![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Monday , October 01, 2007
- Author:
- Matthew Krysiak
- Editor:
- Brent Justice
- Google +1
MSI RX2600XT Diamond
How does MSI’s new factory overclocked Radeon HD 2600 XT GPU based video card sporting a dual-slot heatsink and fan design stack up in the latest games? We also find out if there are any true gaming experience differences between ATI’s reference clock speeds and MSI’s overclock.
Introduction
Mirco-Star International (MSI) has become known for their motherboards, video cards, and more recently notebooks. They were founded in 1986 and manufacture ATI and NVIDIA GPUs along with Intel and AMD motherboards.
In this evaluation we will be looking at the MSI RX2600XT Diamond in comparison to a XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX Edition and doing apples to apples comparisons with an ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT using the latest games. To learn all about the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT read here.
MSI has a few new additions to their mainstream video card product lineup marked with a new description labeled “Diamond.” This is simply to distinguish them as being the highest-end video cards of their class packed with all the bells and whistles. These video cards are not to be confused in any way with Diamond Multimedia’s video cards, though it can seem confusing when you see “MSI RX2600 XT Diamond” printed on the box. In this case the Diamond edition indicates that these are factory overclocked video cards and offer HDMI support with a new dual-slot cooling solution.
The MSI RX2600XT Diamond features a dual-slot cooling solution and the highest factory overclock we have seen on a Radeon HD 2600 XT GPU based video card. The GPU is running at 850 MHZ (50 MHz over the reference design of 800 MHz). The 256MB of GDDR4 video card memory is running at 2.3 GHz (1150 MHz actual), which is 100 MHz faster than the 2.2 GHz reference design. This video card is unique because MSI did not stick to the reference design for the heatsink and completely designed in a unique dual-slot cooling system.
The RX2600 XT Diamond Plus is basically the same video card but with 512MB of GDDR4. We will be reviewing the 256MB version since we found out that 512MB of RAM at this level of performance makes no impact on the gameplay experience.
We want to see: how the MSI RX2600XT Diamond OC Edition performs in the latest games when compared to the XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX Edition, how much the overclock helps when compared to a reference design, and if the dual slot cooler solution makes any difference at all.
MSI RX2600XT Diamond
The front of the box features a portrait of a robotic girl along with listing other specs like 256MB DDR4 and PCI-Express. There is also an OC Edition sticker on the front but nowhere on the box does it say how much of a factory overclock this card is receiving. On the back we again see the robotic girl along with a list of features and minimum system requirements. There are two stickers also on the back which tells us that the DVI ports can use an adaptor to convert it into the latest HDMI port that outputs both video and sound.
Opening the box up and taking out the tray we can see that card is held snugly and protectively in place. At first glance we got our hopes up that this was a heavy duty copper cooler, unfortunately it’s not. It is aluminum. The card is bundle with a manual, a quick user’s guide, a driver CD, a DVI to VGA adapter, a DVI to HDMI adapter, an S-Video extension cable, a 9-pin to component cable, and a 9-pin to S-Video/composite cable.
The MSI RX2600XT Diamond OC Edition is a unique design produced by MSI and uses a black PCI board, metal IO bracket and is nine and half inches long. That is two inches longer then our 8600 GT. So if you have small case measure first to make sure you able to fit this monster. The top of the heatsink is a transparent red plastic with the robotic girl on it. The DVI ports are a special “mazarine(sp) blue” to emphasize that you can convert the signal into latest HDMI signal that outputs audio and video. It does not require any auxiliary power connections and supports native CrossFire and Windows Vista.
We were excited about this video card because we thought it had a great dual-slot cooling solution that would allow us to achieve magnificent overclocks considering the 65nm nature of this GPU. Unfortunately upon further inspection there are a few glaring problems. The size of the heatsink is a bit underwhelming. Instead of the heatsink laying flat across the video card it is raised, like a CPU heatsink block; this means that the shroud is also raised, leaving space underneath. We were disappointed that the heatsink was so small horizontally across the video card, though it does sport some heatpipe action. The fan is definitely much larger than the stock heatsink on an ATI reference video card design but runs slower and quieter while still pumping out plenty of air.
Neither the memory heatsink nor the power circuitry heatsink are attached to the primary GPU cooler and have no air from the fan directly aimed at them. This means the memory is entirely passively cooled and sandwiched underneath the plastic shroud preventing decent airflow circulation. The other major problem is that the plastic heatsink shroud does not connect with the back IO bracket vent which means all the hot air this video card vents gets dumped into your case rather than being ducted out the back. There is a vent on the back, but with the shroud not ducting the air it is rather pointless. Overall it looks like a great piece of hardware, but under the hood it seems to be lacking in a few areas.
Price
One of the best features about this card is the price, the MSI RX2600XT Diamond is currently $114.99 after a $20 mail-in rebate. The XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX Edition is currently $119.99 also after a $20 mail-in rebate. At these prices it is hard to complain, so let’s look at some gameplay analysis.