Wednesday, October 2nd 2013
MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming and R9 270X HAWK Graphics Cards Pictured
Here are the first pictures of MSI's Radeon R9 280X Gaming and Radeon R9 270X HAWK graphics cards. The two feature MSI's TwinFrozr IV cooling solution, which made waves with the GeForce GTX 700 series. Captured from a PDF intended for distributors/retailers, the picture reveals an alleged R9 280X Gaming overlapping an R9 270X (which could be made out with its single CrossFire connector). MSI could launch two variants of the R9 280X Gaming, one which sticks to reference clock speeds, and the other factory-overclocked. The R9 270X HAWK could feature the highest level of factory-overclocking from MSI, for the chip.
Source:
VideoCardz
17 Comments on MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming and R9 270X HAWK Graphics Cards Pictured
I think AMD is looking very strong with these cards but i am a little worried about the performance, benchmark leaks seem to put it in and around the titan/overclock 780 performance.
Which on the surface seems great as these cards look like costing 40% less but the titan is especially just a Tesla K20X which came out in November 2012 and even that was massively delayed was first talked about in May.
My point is shouldn't AMD's brand new cards (well the R9 290X) not be smashing these 2 year old cards out of the water and looking to hit Maxwell?
Also, what about the R7-260X?
TwinFrozr 4 heh...
Version 3 (on 7870) features:
- Propeller Blade on Twin Frozr III
- The special blade design generates 20% more airflow than traditional design.
- 15℃ cooler & 9dB quieter than reference design.
I'm curious for the version 4 improvements!V1: Two fans
V2: 'Superpipe' (aka 8mm heatpipe)
V3: Propeller blade (apparently increases airflow)
V4: Reverse flow on startup (apparently helps to reduce dust on the heatsink)
And it's not an odd choice considering the fact that not everyone simply has $600 to blow on a graphics card, so we offer something cheaper that can beat higher tiered (and more expensive) products right out of the box.
So, forget the mindset that overclocking=expensive high end products.
Rather focus on where this product is positioned within its own segment and it makes perfect sense since not everyone with a Z87 motherboard will rock 2-way 780 SLI.
For example:
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 Gaming 2GB Video Card ($255.91 @ Newegg)
Total: $400.90
Motherboard: MSI Z87 MPOWER SP ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 Hawk 2GB Video Card ($295.91 @ Newegg)
Total: $495.90
If Nvidia actually had the GTX 760 Ti to fill the $150 gap between the 760 and the 770, it would be more practical to pickup a 760 Ti Gaming card with the G45 gaming motherboard in place of the 760 Hawk build. The difference in price between the 270X and the 280X is $100 so in that scenario, the Hawk build wouldn't seem very practical.
Of course this is irrelevant if someone doesn't care if their components match...