MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming OC Edition Video Card Review

Introduction and Package

The launch of new mid-range video cards is always exciting as we tend to see not only reference cards from AMD or NVIDIA, but most partners have a unique version of their own that they can also bring to the market come launch day. The release of the new R series video cards from AMD has brought an absolute truck load of video cards into the office, and we're excited to test all of them.

Today we're looking at the R9 270X 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming OC from MSI. We've been a fan of the new Gaming series from MSI since its release earlier in the year for two reasons. The first is that MSI has created some unity between the motherboard and video card department with the Gaming series.

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If you walk into a store and see the Gaming series video card next to a Gaming series motherboard, it makes sense that you would want to buy both together. The second is that they're based around the Twin Frozr series of coolers, which have always performed very well.

The Radeon R9 270X is the first of the Gaming series cards based around the new R series from AMD, but we're sure in the coming weeks we're going to see more and more cards fall into the series. Along with being the first MSI Gaming series card we've looked at, this is also our first retail R9 270X. So, without any further delay, let's get into the package to see just what MSI is offering.

Package

Checking out the box, you can see there's nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to the overall design. We've got the typical Gaming series setup with the black and red color scheme. You can see that we're dealing with an OC Edition card along with a Twin Frozr Gaming one.

Turning the box over, you can see some of the main features that are offered, which included the Advanced Thermal Design which comes to us via the Twin Frozr IV cooler, Military Class 4 components which carry Hi-c CAP and Solid CAP, along with support for the Gaming App giving us different profiles.

Moving inside the package, there isn't too much to see. Alongside the Quick User Guide, you can see the Driver CD and two dual Molex to 6-pin PCIe power connectors to round things out.

The Card and Specifications

The Card

Looking at the card, you can see even though we're dealing with a new model, there's nothing too different to previous MSI cards we've looked at which use the Twin Frozr IV cooler.

The cooler as always looks great, though, you can see the two big fans and the massive heatsink behind, which has a couple of heat pipes coming out the bottom of the card. It will be interesting to see how the new cooler goes with the new R series cards from AMD.

Taking a look around the card, you can see that power comes in the form of two 6-pin PCIe power connectors. Next to that, you can see we've got a BIOS switch that allows us to switch around two BIOS that are installed. Staying across the top of the card, but moving to the front, you can see a single CrossFire connector.

Finally turning the corner, we have the I/O side of things. Here we've got two Dual-Link DVI connectors - one in the form of DVI-D, and the other in the form of DVI-I. We've also got a HDMI and DisplayPort connector.

Specifications

Out of the box, the MSI R9 270X 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming OC carries with it a core clock speed of 1120MHz. This is up from the default 1050MHz. As for the 2GB of GDDR5 goes, like we see most the time from MSI, it remains unchanged at 5600MHz QDR.

If you choose to install the Gaming App, though, two more settings are available on top of this. You can run Silent Mode, which changes the fan profile, but pulls the core clock down to 1050MHz. The other option is Gaming Mode which pushes the core click down to 1080MHz.

Why you would want to run lower than the 1120MHz is beyond us, especially considering the Twin Frozr has always proven to be an extremely capable cooler, and outside of abnormal noise levels, it should be fine. Of course we'll see later in the review if that's the case or not.

Benchmarks - Test System Setup

We would like to thank the following companies for supplying and supporting us with our test system hardware and equipment: Intel, ASUS and Corsair.

As we test more and more video cards, the amount of cards in our graphs are growing at a rapid rate. Alongside the MSI R9 270X 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming OC, we've got the reference R7 260X 2GB and R9 270X 2GB from AMD. We've also got the older HD 7950 PCS from PowerColor overclocked to over 1100MHz, along with the reference HD 7970 GHz Edition.

To round off the AMD side of things, we've also got the recently looked at Sapphire R9 280X 3GB TOXIC. As for the NVIDIA side of things, we've got the MSI GTX 660 HAWK 2GB, Colorful GTX 760 iGAME 2GB OC and finally the reference GTX 770 2GB.

The FPS Numbers Explained

When we benchmark our video cards and look at the graphs, we aim to get to a certain level of FPS which we consider playable. While many may argue that the human eye can't see over 24 FPS or 30 FPS, any true gamer will tell you that as we climb higher in Frames Per Seconds (FPS), the overall gameplay feels smoother. There are three numbers we're looking out for when it comes to our benchmarks.

30 FPS - It's the minimum number we aim for when it comes to games. If you're not dropping below 30 FPS during games, you're going to have a nice and smooth gaming experience. The ideal situation is that even in a heavy fire fight, the minimum stays above 30 FPS making sure that you can continue to aim easily or turn the corner with no dramas.

60 FPS - It's the average we look for when we don't have a minimum coming at us. If we're getting an average of 60 FPS, we should have a minimum of 30 FPS or better and as mentioned above, it means we've got some smooth game play happening.

120 FPS - The new number that we've been hunting down over recent months. If you're the owner of a 120 Hz monitor, to get the most out of it you want to get around the 120 FPS mark. Moving from 60 FPS / 60 Hz to 120 FPS / 120 Hz brings with it a certain fluidity that can't really be explained, but instead has to be experienced. Of course, if you're buying a 120 Hz monitor to take advantage of 3D, an average of 120 FPS in our benchmark means that in 3D you will have an average of 60 FPS, which again means you should expect some smooth gameplay.

Why are some graphs incomplete?

Adding new game benchmarks is a long, tedious and time consuming task as every video card has to be re-tested in those new benchmarks. Because of that reason we have always just evaluated our benchmark line up every six months. To stay up to date and current with the latest benchmarks and games available, we've changed our approach to adding new benchmarks.

Our benchmark line up will progress and be updated as newer more intensive games with benchmarks comes to light. While this will mean that initially you may only see a single video card in those particular graphs, as the weeks go on and we test more and more video cards, the results will grow quickly. This will help keep our benchmark line up as up to date as possible as we introduce and remove games on a constant basis.

Benchmarks - 3DMark 11

3DMark 11

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.1

Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com

Product Homepage: http://www.3dmark.com/3dmark11/

Buy It Here

3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world's most popular benchmark. Designed to measure your PC's gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

Starting with 3DMark 11, you can see that the MSI R9 270X 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming OC brings quite a nice boost in performance when compared to the reference card.

Looking at the Performance preset, you can see we get an extra 400 points that almost brings us in to the 9,000 point area.

Benchmarks - 3DMark Fire Strike

3DMark Fire Strike

Version and / or Patch Used: 1

Developer Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com

Product Homepage: http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/3dmark

Buy It Here

Fire Strike is our new showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today. Fire Strike will only be available in the Windows editions of 3DMark initially.

Moving into Fire Strike, you can see a bit of a boost at both presets.

This is still one of our more recent benchmarks, so we're still growing the results.

Benchmarks - Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Unigine Heaven Benchmark

Version and / or Patch Used: 3

Developer Homepage: http://www.unigine.com

Product Homepage: http://unigine.com/press-releases/091022-heaven_benchmark//

New benchmark grants the power to unleash the DirectX 11 potential in the gift wrapping of impressively towering graphics capabilities. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. With the interactive mode emerging experience of exploring the intricate world is ensured within reach. Through its advanced renderer, Unigine is one of the first to set precedence in showcasing the art assets with tessellation, bringing compelling visual finesse, utilizing the technology to the full extend and exhibiting the possibilities of enriching 3D gaming.

Heaven sees a slight boost in performance at both resolutions, and you can see we're slightly ahead of the HD 7970 GHz Edition at the lower resolution.

Benchmarks - Phantasy Star Online 2

Phantasy Star Online 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.sega.com/?t=EnglishUSA

Product Homepage: http://www.pso2.com/us/html/index.html

Play Phantasy Star Online 2 and experience revolutionary combat in an action-driven, free-to-play multiplayer online RPG from SEGA. Take a journey into an immersive sci-fi fantasy narrative and explore mysterious worlds to unravel their secrets. Join fellow adventurers and fight against the legions of darkness to banish them from the galaxy.

Score explanation: Less than 2000: Please adjust your game settings because the processing load is quite heavy.

2000 through 5000: The game runs fine at the setting, if you have room, you can adjust some settings.

5001+: The game works wonderfully at this setting.

PSO2 sees a bit of a boost, pushing us further into that 5,000 point realm, ensuring that performance is strong at these settings.

Benchmarks - Lost Planet 2

Lost Planet 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark - Test A Scene 1

Developer Homepage: http://www.capcom.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.lostplanet2game.com/

Lost Planet 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the sequel to Lost Planet: Extreme Condition which is also made by Capcom, taking place ten years after the events of the first game, on the same fictional planet. The story takes place back on E.D.N. III 10 years after the events of the first game. The snow has melted to reveal jungles and more tropical areas that have taken the place of more frozen regions. The plot begins with Mercenaries fighting against Jungle Pirates. After destroying a mine, the Mercenaries continue on to evacuate the area, in which a Category-G Akrid appears and attacks them. After being rescued, they find out their evacuation point (Where the Category-G appeared) was a set-up and no pick up team awaited them. The last words imply possible DLC additions to the game, "There's nothing to be gained by wiping out snow pirates... unless you had some kind of grudge."

Looking at Lost Planet 2 numbers, you can see an improvement at both 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050 with a couple of extra FPS. At the highest resolution, you can see we fall one FPS behind, which is nothing more than a bit of fluctuation in testing.

A couple of FPS boost at this resolution would've been nice, but we still would've fallen shy of the 60 FPS number we're on the hunt for.

Benchmarks - Just Cause 2

Just Cause 2

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Dark Tower

Developer Homepage: http://www.eidos.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.justcause.com/

Just Cause 2 employs the Avalanche Engine 2.0, an updated version of the engine used in Just Cause. The game is set on the other side of the world from the original Just Cause, on the fictional island of Panau in Southeast Asia. Panau has varied terrain, from desert to alpine to rainforest. Rico Rodriguez returns as the protagonist, aiming to overthrow the evil dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay and confront his former mentor, Tom Sheldon.

At the highest resolution, we really see no change between this card and the reference one.

Moving down the resolution table, you can see a couple of extra FPS are seen at both 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050.

Benchmarks - F1 2012

F1 2012

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/

Product Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com

In F1 2012 players will feel the unparalleled thrill of becoming a FORMULA ONE driver with a host of new features, wide-ranging technical and gameplay advancements and extensive competitive and co-operative multiplayer components. F1 2012 will feature all of the official teams, drivers and circuits from the 2012 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, including the debut of the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX at Austin, Texas and the return of Germany's famous Hockenheim circuit to the calendar.

You can see that we're fairly close to our overclocked HD 7950 2GB with the MSI R9 270X 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming OC managing to get a couple FPS on the PowerColor offering at the lowest resolution.

Benchmarks - Metro Last Light

Metro Last Light

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.4a-games.com/

Product Homepage: http://enterthemetro.com/ /

Metro: Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, proceeding from the ending where Artyom chose to call down the missile strike on the Dark Ones. The Rangers have since occupied the D6 military facility, with Artyom having become an official member of the group. Khan, the nomad mystic, arrives at D6 to inform Artyom and the Rangers that a single Dark One survived the missile strike. Khan believes the Dark One is the key to humanity's future, and wants to make peace with it, while Ranger leader Colonel Miller wants to kill the creature due to its potential threat. Miller sends Artyom to the surface with a mission to kill the Dark One; he is accompanied by Anna, Miller's sarcastic daughter and the Rangers' best sniper.

While Metro Last Light sees a little bit of movement across the board, you can see we're still below the 60 FPS number we need at all resolutions for smooth gameplay.

Benchmarks - Dirt Showdown

Dirt Showdown

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/

Product Homepage: http://www.codemasters.com/uk/dirtshowdown/360/

DiRT Showdown is the new arcade racing game from the team that brought you the award-winning DiRT series, uncaged in 2012. Pick up and play controls combine with electrifying events, frenzied crowds and stunning graphics to deliver high octane, dive in and drive thrills from event one.

Dirt Showdown has always made good use of overclocking and you can see a nice boost at all resolutions.

Benchmarks - Nexuiz

Nexuiz

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.alientrap.org/

Product Homepage: http://www.nexuiz.com/

Nexuiz is an Arena First Person shooter coming soon to consoles. Nexuiz is fast paced with extremely competitive game play. IllFonic brings Alientrap Software's Nexuiz to next-gen gaming consoles around the world while staying true to the game play refined over the years through development. IllFonic introduces a new Victorian influenced art style that is simultaneously futuristic and sophisticated. Nexuiz for consoles is powered by CryENGINE 3.

We continue to have issues with Nexuiz. Hopefully it sorts itself out soon and we can figure out how to bring it back into our benchmarking line up.

Benchmarks - Sniper Elite V2

Sniper Elite V2

Version and / or Patch Used: Standalone Benchmark

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.rebellion.co.uk/

Product Homepage: http://sniperelitev2.com/us/age.html

Sniper Elite V2 features detailed sniping simulation with advanced ballistics, taking into account gravity, wind, velocity, bullet penetration, aim stability and more. Guaranteed to provide players with the most realistic simulation of military sharpshooting yet available.

Sniper Elite V2 sees a little bit of movement and you can see at 1920 x 1200 we get a bit more breathing room, as we move from the 60 FPS range and into the 70 FPS range.

At the highest resolution, though, you can see we do continue to fall short of the 60 FPS number.

Benchmarks - Sleeping Dogs

Sleeping Dogs

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://eu.square-enix.com/en

Product Homepage: http://www.sleepingdogs.net/

The core gameplay of Sleeping Dogs consists of giving the player an open world environment in which to move around freely. Sleeping Dogs is played as an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective action-adventure game with role-playing elements. The player controls Wei Shen, a Chinese-American police officer, as he goes undercover to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization. On foot, the player character has the ability to walk, run, jump, climb over obstacles and swim, as well as use weapons and martial arts in combat. Players also drive a variety of vehicles including cars, boats, and motorcycles.

Sleeping Dogs sees a couple of FPS across the board and the 2560 x 1600 boost from 67 FPS to 69 FPS is nice. While it's not much, we always appreciate a couple of extra FPS when we're in the 60 FPS range.

Benchmarks - Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.01

Timedemo or Level Used: Ranch Long

Developer Homepage: http://www.ubi.com

Product Homepage: http://www.farcry2.com

Buy It Here

The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and so much more.

Far Cry 2 sees a bit of extra performance across the board, but as usual, it's not really needed these days on the mid-range offerings as they continue to be more and more powerful.

Please Note: We still include Far Cry 2 in our benchmarks (we know it's old) as a way for our readers to get a general representation of how older games perform on new hardware.

Benchmarks - Hitman Absolution

Hitman Absolution

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.ioi.dk/

Product Homepage: http://hitman.com/

Hitman: Absolution is an action-adventure stealth game developed by I/O Interactive and published by Square Enix. It is the fifth entry in the Hitman game series, and runs on I/O Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine. Before release, the developers stated that Absolution would be easier to play and more accessible, while still retaining hardcore aspects of the franchise. The game was released on 20 November 2012, which is in the 47th week of the year (in reference to the protagonist, Agent 47).

You can see a bit of movement across the board under Hitman Absolution. At the highest resolution, though, we'd still prefer an extra couple of FPS in the average department, even, though, the minimum is quite strong at 43 FPS.

Benchmarks - Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://www.nixxes.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.tombraider.com/us/base/agegate?refer=184&

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure platform video game. Published by Square Enix, Tomb Raider is the fifth title developed by Crystal Dynamics in the Tomb Raider franchise. As the first entry in a new Tomb Raider continuity, the game is a reboot that emphasizes the reconstructed origins of the culturally influential lead character Lara Croft. Tomb Raider was released on 5 March 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows to universal critical acclaim.

Tomb Raider sees a decent little bump in performance across the board. The average increase from 54 FPS to 57 FPS is nice at 1680 x 1050. Even, though, we're not at the 60 FPS number we like, the strong 43 FPS minimum makes us feel comfortable with the 57 FPS average.

Above that, while we see a boost in performance, the numbers are still too low for the game to be playable.

Benchmarks - BioShock Infinite

BioShock Infinite

Version and / or Patch Used: Latest Steam Update

Timedemo or Level Used: Built in Benchmark

Developer Homepage: http://irrationalgames.com/

Product Homepage: http://www.bioshockinfinite.com

BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game and the third installment in the BioShock series. Previously known as "Project Icarus", it is being developed by Irrational Games and was released worldwide on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms on March 26, 2013. BioShock Infinite is not part of the storyline of previous BioShock games but features similar gameplay concepts and themes.

BioShock sees a slight bump in FPS at the lower resolutions and nothing at 2560 x 1600. The game continues to be playable at 1680 x 1050, but moving above that, the numbers are just too low.

Benchmarks - Battlefield 4 Open Beta

Battlefield 4 Open Beta

Version and / or Patch Used: Open Beta

Timedemo or Level Used: Custom 60 Second Run with FRAPS

Developer Homepage: http://dice.se/

Product Homepage: https://www.battlefield.com/games/battlefield-4

Battlefield 4 (also known as BF4) is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game is a sequel to 2011's Battlefield 3. Battlefield 4 features several changes compared to its predecessor. The game's heads-up display is much the same, composed of two compact rectangles. The lower left-hand corner features a mini-map and compass for navigation, and a simplified objective notice above it; the lower right includes a compact ammo counter and health meter. The mini-map, as well as the main game screen, shows symbols marking three kinds of entities: blue for allies, green for squadmates, and red/orange for enemies.

Looking at our latest benchmark Battlefield 4 Open Beta, you can see some pretty strong numbers at both 1920 x 1200 and 1680 x 1050. That said, we wouldn't complain about a couple of extra FPS at 1920 x 1200 in the average department.

We like the fact that there's little fluctuation between the minimum and average, though.

Benchmarks - High Quality AA and AF

High Quality AA and AF

While we test all our games with maximum in-game settings, turning on Anti-Aliasing (AA) and Antistrophic Filtering (AF) helps take the intensity of our testing to another level.

Here we see video cards go from playable FPS to an unplayable FPS and the real power houses continue to help break that 60 FPS mark we always aim for to provide a smooth gaming experience.

Checking out Far Cry 2 performance, you can see a bit of a bump, but just overall strong FPS at both resolutions.

Metro Last Light with AA and AF sees no change at both resolutions, meaning the game remains unplayable at these settings.

Just Cause 2 sees just an extra FPS at both resolutions. We continue to have playable numbers at 1920 x 1200, but when we move to 2560 x 1600, the numbers are just still too low.

Sleeping Dogs sees an extra FPS at 1920 x 1200 and nothing at 2560 x 1600. Like Metro Last Light, when we turn AA and AF on, the game is unplayable.

Temperature Test

The temperature of the core is pulled from MSI Afterburner with the max reading used after a completed run off 3DMark Vantage and the Performance preset.

Checking out the core temperature, you can see we're sitting well in to the bottom half of the graph here with a 59c load temperature.

Sound Test

Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).

With such good noise levels out of the box at the highest clock speed, we're not sure why you would really bother sacrificing the core speed to go any lower with the different modes on offer from MSI.

Power Consumption Test

Using our PROVA Power Analyzer WM-01 or "Power Thingy" as it has become quickly known as to our readers, we are now able to find out what kind of power is being used by our test system and the associated graphics cards installed. Keep in mind; it tests the complete system (minus LCD monitor, which is plugged directly into AC wall socket).

There are a few important notes to remember though; while our maximum power is taken in 3DMark06 at the same exact point, we have seen in particular tests the power being drawn as much as 10% more. We test at the exact same stage every time; therefore tests should be very consistent and accurate.

The other thing to remember is that our test system is bare minimum - only a SSD hard drive is used with a single CD ROM and minimal cooling fans.

So while the system might draw 400 watts in our test system, placing it into your own PC with a number of other items, the draw is going to be higher.

Power draw is great, and you can see we're sitting towards the bottom of the graph here, with just under 350 Watt being used at load.

Pricing, Availability and Final Thoughts

Hitting at $199.99 at the time of writing, the MSI R9 270X 2GB Twin Frozr Gaming OC hits at the same low price point of many other launched non-reference designed R9 270X based video cards. Of course, it's a little early to tell just how it compares to others, but as always, MSI is helping us start out strong with this new model.

The Twin Frozr IV cooler hasn't disappointed before and nor has the new Gaming Series since MSI launched it. While this is the first retail version of the R9 270X we've looked at, we wouldn't hesitate recommending it.

While we didn't find any real flaws, we do leave with a few question marks over our head. With such good noise numbers at the highest clock speed, we're not sure why you would bother using the Gaming or Silent Modes offered. We're almost at the point where the CPU cooler is making the majority of the noise. The other thing is the Dual BIOS switch doesn't really seem to do anything in this case. We had to flash the BIOS of the card and we flashed the exact same BIOS to both ends of the switch.

When it comes to the bundle, in typical style, it's on the light side. We've really only got the bare necessity on offer here. Saying that, though, this is the path most companies take these days, instead they let the actual product do the talking, and that's what we prefer.

If you're a fan of MSI video cards and you're looking to buy a card that hits at that under $200 price point, this is a good option. The performance is strong and the look of the model is great. One of the highlights, as usual, is the quality of the cooler - the Twin Frozr IV continues to impress.