Introduction

Just a few weeks ago, MSI announced its Mech 2 lineup of custom-design AMD Radeon graphics cards lead by the Radeon RX 580 Mech 2 8 GB, which we have for review today. MSI won't officially comment on why the Mech 2 series exists when the company already has Gaming Series Radeon RX 500 series products, such as the RX 580 Gaming X, but media reports suggest that the series was raised to keep MSI in compliance with the now-dead GeForce Partner Program (GPP). ASUS made similar changes to its product stack with the AREZ Strix series. While the AREZ Strix graphics cards are completely identical to the original ASUS ROG Strix Radeon ones, MSI put in more effort to differentiate its products.

You won't be faulted for thinking the Radeon RX 580 Mech 2 is the same exact card as the RX 580 Gaming X at first glance, but look closer and you'll see quite a few differences. To begin with, the underlying TwinFrozr VII heatsink is slightly modified to now come with the heatpipe direct touch GPU base, while the Gaming X has one with a copper base. Also, the metal heatspreader over the memory chips and MOSFETs is gone. There's still a heatsink over the vGPU MOSFETs. The cooler shroud, too, has a different design and is less two-tone and more dark with a smattering of matte red. Lastly, there's a different backplate design that gets rid of the holes for a flat piece of metal with red highlights.



Differences aside, the underlying PCB of the Mech 2 RX 580 is the same exact one as the RX 580 Gaming X. It uses just a single 8-pin PCIe power input, and its display outputs include two HDMI, two DisplayPort, and one DVI. The Gaming Series "dragon" logo is missing all throughout the product.

The Radeon RX 580 Mech 2 8 GB and Gaming X share the same clock configuration, and both come with reference clocks on the memory and a 40 MHz GPU frequency overclock. With the PC hardware market finally snapping out of its crypto-delirium, you should be able to find the MSI RX 580 Mech 2 8 GB for around $350.

Packaging and Contents

You will receive:

• Graphics card
• Documentation + driver disc

The Card

MSI's card uses the company's typical black and red color scheme. The shroud is edgy, yet not overly complicated. A metal backplate is included, too. Dimensions of the card are 28.0 cm x 13.5 cm.


Installation requires two slots in your system.


Display connectivity options include a DVI port, two HDMI ports, and two DisplayPorts.

The HDMI port is version 2.0b, and DisplayPort supports 1.3 HBR3/1.4 HDR ready, which enables support for 4K @ 120 Hz and 5K @ 60 Hz, or 8K @ 60 Hz with two cables. GPU-accelerated encoding is now supported for H.264 at up to 4K30, and HEVC is supported at up to 4K60. Accelerated decoding is supported for HEVC at up to 4K60 Main-10, VP9 is supported at up to 4K, and H.264 works at up to 4K120.


We shine the light from a self-leveling line laser onto the card, which shows no sagging.


Pictured above are the front and back, showing the disassembled board. High-res versions are also available (front, back).

A Closer Look

MSI is using three heatpipes, two of which are of double-length to effectively make this a five heatpipe cooler.


The backplate is made from metal to protect the card against damage during handling and installation.


This little heatsink sits on top of the VRM to keep these voltage regulation components cool too.


The board uses a single 8-pin power connector. This input configuration is specified for up to 225 watts of power draw.


AMD CrossFire has been running over the PCI-Express bus for a few generations now. The Polaris Series is no different.