MSI will not adopt Twin Frozr V cooler for new Radeon R9 290X.
8GB cards incoming
Back in April, we learned that AMD has pulled the plug on 8GB 290X cards. At that time no one had a clue what to expect from GeForce 800 (900) series. The only card that was competitive to R9 290X was GTX 780 Ti, which had less memory from the very beginning. Fast forward five months and we have two 4GB flagships, where Radeon R9 290X is struggling to compete against GTX 980.
In few days things may change a bit, as AMD is planning to give a green light to all manufactures to launch first single-GPU Radeon 8GB cards.
First and foremost, SweClockers’ information was slightly inaccurate, as they said Club3D, PowerColor and Sapphire are the only companies that would offer R9 290X 8GB graphics cards. Well apparently that information was wrong, because what you can see above is the 8GB model from MSI.
MSI R9 290X GAMING 8GB
There is not really much to say about the 8GB model, as MSI R9 290X GAMING 8GB looks exactly the same as 4GB model. The only way to determine whether you are looking at 4GB or 8GB model is the packaging, where it clearly states the size of the frame buffer. Both variants are equipped with the backplate, so even if 8GB model had dual-sided memory, you wouldn’t even notice. However since MSI R9 290X 4GB GAMING doesn’t really have any space left on the back of the PCB (high-res picture here), it is safe to assume 8GB models will simply feature higher capacity modules.
The exact specifications remain unknown, so we are not sharing any numbers today. You can see though that this model is factory-overclocked, so the only question is, how much is it overclocked?
NVIDIA also working on 8GB cards
NVIDIA will not let AMD attract any attention. Shortly after R9 290X 8GB launch, NVIDIA is planning to unveil GTX 980 8GB. We don’t know any dates as of yet, but we do know that the roadmap indicates November launch.
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So are you guys interested in 8GB graphics cards, or do you find them superfluous right now?
