Best AMD R9 280.

chubbygamer1983 · Sep 17, 2014

Since the R9 285 has came out what is the best R9 280 which is being cleared?

I've seen MSI & XFX cards around £150. Should I be looking for the best rated core clock?

iamlegend · Sep 17, 2014

If you can afford 285 then get it. If not 280 is still decent especially if overclocked. Which GPU will give you good performance for games, but if asking which one is better, the better is 285.

chubbygamer1983 · Sep 18, 2014

sorry i didnt ask this right. which brand is the best for the r9 280

iamlegend · Sep 18, 2014

There is no best brand, it depends on your taste and style. Get the card which you can afford and looks nice and will fit for your rig.

In terms of performance, they are the same.

Darkbreeze · Sep 18, 2014

iamlegend :

There are CERTAINLY best brands. What nonsense is this (Spoken in highly indignant voice.)? Best bang for the buck is this:

[PCPartPicker part list](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PrVK7P) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PrVK7P/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**Video Card** | [XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9280atdbd) | £156.41 @ More Computers
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | £156.41
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-18 06:51 BST+0100 |

iamlegend · Sep 18, 2014

Oh, I apologize for my ignorance but your statement is invalid.

Darkbreeze · Sep 18, 2014

To start with, I was joking with you. However, my statements are not invalid. IF you honestly think there are no differences between brands when it comes to hardware, and a GPU IS hardware, you are sadly mistaken. For starters, not all of those cards can be overclocked or at the least, are not recommended to be. The black edition can be highly overclocked. I'd call that a difference. It also has a higher base clock than some of those others. True, they all have the same amount of memory, but unless you're using multiple high res displays that probably wouldn't be an issue anyhow. Not to mention, between brands there are differences in the levels of customer and driver support.

Mac266 · Sep 18, 2014

There is a difference between brands, as they use different coolers. So some brands will run hotter because of a bad cooler design, and heat leads to bad performance and throttling.

iamlegend · Sep 18, 2014

So basically we are talking about the same cards, same 280 cards so comparing overclockable and not is invalid. You will be buying the brands not the performance if you will insist. You`re buying an i-phone not a mobile device.

If you mentioned hardware (which includes composition) yes higher quality hardware materials are expensive, hence it will go with higher price, hence price point between higher and mediocre price with mediocre quality will not the same, hence if I`m the vendor and I invest a lot of money to produce my card, it will be a stupid idea to sell it in a lower price.

Darkbreeze · Sep 18, 2014

Mac266 :

And that too. I failed to include the cooler differences and I was looking right at it. But yeah, and then when your card that has a poor cooler fails, that's when brand support comes into play. Trying to RMA a failed product from one OEM to another often results in vastly different outcomes, or at least wait times.

iamlegend · Sep 18, 2014

Yes there is a difference between cooler performance but it will also be invalid if you compare the Tri-X and dual-X in terms of cooling for they don`t have the same cooling configuration, and Tri-X comes with higher price than Dual-X (of course).

Mac266 · Sep 18, 2014

My point is not invalid because some companies use more than one cooler.

Darkbreeze · Sep 18, 2014

iamlegend :

Why do you always, in every thread I've seen you post in, try to tell people that their points are invalid. They are not invalid. Just because you simply don't understand them or are incapable of grasping the concepts involved does not invalidate them. You know, I think maybe YOU'RE invalid. (Smile.)

Darkbreeze · Sep 18, 2014

Maybe if you actually tried to help the OP, instead of just telling everybody how invalid they are, you might even earn a little legitimacy around here.

iamlegend · Sep 18, 2014

Man, because misinformation is not good. Inorder to advise others what to do, we must be knowledgeable of what we are talking. If you are skeptic about what I`m talking, you can check Linus` review about R9 290`s in youtube and how brands performs with corresponding temps, and yes the GPU with 3 fans win them all (MSI lightning but of course it is more expensive).

Maybe you can get back if you have watched it.

Darkbreeze · Sep 18, 2014

Ok bud.

wh3resmycar · Sep 18, 2014

well to be fair i have one of the cheapest version of the 280x, sapphire dual x. it shipped with clocks close to its limits so the overclocking headroom is a bit tight. there are more expensive versions that will allow you to push even more.

it all comes down to how much you would really like to spend, if you can opt to take the most expensive 280x out there, but it would be disturbingly close in price to the cheapest r9-290.

zaysk · Sep 18, 2014

iamlegend :

Using those two words makes all your points invalid.

wh3resmycar · Sep 18, 2014

well linustechtips is respectable. don't know what the issue is about, but enlighten us.

iamlegend · Sep 19, 2014

You might have a point there, but you have to prove that.

Well, if you are concerned with knowledgeable and youtube as a reference you are right. You cannot talk like a boss with just relying on youtube videos.

But if you own those 290 cards and you have proven yourself that there is a best brand between the same price point, then I will bow down my head to you.

Darkbreeze · Sep 19, 2014

Simply put the OP wanted to know which brand of R9 280 was the best, and considering the available options in his region, the card suggested seemed to be the obvious choice when pitting price against features. Then blockhead starting spouting nonsense. No big deal.

iamlegend · Sep 19, 2014

Lol, non-sense is invalid. haha

Dazinek · Sep 19, 2014

Forgetting what happened in this thread, To the OP:

There is nearly no difference in brands when looking at performance. Example: Nvidia designs the chips, TSMC makes them, and everyone else just plugs the chip into the PCB. When looking at FPS they should all be rather close.

Extras is what can set cards apart. Some companies offer only 1-3yr warranties while others offer lifetime. Some might be completely stock while others come with exotic cooling setups to keep cards cooler or quieter. Some companies might bundle things with their cards like games or adapters.

As what cards I recommend, I recommend the following:

XFX: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9280atdbd

MSI: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-r9280gaming3g

Or a bit more...

Asus: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-r9280dc2t3gd5

The Asus is one of the best cooling solutions. The MSI is the most silent, but yet has pretty solid cooling design, And XFX is overall pretty solid.

iamlegend · Sep 19, 2014

You`re 100% correct man.

Licensor is the Nvidia or AMD which have/makes the designs.

Distributors are the different company which buy this license to distribute and alter the designs limited to cooling, the designs which made by the distributor/licensee were again verified by the licensor.

In short, brand can modify to increase the cooling efficiency but not to increase the performance as abiding the terms of the licensor.

OMG, what am I saying, this will make me invalid if you cannot understand.

Darkbreeze · Sep 19, 2014

iamlegend :

You're nuts man. I guess that's ok though. Heh.

Best AMD R9 280.

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