10 Aug 2021 - Graphics card reviewed

Based on current gaming requirements the Radeon R9 285 MSI Gaming 2GB Edition is considered one of the weakest cards and wont meet modern AAA game specs.

This card meets game requirements up to DirectX 12.

What FPS performance can the Radeon R9 285 MSI Gaming 2GB Edition get on latest AAA 2023 games? In particular our game review looks at the FPS achieved running on Ultra graphics settings on the 1080p screen resolution as well as 1440p and 4K. When considering how well this graphics card can run the 1000 most demanding games available today it can best 132 of the games’ recommended graphics requirements.

Looking at some of the modern popular games people are playing today the Radeon R9 285 MSI Gaming 2GB Edition is running Back 4 Blood and delivering weak performances on 1080p Ultra, getting 8 frames per second. Comparing this to Star Citizen which is predicted to get weak results, where it averages 19 FPS. Another popular game we looked at is Battlefield 2042, which is running at 0 frames per second.

We move on to 1440p, and tested Back 4 Blood which delivered weak FPS results. Here are the graphic presets - Low: 15 FPS, Medium: 12 FPS, High: 8 FPS and Ultra: 6 FPS. Next we have Star Citizen running on Radeon R9 285 MSI Gaming 2GB Edition which is predicted to get L: 38FPS, M: 30FPS, H: 20FPS, U: 14FPS. And for performance contrast the popular Battlefield 2042 gets L: 0FPS, M: 0FPS, H: 0FPS, U: 0FPS at 1440p. In summary we feel the Radeon R9 285 MSI Gaming 2GB Edition running at 1440p is not a viable PC gaming choice.

How many years will the Radeon R9 285 MSI Gaming 2GB Edition graphics card play newly released games and how long until you should consider upgrading the Radeon R9 285 MSI Gaming 2GB Edition in your PC? Its time to start researching your next graphics card upgrade as the Radeon R9 285 MSI Gaming 2GB Edition is failing to meet modern day gaming system requirements. A gpu AAA lifespan of around 6-12 months.

Whats a good PC graphics upgrade for the Radeon R9 285 MSI Gaming 2GB Edition? A great upgrade graphics card would be a RX 5000 Series Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB, which has 76% better performance and can run 716 of the top 1000 demanding game requirements today. Alternatively a good upgrade choice for this graphics card today would be the RX 5000 Series Radeon RX 5300. For comparison of the 1000 most demanding games around today this suggested upgrade is 41% better and can meet 300 of their recommended requirements.