Conclusion
In our evaluation, we took a look at the new MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC video card, which features the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 GPU just launched. The MSI GeForce RTX 5070 GAMING TRIO OC is aimed at providing a solid 1440p gameplay experience and offers a factory overclock and custom video card and cooling design with an enthusiast flair. Utilizing MSI Afterburner and MSI Center, the video card is very tweakable to push it further.
We ran the MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC through its paces in raster performance, ray tracing performance, and overclocking. The GAMING TRIO branding is well recognized in MSI’s lineup and represents a nice blend of build quality, RGB bling, cooling, and performance. Our card was the Overclocked Edition and arrived with a factory Boost Clock of 2610MHz. The card carries 12GB of GDDR7 memory and a TBP of 250 Watts.
Overclocking and Performance
Overclocking the MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC was not difficult. With MSI Afterburner, this is very familiar. Our final settings are listed, and with that, we were able to gain from 7% to 10% extra performance. In several games, this was the difference to rise to the top. It was especially helpful with ray tracing enabled.
Again, we would like to point out the build quality and cooling performance. We were able to reach our overclocking settings at complete default fan settings. The video card was silent. As you can see in our testing, temperature is not the rate-limiting step in performance at any rate. This video card should be overclocked in order to gain the maximum performance. In our real-time gaming, overclocking made all the difference in many of the games.
For our performance testing shown, it is important to note that we compared it with a factory overclocked Radeon RX 9070 in our comparisons, as the RX 9070 is a partner-release card with no reference AMD cards. We chose these based on the price and position at the time of release, but note that the AMD RX 9070 used is showing a price online that is anywhere from the same price up to $120 above the MSI GeForce RTX 5070 GAMING TRIO OC at the time of writing. As you look at the performance, keep this point in mind, and also keep in mind how prices might change in the future on both ends.
The MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC was, at times, outperformed in raster performance, but very dependent on the game itself. When it comes to Ray Tracing, it was better in RT by a very slim margin. In raster gaming, the Radeon RX 9070 factory overclocked card was competitive. The final average was 14% on average. In three of seven games, the MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC came out on top.
With that, overclocking was needed to boost ahead in two of the three. Of course, you would expect a good showing versus last generation cards, but in a couple of games, things got close. Without overclocking and upscaling, the RTX 5070 is lacking, which was also demonstrated in our RTX 5070 launch review. The MSI GeForce RTX 5070 GAMING TRIO OC does overclock well.
Ray tracing, the usual NVIDIA RTX home court advantage (March Maddness….you see what I did there?), the MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC did perform better, but the card was unplayable until upscaled. Overall, the three of four games are better than the Radeon RX 9070 by about 20%. That margin was inflated by the poor showing for the Radeon RX 9070 in Black Myth: Wukong. Otherwise, the margin for the MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC is a mere 10%. In Star Wars: Outlaws, it took overclocking to come out on top. Of course, once again, handling two last-generation cards was not an issue here. AMD is getting closer this generation.
Final Points
The MSI GeForce RTX 5070 12G GAMING TRIO OC is a well-constructed video card with excellent cooling. It represents the GAMING TRIO tier well for MSI in the design and cooling. The GeForce RTX 5070 GPU itself seems a bit lacking in performance now that AMD has released the competitive AMD Radeon RX 9070 GPU. The GeForce RTX 5070 struggles in plain raster gaming compared to a same-generation card from AMD now, and it has less VRAM with 12GB compared to the Radeon RX 9070’s 16GB.
Fortunately, the MSI GeForce RTX 5070 GAMING TRIO OC is a great overclocker, and this saved the day on a number of occasions in testing. The overall boost was 10% or more, depending on the game. The price may help this card be more competitive, but things are so chaotic right now that all we can do is wait and see.
Typical NVIDIA reference base MSRP for the GeForce RTX 5070 is $549, though the MSI GeForce RTX 5070 GAMING TRIO OC will carry a higher price for these features and design. With prices in flux at the time of writing, pricing can potentially change. At the time of writing, the MSI GeForce RTX 5070 GAMING TRIO OC is listed on MSI’s US Store Front for $649.99, and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 video card used is actually showing up at many different prices, all unpredictable as well, at either the same price as the MSI card, or more expensive, so who knows really how this will all turn out and which one will ultimately be cheaper or more expensive than the other in stock.
It will be important to monitor pricing; it can change and go either way, but compared to MSI’s rest of the stack, this pricing is on the tamer side for this model of video card from MSI. Therefore, if you are in the market for a GeForce RTX 5070 from MSI, the GAMING TRIO OC or GAMING TRIO is a great option in this series for RTX 5070 features at a more affordable price in the line-up.