MSI supplied us with their Cyclone Power Edition / OC edition card which features an aftermarket cooler, a 6+1 phase power system, triple over voltage adjustment and comes factory overclocked. The card arrived in the attractive retail package shown above with a large photo of the card on the front that highlights the Cyclone cooler. On the back is a detailed list of features and a minimum system requirement list. Included in the retail box is the graphics card (with plastic caps on all connectors), various user guides and installation instructions, a Crossfire cable, dual 4-pin Molex to 6-pin PCI-e connector and a DVI/ VGA adapter. Below is a list of features and specifications, borrowed from MSI's website.
MSI has increased the GPU clock up to 860 MHz, an increase of 85 MHz over AMD's clock rate of 775 MHz. Additionally MSI has pushed the GDDR5 memory clock speed up to 4400 MHz, up from 4000 MHz on the reference AMD design. A factory overclock isn't uncommon as many manufacturers use this method to differentiate their cards from the competition but according to Newegg's current stock, the MSI Cyclone is the fastest factory overclocked 6850 available in terms of GPU speed. The next closest options are 40 MHz slower offered by Sapphire, HIS, XFX and Gigabyte.
Let's move ahead and take a closer look at the MSI R6850 Cyclone PE / OC Graphics Card.
