MSI Radeon RX 570/580 MECH 2 Review

TweakTown's Rating: 91%

The Bottom Line

MSI's new Radeon RX 570/580 MECH 2 are great iterations of their already strong RX 500 series line up, with impressive thermals and noise levels for those all-night gaming sessions. FreeSync monitor owners will want to check out the MECH 2 cards for sure.

Introduction, Availability and Price

MSI made their new Radeon RX 570 and Radeon RX 580 MECH 2 graphics cards known on July 31 without unboxing and first impressions right here, so I won't spend too much time re-introducing the card.

The new RX 570 MECH 2 will fall into the $300-$320 category where it will directly compete against NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1060, and able to handle games at 1080p 60FPS without a problem. If you want 10-20% more performance the more expensive RX 580 MECH 2 will be the one for you, but it's not worth it if you're only wanting to hit 1080p 60FPS.

MSI has used a fully custom PCB on the two MECH 2 graphics cards, with impressive thermal performance throughout our benchmarking and gaming sessions on both cards. They both don't get loud either, which is another win for MSI. They're also stylish looking cards, which is important these days with RGB lights going off in gaming PCs that light up the backplate on the MECH 2 cards beautifully.

But do you need to be paying attention to the RX 570/580 MECH 2 cards? Well, considering the holidays are right around the corner, it is a great time to build a new gaming PC.

NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 11 series graphics cards are supposedly launching in the next month or so with custom GTX 1180 and GTX 1170 graphics cards to launch in August/September from various AIB partners, including MSI. Between now and Q2 2019, there will be no new Radeon GPUs released meaning MSI has something new in Radeon with its MECH 2 cards. It might not be new technology, but a refreshed cheaper option of the RX 570 and RX 580 isn't a bad thing.

80% of gamers are playing with 1080p monitors so an RX 570 is a perfect upgrade headed into huge releases like Battlefield V and the likes of Fortnite, PUBG, Overwatch, League of Legends, CS:GO, and tons of other games that run like butter on the RX 570 at 1080p 60FPS. This is where the MECH 2 cards stand out, and why we'll go into more detail about them in this review.

MSI will be selling the new Radeon RX 570 MECH 2 for around $300-$320 while the RX 580 MECH 2 will sell for $350-$370.

Specifications

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MSI have a few OC profiles on the RX 580 MECH 2 OC with Silent, Gaming and OC Modes. Silent Mode has the GPU clock at 1340MHz, Gaming Mode knocks it up to 1380MHz while OC Mode has the GPU cranked to 1393MHz. The 8GB of GDDR5 is at 8Gbps under Silent/Gaming modes while it's at 8.1Gbps under OC Mode.

Detailed Look

Unboxing + Closer Look

Just like with virtually all other MSI graphics cards, the company doesn't skimp on first impressions with the MECH 2 series graphics cards.

The front of the Radeon RX 580 MECH 2 box shows us everything we need to know: it's the OC edition with Torx fan 2.0 technology. AMD has great branding in the bottom right, where we see the RX 580 rocks out with DX12 and Vulkan support, Radeon Chill technology, FreeSync 2 technology, and Radeon ReLive Capture support - as well as being Radeon VR Ready.

On the back of the box we have more details on the card, with 8GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit memory bus and its display connectivity. You'll need a single 8-pin PCIe power connector and a decent PSU to run it.

There's not much going on with the sides of the box, but the usual branding from AMD is there.

The front of the MSI Radeon RX 580 MECH 2 features the dual-fan cooler, with the usual red/black styling throughout.

MSI uses a slick-looking backplate on the RX 580 MECH 2 graphics card.

Display output wise we have 2 x DP, 2 x HDMI and 1 x DVI... plenty for any monitor setup.

All of this runs from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector.

MSI has a dual-slot graphics card on its hands with the MECH 2 series, coming it at thinner than a dual-slot cooler. I'd love to see it shrunken down into a single-slot cooler if the DVI port was ditched... that would be awesome.

Test System Specs

Our New GPU Test Rig

Welcome to the latest revision of our GPU test bed, with our system being upgraded from the Intel Core i7-7700K to the Core i7-8700K. The CPU is cooled by the Corsair H115i PRO cooler, with the 8700K overclocked to 5GHz. We've stayed with GIGABYTE for our motherboard with their awesome Z370 AORUS Gaming 7.

We approached our friends at HyperX for a kit of their kick ass HyperX Predator DDR4-2933MHz RAM (HX429C15PB3AK4/32), with 2 x 8GB sticks for a total of 16GB DDR4-2933. The RAM stands out through every minute of our testing as it has beautiful RGB lights giving the system a slick look while benchmarking our lives away, while the Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 motherboard joins in with its own array of RGB lighting.

Detailed Tech Specs

• CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K @ 5GHz
• Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H115i PRO
• MB: Z370 AORUS Gaming 7
• RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) HyperX Predator DDR4-2933
• SSD: 1TB OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2
• SSD: 512GB OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2
• PSU: InWin 1065W PSU
• Chassis: In Win X-Frame
• OS: Windows 10 Pro x64

Additional Images

Benchmarks - 3DMark/Heaven

3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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3DMark Fire Strike Extreme - 1440p

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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3DMark Fire Strike Ultra - 4K

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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3DMark TimeSpy

TimeSpy is the DX12 benchmark portion of 3DMark, ready to test your new Windows 10 gaming PC. The TimeSpy Extreme benchmark ramps things up to 4K, driving your PC to its limits.

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3DMark TimeSpy Extreme

TimeSpy is the DX12 benchmark portion of 3DMark, ready to test your new Windows 10 gaming PC. The TimeSpy Extreme benchmark ramps things up to 4K, driving your PC to its limits.

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Heaven - 1080p

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

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Heaven - 1440p

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Heaven - 4K

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Heaven - 3440x1440

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Benchmarks - 1080p

1080p Benchmarks

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Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.

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Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

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Metro: Last Light Redux comes from developer 4A Games, making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

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Rainbow Six Siege was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and released in 2015, with the AnvilNext 2.0 graphics engine. It was a huge reboot of the Rainbow Six brand, and has been super popular ever since. Rainbow Six Siege also makes great use of Ubisoft's RealBlast technology, something that opens up the possibilities of destructible environments.

You can buy Rainbow Six Siege on Steam or Uplay.

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Far Cry 5 was released in 2018, and it was also developed by Ubisoft Montreal in collaboration with Ubisoft Toronto. It uses the Dunia Engine, which is a modified version of CryEngine.

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Benchmarks - 1440p

1440p Benchmarks

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Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.

55

55

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

55

55

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from developer 4A Games, making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

55

55

Rainbow Six Siege was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and released in 2015, with the AnvilNext 2.0 graphics engine. It was a huge reboot of the Rainbow Six brand, and has been super popular ever since. Rainbow Six Siege also makes great use of Ubisoft's RealBlast technology, something that opens up the possibilities of destructible environments.

You can buy Rainbow Six Siege on Steam or Uplay.

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Far Cry 5 was released in 2018, and it was also developed by Ubisoft Montreal in collaboration with Ubisoft Toronto. It uses the Dunia Engine, which is a modified version of CryEngine.

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Benchmarks - 4K

4K Benchmarks

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Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.

55

55

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

55

55

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from developer 4A Games, making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

55

55

Rainbow Six Siege was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and released in 2015, with the AnvilNext 2.0 graphics engine. It was a huge reboot of the Rainbow Six brand, and has been super popular ever since. Rainbow Six Siege also makes great use of Ubisoft's RealBlast technology, something that opens up the possibilities of destructible environments.

You can buy Rainbow Six Siege on Steam or Uplay.

55

55

Far Cry 5 was released in 2018, and it was also developed by Ubisoft Montreal in collaboration with Ubisoft Toronto. It uses the Dunia Engine, which is a modified version of CryEngine.

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Benchmarks - 3440x1440

3440x1440 Benchmarks

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Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.

55

55

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

55

55

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from developer 4A Games, making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

55

55

Rainbow Six Siege was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and released in 2015, with the AnvilNext 2.0 graphics engine. It was a huge reboot of the Rainbow Six brand, and has been super popular ever since. Rainbow Six Siege also makes great use of Ubisoft's RealBlast technology, something that opens up the possibilities of destructible environments.

You can buy Rainbow Six Siege on Steam or Uplay.

55

55

Far Cry 5 was released in 2018, and it was also developed by Ubisoft Montreal in collaboration with Ubisoft Toronto. It uses the Dunia Engine, which is a modified version of CryEngine.

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What's Hot, What's Not

What's Hot

1080p 60FPS Gaming: All of the important games like Fortnite, PUBG and other popular games will have no worries running at 1080p 60FPS on a mix of medium/high detail. We were running Ultra details (without AA enabled) throughout our testing and hitting 60FPS without much of a problem at 1080p.

3440x1440 Gaming @ 30FPS Is Possible: UltraWide monitors are super-popular right now, with the new MSI Radeon RX 570/580 MECH 2 handling 3440x1440 at around 30FPS average in most of our testing. This isn't enough for competitive multiplayer, which is something you're not going to do on a 21:9 display in the first place, but 30FPS is fine for single player games like The Witcher 3.

Perfect For eSports Gaming: All of those big eSports games in CS:GO, Overwatch, League of Legends, and Rocket League will be super-smooth on the RX 570/580 MECH 2 graphics cards.

DX12/FreeSync 2 Support: Another big win for anyone upgrading from an older graphics card is that you'll receive FreeSync 2 support, as well as DX12. There are plenty of gamers who own older-gen hardware that won't have support for DX12, but with an upgrade to the new MSI Radeon RX 570/580 MECH 2 cards, you'll score yourself DX12 support.

Power Efficient: If you've got an older PC with a PSU that isn't quite able to handle a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or Radeon RX Vega 64, you'll be OK with the RX 570/580 MECH 2 cards. They each require a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, keeping the power consumption for an entire gaming rig at under 250-300W.

What's Not

There's not much to criticize here, as we weren't expecting new performance numbers or something that beat the best from NVIDIA. This is a new line of cards (MECH 2) that will be sold alongside the GAMING X range from MSI. It's a refreshed package that offers gamers a great upgrade for the price ($300-$370 depending on the card/market).

Final Thoughts

MSI has placed two new graphics cards on the market that will serve gamers well, especially those with 1080p and 1440p displays that are wanting something beefier than their older HD 7970/R9 290 or GTX 960/970. There's FreeSync 2 support, DX12, and so much more with the RX 500 series. Throw on top of it all MSI's refreshed cooler on the MECH 2 cards and you have some mid-range champions.

The cards are both powered with just a single 8-pin PCIe power connector and with under 250W total power consumption from our high-end Core i7-8700K test rig, you can rest assured a high quality 400W PSU is all you're going to need. Backing up the single 8-pin PCIe power connector are the display connections, with a plethora to use: 2 x HDMI, 2 x DP, and 1 x DVI.

This might be lower than the 3 x DP we've been seeing on GeForce GTX 10 series and Radeon RX Vega graphics cards, but MSI is making a smarter move here. Most people buying a sub $300 card aren't going to have three DisplayPort monitor to plug into it, but they might have a TV they want to plug in - as well as a HDMI-based monitor alongside a DisplayPort-capable display. Hell, you could have a TV plugged into the RX 570/580 MECH 2 and an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive headset and not have to constantly unplug your TV from the graphics card.

All in all, this isn't a new graphics card launching but a nice refresh by MSI to their line up of Radeon RX 570/580 cards by introducing the MECH 2 family. It's being released at a time when the cryptocurrency mining wave is dying down heavily, games like Fortnite and PUBG are dominating and played by tens of millions of people per day, and then the huge games like Battlefield V that are right around the corner.

If you're not interested in going down the exclusive G-Sync monitor route with NVIDIA, AMD is putting gamers without the additional budget in such a good position with Radeon and FreeSync. FreeSync monitor are cheaper, and with a $300 graphics card mixed in you can get a serious 1080p/1440p display and game your heart out at 60FPS without a problem.

MSI has created a great new product in a time when AMD doesn't have anything new in the Radeon department, which is at least something for Team Red gamers. Mix this with a potently cheap FreeSync gaming display and you're good to go. You can even buy a 1080p 144Hz high refresh rate gaming display and still get away with the RX 570/580 depending on the game you're playing.

MSI's new Radeon RX 570/580 MECH 2 graphics cards will be available in the coming weeks in select markets.