First, the good.
The backplate is made from 18-gauge aluminum alloy that is thick (but not too thick) and is being used as a proper heatsink here.
We say a proper heatsink and not just a backplate nor heat spreader, as it is not just a pretty face. There are multiple heat pads that directly connect it to the extra 8GB of GDDR7 ICs that are, by necessity, placed on the back (as the 5060Ti is originally designed as an 8GB model and this is the ‘up-converted’ 16GB’er). On its own, this is a good thing and a bad thing. Typically, we do not like seeing such necessary components housed on the back of the PCB. Even if they are connected to a heat spreader backplate.
This, however, is a heat sink, not a heat spreader. We say this as directly in the line of the secondary fan are multiple thick ‘fingers’ that will convert any waste heat from the (for example) VRAM ICs into hot air. As such this backplate is a rather basic, but decent, heat sink. Not a heat spreader, and certainly not just a “protective fascia” covering the back of the card. Mix in the fact that the cooling portion of this backplate will not overly increase static pressure requirements on the secondary 95mm cooling fan, and we like this design. A lot. So much so, you can tell it was originally designed with a much higher TDP card in mind… and it has trickled down to the 60Ti class. Which is a Good Thing™ to say the least!
The downside is the inclusion of MSI’s dragon logo and a bit too much white text going on… for our tastes. We feel that having “GEFORCE RTX” silk-screened twice on the backplate falls a bit too much into the ‘department of redundancy department’ end of the spectrum for our tastes… as you will easily see (and be able to read) both when it this card is installed in the typical window’ed case.
One is plenty (arguably pushing it as it does not tell you what class of card it is or even generation). Thankfully, a quick sandpaper scrub and then a dab of Ye Olde Birchwood Casey’s Aluminum Black will easily fix that “white noise” nicely. Or… you know a black Sharpie. By the same token, we would leave the Dragon Logo alone. For whatever reason, we like its inclusion. It’s funky and it adds a bit of personality. We can not tell you why that is the case. It just is the case.
Now this card is not just a pretty face. Underneath the top fascia lies a custom heatsink that is a 10th freaking generation implementation of MSI’s arguably best in class Twin Frozr design. Let’s start with the fans. They are pure gaming goodness made real, as they are the exact same design as what MSI uses on some of the RTX 5090-class cards. On a x60Ti class card. Let that sink in for a moment.
So what has changed from the 9th to the 10th generation? The last generation of these fans had their ends connected into pairs of three and as such was dubbed ‘Torx’ fans… as it kinda-sorta looked like a torx socket (if you squinted enough). This generation all seven (not nine) advanced blades are all connected via one complete 360-degree focusing ring and are dubbed “Storm Force”. This focusing ring does three things marvelously. First it nullifies one of the common catastrophic fan blade failures that earlier generations of cards sometimes (randomly) suffered (as the blades have to be thin in the z-axis). It also noticeably increases static pressure at a given RPM (and thus allows it to rotate slower and still push air through the Twin Frozr twin cooling fin array)… and it does both while reducing the overall noise of the fan at a given RPM. That is win-win-win in our books. Mix in the (what MSI calls) “Claws” or air-eddy destroying ridges that further focus the air and “smooth” it out before it enters the fin array(s), and to be perfectly candid, these next-gen Storm Force fans are an engineering marvel.
Next up is this card’s form factor is not as big as a house. Even though it is an OC edition, and the core does indeed come (somewhat) heavily overclocked at the factory, the 10th gen Twin Frozr cooler is just that good and does not need an additional 95mm+ of length and a third fan to get the job done. Get the job done at whisper quiet noise levels.
To be precise, this card is 50.7mm or (just a hair over) “2-slot” design thick. Before the world went crazy, 2-slots was plenty of room to cool even x80-class cards, so it is plenty big for a 5060Ti when paired with this custom cooling solution.
The card is ~117mm “tall”.
Which, put in another more practical way, means it is less than 27.5mm over the PCI-SIG z-height standard. Which means it will easily fit inside most modern PC cases. Even small form-factor cases should be able to handle that additional footprint. Which is a necessary standard-breaking feature as it allowed MSI to use 95mm fans and not be limited to itty bitty cooling fans. So, while one should check before assuming it will fit, it probably will fit into 99+ percent of modern PC cases… and certainly has a higher chance than ‘bigger’ cards of doing so.
This goes double when you take into account the fact that it is (by our measurements) 246mm long. When taken as a whole, yeah, this is a compact card by modern standards. Just the way it should be, as this is not even a 70-class card, and all those oversized x60Ti cards are mostly just there to increase the MSRP.
