A Note about the Temperatures
We measured the temperatures by running Unigine Heaven's benchmark mode in a loop. This should simulate the most taxing gaming workload that AMD's Radeon R9 280X will encounter. Depending on the title, the temperatures you see will likely be somewhat lower.
| Model | Idle | Full Gaming Load |
|---|---|---|
| Asus R9 280X DirectCU II OC | 32°C | 75°C |
| Club3D R9 280X royalKing OC | 34 °C | 74 °C |
| Gigabyte R9 280X WindForce 3X | 28°C 30°C | 63°C 73°C (new BIOS) |
| HIS R9 280X IceQ X² | 31°C | 69°C |
| MSI R9 280X Gaming OC | 34°C 34°C | >90°C throttling (VRM) 72°C |
| Sapphire R9 280X Toxic OC | 33 °C | 72°C |
| Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X OC | 32°C | 80°C |
Temperature Diagram
The temperature curve in the diagram is influenced by each Radeon R9 280X’s cooler, fans, and the fan profile in the card’s BIOS. We’re also collecting data for cards with available or announced firmware updates.
Asus R9 280X DirectCU II OC

Club3D R9 280X royalKing OC

Gigabyte R9 280X WindForce 3X OC

HIS R9 280X X²

MSI R9 280X Gaming OC (new BIOS)

Sapphire R9 280X Toxic OC

Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X OC

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Summary
- Seven Radeon R9 280X Cards, Rounded-Up
- Technical Specifications And GPU-Z Screens
- Dimensions And Weight
- Temperatures
- Noise And Fan RPM
- Noise Comparison Videos
- Asus R9 280X DirectCU II OC
- Club3D R9 280X royalKing OC
- Gigabyte R9 280X WindForce 3X OC
- HIS R9 280X IceQ X² Turbo
- MSI R9 280X Gaming OC
- Sapphire R9 280X Toxic OC
- Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X OC
Ask a Category Expert
But it looks like the Toxic is a pretty nice GPU. It runs very cool for the clock speed, has the highest clock speeds and the noise is not that bad.
Now we need benchmarks of these and HD7970s to see their value.
Modified means its beyond the original spec. Throttling means that it was overheating and lowering the clock speed in order to cool down. New BIOS means just that, that they received a new BIOS to fix any previous issues.
They do a mic but it depends on your config. I think these are all open setups and not in a case.
Also, I have never been a fan of MSIs setups. I prefer Sapphire or Asus for GPUs from AMD as they have better cooling solutions and tend to last longer
Waiting eagerly for a Watercooled card , although I know it wont come for the 280X as basically all of these cooling solutions especially the ICEQX2 , DCII , WF 3X , Toxic and Vapor-X just keep the card cool , till the OC limit lets em go. One for the 290X maybe..............
Some of those cards are a good deal louder or higher pitch than the others.
I don't know if its too hard but anyways, would seem that lower frequency would be better.
Some of those cards seem noisier than the results, most likely because the frequency of the sound it produces is not being accurately shown by the db(A) scale.
The fact that your conclusions of the existing cards tested are ?missing?, that is annoying.
Anyway. LOL to MSI, bad VRMs are showing their colour. Bloody payback time.
Amazing how quiet that Asus is.
Amazing how HEAVY the Toxic is...
I really like the new style of comparison with charts and screens. the video noise rocks. good job, keep it up.