Card Layout and Photos

So right off the bat, this card is completely different than the one that I tested earlier this week. The cards from the launch are shorter ITX form factor cards and they have a basic cooler design. The 1050 Ti Gaming X, on the other hand, uses the same cooler design that MSI used on the higher end cards like the 1060, 1070, and the RX 480/470 as well. It has two large fans and large plastic fan shroud in black and red. The shroud has groves cut in the front and then on the back those same grooves have a transparent red plastic in them that is lit up for a little extra style.

To fit the larger fans the PCB and the overall cooler is taller than a normal PCI device, so keep that in mind if you are trying to fit this card into a smaller case or an older case. It wasn’t long ago when the side panel was just above the video cards but a lot of companies have gone wider on their cases for better heatsink compatibility.

The cooler design has a proper sheet metal blade design for good surface area and it runs the length of the card. MSI used two thick heatpipes, one going out the back and towards the PCI slot cover end of the card and the other goes out the top and pulls heat out to the other end of the card. The two large fans blow air down over the heatsink and up against the PCB. The air then vents out all of the open sides on the case. The heatsink isn’t very thick and leaves a big gap under it, this is normally an indication of the company using a universal heatsink design across a lot of their cards, the gap allows soom for any caps. Given the low TDP of the GTX 1050 Ti, this shouldn’t be an issue. The fan shroud does have a little room up on the top edge where they slipped in an MSI logo and the gamer series dragon. Both are also backlit with full RGB LEDs as well so you can pick the color to match your build if needed.

Unlike the basic GTX 1050 TI I tested, the Gaming X also adds a 6 pin power connection. I’m not sure that there is any need for it at all, but it will be interesting to see if the extra power allows for extra performance or overclocking.

For the PCI slot, MSI dropped the logo that was cut into the other two cards and went with a vent that takes up a full slot. We still get the same DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort options that the other 1050 Ti had so you should have one that will work with your monitor.

In addition to the large cooler, the Gaming X does have a full sized PCB that covers the extra length and height of this specific card. This was mostly to get the power connection down on the end of the card up top, it doesn’t look like much of anything else is run up into that PCB space otherwise.