14 DAY TRIAL // Micro-Star International wanted to see just how far it could push a graphics card before the thermal design power became ridiculous, so it took the AMD Radeon R9 290X and messed with it until it became unrecognizable.
Well, unrecognizable might be a strong term, but there are definitely sufficient hardware elements to throw people for a loop.
After all, there aren't many video cards with 15+2 phase VRM (voltage regulation module) and three power inputs.
And by “there aren't many,” we mean there aren't any. None. Zero. Well, there might be over-sophisticated VRMs somewhere out there, but there are no video cards with three PCI Express 6-pin / 8-pin connectors. Not single-GPU models anyhow.
More specifically, there are two 8-pin ports and one 6-pin input on the PCB of the MSI Radeon R9 290X Lightning, suggesting the highest TDP ever (thermal design power).
Alas, we don't actually know what the TDP is. Maybe it's not even so huge, and the third power input is there just for overclocking.
Speaking of which, there are three 4-pin fan connectors on the printed circuit board, along with V-Check points that allow you to directly measure GPU, memory and auxiliary line voltages.
There's also dual BIOS apparently, complete with a BIOS switch. Or rather, there is a strong chance for these things to be included, because the PCB is taller than the normal “full height” of add-in graphics cards.
Speaking of which, the extra height allows the two DVI connectors, HDMI and DisplayPorts to fit better alongside each other.
We'll have to wait until closer to Christmas for the actual card to make its appearance, unless MSI decides to only unleash the Radeon R9 290X Lightning next year, probably during the Consumer Electronics Show in early January (CES 2013).
Come to think of it, since this is an early PCB shot (completely devoid of anything in the way of capacitors, memory chips, etc.), the January theory has more weight.
