Tweet
Let's start by talking about what the Radeon R9 280X isn't. Despite relying on the same technology for almost two years now, we're not seeing the arrival of new AMD architecture here. This card is Graphics Core Next through and through, and it's very easy indeed to level the accusation that AMD is simply rebranding existing cards, adding a handful of new features to the firmware but fundamentally re-releasing the same product. With the R9 280X we're looking at a card that is remarkably similar to the existing Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. Indeed, when we first installed the card with the current AMD drivers present on our test PC, it was even recognised as a 7900-series product - and it seemed to work just fine. Only with the arrival of AMD beta drivers did Windows recognise the R9 280X as a different product.
So by extension, clearly the Radeon R9 280X isn't the much-vaunted challenger to Nvidia's unchallenged GeForce GTX 780 or the stratospherically expensive enthusiasts' favourite - the GTX Titan. That's the R9 290X, and while we can acknowledge its existence, curiously the new AMD flagship still remains under NDA - for now.
Read more…
More...