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MSI N285GTX SuperPipe OC

Brand new from MSI we have their N285GTX SuperPipe OC, based on the GeForce GTX 285, to evaluate. With its magnificent cooling solution and higher than standard clock speeds we see how it stacks up against a GTX 285 and a GTX 280 in gameplay performance, overclocking, power and temperature testing.

Introduction

Founded in 1986, Micro-Star International (MSI) has become a well-known name to computer enthusiasts. They produce motherboards, video cards, barebone PCs, rackmount servers, networking equipment, and notebooks. They cross fanboy lines by manufacturing motherboards for AMD and Intel CPUs as well as ATI and NVIDIA based video cards.

Today we are going to be focusing on one of MSI’s latest video cards the MSI N285GTX SuperPipe OC which promises improved cooling for the GTX 285.

The GeForce GTX 285

The GeForce GTX 285 was launched on January 15th, 2009 as a refresh of the GeForce GTX 280, which launched seven months earlier. The most notable change is the use of a 55nm manufacturing process, down from the 65nm process of the GTX 280. This enables the GTX 285 to run at higher clock speeds while still maintaining lower power consumption. The core clock speed is up 46MHz to 648MHz and the shader frequency is up 180MHz to 1.476GHz. The memory clock speed has also been increased by 270MHz to 2.484GHz. However, the GTX 285 still keeps the same 240 streaming processors, 32 ROPs, 80 texture filtering units, and 1GB of GDDR3 on a 512-bit memory bus.

The lower power requirement has also done away with the need for an 8-pin and 6-pin power connectors. Replacing those connectors are two 6-pin connectors on the GTX 285. The total max board power is now 183 Watts, which is down by 53 Watts from the GTX 280 max power rating of 236 Watts.

MSI N285GTX SuperPipe OC

The N285GTX SuperPipe OC is one of two new GTX 285 based video cards that MSI has just released. It and its brother, the reference clocked version, both share a unique dual-fan cooling solution with thicker than traditional video card heatpipes according to MSI. In fact, MSI is expanding this "SuperPipe" technology to the GTX 260 and the new GTX 275 as well, both which we will be looking at on a later date. According to their website MSI is using 8mm extra thick heatpipes which are "60% thicker than traditional heatpipes" and provide "90% better cooling." Actually, there are five heatpipes on this video card, and two of them are of the "SuperPipe" variety. MSI claims the larger heatpipes will help transfer more heat and the dual-fans will help cool not only the heatsink, but also other components on the video card such as capacitors and memory.

With such a magnificent heatsink the meager frequency boost is rather disappointing out of the box. Clocked at 680MHz the GPU is only 32MHz higher than stock. The memory is clocked a mere 16MHz higher at 2.5GHz and the shader frequency remains at the reference clock of 1.476GHz.

The front of the box is your standard affair with a mythical creature on the left and a few details about the video card on the right. One of things listed on the right side is information about MSI’s SuperPipe. There is also an "OC Edition," a "Dual Fans," and a "Gaming Series" logo on the bottom. On the back of the box there are more details about heatpipes and MSI’s SuperPipe technology.

The MSI N285GTX SuperPipe OC is a beautiful video card with a 3mm aluminum top. The two outer heatpipes are MSIs 8mm SuperPipes with the three inner ones being the standard thickness. The heatsink itself is of an all metal construction for optimal heat transfer ability. The head of the video card has the standard S-Video port with two DVI ports. On the tail end of the video card are the two six-pin power connectors and the S/PIDF audio connector.

The video card comes with the basic accessories: a Driver CD, installation manuals, a DVI to D-sub adapter, a DVI to HDMI adapter, a two four-pin to six-pin power adaptor, an internal audio cable and an S-Video to S-Video cable.