Best MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

The MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming Z graphics card is a custom model that relies on several factors to stand out. There is thus a high-end cooling, a successful LED lighting system as well as a fairly significant factory overclocking of the graphics chip.

Presentation

High-end model, the GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming Z embeds the seventh generation of the MSI cooling system with double ventilation, the Twin Frozr 7. The architecture of this cooling system is fairly classic. The graphics chip is in contact with a nickel-plated copper plate – MSI says it uses premium thermal paste, which is difficult to verify. This plate is welded on six copper heat pipes. These small pipes contain a gas which makes it possible to distribute the heat released by the chip on the whole of the dissipation surface, that is to say on the two large aluminum radiators.

These radiators consist of fairly high fins, which has the effect of increasing the thickness of the graphics card to 2.5 PCI slots . But above all, these fins have the particularity of seeing their ends make small waves, which, according to the manufacturer, would favor the passage of air and, consequently, limit noise pollution. The radiator located on the end of the card is also welded to another metal plate which recovers the heat emitted by the supply stage. The graphic memory also benefits from a dissipator which takes the form of a metal plate. However, it is not in contact with the radiators.

Finally, the plate on the back of the graphics card is not only there for decorative purposes – as is often the case. Thermal pads located behind the location of the graphics chip and memory modules allow this backplate to be used as a heatsink, which saves a few points on the overall thermal efficiency.

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The cooling then goes through two Torx 3.0 fans. Their training is ensured by a double system of ball bearings. The blades of these fans have two types of profiles. The first have a classic profile (with two protrusions on the top, however) so as to efficiently push the air towards the radiator. The seconds have a curvature in the middle, which would favor the acceleration of the air flow according to MSI.

Best MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2070 Super 8GB GDRR6 256-bit HDMI/DP NVLink Torx Fan Turing. Architecture Overclocked G-SYNC Graphics Card (RTX 2070 Super Ventus GP OC)

2. MSI GAMING GeForce RTX 2070 8GB GDRR6 256-bit HDMI/DP/USB Ray Tracing Turing Architecture. HDCP Graphics Card (RTX 2070 ARMOR 8G OC)

3. MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2070 8GB GDRR6 256-Bit HDMI/DP DirectX 12 VR Ready Ray Tracing Turing. Architecture HDCP Graphics Card (RTX 2070 TRI FROZR), (Model: GeForce RTX 2070 TRI FROZR)

4. MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2070 Super 8GB GDRR6 256-Bit HDMI/DP Nvlink Twin-Froze Turing. Architecture Overclocked Graphics Card (RTX 2070 Super Gaming X)

5. MSI GAMING GeForce RTX 2070 8GB GDRR6 256-bit HDMI/DP/USB Ray Tracing. Turing Architecture HDCP Graphics Card (RTX 2070 GAMING Z 8G)

Mystic Light will show you all the colors

The lighting system of the graphics card is in line with what MSI has been offering for several generations of products. Two strips of LEDs are arranged around the fans, while a third lighting zone takes place on the edge, at the level of the brand logo. As always, the Mystic Light utility allows you to vary the effects and color schemes – or even turn off the whole.

And of course, this lighting can be combined with the brand’s other Mystic Light products in order to obtain coherent machine lighting and avoid the nightclub effect. MSI thus offers a whole bunch of components and peripherals of this kind, whether they are motherboards, heatsinks, keyboards, mice or headsets. But the brand has also teamed up with other equipment manufacturers to offer more choice to users, with power supplies, boxes and even RAM. The list of MSI partners is quite large, but we will notably note the presence of Corsair, Razer, G.Skill, Cooler Master or Thermaltake and SteelSeries.

Factory frequencies and manual overclocking

The GeForce 2070 RTX not overclocked are offered with a 1410 MHz core GPU Boost frequency and average GPU frequency 1620 MHz. However, most of the models sold are factory overclocked to a level fairly close to the Nvidia reference card, the GeForce RTX 2070 Founders Edition , namely 1710 MHz. MSI pushes the cursor here a good step further by offering an unchanged base frequency, but a GPU Boost frequency brought to 1830 MHz. Unfortunately, the graphics memory does not follow the same path and the 8 GB of GDDR6 remains at a frequency of 1750 MHz.

In practice, the cooling system is devilishly efficient, so that the GPU frequency oscillates only slightly between 1890 and 1915 MHz for an average of 1905 MHz. This good performance of the frequency is also to be attributed to the consumption limit, revised upwards by the manufacturer: 225 watts against 185 watts on the reference model of Nvidia. As a reminder, a basic model like the GeForce RTX 2070 Armor, also from MSI, has a real frequency of 1700 MHz on average. The gain is therefore quite significant here.

In manual overclocking , the graphics chip stabilizes without too many problems around 2100 MHz. We were also able to push the graphics memory frequency to 1925 MHz.

Noise

As mentioned above, the MSI cooling system is quite efficient. As proof, it is able to maintain the GPU at 70 ° C, even if the frequency is very high. Better still, this is not done at the expense of the noise pollution which is extremely contained. A feast for the ears which comes with the Zero FrozR system which cuts the ventilation when the temperature drops below 60 ° C according to MSI (50 ° C according to our own findings).

Performance in games

The fairly high GPU frequency gives rise to a significant increase in throughput in video games. In WQHD, the MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming Z is on average 7% faster than the entry-level version RTX 2070 Armor – a non-overclocked model. Enough to exceed the best factory overclocked GeForce GTX 1080 by a few percent . However, it remains 14% faster than a GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition – a factory overclocked model . The finding is generally similar in Full HD, although less marked given the smoothing of performance by the processor. Indeed, a graphics card of this ilk quickly finds itself limited by the performance of the processor. Even if it is high-end (we use a Intel Core i7-8700K ).

Consumption

As we mentioned earlier, the consumption limit of the graphics card has been revised upwards, from 175/185 watts (classic / Founders Edition) to 225 watts. In fact, the operating frequency being particularly high, the consumption of the graphics card takes a good hit. There is thus an average increase of around thirty watts: between 206 and 224 watts consumed by the card alone. At the peak, consumption climbs to a maximum of 227 watts.

This increase in power consumption is accompanied by an increase in performance in games, but less significant. Energy efficiency is affected, with a drop of ten percent at this level.

STRONG POINTS

  • Nice GPU factory overclocking.
  • Very discreet operation in games.
  • Fans stopped when the card is at rest.
  • Very efficient cooling system.
  • Customizable and successful lighting system.

WEAK POINTS

  • No factory memory overclocking.

CONCLUSION

With its GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming Z, MSI signs a high-end graphics card. It will satisfy both players looking for performance and those who want to spare their ears. Factory overclocking thus gives a real gain in games, while the cooling system is devilishly efficient and very discreet.

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