This allows MSI to maximize its earnings from the card, since it's buying only the GPU from NVIDIA, instead of a fully-assembled reference PCB. MSI's PCB closely follows the reference design. The heatsink under the shroud is very similar to the black NVTTM (NVIDIA time-to-market) cooling solution, although the blower and cooler shroud (now a silvery plastic one, with black metal base-plate), are designed by MSI.
Source: TPU