We got the chance to check MSI's GeForce GTX 285 SuperPipe graphics card, and MSI claims that this board should be super quiet. The box has dual fan and OC version written on it, and while that's not quite what you'd call impressive, we were quite intrigued with the SuperPipe technology and what's it about. In fact this card has only just been announced some days ago and we were surprised it was already reaching us to check it out and see what it has to offer over their default version. Although this SuperPipe does already give it a nice ring, it does still have to proof what MSI is claiming and that is a more silent cooling solution than the reference design with cooler running as a whole. - FudZilla

MSI GeForce GTX 285 SuperPipe Video Style Preview

The back of the box reveals that MSI ended up using thicker, 8mm heatpipes and MSI claims up to ninety percent better heat transfer than those traditional 6mm heatpipes. In honest opinion, we would call this card SuperPipe mostly because of the fact that the card packs five heatpipes rather than for the diameter, as only two outer heatpipes are 8mm actually. And what's important though is that the design works great and this is one of the quietest cards we've tested so far. As the writings on the box say, MSI put its SuperPipe card in its gamer series, and note that the GeForce GTX 285 is currently the fastest single GPU beast around.

As far as overclocking goes, there's not much to say. The OC edition sign on the box means a 32MHz overclock for the GPU, an effective overclock of 16MHz for the memory and shaders are left unchanged from reference 1476MHz. While the reference core runs at 648MHz, the SuperPipe's core runs at 680MHz and its memory at 2500MHz clock speed. The reference GeForce GTX 285 card uses a dual slot cooling which does a good job and isn't too loud. As far as the golden silence goes however, you can't just compare it to SuperPipe edition but MSI's design isn't without flaws either but this shouldn't be a real issue for most users.

Now their design allows for only a fraction of heat to be pushed out of the case whereas the rest remains in the case. This however shouldn't be a problem if the airflow inside your case is adequate. These noise levels are an important thing to consider when buying a graphics card, and we must admit we really liked MSI's GeForce GTX 285 SuperPipe cooling. The memory comes from Hynix, and it is rated at 2600MHz, leaving some headroom from MSI's set speed of 2500MHz. And as all GeForce GTX 285 cards it is coming with two 6-pin power connections which are required to provide enough power for normal operation.

The MSI GeForce GTX 285 SuperPipe comes with some non reference cooling, and it found its place in the cards name as well. Basically it's a cooler with two 8mm heatpipes, dubbed SuperPipe and it enables faster heat transfer to their heatsink. The cooler is dual slot and has two small fans which stay silent even in 3D mode. The core temps are slightly lower than on the reference cards, but it's the silent operation that sets this card apart from the pack. If you crave lower temps that won't be a problem either, but know that it will make your card a bit louder. The core is factory set at 680MHz, shader clocks were left unchanged.

The memory could be considered as not overclocked as well, as it's only 16MHz faster than the reference 2484MHz. The graphics board comes with Tomb Raider Underworld gift game, which is a nice touch and should make this board a bit more appealing. Note that this GeForce GTX 285 is the fastest single GPU card on the market, although MSI's slightly overclocked SuperPipe version produces slightly better results than those scored by the reference video card. Additional overclocking to 740MHz however, boosts the results by about eight percent. That is really a nice boost over the defaults clock speed settings.

Well the GeForce GTX 285 SuperPipe's price point of $349 seems justified when taking into account that the reference card is about $329. The card packs non reference cooling and comes with a gift game, so if you want the fastest card but at the same time prefer quiet operation, then look no further than MSI's GeForce GTX 285 SuperPipe overclocked card.