Continuing along with revisiting some of our favorite old graphics cards, today we'll be checking back in with the Radeon R9 280X, which is too to say that we're checking back in with the 7970 GHz Edition, both of which are essentially a manufacturing plant overclocked Radeon Hd 7970, so we'll technically be revisiting that, also, the very same card we first reviewed in December 2022!

All three cards are based on the same 'Tahiti XT' GPU and they all feature 2048 cores, 128 texture mapping units and 32 render output units, as well every bit the same GDDR5 retention interface using a 384-fleck wide memory omnibus. The just real changes were made to the core and memory clock speeds, though the 7970 GHz Edition and R9 280X are similar, and once more, are basically overclocked versions of the original 7970.

For some dorsum story on that, AMD's decision to overclock the 7970 past almost 15% and create the 7970 GHz Edition (which fetched a $l premium) was an attempt to compete with the GeForce GTX 680 and reclaim the performance crown in 2022. Some xviii months later on with nothing new to offering, the 7970 GHz Edition was rebranded as the R9 280X and its MSRP dropped from $500 to $300, so fifty-fifty though we were getting the same operation, at least information technology was a bit cheaper.

Shortly afterward the 280X release, the Radeon 200 series was completed with some GCN second generation parts including the R9 290, 290X and 295X2. Nosotros as well got the 3rd generation Radeon R9 285, simply that model was a bit of a flop.

Even though it was a rebadged offering, the Radeon 280X was actually a hot detail at its introduction MSRP and sold quite well. Today they can exist plant selling for $120 to $190 on the second-hand market, and given today's horrible market conditions, that puts it on par with the price of cards such as the GTX 1050 and RX 560. Which of those options provides the best results for those seeking the maximum value, you ask? Well, we're about to notice out.

Representing the vintage GPU is a Sapphire Vapor-X R9 280X 3G. All benchmarking was conducted on our Corsair GPU test rig which is comprised of a Core i7-8700K clocked at 5GHz as well as 32GB of Vengeance DDR4-3200 memory.

Benchmark Time

The Radeon R9 280X gets off to a flying commencement in our Battlefield 1 exam and it's the kickoff older card we've revisited this twelvemonth that is able to boilerplate more than 60fps in this title at 1080p using the ultra quality settings. As a result, it was 13% faster than the GTX 1050 Ti and 24% faster than the GTX 680, which also means the 7970 GHz Edition would exist at least xx% faster in this title.

Moving on to Dawn of War Three and here we run into the R9 280X standing to tear the competition apart with an average of 79fps, which works out to sixteen% faster than the GTX 1050 Ti and 18% faster than the HD 7950 and GTX 680. I should also note that the one% low result of 59fps was greater than the boilerplate result for the RX 560 and GTX 1050.

The R9 280X also does well in Dirt iv and here information technology managed to edge out the GTX 680 by a vii% margin. Testing was conducted using the medium quality settings and then it's fair to say you lot could crank upwardly the visuals with the 280X.

Adjacent up we have For Honor and for the first time so far we come across the GTX 680 beating the R9 280X, though merely by a mere iv% margin. Overall performance was good and you could probably become abroad with college quality settings and still see an average of over 60fps.

Moving on to Ghost Recon Wildlands, the R9 280X matched the GTX 680 and GTX 1050 while information technology was x% slower than the GTX 1050 Ti -- a reasonable result in this title though nosotros are only using the depression quality preset so optimization isn't the all-time hither.

The R9 280X runs away with it in Mass Effect Andromeda, hitting 81fps on average or near 14% faster than the GTX 680. It also edged out the GTX 1050 Ti and crushed the GTX 1050.

The 280X just beats the GTX 1050 Ti in Casualty while information technology was comfortably ahead of the GTX 680, though with both pushing over 60fps at all times you'd struggle to spot the departure.

The 280X blasted the competition in Resident Evil vii, chirapsia the GTX 1050 Ti by a 20% margin and the GTX 680 by 23%, so a clear victory for AMD'southward rebadged HD 7970.

The R9 280X was x% faster than the GTX 680 on average across the eight games nosotros tested, though it has to exist said that our spread of games is unintentionally kind to the red team. We recently saw that the HD 7950 struggled against the GTX 760 in titles such equally Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Fortnite, Overwatch and PlayerUnknown'due south Battlegrounds. Had those titles been included, and so the 280X and GTX 680 might accept come out of this offer a similar level of functioning overall, so keep that in mind. That said, let's move on to see how the R9 280X plays in a few of these titles.

Game Footage

First up, I played a few rounds of Rainbow Half-dozen Siege and found that on boilerplate the R9 280X was proficient for over 100fps when using the medium quality settings at 1080p. In this same section of the game, the 280X was roughly 30% faster than the GTX 680. Whereas the GTX 680 averaged 108fps with dips equally low as 88fps, the 280X never dropped beneath 106fps and this immune for an average of 139fps.

Nosotros saw that previously the R9 280X was over 20% faster than the GTX 680 in Battlefield one and this had a big impact on the quality settings we were able to utilize. Whereas the GTX 680 was limited to the medium quality settings for playable performance the R9 280X could handle ultra and still push over 50fps at all times when gaming at 1080p -- an impressive issue for the old AMD GPU.

The R9 280X powered through Battlefront Two using the high quality settings, providing highly playable functioning. Under the aforementioned conditions it was xviii% faster than the GTX 680 in this title. Overall we saw an average of 69fps with a minimum of 59fps.

Moving on to Fortnite here nosotros saw an average of 105fps with drops down to 69fps in our ten minute exam. Although this performance using the medium quality settings at 1080p is only comparable to what we saw with the GTX 760, it's obviously even so very playable and you could certainly afford to turn the quality settings up a notch or 2.

Although not an apples to apples comparing with the GTX 680, in Overwatch we did employ the same quality settings and overall functioning was about identical. Using the ultra quality settings the 280X was silky smooth churning out 87fps on average with a minimum of 70fps, and so a peachy result overall.

Finally I gave PUBG a whirl and was forced downward to the medium quality preset, which was also the case for the GTX 680. In fact, despite playing on a unlike map nosotros still saw the same 66fps average, and so overall performance should be similar between the 2. In my exam with the 280X I saw a minimum of 52fps with an average of 66fps -- a playable result overall simply if you want to maintain over 60fps yous'll have to endeavour the low or very low quality settings.

The Radeon R9 280X wasn't the most ability efficient GPU released in belatedly 2022 and recollect it was based on year and a one-half old tech at the time. It was nevertheless a massive improvement compared to the GTX 580 and given that information technology now beats the GTX 680 in almost tests, operation per watt is very adept in contrast. Given the 8700K @ 5GHz and R9 280X combo consumed less than 300 watts when gaming, which shouldn't exactly put your power supply to the test.

Wrap Up

There yous have it, 2022's Radeon R9 280X or 2022's Hard disk drive 7970, they expect to be pretty capable after all these years. Nether normal circumstances, you'd never entertain the idea of spending well over $100 on ane of these cards, merely today if you had a m of them listed for $100, they'd probably all sell before the calendar week concluded.

Because of these market conditions, y'all can expect to pay ~$170 and that's really the average sale price for the 280X on eBay during the March period. At the time of writing this, the RX 560 and GTX 1050 cards are selling for about $160, while the 1050 Ti is fetching at least $220.

The Radeon 280X seems feasible given that it'southward 9% faster than the 1050 Ti on average and the fact that it costs around 20 to 25% less. Meanwhile, for effectually the same money as the vanilla 1050, we saw 25% more performance. Of course, being a much older product, the 280X consumes loads more than power, but the large aftermarket models I have on hand from Sapphire and Asus run reasonably cool and quiet.

The big hurdle for potential buyers is the fact that they are 2nd-hand products and there's no chance of replacing them under warranty should something go incorrect. All that said, I'd put my budget cap for a 280X at $150 and in that location are examples of working cards selling for as low as $130, if you get lucky. The R9 280X remains solid for 1080p gaming and you'll have a heap of fun with information technology if that'southward your purpose for the card.

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