Sneak preview: MSI Radeon RX580/570 MECH 2 OC

Remember that GPP ordeal and all board partners ramping up and pushing. Well at the time MSI was ramping out their new MECH2 line for their Radeon based lineup. And then pooof, NVIDIA halted GPP. So what do you do with that new lineup then? 

Well, MSI is still releasing the MECH 2 series, next to the gaming line. We've received both an RX 570 and RX 580 MECH2 OC, which will be reviewed real soon. in this news item, I wanted to share a few details and photos. MSI has announced a new graphics card series based on the Polaris (called Ellesmere these days) series, the MECH 2 series is fitted with a thermal design offering the Radeon RX 570 and 580 a higher core and memory speeds. The shapes of the MECH series cooler are intensified by a fiery red glow piercing through the cover, while the MSI dragon RGB LED on the top can be set to any of 16.7 million colors to match your mood or build.

The MECH 2 have new completely custom PCB design featuring enhanced power design (8 phases) with Military Class 4 components enables higher stable performance to push your graphics card to the max. A matte black metal backplate shows the MECH 2 cards more structural strength and provides a nice finishing touch.

In this small preview we show two MECH 2 series Radeon RX570/RX580 OC samples, the cards are fitted with 8GB of Micron GDDR5 graphics memory and has been factory tweaked for you at 1380 (max boost) MHz straight out of the box for the RX 580 model. A software mode will allow you to bump that upwards a bit more (MSI Gaming APP). The Mech 2 RX 570 will get a boost clock of 1281 MHz. Now I specifically mention the boost clocks here, as in-game the boost clocks are not throttling. What I mention here is what you'll get. The memory clocks  (effective data-rate) are 7 Gbps for the RX 570 and 8 Gbps for the RX 580.

Thanks to a slightly overhauled cooler and the TORX Fans 2.0 they achieve proper cooling performance while further reducing noise levels. Connected to the huge heatsink are 6mm thick copper heat pipes with a squared shape at the bottom for optimal heat transfer from the solid nickel-plated copper baseplate combined with Premium Thermal Compound X to keep the Polaris powerhouse cool.

With advanced aerodynamics, the Airflow Control Technology leads more air directly onto the heat pipes of MECH series design. The special deflectors on the heat sink enlarge the surface area, which means lower temperatures and better gaming. Furthermore, MECH series utilizes SuperSU heat pipe design which is the best cooling solution for graphics cards. The GPU is cooled by a massive nickel-plated copper base plate connected to 6mm heat pipes.

Both cards follow a dual slots model design cooler, get an 8-pin power header and have been fitted with a back-plate. We'll post the full review next week.