VisionTek’s R9 280X brings solid value to AMD’s new lineup

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7 3770K (overclocked to 4.5GHz); Turbo is on. Supplied by Intel.
• EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard (Intel Z77 chipset, latest beta 03-12-13 BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x using Plex chip), supplied by EVGA.
• 16GB Kingston DDR3 Kingston RAM (8x2GB, dual-channel at 2133MHz; supplied by Kingston)
• Noctua NH-DH14 CPU cooler plus 7 case fans, supplied by Noctua.
• VisionTek HD 7970 at reference speeds and also further overclocked; on loan from VisionTek
• Nvidia GeForce 770, 2GB, reference clocks, supplied by Nvidia
• EVGA GTX 780 (3GB, reference clocks), on loan from EVGA
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• Genius SP-D150 speakers
• Two identical 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drives configured and set up identically from drive image; one partition for Nvidia GeForce drivers and one for ATI Catalyst drivers
• Two Kingston 240GB HyperX SSDs configured and set up identically from drive image; one partition for Nvidia GeForce drivers and one for ATI Catalyst drivers; supplied by Kingston
• Cooler Master Platinum Pro 1000W PSU, supplied by Cooler Master
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake
• Philips DVD SATA writer
• HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD
• Three 23″ ASUS VG236 3D Vision-ready 120Hz displays, supplied by Nvidia/ASUS.

Test Configuration – Software

• WHQL Catalyst 13.11 Beta1 and Beta6; application controlled, Surface optimizations off, High Quality, Vsync off
• Nvidia GeForce WHQL 331.58; High Quality; Single-display Performance mode; Prefer Maximum Performance, Vsync off
• Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
• Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions.
• Vsync is forced off in the control panels.
• Varying AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for Crysis.
• All results show average frame rates
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 7 64, all DX9 titles were run under DX9 render paths, DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths and DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.

The Benchmarks

• Synthetic
  • FireStrike (and FireStrike Extreme)
  • 3DMark 11
  • Heaven 4.0
  • Valley 1.0

   

  DX9
  • Left 4 Dead 2
  • Serious Sam 3 BFE
  • Alan Wake: Ameican Nightmare
  • The Witcher 2
  • Borderlands 2

   

  DX10
  • Crysis

   

  DX11
  • BattleForge
  • Alien vs. Predator
  • STALKER, Call of Pripyat
  • Lost Planet 2
  • Civilization V
  • Total War: Shogun II
  • Crysis 2
  • DiRT 3
  • DiRT: ShowDown
  • Batman: Arkham City
  • Battlefield 3
  • Max Payne 3
  • the Secret World
  • Sleeping Dogs
  • Sniper Elite V2
  • Hitman: Absolution
  • Far Cry 3
  • Tomb Raider: 2013
  • Assassin’s Creed 3
  • Crysis 3
  • BioShock: Infinite
  • Metro: Last Light
  • GRID 2
  • Splinter Cell: Blacklist
    
  • Batman: Arkham Origins

Batman: Arkham Origins is ABT’s latest benchmark and it is replacing the recently shutdown Battleforge as game benchmark number thirty.

Before we get to the VisionTek HD R9 290x’ performance charts, let’s look at overclocking, noise, and temperatures.

Overclocking, Noise and Temperatures

Overclocking the VisionTek R9 280X is just as easy as overclocking any other Radeon using the Catalyst Control Center. Even when our settings are “default”, we always move the PowerTune Slider as far to the right as it will go – to +20% in most cases – so the card is not throttled.

We were able to add an additional 85MHz over the reference R9 280X base clock of 1000MHz to reach 1085MHz stably.  On top of the core overclock, we were able to add 125MHz to reach 1625MHz on the memory.

We did not adjust the VisionTek R9 280X’ voltage. Temperatures were never an issue and the fan profile remained at stock. Temperatures remained in the low 70sC during benching and only hit the mid-80C when we overclocked it as far as we could go without adjusting the voltage nor fan profile.  VisionTek’s two blower cooling fans are a much better solution than AMD’s reference solution for just about anything except for pairing two cards in CrossFire.

Let’s head to the performance charts to see how the VisionTek HD R9 280X compares with the HD 7970 editions, the reference GTX 770 at stock, as well as against the $500 GTX 780.