Mid this year AMD released their latest Radeon RX 5700 series graphics card that would compete with NVIDIA’s mid-range RTX graphics cards. When the initial reviews came out, they were all reference blower cards from AMD. It was only until this month since we started seeing custom designed RX 5700 (XT) from partners. Today, we are going to check out and review the MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC graphics card; one of the company’s RX 5700 XT variant. There are a lot of reviews saying that this graphics card is loud, or even louder than the blower style RX 5700 XT, and it runs hot as well. MSI’s graphics cards are usually silent; the Gaming X and Ventus variants we tested before runs cool and quiet. That’s why I was a bit skeptical since I don’t have firsthand experience of the graphics card, until recently. So today, let’s check out how the RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC performs, its temperature, if it’s really louder than a blower style, and if it’s worth buying or not. Please continue reading our MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC review below and find out.
MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC Review
The MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC is one of the first RX 5700 XT from the company with a custom-designed cooler. It features a metal shroud with champagne gold finish, perhaps in line with AMD’s 50th year celebration. The RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC features the NAVI 10 XT GPU core with 40 compute units and 2560 stream processors. It has a higher clock speed compared to the reference RX 5700 XT, and a slightly higher clock speed compared to the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary Edition (an overclocked version of the RX 5700 XT reference). It features a base clock speed of 1690MHz, a game clock speed of 1835MHz and a boost clock speed of up to 1945 MHz. It has 8GB of GDDR6 memory with a clock speed of 14 Gbps and runs on a 256-bit memory interface.
I will not go into details about AMD’s new RX 5700 XT and the Navi architecture; it has been a while since AMD’s NAVI graphics cards were launched and there are a lot of articles and references regarding the architecture and new features that the RX 5700 XT and RX 5700 graphics cards has to offer. In this review, I’ll be focusing more on the EVOKE OC graphics card. You can learn more about the new features of the RX 5700 (XT) graphics cards like RDNA gaming architecture, Radeon Image Sharpening, FidelityFX and Radeon Anti-Lag in our previous article here.
Aside from the unique and refreshingly champagne gold finished cooler shroud, the MSI RX 5700 XT EVOKE (OC) features two of MSI’s TORX Fan 3.0. These fans feature a steep curved blade that accelerates the airflow. The EVOKE (OC) also features Zero Frozr technology, meaning that the fans will stop spinning if the temperature is before 60° Celsius for a dead silent operation.
Below are the specifications of the EVOKE OC side by side with AMD’s 50th Anniversary RX 5700 XT and the reference RX 5700 XT for comparison. After that let’s take a closer look on the graphics card itself.
MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC Specifications
| Specifications | MSI RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC | Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniv. | Radeon RX 5700 XT |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPU Core | NAVI 10 XT | NAVI 10 XT | NAVI 10 XT |
| Transistor Count | 10.3 B | 10.3 B | 10.3 B |
| Compute Units | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Stream Processors | 2560 | 2560 | 2560 |
| Texture Units | 160 | 160 | 160 |
| ROPs | 64 | 64 | 64 |
| Base Clock | 1690 MHz | 1680 MHz | 1605 MHz |
| Game Clock | 1835 MHz | 1830 MHz | 1755 MHz |
| Boost Clock | up to 1945 MHz | up to 1980 MHz | up to 1905 MHz |
| Memory Size / Type | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Clock | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps | 14 Gbps |
| Memory Bus Width | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| TDP | 225W | 225W | 225W |
| Power Connectors | 8+6 pin | 8+6 pin | 8+6 pin |
| Recommended PSU | 750 W | 600 W | 600 W |
Packaging and Closer Look
The packaging looks nice and as expected with a red accent indicating that it is an AMD Radeon graphics card. Some of the features of the graphics card is printed at the back of the box, while you get a clean look at the cooler’s shroud on the front portion of the box. I noticed that the outer box of the RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC is quite thin compared to the box they use with their RTX graphics cards.
Above you can see the front and back portion of the graphics card. The MSI RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC features an “either you love it or hate it” cooler design and aesthetics. The champagne gold is definitely not going to match or satisfy most of the users’ color preference. But I find it strikingly compatible if your system is composed of Noctua’s CPU cooler and fans.
The front and back plate are all metal and there are no RGB or any lighting on this graphics card. The graphics card relies on its champagne gold color to stand out. The angular cutout mesh that are located on the rear portion and on the side are not metal; they are plastic painted with the same color. It’s not really a big deal, but just to remind you that they are not metal and may break if mishandled.
The MSI RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC features three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0b ports. You can also see above the rear angular cutouts I mentioned earlier.
On the sides, you can see the metal heat pipes and the 8+6 pin power connector. You do need to connect both 8 pin and 6 pin power connectors to ensure that the graphics card is getting sufficient power. The RX 5700 XT EVOKE OC requires at least a 750W power supply and has a rated power consumption of around 225 W.
On the next page, let’s take a look at our test setup and, noise and temperature of the EVOKE OC.
