NVIDIA’s latest RTX 4000 cards are great, but there is one small problem with them. They’re huge. Like, really huge. The cards have continued the trend of GPUs getting bigger and bigger every generation, and it’s starting to become a problem when even the mid-range cards are taking up to three slots. While this trend isn’t stopping, though, you do have options to get smaller cards. And MSI just released a range of new cards that might just actually fit in your PC.
MSI has just released a bunch of new GPUs belonging to its Gaming Slim series. These are not much smaller in physical size than the typical RTX cards — they’re still three-fan monsters, and as such, they won’t really fit into a small form factor case. That being said, the shroud is being slimmed down, and it’s going from taking 3.5 slots to taking 2.5 slots.
The slightly-reduced size means that it is easier to fit one of these cards into your PC than trying to fit another of MSI’s RTX 4000 cards into anything but the biggest PC cases on the market. At 307 x 125 x 46 mm, the cards are notably smaller than the 338 x 141 x 52 mm the Gaming X Trio cards measure at — it’s not a lot, but it’s just enough to let you build a PC on some previously ineligible cases.
Despite the slimmer profile, MSI says that there shouldn’t be a thermal disadvantage, with an enhanced cooling system even being able to handle a factory GPU overclock. MSI says that all RTX 4000 cards will release in a Gaming Slim flavor, even the RTX 4090, so that’s something we’re definitely looking forward to. At the moment, though, MSI is just detailing three models — the RTX 4070 Ti, the RTX 4070, and the RTX 4060 Ti. Trying to cool higher-end cards with a slim profile is a challenge, so those might need a little more time in the oven.
The new Gaming Slim cards should become available at your retailer of choice within the next few weeks.
Source: MSI