MSI RX3850 Graphic Card Review

This month we see more red, because we have the RX3850 on review and it is the 256MB plus overclocked version of the card. As usual the card sports a red PCB that is a signature of ATI cards. There isn’t any enclosure really, just the cyborg themed sticker with a rather large fan with an equally large heatsink. The cooling system seems no different from the that of the reference card though. It works though since heat doesn’t get trapped so it’s cooler and the design of the cooling system will ensure that fan noises are kept to a minimum.

MSI was pretty frugal in the packaging though with the price point this is understandable. Other than the mandatory driver CD, a DVI/D-Sub adapter, DVI/HDMI adapter, and a S-Video to composite cable were included. The card has two DVI ports so it definitely supports dual-link DVI. You can actually get another adapter in case you need to support two monitors that only supports VGA ports. The fan is situated in the middle of the PCB and the large heatsink is designed that it’ll dispersed heat evenly and since no heat is trapped, as we mentioned earlier, the temperature for this card is relatively low at only 37°C to 57°C.

The RX3850 has CrossFire support as well as a whole slew of MSI’s own software to enhance the performance and usability of the card such as MSI’s DOT Express, Vivid image technology, the Live Update Online, and the MSI GoodMem. Nothing to explain about CrossFire as most of you should already know. The others are tools and utilities created by MSI and bundled with the RX3850 within the CD given. The DOT Express or Dynamic Overclocking Technology Express is an advanced overclocking tool for not only overclocking but also “cooling and de-noise performance”. Vivid is a tool to enhance image quality, it is said to help users get better image quality when viewing digital photos, documents, and games. Then there’s Life Update Online, which helps you to automatically download and update the BIOS and driver whenever there’s a new version online.

This is an overclocked version so of course the clockspeeds were increased though in this case only slightly so. The core clock speed is bumped up from the reference card’s 670 MHz to 690 MHz, nothing else was changed. However, if you want to you can always change the settings with the DOT Express tool.

This card is has decent performance and it’s few selling points would include low temperature, being near-noiseless, and of course the few useful utility and programs bundled along with the CD. It has a lot of useful features as does the other card, so it’s really up to your own discretion on which card you should choose.