AMD Radeon R9 280X, R9 270X, And R7 260X: Old GPUs, New Names

Features
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AMD is introducing a handful of new model names today, based on existing GPUs. Do the company's price adjustments make this introduction newsworthy, or will the excitement need to wait for its upcoming Radeon R9 290 and 290X, based on fresh silicon?

Test Setup And Software

Test Hardware And Software

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Test Hardware
ProcessorsIntel Core i7-4960X (Ivy Bridge-E) 3.6 GHz Base Clock Rate, Overclocked to 4.3 GHz, LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled
MotherboardASRock X79 Extreme6 (LGA 2011) X79 Express Chipset, BIOS 2.50
MemoryG.Skill 32 GB (8 x 4 GB) DDR3-2133, F3-17000CL9Q-16GBXM x2 @ 9-11-10-28 and 1.65 V
Hard DriveSamsung 840 Pro SSD 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s
GraphicsAMD Radeon R9 280X 3 GB
Row 5 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon R9 270X 2 GB
Row 6 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon R7 260X 2 GB
Row 7 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3 GB
Row 8 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2 GB
Row 9 - Cell 0 AMD Radeon HD 7790 2 GB
Row 10 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2 GB
Row 11 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2 GB
Row 12 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2 GB
Row 13 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2 GB
Power SupplyCorsair AX860i 860 W
System Software And Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 8 Professional 64-bit
DirectXDirectX 11
Graphics DriverAMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta 1 (All AMD cards)
Row 19 - Cell 0 Nvidia GeForce 331.40 Beta (All Nvidia cards)
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Benchmarks And Settings
Battlefield 3Ultra Quality Preset, v-sync off, 1920x1080, 2560x1440, DirectX 11, Going Hunting, 90-Second playback, Fraps
Arma 3Very High Detail Preset, DirectX 11, 2x FSAA, v-sync off, 1920x1080, 2560x1440, Infantry Showcase, 30-Second playback, Fraps
Grid 2Ultra Quality Preset, 4x MSAA, v-sync off, 1920x1080, 2560x1440, Built-In Benchmark, Fraps
The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimUltra Quality Preset, FXAA Disabled, 1920x1080, 2560x1440, Custom Run-Through, 25-Second playback, Fraps
BioShock InfiniteUltra Quality Settings with Diffusion Depth of Field, DirectX 11, 1920x1080, 2560x1440, Built-in Benchmark Sequence, 75-Second playback, Fraps
Crysis 3High System Spec, SMAA Low (1x), High Texture Resolution, 1920x1080, 2560x1440, Custom Run-Through, 60-Second Sequence, Fraps
Tomb RaiderUltra Quality Preset, FXAA Enabled, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, TressFX Hair, 1920x1080, 2560x1440, Custom Run-Through, 45-Second playback, Fraps
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.