Closing Thoughts
Three cards up, three cards down. Let's put some final analysis on the R9 280X cards from ASUS, MSI and Sapphire.
Performance
As with all overclocked retail graphics cards, the difference in clock speeds tend to be somewhat minimal out of the box. Only in very rare and extreme cases do the vendors really step up and impress us with performance gains over reference specifications. Both the ASUS DirectCU II and the MSI Gaming versions of the Radeon R9 280X fall into this category; with overclocks of just 70 and 50 MHz neither is really blowing away the stock results we saw in our first R9 280X review.
The Sapphire R9 280X TOXIC is slightly better with an overclocked setting that is 150 MHz faster than base and also tweaks the memory speed a little bit as well. As a result, the Sapphire card is clearly the fastest of the three options on the table today though admittedly the performance deltas begin to look small when viewed progressively (MSI -> ASUS -> Sapphire).
The truth is that all three of these cards offer a lot more than just higher clocks. The custom PCB design, unique coolers, and different sound levels have just as much (if not more) to say about which card is right for you.
Custom Cooling
All three cards shy away from the reference design from AMD and I am thankful! The ASUS DirectCU II cooler and board design show a lot of ASUS' engineering prowess in the market and overclocking both the GPU and the memory speeds gives us a bit more confidence in the design. The dual fan combination is quiet and effective keeping the GPU at 72C even under a full gaming workload.
The MSI Gaming card has the least improved clock speeds out of the box but the cooler was also the quietest of the bunch. MSI has implemented the Military Class components yet again on this card. It also provides the best overclocking software, in my opinion.
Sapphire's TOXIC card is the flashiest card in our comparison while also offering the highest cooling capacity. But maintaining that same 72C temperature while drawing 50 watts more power than the ASUS card also means that the fans are spinning a little faster and generating a bit more noise. The LED lights and yellow + orange color scheme will definitely make the TOXIC stand out against the sea of red in other R9 280X designs.
Pricing and Availability
As of this writing, this is how the pricing of three R9 280X cards in this roundup stand:
- ASUS R9 280X DirectCU II – $315 (Newegg.com)
- MSI R9 280X Twin Frozr Gaming – $315 (Newegg.com)
- Sapphire R9 280X TOXIC – $349 (Newegg.com)
Clearly the TOXIC card attempts to justify its price with the larger and impressive cooler along with the highest default overclocks. Both the ASUS and MSI cards are on equal price footing and both provide very similar features. The DirectCU II cooler and custom board design from the ASUS option likely give it the edge, head to head.
Final Thoughts
All three of these Radeon R9 280X cards make good on the promise that AMD brought forward with the release of the revamped Radeon line earlier this month. Though none of these hit the $299 starting MSRP, none are plain and unoriginal either. Instead, they focus on improving the design of the R9 280X with custom board layout and design, improved components and overclocked settings right out the gate.
The most impressive card, from a pure performance and overclocking perspective, is the Sapphire R9 280X 3GB TOXIC. Its massive cooler, custom PCB, and higher clocks offer the best performance while at the same time causing significantly more noise than either competitor. Users that want the best performing option possible, regardless of the power and sound concerns, will love this card.
For the overall recommendation though we are stuck between the ASUS DirectCU II and the MSI Twin Frozr Gaming cards. Both offer quality designs, both fit into dual slot configurations without compromise, and both run at a much lower noise level than the Sapphire card. MSI's design has the lowest noise output, only increasing in dbA measurements by about 1 dbA from idle to load. But I do believe that the custom design on the ASUS board and cooler is likely to net an advantage in the long run.
ASUS R9 280X 3GB DirectCU II & MSI R9 280X 3GB Twin Frozr Gaming
Sapphire R9 280X 3GB TOXIC
really haven’t justified why
really haven’t justified why the MSI didn’t get the same award as the Asus.
Not sure what this is tryingt
Not sure what this is tryingt to ask. It DID get the same award?
MSI rocks as cooling and
MSI rocks as cooling and slient fan solutions are mandatory for performance of a processor atleast at a specified clock rate provided by manufacturer.Overclocking is secondary. Also power consumption is less.
Nice roundup!
You tested the
Nice roundup!
You tested the MSI card with the old BIOS though, with the alleged VRM overheating problems.
This is the new one (according to Tomshardware(DE) it’s a lot louder): http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/146769/msi-r9280x-3072-131009.html
Hmm, interesting I’ll take a
Hmm, interesting I'll take a look.
Nice write-up Ryan, I really
Nice write-up Ryan, I really like the look and design of the ASUS GPU, they really have put some thought and effort into the production of this card.
All good cards and a nice
All good cards and a nice review, although the noise of the Toxic is disappointing considering the price premium. I would have preferred a presumably quieter 3-slot design like the Asus Matrix Platinum (also $350). Any plans on reviewing that?
Under Metro Last Light :
What
Under Metro Last Light :
What is the difference between the FRAPS FPS and Observed FPS chart?
Other than that, it was interesting to see how various brands tackle certain challenges.
In my opinion, Sapphire would learn a lot from ASUS for their next design. I find ASUS has the neater design for long-term performance.
Hey Ryan, great article.
I
Hey Ryan, great article.
I myself just got the toxic 280x about a week ago. I agree the performance is great but i’m having game shadow/ texture flickering as well as some general screen artifacts even out of the box… (crysis 3, heaven 4.0, BF4)as well as some noticeable coil whine.
Im on the latest drivers and believe I have a good enough psu
Thermaltake 750w bronze with a core i5 2500k. Temps are also under 70c when this is happening. Maybe just a bad egg?
Still rocking the house with
Still rocking the house with a gtx 570 SLI setup how does this card compare?
well im from Lithuania and in
well im from Lithuania and in my country asus cost 100$ then toxic and it cant overclock so much so wait in my country toxic is better in every single aspect since if asus have same oc it would be as loud to maintain temperature at that point so faster cheaper cooler i dont care about sound while i have decent case with sound dapening and taking this bether card i take silver so dont get me wrong but from when silver is bether then gold since gpu toxic>asus in where i live sad to see such ratings just for noice while u knew well that that gpu has more horses compare with cars why ppl love ferary sound? becouse its faster ….. review is good awards not so much graps of fps in games totaly stupid why ? who makes 2 almost identical colors for graps of 4 cards? cant u put red blue green purple? ……. jesus
I picked up the MSI and
I picked up the MSI and updated the BIOS straight away. Performance is nice and it runs quietly. The only thing is the coil whine, which apparantly a lot of customers on newegg are also mentioning. Not a deal breaker, but it is a little annoying at times.
@Paul Hockett
Saved me loads
@Paul Hockett
Saved me loads of time, cheers, as I thought this might just be mine. Flickery bars across textures and shadows in bioshock and chess boards and technicolour discos in crysis 3. I find it happens quite randomly and can game 8hrs without trouble then next day 30m in it starts so was gonna be a nightmare trying to figure which card was causing troubles. Real shame as when they work i’m enjoying everything at max at 1440p.
Anyone tested this card on
Anyone tested this card on Rome 2 ? How does it perform ?
I know its’ a bit late but i
I know its’ a bit late but i really wish you would have thrown in XFX’s Double D R9 280X 1000MHz BOOST
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FSC5N66/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1O03RSCAQ99TD&coliid=I2KXFB8JHBUKK
I don’t mean to sound like a fan boy for them of which I can only say why doesn’t everyone buy an XFX GPU with a Lifetime warranty. This year it seems that what is going to happen is I will be drown back to an AMD GPU. Who pulled no punches this season. From a GTX 780 which I had nearly purchased when the AMD R9 280’s were announced and reviewed.
Thanks for the Video Reviews on YouTube and also with This Week in Computer Hardware, with Patrick Norton.
So what are the other
So what are the other alternatives of it? I just wanna know more about maintenance..Find more on http://www.greatbodykits.com/
Just bought one of
Just bought one of these(ASUS) and its a beast, bang per buck it one of the best on the market. Well I think so anyway 🙂