Product Photos
Alright, so there she is; the Radeon RX 480 Red Gaming X from MSI we received is an 8GB version withthe familar dual--fan heatpipe slash radiator design cooler. It has one PCIe PEG power connector (8-pin). The card has been designed to be a nice match for Full HD gaming, up-to 1080P and even 1440P. The PCB is as mentioned matte black in color, and of course the new revision TwinFrozr VI cooler is being used. These cards will look just terrific in a dark themed PC.
These cards arepositioned a great alternative for 1920x1080 and even 2560x1440 gaming as well. In our findings the card is faster compared to the competition's GeForce GTX 970, at 269 USD for the 8GB version that's not a bad position to be in. Obviously there's more to check out other than performance, we'll have a peek at PCB heat levels, GPU temperatures as well as noise levels.
The Radeon RX 480 is armed with 8 GB graphics memory which will be clocked at 8.0 Gbps / 256-bit to give you a little more leash with the higher resolutions and image quality settings. The reference clocked product will run with clock frequencies up-to 1267 MHz on its 2304 shader processors, this model is clocked at 1304 MHz (dynamic boost) in default settings. The card itself is a dual-slot solution, it is composite heat-pipe based, the GPU is cooled by a nickel-plated copper base plate connected to Super Pipes (8mm heat pipes) on this MSI GAMING series graphics card. A SU heat pipe layout increases efficiency by reducing the length of unused heat pipe and a special SU-form design. Zero Frozr technology eliminates fan noise in low-load situations by stopping the fans when they are not needed. Up-to roughly 60 Degrees C, the fans will not spin. The LEDs embedded in this graphics card can be controlled with the MSI Gaming APP and is RGB configurable with a few animations as well. Also, check out that backside where there is a thick sturdy metal back-plate with plenty of venting spaces applied as well. A proper one as well with lots of ventilation gaps.
This Polaris 10 based product has been designed to be a match for the most popular Full HD and Wide Quad HD resolutions. Actually, it places a strong focus on 1440P gaming. As you can see, MSI includes two HDMI (2.0b), two DisplayPort 1.4 (HDR ready) connectors as well as a DVI connector (yay!). On the reference cards AMD unfortunately stripped away the DVI monitor connector which in the end I feel was an incredibly poor choice. Especially in this price range there are a lot of monitor owners with just a DVI connector.
