MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X 12G OC Video Card Review

Conclusion

Today we reviewed a not-so-top-end SKU, but still a very relevant and worthy product flavor that should not be ignored.  It may not be the fanciest, or the most expensive, but it has it where it counts, today we reviewed the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X 12G OC video card.  A more modest card, representing MSI’s GeForce RTX 3080 Ti video card lineup. 

The MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X 12G OC uses the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU and adds a small factory overclock, boosting the GPU to 1695MHz.  In addition, this is a custom video card design with custom cooling from MSI using technologies in heatsink and fan cooling to compliment the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, giving you awesome performance with a quiet sound profile.  It even had overclocking headroom to give you just a bit more out of it.

Performance

Starting in F1 2022 the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X 12G OC allowed a playable experience at 4K with the highest in-game settings above 100FPS.  DLSS could also be used to increase performance even more, close to 150FPS average.  The Radeon RX 6900 XT was competitive in this game, but both offered the same gameplay experience, and in our experience, DLSS did look better than FSR. 

In Dying Light 2 the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS was on the border of being playable at 4K with the highest settings in this game.  It matched the Radeon RX 6900 XT, which again was competitive.  Overclocking did help, but the real benefit was being able to run DLSS or FSR at 4K.  With DLSS performance was very playable in the ’80s of FPS.  Once again, in this game, DLSS did look a lot better than FSR.

Forza Horizon 5 was also playable at 4K with the highest possible settings on the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS, though the Radeon RX 6900 XT beat it slightly, but the experience was the same.  The same was true for Far Cry 6, the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS was playable at 4K with HD Textures and the highest settings, and so was the Radeon RX 6900 XT.  FSR also helped performance on both cards taking it past 100FPS at 4K.

Cyberpunk 2077 was the doozy, as usual.  It was not playable at 4K and “Ultra” settings, and even with DLSS, it was not.  Sorry to say, you’ll be finding yourself lowering the game setting a notch or two on the MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS to be playable at 4K with DLSS.  In Watch Dogs though, the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS was very playable at 4K with the highest settings.

When it comes to Ray Tracing, performance falls toward the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS as being much faster.  However, there are some games that Ray Tracing is usable on the Radeon RX 6900 XT, but they are fewer.  In F1 2022 the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is playable at 1440p with the highest level of Ray Tracing, providing near 80FPS.  It does beat out the Radeon RX 6900 XT by a large 28%, but the Radeon RX 6900 XT is still playable.  When you introduce DLSS or FSR that evens them out quite a bit for the same performance, but overall DLSS does look better than FSR.

In Dying Light 2, the game is much more demanding with Ray Tracing and even at 1440p the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS is just barely borderline playable.  It beats the Radeon RX 6900 XT completely though, which is not playable, even with FSR.  With DLSS on the MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS though, it allows the game to be playable at 80FPS with Ray Tracing.  Far Cry 6 is a game that really does well with Ray Tracing and the MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS has no trouble running the game at 4K and 70FPS.  The Radeon RX 6900 XT is equally as strong in this game. 

Then we come to Cyberpunk 2077, which even at “Medium” Ray Tracing at 1440p is not playable without DLSS.  You will need DLSS on the MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS at 1440p to play at “Medium” Ray Tracing, but it’s a lot better than the Radeon RX 6900 XT can do with FSR, and looks better.  In Watch Dogs Legion the MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS is playable at “Ultra” Ray Tracing at 1440p, and DLSS improves this even more to 80FPS, beating the Radeon RX 6900 XT which is not playable. 

Overclocking

Out of the box, the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X 12G OC video card performs beyond its rated Boost Clock of 1695MHz.  This is already 30MHz over the reference spec, but the actual boost seems to be around 1740MHz, which is even stronger and allows faster gameplay. 

This card can be overclocked, but it does have one major drawback, which is the nature of the base-SKU, the Power Limit cannot be increased.  The TDP/Power Limit was locked at 100% on this card and had no headroom to be increased, therefore our final overclock of GPU and memory is limited by board power limits on this card.  That is not so on the GAMING X and SUPRIM X cards.  That is the caveat of the base model.

That said, even with the power limit in place we were still able to overclock by +150 on the GPU and bring the memory up from 19GHz to 20GHz.  At +150 the GPU frequency was averaging 1860MHz, which is a nice bump from the default factory overclock and the reference spec.  There was some headroom left there, and the card was able to take advantage of it.  The overall overclocking performance increase was around 6-7%, which smoothed out some rough situations.

Final Points

The MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X 12G OC video card is a just-get-it-done video card.  It does not have fancy RGB lighting, or a sharp metal cooler that will chop up your largest vegetables, and it does not need it.  It is still a custom-designed video card from MSI, with a custom PCB and custom cooling that just works. 

It keeps the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU cooled enough, and does it with silence.  It does not hold back overclocking or keep you from tweaking the video card to get every bit of performance.  This is still an enthusiast’s video card, it is just the base model, and it is going to save you money and still get the job done.  If you are after a video card that just simply, does it, without being too flashy, and may save you some cost, the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X 12G OC video card may be the way to go.

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