I guess it depends whether you consider the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition a distinct product introduction. If so, then R9 280X is the third single-GPU graphics card sporting AMD’s complete Tahiti GPU.
When I wrote AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Review: Give Me Back That Crown!, that card featured a base clock rate of 1 GHz that’d jump to 1.05 GHz under the effects of PowerTune with Boost. Otherwise, it employed Tahiti in its uncut form—with 2048 Stream processors, 128 texture units, 32 ROPs, and a 384-bit aggregate memory bus populated with 3 GB of GDDR5 at 6 GT/s. AMD slapped a 250 W maximum board power on the card and started shipping it at $500 (already down $50 from the original 7970’s launch).

The R9 280X’s specs are very, very similar. Its Tahiti GPU boasts the same 2048:128:32 configuration, with a 384-bit memory bus rocking 3 GB of GDDR5 that AMD says should operate at 6 GT/s. You’ll need to use the same six- and eight-pin connectors for an identical 250 W board power. The one notable difference is the 280X’s engine clock, which tops out at 1 GHz. As a result, you’ll notice the R9 280X performing slower in our benchmarks. Fortunately, there’s that price drop…

At $300, an R9 280X does battle against the GeForce GTX 760, mostly. I say mostly because the cheapest 770s are selling for around $400 (clearly too high to be in the same league), while the 760s are between $250 and $320. And since we already know the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and GeForce GTX 770 are the cards that trade blows, well, AMD should be in a pretty strong position by the time we get to the end of our benchmarks.
To answer whether existing Radeon HD 7970 cards can be paired with the new R9 280X, yes, they work together. A quick Fraps-based test showed one 280X hitting 52.9 FPS in Battlefield 3 at 2560x1440. Dropping a 7970 GHz Edition next to the newer board pushed frame rates to 102.3 FPS. When it wasn't in use, the 7970 properly spun down according to AMD's ZeroCore technology.
We received two different takes on the R9 280X, neither of them conforming to AMD’s reference design.
Asus R9280X-DC2T-3GD5
The first card was Asus’ R9 280X DirectCU II TOP, an overclocked board with a GPU capable of up to 1070 MHz and GDDR5 memory at 6400 MT/s. According to Asus, it’ll sell this variant for $310, bundled with a power adapter and CrossFire cable.

Beyond the tweaked specifications, Asus employs a non-reference PCB and oversized cooling to help manage power, thermals, and acoustics. The company says AMD’s reference 280X employs a five-phase (60 A/phase) PWM, while its own card features eight phases at 45 A/phase. This, along with claimed higher-quality power components, is supposed to benefit aggressive overclocking. Naturally, Asus bundles its GPU Tweak software for adjusting core clock, voltage, memory, power target, and fan speed (mostly settings you can tune in AMD’s OverDrive applet, except for voltage).
Although the R9 280X DirectCU II TOP is a dual-slot card, it’s also long and tall. The fan shroud stretches over the back of the PCB, imparting an 11.2” overall length. Further, a heat pipe coming out of the board’s top increases maximum height to 5.7”.
Display outputs include one dual-link DVI-I port, one dual-link DVI-D connector, HDMI, and a full-sized DisplayPort ouput.
XFX R9-280X-TDFD
XFX’s R9-280X-TDFD showed up next, based on a slightly different PCB. This is the one we benchmarked for our performance evaluation, if only because we were able to get its speeds and feeds first. An 850 MHz core clock rate accelerates up to 1 GHz when the thermal headroom allows. The memory tops out at AMD’s reference 6 GT/s, serving up to 288 GB/s of bandwidth.

Otherwise, the R9-280X-TDFD is a dual-slot board employing two axial-flow fans that do their job very quietly, but dump waste heat back into your case instead of exhausting it out the back.
Display outputs total five. You get one dual-link DVI-I port, one single-link DVI-D connector, HDMI, and two mini-DisplayPort outputs. Quad-card CrossFire configurations are supported across two bridges, though an extra-tall plastic frame surrounding the heat sink makes even a flexible ribbon connector difficult to attach.
- Tahiti, Pitcairn, And Bonaire Show Up For An Encore
- R9 280X: The Tahiti GPU’s Second (Or Third?) Lease On Life
- R9 270X: Pitcairn Gets A Little Boost
- R7 260X: TrueAudio’s First Outing On The Back Of Bonaire
- TrueAudio: Dedicated Resources For Sound Processing
- Display Technology
- Test Setup And Software
- Results: Arma III
- Results: Battlefield 3
- Results: BioShock Infinite
- Results: Crysis 3
- Results: Grid 2
- Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Results: Tomb Raider
- CAD: AutoCAD 2013 And Inventor 2013
- OpenGL: Maya 2013 And LightWave
- OpenCL: Bitmining, OpenCL, And RatGPU
- Power Consumption
- Clock Rate And Temperature
- Fan Speed And Noise
- Old GPUs Ride Again, But That’s Not A Bad Thing
I wrote one of the least flattering GTX 780 stories out there. I only identified a couple of situations where a Titan made any sense at all. And although the 760 *did* change the balance at $250, that card still didn't get an award. I liked the 770 for the simple fact that it delivered better-than-680 performance for close to $100 less.
The rest of AMD's new line-up is a lot like what exists already. Again, the 7870 is a better value than 270X. So what are you getting worked up over? The fact that I'm pointing out these aren't new GPUs? They're not.
Best to hold out till the reviews on the R9-290X I guess. But considering the specs I hope for at least 20% performance increases over a 7970.
The MSI R9 280X Gaming at $299 appears to outperform the GTX 770 at 1600P and is within margin of error at 1080P according to Techpowerup. Not a bad value at $100 less and still overclocks well:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_280X_Gaming/26.html
Best to hold out till the reviews on the R9-290X I guess. But considering the specs I hope for at least 20% performance increases over a 7970.
Are the days of (nearly) annual simultaneous full line GPU launches from $100-500 with a dual GPU chip to follow at $750-1000 really over?
I wrote one of the least flattering GTX 780 stories out there. I only identified a couple of situations where a Titan made any sense at all. And although the 760 *did* change the balance at $250, that card still didn't get an award. I liked the 770 for the simple fact that it delivered better-than-680 performance for close to $100 less.
The rest of AMD's new line-up is a lot like what exists already. Again, the 7870 is a better value than 270X. So what are you getting worked up over? The fact that I'm pointing out these aren't new GPUs? They're not.
That goes to you too Mr. NVIDIA
you won't want to. the 260 is more expensive, and you'll only get 1gb of it's memory in a xfire with a 7790. (in xfire/sli, the video memory is duplicated on both cards... not shared... so the total memory of the xfire/sli setup is equal to the smallest total mememory on each of the cards. so a 2gb + 1 gb gpu in xfire will have basically 1gb of vram for the xfire setup.
you won't want to. the 260 is more expensive, and you'll only get 1gb of it's memory in a xfire with a 7790. (in xfire/sli, the video memory is duplicated on both cards... not shared... so the total memory of the xfire/sli setup is equal to the smallest total mememory on each of the cards. so a 2gb + 1 gb gpu in xfire will have basically 1gb of vram for the xfire setup.
the true audio thing is still a mystery. We have to see if this thing really takes off or not. If this thing is at least has a just small success like physyx, I guess I wont mind shelling out just extra $10-20 for it.
the 7970/r9-280x is not competing in the 770's price bracket anymore. the 770 is 400 min... until that price comes down reviewing it against the 7970 would make as much sense as reviewing a 7950 against a gtx 650.
What retailer is doing this deal? I've been holding out to upgrade my 5850 for a while now and a pair of these would be a nice little (gigantic) upgrade
It feels like the price per pixel (in games at a given setting) has stayed the same for a while despite the increase in average display resolutions. Which would equate to gaming getting more and more expensive if you like to max the settings. I don't know if this is AMD/NVidia's fault or the game developers fault or both but it's kind of annoying.