MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT Gaming X 8 GB
December, 2019Type
Graphics CardPrice
$224.99 USMSI Radeon RX 5500 XT Gaming X 8 GB Closer Look + Teardown
MSI’s Twin Frozr heat sinks are some of the most iconic heatsink cooling solutions that I have ever tested. With the Radeon RX 5500 series cards, MSI is offering a brand new Twin Frozr 7 design. The Radeon RX 5700 Gaming X measures at 247 x 128 x 47 mm and takes up two slots. This is simply put a smaller version of the Radeon RX 5700 Gaming X series design which was a 2.5 slot beast.
The design of the MSI RX Gaming X series is brand new, as in we haven't seen a similar shroud and backplate design on any other cards even though there have been several Twin Frozr variants that came before it. The red and black color scheme along with the brushed aluminum finish does look good, offering a cleaner look than the more futuristic-looking GeForce based Twin Frozr cards.
The back of the card features a solid backplate which looks stunning with its dual-tone finish that comes in matte grey and brushed aluminum colors. The backplate is made out of solid metal and has several heat pads to dissipate heat off the back.
The dual fan Torx Fan 3.0 has already been seen on MSI's Gaming (Twin Frozr) variants but the Gaming X series for Radeon RX 5500 just has that unique feeling which I got when I tested their high-end Radeon RX 5700 Gaming X series a few months back.
The new heatsink is a slightly modified version of the one used on MSI's Gaming X series with the main changes being the shroud and a massive wave-curved heatsink design that takes up most of the space on this behemoth.
Coming to the fans, the card actually features two based on the Torx 3.0 system. Both fans combine traditional and dispersion fan blade technology to offer better cooling performance.
The dispersion fan blade technology has a steeper curved blade that accelerates airflow and as such increases effectiveness in keeping the GPU cool. All fans deploy double ball bearing design and can last a long time while operating silently.
The MSI TORX 3.0 fans deliver 50% more air pressure than standard blade fans and 15% more air pressure than MSI's TORX 2.0 fans. Utilizing the dispersion blade fan technology allows for higher static pressure and air to be pushed through the aluminum fin heatsink.
MSI also features their Zero Frozr technology on the Twin Frozr heatsink. This feature won’t spin the fans on the card unless they reach a certain threshold. In the case of the Twin Frozr heatsink, that limit is set to 60C. If the card is operating under 60C, the fans won’t spin which means no extra noise would be generated.
I am back at talking about the full-coverage, full metal-based backplate which both card use. The whole plate is made of solid metal with rounded edges that add to the durability of this card. The matte and brushed aluminum finish on the backplate gives a unique aesthetic.
We can also see the MSI Dragon logo on the back which looks stunning. MSI is also using heat pads beneath the backplate which offer more cooling to the electrical circuitry on the PCB.
There's no multi-GPU connector on the card as AMD uses their XDMA architecture for CrossFireX capabilities. This allows GPUs to communicate directly over the PCIe bus rather than an external bridge.
With the outsides of the card done, I will now start taking a glance at what's beneath the hood of these monster graphics cards. The first thing to catch my eye is the humungous fin stack that's part of the beefy heatsink which the cards utilize.
The fin stack runs all the way from the front and to the back of the PCB. The heatsink features the concentrated heatsink design, making contact with the copper baseplate that sits right over the GPU die.
You can see that four 6mm copper heat pipes run through the aluminum finned heatsink. The copper heat pipes come out from the GPU block and cover the entire aluminum heatsink block.
The base itself is a solid nickel-plated base plate, transferring heat to the heat pipes in a very effective manner. To top it all off, MSI uses its exclusive Thermal Compound X which is said to offer higher thermal interface and heat transfer compared to traditional TIM applications.
I/O on the graphics card sticks with the reference scheme which includes three Display Port 1.4a, & a single HDMI 2.0b.
MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT Gaming X Teardown:
The MSI Radeon RX 5500 Gaming X makes use of a full non-reference PCB design, featuring a 7+1 Phase design and coupled with better components such as solid-state capacitors along with a series of higher-quality chokes. MSI also uses several thermal pads and an anti-bending bracket.
The MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT Gaming X is powered by a single 8 pin power connector that feeds the card. The Radeon RX 5500 XT Gaming X has a rated TDP of 130 Watts, the same as the reference model.
Contents
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The MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT Gaming X graphics card for just a $25 US premium over the MSRP gives you an absolute beast of a cooler with fantastic aesthetics, cool & quiet operation, a custom PCB with a factory overclock and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory for under $250 US while delivering performance on par or even better in some cases than the GTX 1660.
- A true replacement for Radeon RX 400/500 series
- Faster Than GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB Graphics Card
- Massive 8 GB GDDR6 memory under $250 US
- Huge efficiency increase over Polaris cards
- Runs very cool and quiet with 0db fan technology
- Great factory overclock out of the box
- Amazing Shroud design with Twin Frozr 7
- Performance and Silent Mode Options in Dragon Center App
- TORX 3.0 cooling system with finned aluminum heatsink
- First GPUs Built Entirely on 7nm Process node
- PCI-e Gen 4.0 Support
- Good I/O (DSC 1.2a for 8K 60 Hz, Triple Display Ports 1.4 HDR, HDMI 2.0)
Pros
- Very High Price ($224.99 US)
- No dedicated hardware for Ray Tracing
- Not a lot of overclocking headroom left
- Power consumption still not on par with NVIDIA's 12nm
Cons
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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