Introduction

Radeon RX 580 Market Segment Analysis Price Shader

Units ROPs Core

Clock Boost

Clock Memory

Clock GPU Transistors Memory RX 470 $400 2048 32 932 MHz 1216 MHz 1650 MHz Ellesmere 5700M 4 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit RX 570 $230 2048 32 1168 MHz 1244 MHz 1750 MHz Ellesmere 5700M 4 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit GTX 970 $300 1664 56 1051 MHz 1178 MHz 1750 MHz GM204 5200M 4 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit RX 480 $500 2304 32 1120 MHz 1266 MHz 2000 MHz Ellesmere 5700M 8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit MSI RX 580 Mech 2 $350 2304 32 1257 MHz 1380 MHz 2000 MHz Ellesmere 5700M 8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit RX 580 $250 2304 32 1257 MHz 1340 MHz 2000 MHz Ellesmere 5700M 8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit GTX 1060 3 GB $230 1152 48 1506 MHz 1708 MHz 2002 MHz GP106 4400M 3 GB, GDDR5, 192-bit GTX 1060 $280 1280 48 1506 MHz 1708 MHz 2002 MHz GP106 4400M 6 GB, GDDR5, 192-bit GTX 980 Ti $390 2816 96 1000 MHz 1075 MHz 1750 MHz GM200 8000M 6 GB, GDDR5, 384-bit R9 Fury X $380 4096 64 1050 MHz N/A 500 MHz Fiji 8900M 4 GB, HBM, 4096-bit GTX 1070 $400 1920 64 1506 MHz 1683 MHz 2002 MHz GP104 7200M 8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit RX Vega 56 $480 3584 64 1156 MHz 1471 MHz 800 MHz Vega 10 12500M 8 GB, HBM2, 2048-bit GTX 1070 Ti $430 2432 64 1607 MHz 1683 MHz 2000 MHz GP104 7200M 8 GB, GDDR5, 256-bit

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.