This RTX 3060 Uses a Massive 3080 Cooler, With Impressive Results

MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio
(Image credit: YouTube)

MSI's new RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio is one of the coolest, yet strangest, Nvidia graphics cards we've ever seen. As discussed by YouTube channel BPS Customs, the card comes equipped with an RTX 3080 cooler. That allows this RTX 3060 to reach the lowest temperatures we've seen out of any factory-built Nvidia GPU in a very long time. 

Guru3D reports that the Gaming X Trio features a 1320Mhz Base Clock and a 1852MHz Boost frequency. (The base clock appears incorrect, as that's the reference base clock, but perhaps Nvidia changed the way it handles base clocks.) The more important boost clock nets you an additional 72MHz overclock relative to the reference card, which still seems tame when looking at the Gaming X Trio cooler. By way of comparison, the Asus ROG Strix OC variant features a 1882MHz boost clock, plus a higher power limit.

There are benefits to going with modest specs and a massive cooler, of course.

MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio

(Image credit: YouTube)

With its beefy triple-fan cooler, BPS Customs reports a peak temperature of just 47C with the 3060 Gaming X Trio, and a fan speed of just 48%, all while running Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K resolution for over an hour. Even if other games or settings reach slightly higher temperatures, that's still a phenomenal result.

With GPU Boost 4.0 working in the background, average clock speeds hovered in the 1900Mhz range. Meanwhile, average power consumption was just 166W. That does raise the question of why MSI bothered to include dual 8-pin power connectors, which like the cooler seem like extreme overkill. This RTX 3060 looks like it could really use a much higher power limit like its Asus competitor.

Unfortunately, BPS Customs did not test any overclocking on the card whatsoever. Modern Nvidia GPUs scale very well when you keep temps very low, so we'd expect very good overclocking performance out of this card. That's assuming the restrictive power limit doesn't get in the way.

MSI RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio

(Image credit: YouTube)

Regarding actual performance, BPS Customs compared the Gaming X Trio to the older RTX 2060 Super and RTX 1650 Super. On average the RTX 2060 Super was just 3-4% slower than the MSI RTX 3060. That's similar to what we saw in our RTX 3060 review, and suggests relatively unimpressive stock performance. But those thermals make up for some of that. But then there's the price.

At $519 MSRP (yeah that's right: MSRP), the RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio is absurdly expensive. We'll have to see what actual street prices look like, and whether you can find one available for purchase. We all know that GPU prices are fantasy land right now, but that MSRP seems impossible to recommend under any normal circumstances.

According to MSI, the MSRP was supposed to be much lower, but due to issues relating to tariffs in the United States, MSI wasn't able to price it lower than $519. That's a bit strange considering plenty of other AIB partners have RTX 3060's theoretically priced right next to Nvidia's reference $329 price point.

Obviously, the significantly larger than normal cooler and fans are part of the cost. We've seen retailers selling RTX 3060 12GB cards for over $600 as well — and selling out at those prices. But RTX 3060 Ti cards easily beat RTX 3060 in performance, due to the latter's big deficits in bandwidth and GPU core counts. You're far better off getting one of those.

Again, these pricing shenanigans don't really matter when nothing's in stock and graphics card prices are way overinflated anyway. We're used to seeing diminishing returns on factory overclocked cards as well. Sadly, overkill cooling can't compensate for excessive pricing, and we'd look for a better balance between price and performance — even if that means waiting many months for prices to come down and availability to improve.

Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

  • bigdragon
    I've been seeing all sorts of stock alerts for RTX 3060 priced between $500 and $530. Those prices are insanity. That's above the MSRP of the 3060 Ti and the 3070 -- cards that outperform the 3060. The quality of the cooler is irrelevant to the actual performance the card is able to deliver.

    I'm still looking to replace a 1070, but it appears the only way that's going to happen is if Nvidia contacts me directly. Online retailers always run out before checkout completes, brick and mortar stores happily sell all GPUs to the first person in line, shuffles never work out, can't win contests, and friends reneged on offers to acquire a GPU. Hopefully AMD's upcoming 6700 launch isn't another disaster...but seriously, we all know it will be.
    Reply
  • Udyr
    bigdragon said:
    I've been seeing all sorts of stock alerts for RTX 3060 priced between $500 and $530. Those prices are insanity. That's above the MSRP of the 3060 Ti and the 3070 -- cards that outperform the 3060. The quality of the cooler is irrelevant to the actual performance the card is able to deliver.

    I'm still looking to replace a 1070, but it appears the only way that's going to happen is if Nvidia contacts me directly. Online retailers always run out before checkout completes, brick and mortar stores happily sell all GPUs to the first person in line, shuffles never work out, can't win contests, and friends reneged on offers to acquire a GPU. Hopefully AMD's upcoming 6700 launch isn't another disaster...but seriously, we all know it will be.
    Embrace your 1070. I got a 1070TI and I'm loving each second of it. I can play most games at max 60+ (with some exceptions). With these prices I (or we?) might have to wait for 4000 series Nvidia or 7000 series AMD.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    bigdragon said:
    I've been seeing all sorts of stock alerts for RTX 3060 priced between $500 and $530. Those prices are insanity. That's above the MSRP of the 3060 Ti and the 3070 -- cards that outperform the 3060. The quality of the cooler is irrelevant to the actual performance the card is able to deliver.

    I'm still looking to replace a 1070, but it appears the only way that's going to happen is if Nvidia contacts me directly. Online retailers always run out before checkout completes, brick and mortar stores happily sell all GPUs to the first person in line, shuffles never work out, can't win contests, and friends reneged on offers to acquire a GPU. Hopefully AMD's upcoming 6700 launch isn't another disaster...but seriously, we all know it will be.

    Think of it this way: a 3060 costs $200 more than its worth, but also you can sell your 1070 for $200 more than its worth. You just about break even, minus the extra cut taken on taxes/ebay fees.
    Ideally you could sell now and buy a new card once the market regains some sanity... but then you don't have a gaming GPU while you wait.
    Reply
  • madbiker
    Admin said:
    MSI's RTX 3060 Gaming X Trio is one of the coolest and most over-built graphics card's we've ever seen.

    This RTX 3060 Uses a Massive 3080 Cooler, With Impressive Results : Read more
    Pro TIp... That's not only a 3080 cooler. It's pretty much the same cooler as the 6900XT 6800XT and 3070 Gaming X trio (I own all 3). I'd go as far to guess that the 3090 variant (if it exists) has the same cooler .
    Reply
  • Krotow
    bigdragon said:
    I've been seeing all sorts of stock alerts for RTX 3060 priced between $500 and $530. Those prices are insanity. That's above the MSRP of the 3060 Ti and the 3070 -- cards that outperform the 3060. The quality of the cooler is irrelevant to the actual performance the card is able to deliver.

    I would like to see RTX 3060 for 500$ in euro equivalent here where I live. In reality RTX 3060 price at today is more like 900-950 euros and RTX 3060 Ti - 1349 euros which is completely nuts.
    Reply