Continuing along side revisiting some of our favorite antique graphics cards, nowadays we will be checking lower back in with the Radeon R9 280X, which is also to mention that we're checking lower back in with the 7970 GHz Edition, both of which might be essentially a factory overclocked Radeon HD 7970, so we will technically be revisiting that, too, the very identical card we first reviewed in December 2011!

All 3 cards are based totally at the same 'Tahiti XT' GPU and they all characteristic 2048 cores, 128 texture mapping gadgets and 32 render output gadgets, in addition to the identical GDDR5 memory interface the usage of a 384-bit extensive reminiscence bus. The simplest real modifications have been made to the core and memory clock speeds, although the 7970 GHz Edition and R9 280X are similar, and once more, are basically overclocked variations of the unique 7970.

For a few again tale on that, AMD's choice to overclock the 7970 by using almost 15% and create the 7970 GHz Edition (which fetched a $50 premium) was an try and compete with the GeForce GTX 680 and reclaim the overall performance crown in 2012. Some 18 months later with not anything new to provide, the 7970 GHz Edition turned into rebranded because the R9 280X and its MSRP dropped from $500 to $300, so even though we were getting the same performance, as a minimum it became a bit cheaper.

Shortly after the 280X launch, the Radeon 2 hundred collection become completed with a few GCN second era components which include the R9 290, 290X and 295X2. We additionally got the third era Radeon R9 285, however that model become a piece of a flop.

Even though it turned into a rebadged offering, the Radeon 280X became definitely a warm object at its advent MSRP and bought pretty properly. Today they may be discovered selling for $a hundred and twenty to $a hundred ninety on the second-hand market, and given brand new horrible market situations, that places it on par with the fee of cards such as the GTX 1050 and RX 560. Which of these alternatives gives the pleasant effects for the ones in search of the most fee, you ask? Well, we are about to find out.

Representing the antique GPU is a Sapphire Vapor-X R9 280X 3G. All benchmarking became carried out on our Corsair GPU take a look at rig that's comprised of a Core i7-8700K clocked at 5GHz in addition to 32GB of Vengeance DDR4-3200 reminiscence.

Benchmark Time

The Radeon R9 280X gets off to a flying start in our Battlefield 1 check and it's the primary older card we have revisited this yr that is able to common extra than 60fps in this title at 1080p the usage of the extremely satisfactory settings. As a result, it changed into 13% quicker than the GTX 1050 Ti and 24% quicker than the GTX 680, which additionally manner the 7970 GHz Edition might be at the least 20% faster in this identify.

Moving on to Dawn of War III and right here we see the R9 280X persevering with to rip the competition apart with an average of 79fps, which works out to 16% quicker than the GTX 1050 Ti and 18% faster than the HD 7950 and GTX 680. I need to also word that the 1% low result of 59fps turned into extra than the average end result for the RX 560 and GTX 1050.

The R9 280X also does nicely in Dirt 4 and right here it controlled to facet out the GTX 680 with the aid of a 7% margin. Testing was carried out the use of the medium best settings so it's honest to say you can crank up the visuals with the 280X.

Next up we've got For Honor and for the first time to this point we see the GTX 680 beating the R9 280X, though most effective by way of a trifling 4% margin. Overall performance become correct and you can probable get away with higher satisfactory settings and nonetheless see a mean of over 60fps.

Moving directly to Ghost Recon Wildlands, the R9 280X matched the GTX 680 and GTX 1050 at the same time as it turned into 10% slower than the GTX 1050 Ti -- an affordable bring about this identify although we're most effective the use of the low high-quality preset so optimization is not the pleasant here.

The R9 280X runs away with it in Mass Effect Andromeda, hitting 81fps on common or approximately 14% quicker than the GTX 680. It also edged out the GTX 1050 Ti and overwhelmed the GTX 1050.

The 280X simply beats the GTX 1050 Ti in Prey at the same time as it changed into with ease beforehand of the GTX 680, though with each pushing over 60fps always you would warfare to spot the distinction.

The 280X blasted the competition in Resident Evil 7, beating the GTX 1050 Ti by a 20% margin and the GTX 680 through 23%, so a clean victory for AMD's rebadged HD 7970.

The Radeon R9 280X wasn't the maximum energy efficient GPU released in overdue 2013 and keep in mind it became based totally on 12 months and a 1/2 antique tech at the time. It turned into nonetheless a massive development in comparison to the GTX 580 and given that it now beats the GTX 680 in maximum tests, performance in line with watt is very good in comparison. Given the 8700K @ 5GHz and R9 280X mixture fed on less than 300 watts when gaming, which shouldn't exactly positioned your electricity deliver to the test.

Wrap Up

There you have got it, 2013's Radeon R9 280X or 2012's HD 7970, they look to be quite capable after all these years. Under everyday occasions, you'll in no way entertain the idea of spending nicely over $one hundred on this sort of cards, however nowadays in case you had a thousand of them indexed for $100, that they had probably all sell before the week ended.

Because of those marketplace conditions, you can count on to pay ~$170 and that's surely the common sale price for the 280X on eBay throughout the March period. At the time of writing this, the RX 560 and GTX 1050 cards are selling for approximately $a hundred and sixty, even as the 1050 Ti is fetching as a minimum $220.

The Radeon 280X appears viable given that it's 9% faster than the 1050 Ti on common and the reality that it expenses round 20 to twenty-five% much less. Meanwhile, for around the identical cash as the vanilla 1050, we saw 25% more overall performance. Of course, being a much older product, the 280X consumes hundreds more energy, however the huge aftermarket models I actually have handy from Sapphire and Asus run reasonably cool and quiet.

The large hurdle for potential shoppers is the reality that they're 2d-hand products and there is no chance of changing them under guarantee should something pass incorrect. All that said, I'd put my price range cap for a 280X at $150 and there are examples of operating cards promoting for as low as $one hundred thirty, in case you get lucky. The R9 280X stays strong for 1080p gaming and you'll have a heap of amusing with it if it is your motive for the cardboard.

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