Perhaps fortunately, AMD's reference Radeon R9 280X is a bit of a phantom outside our own labs. If you're shopping for one of these Tahiti-based boards, you're looking at third-party solutions. We round up seven models and show what makes them different.
Consider this your reference for Radeon R9 280X comparisons. We’re deliberately not including a group picture in the introduction because, as we receive more third-party boards, we'll update today's piece with them, making comparisons easier. To this end, the benchmark and measurement results are split into different categories and mostly presented as tables.

We're also taking your feedback into account and including specifications that don't appear in every manufacturer's technical specifications, but still matter for installation, and might consequently be an important factor in your buying decision. The videos are back too, in addition to fan speed and temperature diagrams as well.
A run-down of each card's differentiators, including BIOS tweaks and a picture gallery of each board, round out this new story format. For the first time, we’re combining a round-up, single-card reviews, and picture galleries into one handy, continually updated package.
Graphics Cards Overview
| Asus R9 280X DirectCU II OC | ![]() |
| Club3D R9 280X royalKing OC Update: Added: 10/21/2013 | ![]() |
| Gigabyte R9 280X WindForce 3X OC | ![]() |
| HIS R9 280X IceQ X² | ![]() |
| MSI R9 280X Gaming OC | ![]() |
| Sapphire R9 280X Toxic OC | ![]() |
| Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X OC | ![]() |
- 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







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.