Every add-in card partner is on a mission to improve the thermal capabilities of their coolers. Lower temperatures tend to lead to lower noise and higher performance. MSI’s Suprim coolers are a good example of third-party solutions that better reference designs in meaningful ways. Not wanting to stand still, the company showcased next-gen air-based prototypes that, it says, offer meaningful improvements over in-market designs.
Likely to debut on next-generation GPUs from AMD and Nvidia, at the premium end of the market first, MSI is refining the traditional heatsink in novel ways. Dubbed Dynamic Bimetallic Fins, each (DBF) regular aluminium fin, seen on myriad cards today, is replaced by a three-piece fin using two outers layers of aluminium that sandwich an internal copper fin. Doing so makes each fin about three to four times wider than the present 0.25-0.35mm and as a by-product adds rigidity to the design.
A prototype example is shown above. MSI reckons the heightened thermal conductivity from DBFs enables an otherwise identical cooler to drop peak load temperature by a significant five degrees Celsius. Not so important in mid-range cards but definitely interesting for, say, a potential GeForce RTX 5090 or Radeon RX 8900 XTX.
The proof is in the pudding, as they say, so we wait with intrigue to see if MSI can deliver on its lofty promise.
