Radeon R9 270x ASUS vs. MSi

[Boyan Kushlev]

http://www.msi.com/product/vga/R9_270X_GAMING_2G.html#hero-overview

http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/R9270XDC2T2GD5/

I've come to these two options and I cannot decide. The MSi is slightly cheaper, and they both have a 3 year warranty. Which one is better in terms of cooling and failure rating? Personally, I prefer ASUS as a brand, but I'd like to hear your opinion.

P.S. What about the MSi HAWK version? It is the same price as the ASUS.

P.P.S. The 4GB version is only $20 more than the 2GB version. Is it worth the extra bucks? I will use it on a single 1600x1200 monitor. I've seen benchmarks where the video card with the larger memory size is outperformed by the one with the less memory.

 

[Tradesman1]

I'd go with the Asus, and for a single monitor no real need to go w/ more DRAM...the Asus OCs well and the Direct CU is a great cooling design.

 

[Boyan Kushlev]

In the process of research I've run into this interesting article. Take a look: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-270-benchmark-review,3769.html

You can see that the Asus is definitely much more noisy. It runs cooler too, but I've taken a look at the Dual-X Sapphire model, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I've had bad experience with Sapphire before, and it offers only 2 years of warranty instead of 3, but it is both the most quiet AND the one that runs the coolest on the list (definitely much better than Asus and MSi). It's also considerably cheaper than the Asus one. It almost sounds too good to be true. Any opinion??

 

[Tradesman1]

Can give it a try, on AMD GPUs I normally look at Asus then GB and normally end up with one of those, have used Sapphire in the past and read good things about them...As to the Asus, haven't run into them being to loud

 

[Boyan Kushlev]

If you check out the link in my previous post, you can see the measured volume (more than 44 dB) is VERY high! The Sapphire runs at about 37 dB at full load... it might be on only few cards, but it is obvious they are pretty loud. And at 71 degrees Celsius at full load the ASUS is almost 15 degrees hotter than the Sapphire. But still, in my opinion ASUS is a way more reliable company than Sapphire. The MSi is pretty quiet, but it runs even hotter than the ASUS (77 degrees) and and don't know what to expect.

 

[Boyan Kushlev]

Actually my ASUS Radeon HD4870 runs at about 50 degrees when idle so I guess a little higher temperature isn't that big a deal since my video card works fine, but it's still something to consider when choosing a video card, isn't it...

 

[BlacksunKing]

Temp can be considered but 50 isn't hot for them considering they can run 70+ and be fine. Hotter may shorten the life but at 50 you'll be upgrading before that happens unless you get some bad luck. I agree with Tradesman1 though I prefer Asus and GB brands also have used Asus 90% of the time for many years now and had no problems with any of them. I've used 3 or 4 Powercolor video cards now also and have been pleasantly surprised with them very good performance and price.