Most modern PC’s are either built to immerse you in virtual reality or are fighting for a spot in your entertainment center, the MSI Trident 3 is a wonderful combination of both. The Trident’s custom Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card and convenient port layout make enjoying virtual reality in your living room easy. Although limited configurations and a lack of easy upgradability hamper this machine, the MSI Trident is the best attempt at luring console fans into the world of PC gaming. It is currently priced at $1,599.
Design and Lighting
The MSI Trident 3 has sleek angles and a mix of glossy and matte black plastic. In addition, it’s glowing LED lights and exposed GPU fan is what clearly identify this machine as a beast of its own.
Weighing 7 pounds and measuring 13.6 x 3.8 x 2.8 inches, the Trident should be compatible with your entertainment center and just light enough to carry in a backpack. Moreover, for those who prefer propping the PC up vertically, there’s an included stand.
On the Trident’s left edge is an eye-catching mystic light LED strip that spills over the desktop’s left edge. With this strip highly customizable, you can have it glow a single color statically, run through all the colors of the rainbow or pulsate in and out or even have the strip glow dynamically based on the audio emanating from the PC.
Ports and Upgradability
With the most essential ports placed front and center, the Trident is definitely perfectly suited for living rooms as a gaming PC. It comes with easy plug and plays access to two USB 3.0 ports, a USB-C port, headphone jacks, and even a front-facing HDMI port made specifically for connecting a VR headset.
At the rear end, you’ll find four USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 port, an ethernet jack, line in/out connections, a microphone jack and another VR-optimized HDMI port should you prefer to connect your headset to the rear end of the PC.
The Trident’s Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU sports HDMI, DisplayPort and DVI ports, giving you a few options for connecting to your monitor.
With no easy upgradability, the Trident’s pleasantly small size and user-friendliness definitely come with a cost. However, you can open the PC’s case to replace components such as the RAM, storage and CPU.
Overall Performance
Despite its tiny size, the Trident can play most modern games at high settings, and it’s one of the smallest VR-ready desktops out there thanks to its Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card. The GPU has a custom design built specifically for the Trident’s small frame, which stays whisper quiet in games.
Packing an Intel Core i7-6700K with 8GB of RAM, the Trident proved to be just as valuable a productivity workhorse as it was a small system. The PC never falters while multitasking.