several significant cons primarily revolving around the physical footprint and market conditions of the card. Weighing a massive 1,552 grams and measuring 32 cm in length, 13.5 cm in height, and 5.4 cm in thickness, its massive 2.5-slot physical profile is a literal heavyweight that desperately lacks an included graphics card holder or sag stand to alleviate structural strain....

The Guru3D review of the MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X Trio highlights the card's excellent 1440p and 4K performance, driven by a quiet TriFrozr cooler and high-quality construction. Key advantages include its 16GB of VRAM and high out-of-the-box clock speeds, making it a competitive, high-end, and efficient gaming option. Conversely, the review notes that high pricing reduces the value proposition compared to the base RX 6800, and it struggles with ray tracing performance against competitors. Furthermore, enabling full performance via Smart Access Memory requires specific hardware, and the card experiences significant bottlenecks at lower resolutions.