A Closer Look

MSI's cooler uses three heatpipes to keep the card cool. This is the exact same heatsink as on their MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X.


Once the main heatsink is removed, you can see a second metal plate, which provides cooling for the VRM circuitry and memory chips.


The backplate is out of metal and protects the card against damage during handling and installation.


MSI upgraded the 6-pin power input of the reference design to an 8-pin, which is specified for up to 225 W of power draw.


We've seen the IR3567 voltage controller on several designs from AMD before. It has support for I2C voltage control and advanced monitoring.


The GDDR5 memory chips are made by Samsung and carry the model number K4G80325FB-HC25. They are specified to run at 2000 MHz (8000 MHz GDDR5 effective).


AMD's Ellesmere graphics processor introduces the company's Polaris architecture. It is produced on a 14 nm process at Globalfoundries, USA, and has a transistor count of 5.7 billlion and a die size of 232 mm².