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Review: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 Dual-X

by Tarinder Sandhu on 20 March 2014, 16:00

Tags: Sapphire, AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacb75

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System setup and notes

Sapphire Radeon R9 280 Dual-X Specification


GPU Comparisons

Graphics Card Peak Core Clock
(MHz)
Stream
Processors
Memory Clock
(MHz)
Memory Bus
(bits)
Graphics Driver
AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB 1,000 2,816 5,000 512 Catalyst 13.11 v8
AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB 947 2,560 5,000 512 Catalyst 13.11 v8
AMD Radeon R9 280X 3GB 1,000 2,048 6,000 384 Catalyst 13.11
Sapphire Radeon R9 280 Dual-X 3GB 940 1,792 5,000 384 Catalyst 14.2
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GE 3GB 1,050 2,048 6,000 384 Catalyst 13.11
AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB 800 1,792 5,000 384 Catalyst 13.11
AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB 1,050 1,280 5,600 256 Catalyst 13.11
AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB 1,000 1,280 4,800 256 Catalyst 13.11
AMD Radeon R7 260X 2GB 1,100 896 6,400 128 Catalyst 13.11
Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 6GB 876 2,688 6,008 384 GeForce 331.40
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB 928 2,880 7,012 384 GeForce 331.70
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB 900 2,304 6,008 384 GeForce 331.40
Palit GeForce GTX 770 OC 2GB 1,137 1,536 7,012 256 GeForce 334.67 beta
Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB 1,085 1,536 7,012 256 GeForce 331.40
Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2GB 1,033 1,152 6,008 256 GeForce 331.40
Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 2GB 980 1,344 6,008 256 GeForce 331.40
Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB 1,032 768 6,008 192 GeForce 331.40

HEXUS Graphics Test Bench

Processor Intel Core i7-4770K (3.50GHz, 8MB cache, quad-core)
CPU Cooler Intel reference E97378-001
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H
Memory 16GB G.Skill RipJaws (2x8GB) DDR3 @ 1,600MHz
Power Supply Corsair AX760i
Storage Device Crucial M500 240GB SSD
Chassis Corsair Graphite Series 600T
Monitor Philips Brilliance 272P (2,560x1,440)
Operating system Windows 8.1 64-bit

HEXUS High-End Benchmark Suite

GPU Benchmarks Mode and Resolutions Quality Settings
3DMark DX11 at 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,440 Fire Strike and Fire Strike Extreme
BioShock Infinite DX11 at 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,440 Ultra + DOF
Crysis 3 DX11 at 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,440 4xMSAA, High Preset
Far Cry 3 DX11 at 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,440 2xMSAA, Ultra Preset
GRID 2 DX11 at 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,440 4xMSAA, Ultra Preset
Just Cause 2 DX10 at 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,440 8xMSAA, High Preset
Total War: Rome II DX11 at 1,920x1,080 and 2,560x1,440 4xMSAA, High Preset
General Benchmarks Description
Power Consumption To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record mains power draw both when idle and while playing Far Cry 3
Temperature To emulate real-world usage scenarios, we record GPU core temperature both when idle and while playing Far Cry 3
Noise A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and while playing Far Cry 3

Notes

We've chosen to highlight two GPUs: the Sapphire Radeon R9 280 Dual-X, priced at £200, and our current favourite sub-£250 card that takes the form of the Palit GeForce GTX 770 OC. What we're really asking is whether it makes sense to spend an extra £30 on a better class of card.