Packaging

Unlike the reference cards which have a very traditional wide shape. XFX has gone a completely different direction with their packaging for the last few generations and that hasn’t changed with the MERC 310 7900 XT. It has a vertical orientation to the box, similar to how EVGA would do their boxes. XFX has their logo up in the top left corner which also has a small sticker that lets us know that this is the black edition, something that I think could be a little more prominent on the box. The Speed Series is in the background and MERX 310 is in bright white and a huge font, but Black Edition should be as visible as those other things given that it lets you know that this is overclocked. Then because of the vertical layout, the AMD wrap-around is a lot smaller with the 20GB memory in the bottom left corner and the model name in the bottom right. I was about to mention not having a picture of the card on the front but the back of the box has pictures of the MERC 310 7900 XT both from the front and back. Then below that, they have a list of AMD features along with a list of what comes in the box. Below that is the other half of the AMD wrap-around with more features highlighted. The only thing missing for me is a spec listing which if it had the overclock speeds would be super helpful when shopping in retail or at least the card dimensions and the display connections because both of those can be important when picking out a card.

There is a second box inside of the outer box with the branding on it. When you open up that black box XFX has a paper inside up on top that shows you the included support bar and how to install it as well as a thank you for your purchase as well. Under that is a thick foam panel with a card glued to the top, this one covers everything and has two QR codes on it, one for the latest drivers and the other with warranty information. Then under the foam, you finally get to the MERC 310 7900 XT which is buried in another thick layer of foam cut to the shape of the card. It also comes wrapped in a plastic bag.

Along with the card, XFX included an anti-sagging bracket to help support the huge card. The design is simple and is metal with a black finish. One end has four mounting holes to attach to the top of the PCI brackets. The other end has a bracket that has three screw holes for attaching to the card itself on the end. You get a bag with all of the mounting hardware for both ends and this includes a small metal plate used to fill in the height difference to match the thickness of the PCI bracket on the card.