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The MSI R9 280 Gaming ships in a compact box featuring the distinctive MSI ‘Dragon'. No pictures of the hardware on the front sadly but the company do mention the Twin Frozr IV cooler bottom left.
The bundle includes a software disc, some video and power converter cables and some literature on the product. I was pleasantly surprised to see a Crossfire bridge cable also included.
The MSI R9 280 Gaming is a nice looking card, finished like many of the other cards in their range. The Black and red cooler comprises two large fans with a MSI badge set between them. The PCB is black to match.
The MSI R9 280 Gaming is fully Crossfire capable. There is a BIOS switch which offers different speeds.
933MHz Core (Boost Clock:1000MHz) (OC mode)
933MHz Core (Boost Clock:972MHz) (Gaming mode)
We test the card in the default 972mhz position today.
It takes power from a single 8 pin and 6 pin connector.
The fan connector is located right at the edge of the card. For some reason it was disconnected on our card when we received it, but it was easy enough to reconnect.
It is a good looking solution from any angle – with some tasty heat pipe exposure along the upper length.
On the backplate is a DVI connector, alongside an HDMI and two mini DisplayPort connectors.
The Twin Frozr IV cooler is a very effective design. MSI have formed it around a nickel plated core with 5 heatpipes. One of the heatpipes is thicker than the other four and runs along the length of one of the heatsinks.
The core clock speed of this card is 972mhz. The Tahiti core is manufactured on the 28nm process. It has 32 ROP's, 112 texture units and 1792 unified shaders. The 3GB of Hynix GDDR5 memory runs at 1,250mhz (5Gbps effective) and is connected via a 384 bit memory interface.
