The Radeon R9 280X Review: Feat. Asus & XFX - Meet The Radeon 200 Series
by Ryan Smith on October 8, 2013 12:01 AM ESTCrysis 3
Still one of our most punishing benchmarks, Crysis 3 needs no introduction. With Crysis 3, Crytek has gone back to trying to kill computers and still holds “most punishing shooter” title in our benchmark suite. Only in a handful of setups can we even run Crysis 3 at its highest (Very High) settings, and that’s still without AA. Crysis 1 was an excellent template for the kind of performance required to drive games for the next few years, and Crysis 3 looks to be much the same for 2013.
Crysis 3 is another game that somewhat favors NVIDIA, though not to the extent of other games. At 2560 we’re looking at performance that’s closer to the GTX 760 than it is the GTX 770, which is rather befitting of the 280X’s $300 status, putting it almost exactly where we’d expect it given the price.
Meanwhile checking in again on our factory overclocked Asus 280X, we have another case where the performance improvement is outpacing the boost and memory clock overclocks, this time coming in at 9%. It’s scenarios like these that make Asus’s $10 premium such a bargain for the performance.
Once again, FCAT tells us that our delta percentages are well within tolerance.
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Wreckage - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
I did not see these on Newegg yet. Did AMD actually rebrand a card twice and paper launch it twice???Will Robinson - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
That "rebrand" just kicked the crap out of NVDA's GTX770 for $100 less.Read it and weep.
Wreckage - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
At least you can buy a 770 right now. I suppose you could print out a 280 and tape it to the side of your computer. Wake me when they can beat the GK110.rtsurfer - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
If you had bothered to read the article you would have known that these cards are launching this week.Also,your beloved GK110 will be dealt with by R9 290X. I think you'll have to wait till October 15th for that news,as that is when the NDA expires.
colonelclaw - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
Blimey, some people here are never happy. This card is basically a 770 but $100 cheaper. You know what that means? Nvidia will soon be dropping the price of the 770 and hopefully the 780 too - great news all round.Stop whining about 'rebadging' etc, the only thing that matters to 95% of gamers is the relationship between price and framerates.
Da W - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
Precisely. I don't get fanboïsm. I'm gonna run 3600X1920 with full detail at an afordable price before christmas, be it with a 780 or a 290X. Of course 3 screens works better on AMD, i might be willing to pay a premium.gobaers - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
Add a Z axis for power consumption / noise (two sides of the same coin). I'd take a small hit in framerate for a cooler or quieter card.stefstef - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
looks like the 260 is going to replace the 7790 cards. now you get for the price the 7790 cards were introduced the 260. the 7790 prices dropped. now i wonder if i replace my 6670 for my 720p monitor with the rather cheap 7790 or get the new 260.Will Robinson - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
R9 280X looks very good at $300....the improvements in noise and heat output are commendable.I'll be interested to see how it performs in BF4 after the Mantle API update.
It looks very strong in BF4 beta already.
http://techreport.com/review/25466/amd-radeon-r9-2...
nathanddrews - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
Hmm, I think I'll wait for the next rebadge (re-rebadge) at 20nm. Maybe by summer they'll shrink and add the audio enhancements to the whole lineup. I'm happy for the MSRP price being $299, it should force the 7970GE to under that.If anything, I'm hoping that AMD's new lineup forces NVIDIA to stop overcharging for their products. I know that the market drives pricing, but if price scaled with performance, that means that the GTX700 should be $300 and the GTX780 should be about $350? Not that it will happen like that... but the 780 should not be over $400.