MSI has released the follow-up to its eye-catching Expert cards debuted with the RTX 40 Series, now boasting Nvidia’s latest Blackwell chips. The brand is launching two models to begin with, based on the RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti. Both are identical, designed to strike a balance between cutting-edge performance, great cooling, and sophisticated aesthetics.
First showcased during Computex, the MSI RTX 50 Expert series takes inspiration from Nvidia’s Founders Edition cards, improving the design to make it look even fancier. Like their predecessors from the RTX 40 line, these new models feature a smoothly curved unibody with no sharp edges, giving it a refined feel.
The new Expert cards are equipped with MSI’s Flow Frozr 2 thermal design, said to be engineered to maintain optimal performance under the most demanding workloads. Once more, there is no side air exhaust like most modern GPUs. Instead, MSI relies on the flow-through and the I/O shield openings to exhaust hot air out. A robust aluminium shell surrounds everything, giving the card more structural integrity and a quality feel. This shows in the cards’ weight, where the RTX 5080 Expert tips the scale at 1,898g, followed by the RTX 5070 Ti Expert at 1,875g. Both measure 319mm x 150mm x 60mm.
Assuming MSI hasn’t drastically change the cooler assembly compared to last gen, both the GPU and memory should be directly contacting the vapour chamber, ensuring good VRAM cooling.
Though the Expert series is targeting gamers, nothing is stopping you from slapping one inside a professional system. It surely won’t look out of place. It’s a fresh departure from the ARGB-infused models that yell gamer.
That said, I must say I prefer last-gen’s unified colour between the front and back. It made the card look like a slab of pure performance. The newer black back plate still looks nice, though just not to the level of the older design. Even so, I would still take these MSI Expert cards over any other design.
Regarding specs, both the MSI RTX 5080 Expert and RTX 5070 Ti Expert are nearly identical to any other card, simply enjoying a slight overclock compared to the Founders Editions. In other words, the RTX 5080 Expert gives you 10,752 CUDA cores clocked up to 2,730MHz, i.e. 4% higher than official Nvidia specs, coupled with 16GB of GDDR7 memory. The RTX 5070 Ti Expert offers 8,960 CUDA cores clocked 5% higher at 2,588MHz boost, again complemented with 16GB of GDDR7 memory. Both models carry three DisplayPort 2.1b ports alongside one HDMI 2.1b.
Though MSI has yet to share the release date and pricing for these models, some retailers have already started adding them to their listings, indicating an impending launch. So, if you plan on getting one, keep your eyes peeled.
