MSI Radeon RX 5600 XT Gaming X & Gaming Z Review

Name: MSI Radeon RX 5600 XT Gaming X & Gaming Z
Brand: MSI

W1zzard

on Jan 22nd, 2020,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: MSI

(30 Comments) »

Introduction

AMD earlier this week launched the Radeon RX 5600 XT at a starting price of $279, and it came down as a wrecking ball for the entire $200–$300 graphics card market segment. Today, we are reviewing the MSI top of the line RX 5600 XT Gaming Z and Gaming X graphics cards, which are identical in every regard with the exception of VRAM speed. Designed to offer 1080p gaming at high frame rates of around 90 FPS, the RX 5600 XT is targeted at users who still game at 1080p, want to game with all details maxed out, and want to hold on to the graphics card for at least the next 2–3 years.

AMD originally intended for the RX 5600 XT to take the sub-$300 crown by beating the segment leader, the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, without interference from the RTX 20-series. NVIDIA didn't let this happen, and upon seeing AMD's hand at the 2020 CES keynote address, it sought to outmaneuver the red team by lowering the starting price of its GeForce RTX 2060 to $299 in hopes of higher performance and RTX ray-tracing luring buyers away from the RX 5600 XT. AMD responded with an unexpected last-minute revision of the RX 5600 XT specs in which it dialed up GPU clock speeds by 10 percent and memory clock speeds by over 16 percent in a bid to outperform the RTX 2060.

For AMD's board partners, this specs change couldn't have come at a worse time, with employees away from work on Chinese New Year. Not only is it inopportune timing, but the spec is also unimplementable on its cheapest RX 5600 XT cards whose coolers and VRM were purpose-built for the original spec. AMD board partners are hence revising only their faster factory-overclocked cards, those with components that can cope with the new configuration. The first batches of RX 5600 XT cards are already in stores or have shipped from the factories, run at original clocks. Implementing the new settings is now dumped upon the board partners and end users. Board partners offer BIOS updates, which end users can choose to update their cards with.

Instead of just updating the BIOS on their Gaming X SKU, MSI decided to use this opportunity to release the RTX 5600 XT Gaming Z. Our Gaming X review sample with the Gaming X BIOS update now ticks at 1615 MHz Game Clock (up from 1460 MHz), 1750 MHz Boost (up from 1620 MHz), and 1500 MHz memory. The Gaming Z, which will be shipping after Chinese New Year with the BIOS already updated, runs at nearly the same specs except for much higher memory speed at 1750 MHz.

Except for the memory, the MSI RX 5600 XT Gaming X and Gaming Z are identical, with nearly identical product packaging. Under the hood, both feature MSI's premium Twin Frozr 7 cooling solution that did wonders for the RX 5700 XT and a PCB with a strong VRM solution. The card offers idle fan stop and is designed with a focus on low-noise output. MSI is pricing the RX 5600 XT Gaming X at $330, and the Gaming Z slightly higher, probably around $340.

Radeon RX 5600 XT Market Segment Analysis
	Price	Shader Units	ROPs	Core Clock	Boost Clock	Memory Clock	GPU	Transistors	Memory
RX 590	$200	2304	32	1469 MHz	1545 MHz	2000 MHz	Polaris 30	5700M	8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit
GTX 1660	$200	1408	48	1530 MHz	1785 MHz	2000 MHz	TU116	6600M	6 GB, GDDR5, 192-bit
GTX 1070	$300	1920	64	1506 MHz	1683 MHz	2002 MHz	GP104	7200M	8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit
RX Vega 56	$260	3584	64	1156 MHz	1471 MHz	800 MHz	Vega 10	12500M	8 GB, HBM2, 2048-bit
GTX 1660 Super	$230	1408	48	1530 MHz	1785 MHz	1750 MHz	TU116	6600M	6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
GTX 1660 Ti	$270	1536	48	1500 MHz	1770 MHz	1500 MHz	TU116	6600M	6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
GTX 1070 Ti	$450	2432	64	1607 MHz	1683 MHz	2000 MHz	GP104	7200M	8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit
RX 5600 XT	$280	2304	64	1375 MHz	1560 MHz	1500 MHz	Navi 10	10300M	6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
MSI RX 5600 XT Gaming X	$330	2304	64	1615 MHz	1750 MHz	1500 MHz	Navi 10	10300M	6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
MSI RX 5600 XT Gaming Z	$340	2304	64	1615 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	Navi 10	10300M	6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
RTX 2060	$300	1920	48	1365 MHz	1680 MHz	1750 MHz	TU106	10800M	6 GB, GDDR6, 192-bit
RX 5700	$330	2304	64	1465 MHz	1625 MHz	1750 MHz	Navi 10	10300M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
GTX 1080	$500	2560	64	1607 MHz	1733 MHz	1251 MHz	GP104	7200M	8 GB, GDDR5X, 256-bit
RTX 2060 Super	$400	2176	64	1470 MHz	1650 MHz	1750 MHz	TU106	10800M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit
RX Vega 64	$375	4096	64	1247 MHz	1546 MHz	953 MHz	Vega 10	12500M	8 GB, HBM2, 2048-bit
GTX 1080 Ti	$700	3584	88	1481 MHz	1582 MHz	1376 MHz	GP102	12000M	11 GB, GDDR5X, 352-bit
RX 5700 XT	$380	2560	64	1605 MHz	1755 MHz	1750 MHz	Navi 10	10300M	8 GB, GDDR6, 256-bit

Packaging

The Card

The MSI RX 5600 XT Gaming Series looks identical to the RX 5700 XT Gaming X. The color theme is mostly black, with a red highlight trim around the two fans.

Dimensions of the card are 30.0 cm x 14.0 cm.

Installation requires three slots in your system.

Display connectivity options include three standard DisplayPort 1.4a and an HDMI 2.0b.

The board uses two 8-pin power connectors. This input configuration is specified for up to 375 watts of power draw.

AMD's Navi generation of GPUs no longer supports CrossFire. DirectX 12 does include its own set of multi-GPU capabilities, but the implementation requires game developers to put serious development time into a feature only a tiny fraction of their customers might ever use.

Disassembly

MSI is using six heatpipes on their cooler, which not only cools the GPU chip, but also the voltage regulation circuitry.

Once the main heatsink is removed, an additional cooling plate becomes visible. It provides cooling for the memory chips, some minor VRM components, and also helps protect against bending of the PCB because it's attached to the slot cover.

The backplate is made out of metal and protects the card against damage during installation and handling. Note how it has three thermal pads where the memory chips sit on the PCB to provide a little bit of extra cooling.

High-resolution PCB Pictures

These pictures are for the convenience of volt modders and people who would like to see all the finer details on the PCB. Feel free to link back to us and use these in your articles or forum posts.