We got a sneak preview of them at Computex, but it looks like MSI’s retro-inspired Cyclone series of RTX GPUs is coming back for real, beginning with the RTX 5060. The minimalist, open-air, single-fan card returns without massive coolers or extra RGB bling. It doesn’t even have the (unnecessary, in my opinion) LCD screen seen on the show floor.
MSI’s promotional page calls the RTX 5060 8GB Cyclone OC a “legacy reborn for a new era”—which seems a little grandiose to me, but hey, I’ll take any design that’s focusing on the basics these days. The open-air cooler uses a single fan over one beefy heatsink with twin pipes and a circular configuration, but like some of the previous open-air Cyclone cards, it’s on the smaller side at just 161mm long and 42mm wide (dual slot). Ports are triple DisplayPort 2.1b and a single HDMI 2.1b. I’d imagine that the exposed heatsink requires a bit more careful routing of cables and some decent exhaust in your case, but otherwise looks fantastic.
VideoCardz spotted the new listing on MSI’s global site, but there’s also a non-OC version of the RTX 5060 and two flavors of the 5060 Ti, also in standard and OC. (That’s “overclock,” which means MSI tweaked the factory core clock speeds to justify an exorbitant upcharge.) Sadly, the 16GB version of the Ti card doesn’t appear to be on offer at the moment.
How much will MSI charge for these retro-inspired cards when they hit shelves? No idea. So far, the Cyclone designs have only shown up on MSI’s international site, and I don’t see them at any retailers or on the US version of the MSI site yet.