DirectCU II R9 280X TOP
The DCII R9 280X is a bit more of an upgrade to the reference model than the previous 270X. Asus did a lot of work to really make this board shine, and it does not disappoint. The board is based on the same Tahiti chip as the previous HD 7970 series of cards. The board is overclocked from stock and runs at 1070 MHz (stock boards run at 1 GHz with a 50 MHz boost over that). Memory runs at a very brisk 6400 MHz on a 384 bit bus giving it a pretty monstrous 300 GB/sec of bandwidth. The chip still sports 2048 stream processors.
Note the monstrous 10 mm heatpipe directly attached to the GPU.
Asus increases the power phases for the GPU from 5 to 8 with this card. It again relies upon the improved component choices to increase power handling and response. The memory keeps with the 2 phases. The board retains the 8+6 pin PCI-E power connections, so it is not gaining any extra power over a reference board.
The board mirrors the 270X in terms of outputs, and the addition of the extra dual-link DVI output is again quite welcome. The board features two CrossFire connectors, so it can be used in Tri and Quad-Fire configurations. This board also does not integrate the DMI based CrossFire functionality of the R9 290 series. It also does not include the TrueAudio functionality.
The MSI Lightning features the GPU Reactor on the back to provide more power directly to the GPU. Asus forgoes such an extreme design to save a bit of money.
The biggest upgrade from the previous DirectCU II HD 7970 GHz edition is that of cooling. Gone is the monster 3-slot cooler that kept the card under control. The redesigned unit is better in every way. It is a more compact cooler (2 slots). The dual 80 mm fans keep it nice and cool, while one of the fans is the new CoolTech unit. Asus also helped to develop a 10 mm heatpipe that it uses in this design. Asus is one of the first to actually use this large heatpipe. The other heatpipes are 8 mm affairs and there are a total of 5 with this design. The board does not feature the full-sized backplate that previous models had, but it does have a metal spine along the top that helps support the cooler and PCB when installed in a case.
Looks like very solid cards.
Looks like very solid cards. I really want to see some custom cooled versions of the 290 soon.
Ryan has already reviewed
Ryan has already reviewed units from Asus and Sapphire on this here site.
Shame you started using DDOF
Shame you started using DDOF in Bioshock Ryan. The game looks so much better with it disabled, not to mention the impact it has on performance numbers.
Well, those numbers are worst
Well, those numbers are worst case scenarios for extreme graphics. Happily, as a user, you can disable it and get a performance boost with your setup!
I’m kind of curious as to why
I’m kind of curious as to why I can find 270 boards with 4GB and 280s seem stuck at 3GB.
The 270s use a 256 bit bus,
The 270s use a 256 bit bus, so they can cram 4 GB of memory on them. The 280 has a 384 bit bus, so to go above 3 GB they need to use 6 GB. That is much more expensive than they feel that most users will go for, so they keep them at 3 GB. Plus, the 280s are already overpriced with just 3 GB right now! Someone really didn't figure out this demand thing…
great review Josh. After
great review Josh. After reading this, I’m convinced that miners are responsible for every known world problem. I mean all of them, including excessive cow flatulence!
They have ruined my upgrade plans for the time being. :/
thanks for the review.
Damn those miners! At least
Damn those miners! At least you can get the R9 270x at a decent price… but yeah, no 280X anywhere near the promised $299.
Is it me or are the graph
Is it me or are the graph numbers switched like the min FPS To high and the avg FPS to low on the Unigine Heaven benchmarks.
LOL, yup! Obviously I
LOL, yup! Obviously I transposed the numbers. Just pretend Min is Avg. and Avg. is Min!
I bought a Gigabyte Windforce
I bought a Gigabyte Windforce R9 270X last November. Having upgraded from an MSI GTX460 with only 768MB of video memory, the 270X was a fantastic deal!
The GTX760 might be the performance equivalent for the 270X, but the price point is mush closer to the older GTX660 here in Japan. Video cards are priced fairly higher than the US. nVidia cards in particular are pricey. When I bought my car a MSI TwinFrozer GTX660 was going for around $200, while the Gigabyte Windforce 270X was only slightly more at $225. Most of the GTX760s that I saw were going for around $370 to $400.
Yeah, that’s a pretty steep
Yeah, that's a pretty steep increase in price as compared to performance on the R9 270X. The 270X is still probably the best overall deal in the market for what you get.
Makes me glad I got the HD
Makes me glad I got the HD 7870 for $120 after rebate over a month ago. Not sure if I can bring myself to get the 270X at current prices.
Glad I was able to grab the
Glad I was able to grab the Asus R9 280x DC2T for my new build before the rush. Snuck it out of Newegg beginning of December for $319…before the gouging began.
Love it.
It certainly is a nice card.
It certainly is a nice card. Good job on grabbing it before the insanity hit.
Notice the dif in the fans on
Notice the dif in the fans on the 280X other than the actual card size and such…. Put that on the cooling on the 270X and you could no doubt O.C. more. Gotsa LOVE ASUS….!!!! I do.
hello everybody, sorry for my
hello everybody, sorry for my english i am french
i have a lot of problem with asus r9 280x directcu 2 top artifact game freeze and stop and return in windows and i dont understand why if someone know about please tell me
thanks