MSI RTX 5060 Ti 16G Gaming Trio OC evaluation

There is no Founders Version for the RTX 5060 Ti. Meaning it is as much as you to resolve on a third-party design. We have examined three 16 GB fashions for the cardboard’s launch, together with two aiming for the MSRP of $429, however this evaluation covers the one one courageous sufficient or silly sufficient to ignore that price ticket utterly. Simply the very best high quality of the lot, it is the MSI RTX 5060 Ti 16G Gaming Trio OC.

Some care and a spotlight have been paid to the design of this triple-fan graphics card. That is clear to me as quickly as I take away it from its crinkly packaging and spot the dragon motif lower away from its metallic backplate. That is not the type of flare you may discover on both MSRP card from PNY or Palit, with the latter really missing a metallic backplate altogether.

Metallic, plastic, who cares? For this graphics card, it really does matter. The backplate has a number of advantages on the Gaming Trio past trying good. First off, it presents some structural rigidity to assist forestall any sag on the cardboard, however extra importantly it presents a method to assist cool the 4 GDDR7 reminiscence chips loaded onto the rear of the PCB.

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You solely get 16 GB of VRAM on the RTX 5060 Ti by doubling the 4 RAM chips used on the 8 GB mannequin. That is some easy maths I can get down with. In sensible phrases, nevertheless, which means utilizing what’s referred to as ‘clamshell’ mode to stay one other 4 16 Gb (2 GB) chips on the other aspect of the PCB to the GPU. These reminiscence chips will not be lined by the GPU’s heatsink and can run hotter with out another cooling answer in place.

On the Gaming Trio, some thermal pads are utilized between them and the backplate, which then acts as a surrogate heatsink. Aww. Although you may get away with none, as confirmed by the Palit RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Infinity 3 with a plastic backplate, no pads, and a most common temperature throughout all chips throughout a unending loop of 3DMark Metal Nomad solely marginally increased than this Gaming Trio (68°C to 62°C).

Nonetheless, knowledge be damned, I do not like the thought of leaving these reminiscence chips with none cooling over years of use. So, that is one profit to the MSI Gaming Trio. One other are its dashing attractiveness.

That is by far the best-looking of the three playing cards I’ve examined. Admittedly, that is solely three playing cards, however the different two I am not a fan of, and so they’re the reasonably priced ones. I am a sucker for translucent plastic on absolutely anything—I used to be a see-thru Recreation Boy Advance child—and there is a few of that impact to the shroud on this card. It has RGB lighting zones on both aspect of the central fan and across the MSI badge on the tip of the cardboard, which is straightforward to see by means of the glass-fronted MSI Pano 100R PZ case it is at present mounted in.

Handsome, runs cool, well-built… this card has quite a bit going for it. However then we do have to speak in regards to the value in some unspecified time in the future.

In my Palit RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Infinity 3 evaluation, you may discover this sentence: “You must stroll away instantly at something above $550. That is RTX 5070 cash.” Now, wish to take a guess as to the value of the Gaming Trio?

It is $550.

That is 28% greater than the reference MSRP for this card. It is not that uncommon for a third-party graphics card to cost the identical value because the ‘subsequent tier up’—ie an RTX 5060 Ti for the value of an RTX 5070—but it surely’s by no means a simple capsule to swallow. An indication of the instances to be charged over $500 for the bottom-rung GPU of the whole RTX 50-series, too.

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This card is overclocked out of the manufacturing unit to the tune of 2647 MHz, which is 75 MHz above the reference clock. That is not a big overclock for this card, a mere 3%, and we’ll push it additional in only a second, however this is the way it fares out of the field.

The RTX 5060 Ti is ready to ship a wholesome efficiency bump over the RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB. In my assessments, the Gaming Trio is 20% forward at 1080p, 23% forward at 1440p, and 41% forward at 4K. I ought to qualify that we’re speaking fairly slim 4K body charges more often than not, typically sub-30 fps, and you will have to faucet DLSS 4 and Multi Body Technology to entry extra playable body charges—you’ll be able to, after all, as this card helps all that.

PC Gamer take a look at rigCPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D | Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E Aorus Grasp | RAM: G.Ability 32 GB DDR5-6000 CAS 30 | Cooler: Corsair H170i Elite Capellix | SSD: 2 TB Essential T700 | PSU: Seasonic Prime TX 1600W | Case: DimasTech Mini V2

In comparison with the reference clocked Palit RTX 5060 Ti Infinity 3—the one with a plastic backplate—the additional cash does not get you any extra frames at 1080p or 1440p. They equal out for beneficial properties/losses throughout our benchmarking suite.

The Gaming Trio does run cooler than its counterparts—it is a few levels decrease than the Palit at inventory clocks and method higher than the PNY Twin Fan OC. The Gaming Trio is, because the identify suggests, a triple-fan unit, but it surely’s additionally a little bit bigger than the Palit at 300 x 125 x 44 mm. That’s MSI’s measurement, inclusive of the PCIe slot. It is about 110 mm extensive simply the shroud itself. The opposite measurements appear bang-on.

The Gaming Trio additionally maintains its cool composure when overclocked, which is the one place the place it actually shines.

Lots of the RTX 50-series playing cards I’ve examined have saved energy limits underneath lock and key. Not the Gaming Trio. You are free to tinker with the facility restrict, voltage, and, after all, clock speeds to your liking. I managed to push this card with a 410 MHz offset, which is fairly excessive contemplating the manufacturing unit OC of 75 MHz already utilized, and altogether pushes the cardboard in extra of 3100 MHz whereas gaming.

I additionally pushed the reminiscence a little bit however bumped into some instability, which pressured me to dial again a contact. I am positive with a little bit extra time, somebody might cook dinner up a imply overclock on this card and drop again the facility calls for, which might be the perfect state of affairs for long-term use.

This untuned overclock netted me a ten% enhance in common body charges at 1080p. 10%. That is wonderful, and precisely what I am after on an costly third-party card comparable to this. At 1440p, that shrinks a little bit to only underneath 9%. I additionally managed to push the core clock on the Palit Infinity 3 with a 400 MHz offset, which handed me nearly as a lot of a leap, however it’s nonetheless slower than the MSI. The Gaming Trio leads it by 2.4% at 1080p and 1.5% at 1440p.

You do not typically see these types of beneficial properties in both clock velocity or ensuing body charges on fashionable processors. Take ’em whilst you can. The massive firms don’t love to depart efficiency on the desk like they used to, which has made us surprise why Nvidia’s left a lot headroom on the RTX 50-series. Their loss, our achieve.

Even with a lick extra megahertz, the RTX 5060 Ti continues to be nowhere near the RTX 5070 when it comes to uncooked efficiency. That is an ungainly admission to make with the MSI stalking the higher card’s price ticket.

However would you get an RTX 5070, particularly one in a card of this high quality, for something near $550? That is an excellent query. Proper now, as of April 17, 2025, you should buy an Asus Prime RTX 5070 for $600. That needs to be an MSRP card, and it is unlikely to have all of the bells and whistles on this MSI, but it surely homes a a lot bigger chip and makes higher use of its 12 GB of reminiscence for it. Within the UK, you should buy an RTX 5070 for £500—or £30 lower than MSRP—which is similar value as MSI will ask for this card in expensive ol’ Albion. That is a really primary mannequin, not that dissimilar to the Palit I’ve reviewed, but it surely’s darn reasonably priced.

By far my favorite RTX 5060 Ti of the lot up to now, the MSI has been constructed to a a lot increased commonplace than its cheaper counterparts. That does depend for one thing, however not fairly the $121 premium it is asking over the MSRP fashions. Should you can splurge on this MSI, you’ll be able to in all probability additionally save one other $50 for an RTX 5070, or simply anticipate that card to drop to $550. It’s going to occur, finally, and I might a lot quite the RTX 5070 for a similar cash within the long-run.