MSI Trident 3 Arctic Gaming PC Review

[Julio Franco]

How can you make a small form factor (SFF) PC unique enough to grab consumers' attention? There are three key aspects that define a SFF PC: internal hardware, size, and thermal/acoustic performance. The Trident 3 Arctic is MSI's attempt at striking that perfect balance.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1431-msi-trident-3-arctic-sff-pc/

 

[OcelotRex]

Fan noise was almost a given with that size. It's not too much of a premium but buying off the shelf I was able to put something together with the following:

• Ryzen 1700
• Big Air Cooler
• Gigabyte B350 Mobo
• Matx case
• 16 GB DDR4-2800
• GTX 1070
• 850 Evo 500GB
• 3 TB Seagate storage drive
• 600 Watt gold fully modular PSU
• Blue Ray Reader / DVD writer

All that for $1,400 and needing a Windows license matching the price of this. Mine would be cooler, quieter and a lot bigger but also better equipped. The money spent on going smaller might be better spent on a desk that can hide the tower.

 

[Greg S]

I'm guessing that the power supply was the issue for overclocking. It wouldn't be hard to have a gtx 1070 pull upwards of 200W with a moderate overclock. That card in the case probably can't handle much more than that anyways, but the power supply definitely won't if it's already down to 75% efficiency at regular peaks with no OC.

 

[erickmendes]

When AMD release ITX solutions for AM4, they could revisit it... With a 4 core Ryzen and a future released GPU, this SFF PC could be a console killer.

 

[RelentlessPry]

Great review! I build my own systems, but this would look great in an entertainment system next to other gaming systems, although the tight space would probably cause more thermal issues.

erickmendes: Heads up! The BIOSTAR X370GTN is a new ITX AM4 motherboard. I'm seriously considering it. I might wait for the Raven Ridge AM4 APU first.

 

[Draconian]

Considering that new GTX 1070's are going for $500 right now, $1,500 for that PC is not a bad price.

 

[Reehahs]

Fan noise was almost a given with that size. It's not too much of a premium but buying off the shelf I was able to put something together with the following:

• Ryzen 1700
• Big Air Cooler
• Gigabyte B350 Mobo
• Matx case
• 16 GB DDR4-2800
• GTX 1070
• 850 Evo 500GB
• 3 TB Seagate storage drive
• 600 Watt gold fully modular PSU
• Blue Ray Reader / DVD writer

All that for $1,400 and needing a Windows license matching the price of this. Mine would be cooler, quieter and a lot bigger but also better equipped. The money spent on going smaller might be better spent on a desk that can hide the tower.

Why hide it when you can use it as a vibrating footrest.

 

[OcelotRex]

Why hide it when you can use it as a vibrating footrest.

It it's cool and quiet it's dampened I.e. not a vibrator.

 

[Reehahs]

It it's cool and quiet it's dampened I.e. not a vibrator.

Alternative use: cat bed.

 

[Johnnyblaze1957]

When AMD release ITX solutions for AM4, they could revisit it... With a 4 core Ryzen and a future released GPU, this SFF PC could be a console killer.

They will never be console killers first and foremost the price and most games I play on the ps4 and xb1 are not on steam and people I play with are not on PC they are on console. No pc will ever be a console killer till they can match the specs at the same price.

 

[OcelotRex]

Alternative use: cat bed.

If it's warm and you don't want them on it, everything is a cat bed.

 

[OcelotRex]

They will never be console killers first and foremost the price and most games I play on the ps4 and xb1 are not on steam and people I play with are not on PC they are on console. No pc will ever be a console killer till they can match the specs at the same price.

Well I could say no console can be a PC killer until it can run [enter PC software], but that's beside the point. The added utility of the PC and console makers willing to break even or sometimes lose money on the hardware makes the highlighted portion near impossible considering economies of scale.

 

[Footlong]

If you bother spending 1.5K US dollars in this, why not buy a gaming laptop? I get that this SFF is a good looker, but I found it a bit expensive. Now with good gaming laptops offering GTX 1060 (both versions) and soon the RX 580, I don't see the reason SFF is a good proposal.

 

[photonboy]

PSU EFFICIENCY? Your calculation in the article makes no sense to me. The PSU is rated for 330W, but draws 450W so you took 330W/450W to get less than 75% efficient?

First, I don't understand how it can be "within spec" when it's 120W over the rating. As for EFFICIENCY that's based on the ratio of PSU power drawn (or heat dissipation) over the amount drawn in total. You'd have to measure the wall power, AND the power from the PSU to PC to come up with the efficiency value (wall-PSU)/wall x 100%.

Perhaps you explained things wrong, or perhaps I'm just an ***** but something doesn't add up to me. If the PSU had physically dissipated 120W that's one thing, but you didn't appear to measure that so... huh?