What just happened? With their size and power requirements, squeezing a standard RTX 3000 card into most mini-ITX cases is going to be either impossible or claustrophobically tight. But companies are finally managing to shrink the RTX 3060 Ti to satisfyingly tiny dimensions, with MSI announcing what appears to be the smallest one yet.
MSI's GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Aero graphics card takes all the impressive performance of its full-sized sibling and reduces its size by 40 percent while halving the weight, making it perfect for small form-factor PCs and HTPC setups.
Other specs include 4,864 CUDA cores, 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM, a 256-bit memory interface, a single eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector, and 200W power consumption. MSI recommends a 650W PSU.
MSI's single-fan, dual-slot card features high-efficiency copper heat pipes up to 6mm thick and a custom PCB design. The GPU isn't factory overclocked (1,665 MHz boost), and like its full-sized version, you get an HDMI 2.1 port along with three DisplayPort 1.4a connectors.
Those looking for a similar and presumably cheaper (MSI hasn't revealed pricing) option, the company also announced the GeForce RTX 3060 Aero ITX 12G OC and GeForce RTX 3060 Aero ITX 12G.
MSI isn't the only company with a mini RTX 3060 Ti. Asus has its DUAL GeForce RTX 3060 Ti MINI OC Edition (above), which is only about 3 cm (1.1 inches) longer than MSI's offering. It comes with two fans, a 1,710 MHz boost, and recommends a 750W PSU.