Upgrading your Trident 3

[lionvandenbrand]

Hi all,

Since there are so many posts about this topic I thought it would be nice to have somewhat of an overview.

Let me start by saying that upgrading your Trident 3 (whatever Gen) is possible. BUT, there is a catch: it depends on what kind of motherboard and power supply you are using.
Trident 3 now comes in 7 versions:

Versions	Chipset	PCB versions	BIOS version(s)	Power	Product page
7th Gen	H110	1.0/2.1	520/A20	230W	https://www.msi.com/Desktop/support/Trident-3
7th Gen Arctic	H110	2.1	A20	230W	https://www.msi.com/Desktop/support/Trident-3-Arctic
8th Gen	H310	1.0/2.1	840	230/330W	https://www.msi.com/Desktop/support/Trident-3-8th
8th Gen Arctic	H310	?	840	230/330W	https://www.msi.com/Desktop/support/Trident-3-Arctic-8th
9th Gen	H310	?	950	230/330W	https://www.msi.com/Desktop/support/Trident-3-9th
9th Gen Arctic	H310	?	950	230/330W	https://www.msi.com/Desktop/support/Trident-3-Arctic-9th
10th Gen	H410	?	800	230/330W	https://www.msi.com/Desktop/support/MPG-Trident-3-10th

Note: This data comes from the datasheets on the specification page within the product page. You can find them in the attachments.

Here is an overview of posts with tested upgrades:

Trident Gen	What's tested?	Working?	Link
7th Gen	I7 7700+GTX1060 3G+230w power supply. Two friends with same model but difference in PCB version (1.0 and 2.1). Version 1.0 tries upgrade 1070 GTX (NOT WORKING with 230W and 330W), version 2.1 tries 1080 GTX (WORKING with 330W)	NO/YES	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/316727
7th Gen	1TB M.2 SSD, GTX1070 Aero 8GB OC graphics card	YES	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/333227
7th Gen	i7-7700 upgraded with Nvidia RTX 2060-6GB and Samsung 970 Evo NVMe PCIe M.2 250GB with 230W using Throttlestop, later 330W without Throttlestop and with Afterburner. NOTE: PCB version 2.1 and BIOS A20	YES	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/313929
8th Gen	Upgraded with ASUS PHOENIX 1660 SUPER (also noted that 1660 Ti works)	YES	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/327434
7th Gen	i5-7400 MSI GTX 1070 Aero using Afterburner and Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. NOTE: did not fit very good	YES	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/298545
7th Gen	i7-7700 Gigabyte GTX1080 Mini ITX using Afterburner	YES	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/298545
7th Gen	i7-7700 Arctic version GTX 1070 upgraded to Gigabyte RTX 2070 ITX version	YES	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/298545
8th Gen	GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti	YES	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/298545
7th Gen	I7-7700+GTX1060 3G 230w power supply, upgraded to GTX1070 ITX (also tested with 330W)	NO	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/298545
9th Gen	i7-9700f, 16gb of ram and nvme ssd and gtx 1660 ti with a 230w PSU upgraded to 2060 mini ITX	NO	https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/334433

The next question is: which Motherboards and GPU cards work with 230W without additional programs? Which work with 230W using Throttlestop and/or Afterburner? And which work only with 330W?

I have to work now so I'm posting this now, will update this later on.
Feel free to suggest an improvements!

Lion

 

[kemoniwilliams9152a02d1]

1. Has anyone tried to force a MSI Trident 9th BIOS (9.50) on an 8th (MB v1)?

2. Also, anyone ever tried to upgrade the CPU on an 8th (v1 or any other version)?
I have always wondered if an i9-9900K or non-K would work on an 8th (v1.0) or even what was the highest CPU (other than i7-8700) was achieved on this specific variant.

 

[bobdabaumast159302e3]

hi everyone,
i upgraded my trident 3 7gen (i7-7700 + gtx1060) with a palit RTX3050 stormX 6GB DDR6 .
ist very easy without the need of any modifications. no new power supply, no 6pin to 8pin adapter (because there is no need for extra power supply for this card).
no software tweaks. of course its not the fastest card, but still a good upgrade to the old 1060 to my mind.
depending on the game i get 15% to 30% better framerate and the power consumption is even less then with the old card.

here are the specs of the card https://eu.palit.com/palit/vgapro.php?id=5137&lang=de&pn=NE63050018JE-1070F&tab=sp

 

[kemoniwilliams9152a02d1]

How

hi everyone,
i upgraded my trident 3 7gen (i7-7700 + gtx1060) with a palit RTX3050 stormX 6GB DDR6 .
ist very easy without the need of any modifications. no new power supply, no 6pin to 8pin adapter (because there is no need for extra power supply for this card).
no software tweaks. of course its not the fastest card, but still a good upgrade to the old 1060 to my mind.
depending on the game i get 15% to 30% better framerate and the power consumption is even less then with the old card.

here are the specs of the card https://eu.palit.com/palit/vgapro.php?id=5137&lang=de&pn=NE63050018JE-1070F&tab=sp

Wow! Last GPU from this series I have tried was a 3050 MSI AERO (8 PIN) and all I got was a black screen. Which motherboard version is your machine?

 

[bobdabaumast159302e3]

MS-B9061 (U3E1) Version 2.0 is at least what software reads out. i forgot again to look up the version printed on the motherboard.
as every time i open the case if i got it right here in the thread, the version printed on the mobo can differ from the one read by software.
bios is A.20 btw.

 

[0x800129f02b0]

Hi, I have managed to upgrade my MSI Trident Arctic 7th gen, from GTX 1070 to RTX 4060 Ti (Gainward). Motherboard version 2.1 (2.0 according to BIOS). It seems everything worked smoothly, not mentioning the necessity to unscrew almost the whole case, which is a bit tricky. Will run some stress tests, but so far everything works fine.

Also changed the SSD to 1 Tb Samsung 980 and got rid of the second HDD.

The question is if it is possible to upgrade the CPU. The motherboard in the 7th generation is based on H110 chipset, so the highest possible CPU is already installed. Is there any standard ITX motherboard to be installed in this case, compatible with its back panel? Or the 2nd option: is it possible to use a motherboard from later generation of MSI Trident, like the 8th in particular, or any later generations?

 

[girhankasa15a602e3]

Hello guys. I checked the forums, and apparently, other Trident generations with motherboard 1.0 versions won't work with 4060 graphics cards. However, is that the same with the 11th generation too? My motherboard also has a 1.0 version like others, but my PC is 11th-gen, so newer. Did anyone try 4060 with the motherboard 1.0 version in Trident 3 11th gen? Did it work, or is the result the same with any other generations? I want to upgrade my GPU, but no one sells single-fan 3060 cards in my country, so, I'm stuck. That's why I wanted to ask just to be sure. If it doesn't work, then, I'll guess I'll be stuck with buying 3050. My power supply is 330W, so, that shouldn't be a problem.