MSI AMD R9 290X Lightning First Look

This year the 2014 CES show brought a few very interesting things to light and MSI had a few things up their sleeve to show off at this years show. AMD fans once again have the green light for more celebration as MSI has just announced its plans to release a R9 290X Lighting Edition gaming card, and it looks beastly. Beyond TwinFrozr we see TriFrozr cooling that consists of 2 outer fans and one smaller center fan all of which can be tuned and controlled independently according to your need. Overclockers will be able to fine-tune the card for advanced overclocking and there are a couple of things that will make this card a serious contender for those wanting to break records.

Most R9 290X cards you will see offer two 8-pin power connectors to power the card, but the Lighting gaming edition card offers an additional 6-pin power connector for pushing even more voltage into the card. Those using LN2 will be pleased by this feature as well as it allows direct power into the card otherwise not available. All the voltage and electrical aspects of the card can be read via the headers that can be found on the end of the card for easy access. The rear of the card is concealed behind a metal shield that protects the card and you from injury and is always a favorite among enthusiasts and gamers alike. For those who love to push their card as far as it can go, but are not of a mind to liquid cool will be pleasantly surprised at the flexibility of the card in its “Out Of Box” state.

AMD and NVIDIA have switched minds as it seems as now NVIDIA is blocking too-much voltage in their cards and AMD has lightened up their Imperial attitude and are allowing more flexibility to the manufactures in this area. This is plainly seen in the MSI R9 290X Lighting as it has more power options than previously seen. This card will also be the first to have its own independent software GUI for controlling the fans and voltage and can be used in conjunction with MSI’s Afterburner software that monitors and offers additional control of the cards functions. The card is a looker as well and has a bit of a Bumble Bee theme going on, but MSI gets hung up on card series color matching, as this card should be Red and Black for AMD instead of yellow and black. That is just my personal take and maybe you feel differently and if you do let me hear your voice down below in the comments section. As of now no actual official price has been named, but stay tuned because as soon as a sample is available we will be bringing you the review. Peace and thanks for reading Tech Of Tomorrow.