# MSI Radeon RX 580 Mech 2 8 GB



## W1zzard (Aug 7, 2018)

Today, we have for review the new MSI Radeon RX 580 Mech 2, which is an overclocked custom design variant of the RX 580. It comes with a dual-slot cooler and delivers excellent noise levels that match the quietest RX 580 cards. Overclocking is great, too; we reached 1540 MHz.

*Show full review*


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## Valent117 (Aug 7, 2018)

i prefer this appearance than msi gaming cards


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## PHaS3 (Aug 7, 2018)

That overclock result is madness. I cant break 1490 on my Nitro + SE, over 1500 is crazy. Must be some massive maturing of the Polaris manufacturing process going on. Also lines up with that improvement of gaming power consumption. 

Great review as always  

I have a question about the memory overclocks on these cards - you and other reviewers seem to hit 2250 with no effort, but ive noted that running at 2250 logs memory errors in monitoring apps like HWinfo64, at least on my card. Do you check for memory errors when performing the OC? In the past AMD GDDR5 implementations detected memory errors when overclocking which prevented the appearance of artifacts, but slowed performance due to re-transmitting data. In my mind, that could still be a limiting factor performance wise, assuming that's still a thing...


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## DeathtoGnomes (Aug 7, 2018)

Very nice Review. thank you


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## dj-electric (Aug 7, 2018)

A year late,
at 100$ extra, and 80W extra at load,
for 4% performance increase over a GTX 1060,
That don't exist on pre-OC models,
That already exist for around 250-270$,
For a product that is suppose to be served as stock cleaning

Absolutely 100% nope. Start with selling this card at 230-240$ and we go from there.
Time to line up Radeon with Ryzen and bring a punch of price to performance to the market


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 7, 2018)

My only concern is the blue pads on the fins themselves on the hsf, those should be solid plate areas or heatpipes for maximum heat transferrability, or are they just to prevent shorts?

Mech is akin to Pulse as Gaming is akin to Nitro.


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## gamerman (Aug 7, 2018)

this is werid and not these days value review.

i mean how can give gpu what take almost half more power than gtx 1060 editor choice reward!!?

is it true here techpowerup site review, that powerdraw test and  and called efficiency not mean nothing??!


gtx 1060 and  Radeon RX 580 Mech 2 are like night and day different gpus and nvidias gtx 1060 is much much better.
bcoz amd mech 2 is so lausy old tech gpu that it not would give even good choice reward.

also we must see,that amd mech 2 is oc' version, nvidia gtx 1060 default.


1st, gtx 1060 win many games against mech 2,and if gtx 1060 loose fps,games are still playable good,so gaming fps not issue,
so then must theese days look and sharp, powerdraw/efficiency!

and there gtx 1060 shining,but mech 2 are terrible,examples

*powerdraw results*


mutimonitoring:

amd mech 2 40w!
nvidia gtx 1060 8w

different is universal big, tell just haow lausy nech 2 are.


b-ray and idle:

amd mech 2 eat both test almost 45% more power than gtx 1060,what is BIG difference.
so,when you not do nothing your PC,mech 2 eat power from wall 40% more than nvidia gtx 1060!
should ring bell for techpowerup test review...amd sumpaty??


average gaming:

amd mech 2 177W!
nvidia gtx 1060 116W

different is over 50%!!


peak gaming:

amd mech 2 197w!
nvidia gtx 1060  125W

this should drop at least amd mech 2 out of reward,this so lausy.
amd mexh 2 eat 60% more juicy than gtx 1060.


also we must remembe that gtx 1060 is over 2 years old gpu and mech 2 brand new gpu from amd!
so still amd cant build anything good,just junk.

well we can think this isuue 2 ways.

1. we oc'd gtx 1060 so much that its take same way power like amd mech 2...
or
2. we can tke this battle gtx 1070,coz even that take less power than amd mech 2.




is it that way that techpoerup want that kind politics coming...
never mind efficiency, go on,even 1kw gpu and watercool...is it right.
i dont thing no1 want it,if so and example techpowerup blessing it and give editor choice reward that. why even show powerdraw.

just let we know fps...

i hopw that techpoerup change amd mech 2 reward at least average buy..bcoz that amd mech 2 deserve.


wake up techpowerup, do we wanna go back 2000??

sure better gpu that battle is sure gtx 1060oc version.


- end -


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 7, 2018)

gamerman said:


> this is werid and not these days value review.
> 
> i mean how can give gpu what take almost half more power than gtx 1060 editor choice reward!!?
> 
> ...



Do you realize this Card is knocking on 1070/1070 ti door for performance? Fyi 1060 is a different tier from 580 so apples to oranges comparison, nice try.


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## dj-electric (Aug 7, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Do you realize this Card is knocking on 1070/1070 ti door for performance? Fyi 1060 is a different tier from 580 so apples to oranges comparison, nice try troll


This pre-OCed RX 580 doesn't knock anybody's door.






https://tpucdn.com/reviews/MSI/RX_580_Mech_2/images/perfrel_1920_1080.png

A simple pre-OCed GTX 1060 will get you the same numbers on avarage.
Does a GTX 1060 knock on GTX 1070's door?


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## dirtyferret (Aug 7, 2018)

dj-electric said:


> This pre-OCed RX 580 doesn't knock anybody's door.


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## W1zzard (Aug 7, 2018)

PHaS3 said:


> you and other reviewers seem to hit 2250 with no effort


2250 is the Overdrive limit, can't set clocks higher than that.


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## bug (Aug 7, 2018)

"Faster than 1060" is rather questionable with a 3% perf difference at the cost of ~60W (~50% more power draw) while gaming.

@W1zzard And while we're at it, would it be possible to get a second set of performance graphs based only on titles and resolutions where the reviewed card can reach playable levels? Say 60fps for action games and 30fps for TBS and such. I'm thinking the picture might be different sometimes and adding it shouldn't add a lot of time to the review.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 7, 2018)

dj-electric said:


> This pre-OCed RX 580 doesn't knock anybody's door.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I just say fps numbers and 7 fps difference is meniscule a 580 does say im here to the 1070.


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## dj-electric (Aug 7, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> I just say fps numbers and 7 fps difference is meniscule a 580 does say im here to the 1070.



... Huh? I didn't understand.
Saying an RX 580 knocks on GTX 1070 (and *Ti *for pete's sake) is just like saying a GTX 1060 does. Both with factory OCs *perform absolutely the same,* almost to a degree of performance fixing between the companies, on a freaking razor's edge.

You bet your hiney they compete on the same spot of the gamer's market. 

Previous quote was seeing things through a very very thick red-stained glass.


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## cellar door (Aug 7, 2018)

There is a gtx 970 included in the graphs but no r9 390??? Very odd choice considering there still is an army of r9 290/390 cards out there.


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## PHaS3 (Aug 7, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> 2250 is the Overdrive limit, can't set clocks higher than that.


Thanks W1z, I know that's the max  I meant by asking, do you see any memory errors in any monitoring apps when at that clock - e.g.:




I know if I clock higher than my 2175 I get memory errors in there. I was curious if you've seen similar because no review I have seen seems to have checked.


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## W1zzard (Aug 7, 2018)

cellar door said:


> There is a gtx 970 included in the graphs but no r9 390???


390 is 2 generations back, 970 and 480 is 1 generation


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## kastriot (Aug 7, 2018)

Super expensive 199$ is right price


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 7, 2018)

dj-electric said:


> ... Huh? I didn't understand.
> Saying an RX 580 knocks on GTX 1070 (and *Ti *for pete's sake) is just like saying a GTX 1060 does. Both with factory OCs *perform absolutely the same,* almost to a degree of performance fixing between the companies, on a freaking razor's edge.
> 
> You bet your hiney they compete on the same spot of the gamer's market.
> ...



Trying to pick a fight i see, there is a reason you are on the brown list.


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## dj-electric (Aug 7, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Trying to pick a fight i see, there is a reason you are on the brown list.



I was giving very reasonable explanations backed up with facts and all i get in return is a pointing finger... I honestly don't get it...
I would like reasonable counter explanations instead of "hon hon, your'e on my naughty list".


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## John Naylor (Aug 7, 2018)

The $350 - $370 MSI Mech 2 580 is 2% faster than the reference 1060 at 1080p and overclocks 10.6 %.  Peak Gaming is 197 watts (258 Furmark), Noise is good at 32 dbA and temps at 76C under load per this review.

The $315 MSI 1060 Gaming 6GB overclocks 15.1% ... with power at  121 watts (135) , noise at 28 dbA.  temps are 69C under load.

580 OC Performance Score - 100 x 1.106 = 110.6
1060 OC Performance Score - 98 x 1.151 = 112.8

So will anyone buy a $360 MSI 580 mech 2over the $315 MSI 1060 6Gb when ....

580 OC'd is about 2% slower then 1060 OC'd  .... not  a big deal but I wouldn't pay $45 more to go 2% slower
580 is 32% louder under load ... that's H U G E  (10 dba difference = twice as loud / 5 dbA = 1.41)
580 runs 7C hotter under load
580 uses 76 watts more power in gaming (123 under Furmark) Turns 520 watter need into at least a 600 water at best / possible 650 widening that $45 price gap not to mention an extra case fan (we use one 140 mm per every 75 - 100 watts / one 120 mm per every 50 - 75)

I nice showing ... for a 580 ... but AMD doesn't have a horse in the race in the top 4 tiers (1060 - 1080 Ti)


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## bug (Aug 7, 2018)

@John Naylor The situation hasn't changed since the release of the RX 480. GTX1060 is the better pick, but there are times when you'd want to go with the 480/580 instead: you play specific games that run better on AMD hardware, you're after compute performance or you're using Linux and won't install a proprietary driver.


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## FreedomEclipse (Aug 7, 2018)

1060 is still king and prices are still falling.  AMD really need to price this card more competitively to make up for the shortfalls even though they are very very few in between.


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## W1zzard (Aug 7, 2018)

John Naylor said:


> So will anyone buy a $360 MSI 580 mech 2over the $315 MSI 1060 6Gb when ....


probably not, which is exactly why i mentioned $275 target price. hmm maybe freesync


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## bug (Aug 7, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> probably not, which is exactly why i mentioned $275 target price. hmm maybe freesync


FreeSync is better because it's free. If you have to pay more for the video card to go with it, that advantage disappears rather fast, doesn't it?


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## Assimilator (Aug 7, 2018)

Looks like the wrinkles with Samsung/GloFo's 14nm are finally being worked out... just in time for it to be obsoleted by 12nm and 7nm. Poor Polaris.


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## mastershake575 (Aug 7, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Do you realize this Card is knocking on 1070/1070 ti door for performance? Fyi 1060 is a different tier from 580 so apples to oranges comparison, nice try.


 Third party 580 vs third party 1060 are within 5% of each other (with the 1060 having better thermals and higher overclocking potential) and the 1070/1070ti are both anywhere from 35 to 45% faster than both.......... (different tiers ? knocking on 1070 performance ? what ????)


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## Nuckles56 (Aug 7, 2018)

Damn, that 1540MHz core clock is impressive, it happily beats the 1510MHz I managed with the RX 580 in my brother's rig


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## bug (Aug 7, 2018)

Nuckles56 said:


> Damn, that 1540MHz core clock is impressive, it happily beats the 1510MHz I managed with the RX 580 in my brother's rig


Happily? As in, you think you'll ever feel a 1.9% clock difference?


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## Aquinus (Aug 7, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> 480 is 1 generation


I wouldn't call the 480 a different generation than the 580, it's practically the same GPU.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 8, 2018)

mastershake575 said:


> Third party 580 vs third party 1060 are within 5% of each other (with the 1060 having better thermals and higher overclocking potential) and the 1070/1070ti are both anywhere from 35 to 45% faster than both.......... (different tiers ? knocking on 1070 performance ? what ????)



Go through the scores, 580 is within 7 fps of a 1070. And What's a 1060 you're limiting your graphics capability through and through


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## Nuckles56 (Aug 8, 2018)

bug said:


> Happily? As in, you think you'll ever feel a 1.9% clock difference?


Most likely yes as that card got bad memory for OC'ing and could only do 2075MHz before becoming unstable


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## MrGenius (Aug 8, 2018)

PHaS3 said:


> Thanks W1z, I know that's the max  I meant by asking, do you see any memory errors in any monitoring apps when at that clock - e.g.:
> 
> View attachment 104998
> I know if I clock higher than my 2175 I get memory errors in there. I was curious if you've seen similar because no review I have seen seems to have checked.


Meaningless at best. At worst it means your memory isn't working correctly. GDDR is ECC memory. It's been designed to correct errors. As such, what HWiNFO is showing you could possibility mean that, like I said, your ECC memory is not detecting and/or correcting errors.

What's worse is, IME, it's bassackwards. HWiNFO reports I'm getting ~90,000 "GPU Memory Errors" with the GDDR5 clocked to 1850MHz on my 280X. No artifacts or instability whatsoever. And decreasing the mem clocks kills performance. But if I run ridiculously tight timings at the same 1850MHz, artifacts start showing up...*AND*...*"GPU Memory Errors" ARE REDUCED BY ~70,000 to ~20,000*. So *WAY LESS "memory errors" = artifacts*. WTF? That shit is broken! 

HWiNFO "GPU Memory Errors" grossly misrepresent reality. Total BS.

Bottom Line: Do you see artifacts in, or have stability issues running, 3D applications? Then you're not having a problem with "too many" errors from your GPU memory.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 8, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Go through the scores, 580 is within 7 fps of a 1070. And What's a 1060 you're limiting your graphics capability through and through



Which cherry picked benchmark are you using to get the 7fps number?  Because on the very first game, you see the 1070 beat this 580 by 19FPS and the 1070Ti beats it by 27FPS...

Unless you are using the 4k results, which for this tier of graphics card is stupid.

You might be able to find a few benchmarks with framerates in the 20s where the 580 is 7 FPS slower, but at those framerates, 7FPS is a major difference.

The fact is the 1070 is on average 30% faster than this 580, and the 1070Ti is 45-50% faster.  This 580 is not, in any way shape or form, knocking on the door of those cards performance wise.  Seriously, the performance summary page is all you need to see to realize the 1060 is the same tier as the 580, and the 580 is definitely not on the same tier as the 1070/1070Ti.  The 1060 6GB is within 3% of this 580 at 1080p(where these cards are designed to be used) and within 1% of a stock 580. Even at 4K the difference only becomes 6%, and for the most part both the 1060 and 580 can't manage playable framerates at 4K, so those numbers are kind or pointless.


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## SniperHF (Aug 8, 2018)

What were the Heaven settings on the overclocking section?
Extreme preset or custom?


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## PHaS3 (Aug 8, 2018)

MrGenius said:


> But if I run ridiculously tight timings at the same 1850MHz, artifacts start showing up...*AND*...*"GPU Memory Errors" ARE REDUCED BY ~70,000 to ~20,000*. So *WAY LESS "memory errors" = artifacts*. WTF?



It could be in that case that you are seeing artifacts therefor a reduction in *detected *memory errors, because a bunch are going undetected, hence the artifacts. 

It would be interesting to know if it is a legitimate "log" of detected errors, obviously its exposed by the driver somewhere. Would it be worthless to include this in GPUZ in a future release?


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## cellar door (Aug 8, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> 390 is 2 generations back, 970 and 480 is 1 generation



A missed opportunity, considering what has been going on in the gpu market for the last year. A lot of people were and still are in the market for those gpus. Maybe something you guys can add back in, at least for a little while, until the mining aftermath settles down.  


I came here, to this review to see current relevance  a 390, as both me and my friend are looking at those gpus due to pricing. TPU performance chart has been a standard go to.


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## W1zzard (Aug 8, 2018)

I have no plans to add 390 back in. It's a few percent slower than RX 480, so that should be a good enough approximation


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## John Naylor (Aug 9, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> probably not, which is exactly why i mentioned $275 target price. hmm maybe freesync



I agree .... Adding on the cost of the bigger PSU and case fan would have to be $40 or so to even things out ... I don't even wanna think about the power costs over 3-4 years.  As for adaptive sync, don't really think about it.  I just prefer turning off G-Sync and using ULMB in most instances and MBR options on Freesync monitors are getting scarce.



bug said:


> FreeSync is better because it's free. If you have to pay more for the video card to go with it, that advantage disappears rather fast, doesn't it?



I'd agree if they were capable of delivering the same experience .. kinda like comparing 2WD and 4WD.  One lets you go off road, the other doesn't.

Freesync a)  Provides adaptive sync technology b)  Range of significant impact = 40  to 70 - 75 fps, it still has an impact above that point but trails off rapidly ... c)  No hardware module to provide Motion Blur Reduction

G-sync a)  Provides adaptive sync technology b)  Range of significant impact = 30  to 70 - 75 fps, it still has an impact above that point but trails off rapidly ... c)  Includes hardware module to provide Motion Blur Reduction (ULMB), many gamers prefer ULMB over G-Sync at high frame rates.  You can buy Free-Sync monitors with MBR technology built-in but you do have to pay extra for it and the number of available models is diminishing.


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## mastershake575 (Aug 9, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Go through the scores


 I did and they stated exactly what I said............


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## cyneater (Aug 9, 2018)

NO RGB a con. ITs a pro I hate RGB crap.. Who cares what it looks like as long as it works.


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## W1zzard (Aug 9, 2018)

cyneater said:


> NO RGB a con. ITs a pro I hate RGB crap.. Who cares what it looks like as long as it works.


I know that this is purely personal taste, so I just mention it, it doesn't affect the review in any other way.


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## dj-electric (Aug 9, 2018)

If anything, having RGB could be a pro simply because you can turn it off and appeal to both sides. This option does not even exist here.


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## W1zzard (Aug 9, 2018)

dj-electric said:


> If anything, having RGB could be a pro simply because you can turn it off and appeal to both sides. This option does not even exist here.


That's pretty much the reason I put it as con


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## bug (Aug 9, 2018)

dj-electric said:


> If anything, having RGB could be a pro simply because you can turn it off and appeal to both sides. This option does not even exist here.


There are those who will say that is still a con because you pay for hardware you don't intend to use. However you list it, you're bound to upset people.


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## Kissamies (Aug 12, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Do you realize this Card is knocking on 1070/1070 ti door for performance? Fyi 1060 is a different tier from 580 so apples to oranges comparison, nice try.


That user is just a troll, been trolling similar crap for years on Finnish forums.


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