AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB Review

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By Igor Wallossek, Chris Angelini
published

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Fan Speed & Noise

To say that there's a fan curve is an overstatement. More accurately, the fan keeps on spinning at around 1600 RPM until we apply a load, after which it drops back down again. If you're wondering why MSI has the fan generate similar airflow at idle and under a 100% load, we simply do not know. What we can say, however, is that the company tells us it's working on a new BIOS version to improve this curve.

The fan speed readings under our stress test look similar, which is to say there's still not much of a curve. A minimum fan speed of 25 percent would result in a measurement of less than 1500 RPM. That's still way too high, but it'd certainly help make MSI's card quieter.

Of course, there's a price to pay for an unoptimized fan curve: poor acoustics. In this case, we observe a noise level of 36 dB(A). Although that doesn't sound like much, we're dealing with a small, low-power graphics card. In that context, MSI's RX 550 Aero ITX 2GB is much louder than it should be (or than an HTPC enthusiast would want). We're certainly glad to hear MSI is going back to work on the fan curve and make improvements.

In the end, MSI's RX 550 Aero ITX 2GB stays fairly cool, but has a problem maintaining its maximum clock rate. The firmware’s 50W power limit, which AMD imposes on its board partners is to blame. We think that's unfortunate, as a few additional watts of power consumption wouldn't have been a problem.


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Igor Wallossek
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39 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dstarr3
    Wow, can't even hit 60fps in Doom. Talk about a sheep in wolf's clothing. This is barely a step above those $30 GPUs that you buy strictly because you don't have onboard graphics.
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    19617624 said:
    Wow, can't even hit 60fps in Doom. Talk about a sheep in wolf's clothing. This is barely a step above those $30 GPUs that you buy strictly because you don't have onboard graphics.

    This is an 85$ GPU, competing with more the likes of a GT 740. So don't expect good details at such a low price point. $30 GPUs are worse than IGPUs BTW.

    However, you can still find GTX 750s and 750 tis used for the price of a 550 and it performs much better.
    Reply
  • LucoTF
    I think if it comes down $10-$20 it will be a contender, it does solidly outperform AMD APUs and hopefully will help to keep our more budget orientated gamers away from the A8s and A10s...
    Reply
  • jaber2
    How is this even "Gaming"?
    Reply
  • MCMunroe
    I don't understand why these are all full height double width cards. Wouldn't the only purpose be to install in a small form factor case?
    Reply
  • TallestJon96
    They should be selling the old 460 as the 550, for $80, and then sold this gpu as the 540 for $50-$60.

    Its hard to buy a card that you know can't keep up with the consoles. What happens when a big game comes out and you don't have the horse power to actually play it? The 460 and 560 can keep up, but the 550 might he left behind.

    Save your pennies for another couple weeks and buy something better, its worth the wait
    Reply
  • Glock24
    Very dissapointing for the price. At $50 might make more sense. Then again, I would only use this for a system without IGP for video acceleration.

    On a side note, images finally load correctly using Firefox on Android.
    Reply
  • Joe Black
    Face it... Its a 720p card. Just like something like the a10-7890K using integrated graphics is good for 720p gaming too.

    That's the value proposition that should be explored. the A10 w. integrated, or the 550 discreet.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    19617777 said:
    They should be selling the old 460 as the 550, for $80, and then sold this gpu as the 540 for $50-$60.
    There is a very simple reason nobody makes new GPUs for under $80: there is next to no profit to be made from them.

    Keep in mind that out of that $80 MSRP, there is a ~60% distributor and retailer markup on the manufacturer's own price, so the manufacturer itself only sees ~$50 of it to cover DRAM, GPU chip, PCB, support components, HSF, assembly, testing, packaging, R&D, marketing, gross profit margin, etc. In other words, manufacturers barely break even on those and don't want you to buy them unless your choice boils down to either that or nothing. They'd much prefer that you buy the RX560 for $20-30 more which translates to $10-20 more gross profit for the manufacturer.

    Who are you going to get an alternative sub-$100 GPU from? Nvidia has bailed out of that market altogether to focus on $150+ (launch-time MSRP) GPUs.
    Reply
  • ohim
    The card is for E-Sports gaming and instead of starting with CS/DOTA etc you start with Doom and BF1.. games for which the card is not intended :)
    Reply