MSI Radeon RX 480 GAMING X review - Introduction

 MSI Radeon RX 480 Gaming X  8GB review 
Putting the G back in gaming ...

Join us as we review the MSI Radeon RX 480 GAMING X, we test the model fitted with 8GB graphics memory (there is a 4GB model as well). This TwinFrozr VI cooled mainstream graphics card series will allow you to play your games in both the Full HD 1080P range as well as gaming in WQHD (2560x1440) range. And all that at a rather reasonable price of rougjly 269 USD. The RX 480 is a graphics card series that will allow you to play your games in both the Full HD 1080P range as well as gaming in WQHD (2560x1440) range. And all that at a very reasonable price as well. Honestly, 4GB we feel is plenty as standard for the aforementioned resolutions. Does that mean that AMD is back with a very good price versus performance product series? Follow us into this review where we'll look at temperatures, noise, performance and go with the latest game titles on the globe. It's been a somewhat wild ride for the past few months, AMD created a couple of viral moments on the web and announced stuff prior to the actual release. Hey, who can blame them. This review is all about Polaris 10, a code-name indicative of the mainstream to high-end products (but not enthusiast). There are two more products added to the product stack as well, in total three products:

• AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB and 8GB (high-end performance)
• AMD Radeon RX 470 4GB and 8GB (mainstream performance)
• AMD Radeon RX 460 2GB/4GB (entry level)

For the time being, what you see above will be the product stack starting with today's availability of the Radeon RX 480. The Radeon RX 480 graphics card will be made available in 4 and 8 GB versions, you will also spot both reference and tweaked SKUs from the board partners. The GPU used in this puppy is based on Polaris 10 (XT), an Ellismere (codename) GPU based on 4th generation GCN architecture. The 14 nm FinFET+ process based Radeon RX 480 will push the product to well over 5 TFLOPS. With its 150W TDP it has 36 CUs (cumpute units aka shader clusters) x 64 shader processors per CU = 2304 shader processors). The card will be available in both 4GB and 8GB versions and has 256-bit GDDR5 memory which offers an effective 8 Gbps / GHz much like the GeForce GTX 1070. The card will run in the 1267 MHz range on its boost clock. Expect board partner cards to run a good 50 MHz faster. The GPU retains technologies of the Radeon GCN lineup such as DirectX 12, FreeSync and XDMA for CrossFire support. The GPU with its 2304 shader processors are tied towards 32 ROPs with 144 texture memory units. The initial consumer graphics card based on Ellismere (XT model) is the Radeon RX 480, the PRO model will get 32 compute units and thus has 2048 shader processors. The Radeon RX 480 is based on a much smaller 14nm fabrication process, as such you will see many enhancements in efficiency and that shows in power consumption, the reference cards will use just one 6-pin power PEG (PCI Express Graphics) header to give the the card its power. The reference boards have a 6-phase VRM power supply design and display output wise the new cards have seen an upgrade as well, including three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors and one HDMI 2.0b. AIB partners may release SKUs with a DVI connector as well, the reference PCB shows SMT traces for a DVI connector. Overall the specs show a very potent card to play the latest games with whilst offering a good memory size versus price in the 1920x1080 and even 2560x1440 monitor resolutions. 

In this review we peek at the Radeon RX 480 GAMING X from MSI, the card is fitted with 8GB of graphics memory and has been factory tweaked for you at just over 1300 MHz with the memory at an effective 8000 MHz. Being an X model it has been fitted with a proper back-plate and obviously the awesome TwinFrozr VI cooler that once again proofs its awesomeness, as the product is completely silent even under full load stress. The card has six power phases for the GPU +1 for memory and is tied towards a proper 8-pin power connector. The card is a dual-slot, dual-fan solution and for something mainstream certainly looks high-end. 

Let's fire up the review, but not before you've had a peek  ...

MSI Radeon RX 480 Gaming X edition with 8GB GDDR5 memory