Today we have for review the new MSI Radeon RX 580 Mech 2, which is an overclocked custom design variant of the RX 580. It comes with a dual-slot cooler and delivers excellent noise levels that match the quietest RX 580 cards. Overclocking is great too, we reached 1540 MHz.

Just a few weeks ago, MSI announced its Mech 2 lineup of custom-design AMD Radeon graphics cards lead by the Radeon RX 580 Mech 2 8 GB, which we have for review today. MSI won't officially comment on why the Mech 2 series exists when the company already has Gaming Series Radeon RX 500 series products, such as the RX 580 Gaming X, but media reports suggest that the series was raised to keep MSI in compliance with the now-dead GeForce Partner Program (GPP). ASUS made similar changes to its product stack with the AREZ Strix series. While the AREZ Strix graphics cards are completely identical to the original ASUS ROG Strix Radeon ones, MSI put in more effort to differentiate its products.

You won't be faulted for thinking the Radeon RX 580 Mech 2 is the same exact card as the RX 580 Gaming X at first glance, but look closer and you'll see quite a few differences. To begin with, the underlying TwinFrozr VII heatsink is slightly modified to now come with the heatpipe direct touch GPU base, while the Gaming X has one with a copper base. Also, the metal heatspreader over the memory chips and MOSFETs is gone. There's still a heatsink over the vGPU MOSFETs. The cooler shroud, too, has a different design and is less two-tone and more dark with a smattering of matte red. Lastly, there's a different backplate design that gets rid of the holes for a flat piece of metal with red highlights.