Caught in frog green sandwich: MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT Gaming X in test – price will decide success

1 - Introduction and Overview 2 - 8 GB vs. 4 GB, important info and test system 3 - Tear Down: PCB and components 4 - Tear Down: cooling system 5 - DirectX 11: GTA V 6 - DirectX 11: Far Cry 5 7 - DirectX 12: Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8 - DirectX 12: F1 2019 9 - DirectX 12: Total War: Three Kingdoms 10 - DirectX 12: Tom Clancy's The Division 2 11 - DirectX 12: Metro Exodus 12 - Power consumtion and real PSU recommendation 13 - Clock rates, overclocking and temperatures with infrared 14 - Fan curves,fan speed and noise with audio-chamber test 15 - Summary and conclusion

PCB-Design: MSI RX 5500 XT Gaming 8GB

Even with this supposedly efficient card, MSI relies on a rather complex 6+1 phase design (VDDC). This job is done by the IR 35271 from International Rectifier, which controls the discrete voltage regulators via special gate drivers. Each of the VDDC voltage regulators has a 4C029 from ON Semi as high-side MOSFET and a pair of 4C022 on the low side. This is then smoothed with an MSI-labeled 330-nH coil.

The memory (MVDD) is supplied with only one stronger phase, which is generated by an ON Semi NCP 81022N. The voltage regulators are an ON Semi 4C029 for the high side and a single 4C022 on the low side. The four 2 GB Micron memory modules with 14 Gbps are then connected to this single phase and are even more efficient than eight single 1 GB modules.

The 8-pin connector is simply fused, a smoothing coil is then located a little further away in the supply line to the voltage regulators above the monitoring chip. The division of the GPU voltage regulators into discrete components instead of DrMOS is more likely to be due to cooling reasons, because the usual hot spots over the small DrMOS are avoided and everything is equalized over a large area. However, the efficiency of the converter circuits also suffers a little as a result.

On the back side there are a few active components, including the voltage regulators for various partial voltages, which are positioned close to the GPU.

Here again the summary of the most important components:

IR 35271 VDDC PWM-Controller	ON Semi 4C029, High-Side MOSFET, VDDC	ON Semi, 2x 4C022, Low-Side MOSFETS, VDDC
VDDC Coil, 330 nH	ON Semi NCP 81022N, MVDD PWM Controller	ON Semi 4C029 + 4C022, High-/Low Side, MVDD
MVDD Coil 270 nH	Micron Memory, 2 GB, 14 Gbps	ITE 8295FN Monitoring MCU

PCB-Design: MSI GTX 1650 Super Gaming X 4GB

MSI even uses a very minimalistic 3+1 phase design for this card, where the 3 CPU phases (VDDC) each drive one voltage regulater circuit. This job is done by the uP9525P from UPI Semiconductor, which controls the three power stages NCP302155 from ON Semi. Each of these chips contains the drivers, the Schottky diode and an asymmetric MOSFET pair for the high and low side in one package. Smoothing is done as usual with MSI-labelled 330-nH coils.

The memory is also based on only one phase with a discrete voltage regulator. A low-cost EL7212CSZ from Renesas Electronics is used to drive the one phase. The EL7212CSZ consists of an ON Semi 4C029 for the high side and a 4C024 for the low side. However, the inductance of the ferrite core coil is not known. A total of four Micron 1-GB modules are supplied with 14 Gbps.

Power is supplied from the 16-pin socket and the 12V mainboard slot (PEG). The rear panel is almost completely free of active components.

Here, too, the most important components are listed in tabular form:

UPI Semi uP9529P, PWM Controller, VDDC	ON Semi NCP302155, DrMOS, Power Stage, VDDC	Shunt, Fuse, Coil, Power Supply
Renesas Electronics EL7212CSZ, MOSFET Driver, MVDD	ON Semi 4C029, High Side, MVDD	ON Semi 4C024, Low Side, MVDD
Micron Memory, 1 GB, 14 Gbps	Single BIOS	ON Semi NCP45491, 4-Channel Monitoring Chip