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Review: MSI Trident 3 Arctic

by Parm Mann on 6 April 2017, 14:30

Tags: MSI, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qadfu7

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Test Methodology

Comparison Systems - Part One

System Name Alienware Aurora R5 Asus ROG GR8 II Corsair One Pro Cyberpower Luxe Xtreme MSI Trident 3 Arctic PC Specialist Fusion Curve
Overclocked No No Yes Yes No No
CPU Intel Core i7-6700 Intel Core i7-7700 Intel Core i7-7700K Intel Core i7-6950X Intel Core i7-7700 Intel Core i7-6700K
Max Turbo Frequency 4.0GHz 4.2GHz 4.5GHz 4.0GHz 4.2GHz 4.2GHz
CPU Cores / Threads 4 / 8 4 / 8 4 / 8 10 / 20 4 / 8 4 / 8
CPU TDP 65W 65W 91W 140W 65W 91W
CPU Cooler Alienware Aurora Asus ROG GR8 II Corsair One XPSC Liquid Cooling MSI Trident 3 PCS FrostFlow 340 Series
Motherboard Alienware 01NYPT Asus ROG GR8 II MSI Z270I Growler MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon MSI MS-B9061 Asus Z170I Pro Gaming
Memory 8GB DDR4 (2x4GB) 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) SK hynix 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Kingston HyperX Savage 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB)
Memory Speed 15-15-15-36-2T @ 2,133MHz 17-17-17-39-2T @ 2,400MHz 16-16-16-36-2T @ 2,400MHz 16-18-18-36-2T @ 3,200MHz 17-17-17-39-2T @ 2,400MHz 13-15-15-39-2T @ 2,666MHz
Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Seahawk 8GB MSI GeForce GTX 1080 SeaHawk 8GB MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Aero ITX 8GB EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 8GB
Primary Storage Device 256GB Toshiba XG3 SSD 256GB Intel 535 Series SSD 960GB Corsair Force Series LE 400GB Intel 750 Series SSD 256GB Intel 600p Series SSD 512GB Intel 600p SSD
Second Storage Device 1TB Seagate HDD - - 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD 1TB Hitachi Travelstar HDD 1TB WD Black HDD
Optical Drive - - - - - -
PSU Generic (460W, internal) Delta Electronics (230W, external) Corsair SFX 400 Gold (400W, internal) In Win C750 Modular (750W, internal) Delta Electronics (330W, external) Enhance 450W FlexATX (internal)
Chassis Alienware Aurora Asus ROG GR8 II Corsair One In Win 909 MSI Trident 3 Fusion Curve
Operating System Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit)
Warranty One year One year Two years (parts and labour, to an autorised centre - Scan in the UK) Three years (one-month collect-and-return, two-year parts, three-year labour) Two years (on-site collect and return) Three years (one-month collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour)
Date Reviewed December 2016 February 2017 March 2017 July 2016 April 2017 October 2016
Cost As Reviewed £1,385 TBC £2,269 £4,399 £1,799 £2,449

Comparison Systems - Part Two

System Name PC Specialist Liquid Series LS-M01 Scan 3XS Gamer Aura Scan 3XS Vengeance Ti Scan 3XS X99 Carbon Fluid Extreme SLI Scan 3XS Z170 Vengeance Q Scan 3XS Z270 Vengeance SLI
Overclocked Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
CPU Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i5-7500 Intel Core i7-7700K Intel Core i7-6950X Intel Core i7-6700K Intel Core i7-7700K
Max Turbo Frequency 4.6GHz 3.8GHz 4.8GHz 4.2GHz 4.4GHz 5.0GHz
CPU Cores / Threads 4 / 8 4 / 4 4 / 8 10 / 20 4 / 8 4 / 8
CPU TDP 91W 65W 91W 140W 91W 91W
CPU Cooler Custom Liquid Loop Arctic Freezer 11 LP Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 EK Liquid Loop Noctua NH-D15S Corsair Hydro Series H100i
Motherboard Asus Maximus VIII Hero Asus RoG Strix B250F Gaming Asus RoG Strix Z270H Gaming Asus RoG Strix X99 Gaming Asus Z170 Pro Gaming Asus RoG Strix Z270E Gaming
Memory Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 (4x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 (2x8GB)
Memory Speed 15-17-17-35-2T @ 2,666MHz 15-17-17-35-2T @ 2,400MHz 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz 16-18-18-35-2T @ 2,666MHz 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz 15-17-17-35-2T @ 3,000MHz
Graphics EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Superclocked ACX 6GB Asus GeForce GTX 1070 Strix Gaming 8GB EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Founders Edition 2x Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB in SLI EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Superclocked ACX 8GB 2x Asus GeForce GTX 1080 Strix Advanced 8GB in SLI
Primary Storage Device 512GB Samsung SM951 SSD 256GB Intel 600p Series SSD 512GB Intel 600p Series SSD 512GB Samsung 950 Pro SSD 256GB Samsung 950 Pro SSD 512GB Samsung SM951 SSD
Second Storage Device 2TB WD Black HDD 1TB WD Blue HDD 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD 2TB Seagate Mobile HDD 2TB Seagate Hybrid HD 2TB WD Blue HDD
Optical Drive - - - Samsung DVD Writer - -
PSU Corsair RM850x (850W, internal) Corsair CX450M (450W, internal) Corsair CX550M (550W, internal) Corsair RM850i (850W, internal) Corsair RM650x (650W, internal) Corsair RM750i (750W, internal)
Chassis Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 NZXT S340 Corsair Crystal Series 460X RGB Corsair Graphite Series 760T Corsair Carbide Series 400Q with Noctua Redux fans Corsair Crystal Series 570X RGB
Operating System Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 10 (64-bit)
Warranty Three years (one-month collect-and-return, one-year parts, three-year labour) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only) Three years (first year onsite, second year return-to-base with parts and labour, third year return-to-base with labour only)
Date Reviewed May 2016 February 2017 March 2017 September 2016 June 2016 January 2017
Cost As Reviewed £2,299 £1,300 £2,100 £6,500 £1,770 £3,000

CPU and Storage Benchmarks

HEXUS PiFast Our number-crunching PiFast test is used to benchmark the computational power of each system's CPU.
Cinebench Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible.
HandBrake Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores.

Memory and Storage Benchmarks

AIDA64 Benchmark that analyses memory bandwidth and latency.
CrystalDiskMark Popular free-to-use storage benchmark, used to gauge sequential performance and aggregated 4K QD32 speeds.

Gaming Benchmarks

3DMark DX11, run at the Firestrike default test.
Gaming A selection of modern titles are tested at various resolutions.

Miscellaneous Benchmarks

Power Consumption Noted for system idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and while gaming.
Temperature Noted for CPU idling, under HandBrake video-transcoding load, and while gaming.