MSI Reveals Compact Mini-ITX R9 270X Graphics Card

News
By
published

MSI has built an AMD-based Mini-ITX graphics card.

Both Asus and MSI have already built Mini-ITX graphics cards with powerful GPUs, but up until now these were only Nvidia-based. Now, MSI has built a similar card but with an AMD GPU, making a very compact R9 270X gaming graphics card.

The GPU on the card carries 1280 cores and it runs at 1030 MHz. It'll boost up to 1070 MHz. This gives the card a small overclock over reference frequencies. The card carries 2 GB of GDDR5 memory that is clocked at an effective frequency of 5.6 GHz.

The cooling fan is the same Radax fan as found on MSI's Mini-ITX GTX 760 card, which can cool the card efficiently and quietly. The cooler also carries the red and black design that MSI uses for its "Gaming" branded hardware, so it'll combine very well aesthetically with the rest of your system if you have matching hardware. The card is only 17 cm long, just like standard size Mini-ITX motherboards.

No word on pricing or availability yet, though we expect it to hit shelves not too long from now.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

See more GPUs News
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • David Dewis
    wish this had been couple months earlier, then i could have used the cooler master elite 110, but as it was my GPU was about an cm too long so had to go for elite 130 instead. Dont regret my purchase, but this would have made it alot more compact.
    Reply
  • T-Bag
    I am not interested in MSI products as they are kissing goodbye to India.
    Reply
  • TechieNewbie
    With very similar looking specs to the 760itx would it be safe to say we're hovering around the $250 price range? Also as an aside, since these cards seem to be geared at a very small form factor why bother with crossfire capability? Don't get me wrong, having the feature is nice but having a pair of these in a midtower would look awfully silly.
    Reply
  • 2Be_or_Not2Be
    With very similar looking specs to the 760itx would it be safe to say we're hovering around the $250 price range? Also as an aside, since these cards seem to be geared at a very small form factor why bother with crossfire capability? Don't get me wrong, having the feature is nice but having a pair of these in a midtower would look awfully silly.

    Moreover, people putting these into a Mini-ITX chassis don't have the space for two cards. Virtually all Mini-ITX boards only have one PCI-Express x16 slot.

    I agree, cut out Crossfire/SLI capability & save real estate on the card itself. Maybe that will also help out in keeping the card slightly cooler, thus allowing for better & hopefully more quiet fans.
    Reply
  • gopher1369
    wish this had been couple months earlier, then i could have used the cooler master elite 110, but as it was my GPU was about an cm too long so had to go for elite 130 instead. Dont regret my purchase, but this would have made it alot more compact.

    I genuinely don't understand the Coolermaster 110. Make it short enough that only 8 inch graphics cards fit. Then have a bracket sticking out the back a couple of inches to fit a full sized ATX power supply. Either just make the case 2 inches longer so you can fit longetr graphics cards as well as ATX power supplies, or make the case 2 inches shorter and use SFX. The current design seems to be the worst of both world.
    Reply
  • David Dewis
    13262920 said:
    wish this had been couple months earlier, then i could have used the cooler master elite 110, but as it was my GPU was about an cm too long so had to go for elite 130 instead. Dont regret my purchase, but this would have made it alot more compact.

    I genuinely don't understand the Coolermaster 110. Make it short enough that only 8 inch graphics cards fit. Then have a bracket sticking out the back a couple of inches to fit a full sized ATX power supply. Either just make the case 2 inches longer so you can fit longetr graphics cards as well as ATX power supplies, or make the case 2 inches shorter and use SFX. The current design seems to be the worst of both world.

    I agree that they should have extended it to the back of the PSU, but then the 130 also has the PSU bulge and it doesn't bother me. Out of interest does anyone know how the noctua 804 compares in size to the two?
    Reply
  • gopher1369
    13269892 said:
    Out of interest does anyone know how the noctua 804 compares in size to the two?

    You mean Fractal?

    Reply
  • David Dewis
    13291854 said:
    13269892 said:
    Out of interest does anyone know how the noctua 804 compares in size to the two?

    You mean Fractal?

    lol indeed i did? where did i get noctua from?
    Reply