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Sapphire R9 280x vapor Review!

Indus Monk
By Indus Monk
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Posted
How is everyone doing? today i am here to review the Sapphire R9 280x vapor!. A very heavy and long card...-so let's get started!

 

post-107921-0-00717100-1445182869_thumb.

 

 

OVERVIEW

 

post-107921-0-00697700-1445182886_thumb.

 

The card has 3 fans which are rather quiet, even under load. Contrary to popular belif... the card runs a lot cooler than my older GTX 660. I can tell that just by touching the case (a cooler Master k380 with a side panel window fan).

 

post-107921-0-26313100-1445182908_thumb.

 

PORTS

 

2 DVI ports, 1 HDMI port and 1 display port

 

post-107921-0-80522500-1445182896_thumb.

 

Gaming performance:

 

I have tried 2 titles; Mad Max and GTA V. Mad Max gave me a solid 60 fps on very high(highest setting for the game(at 1366x768)). GTA V, in the in game benchmark, gave me a max of 54 and an average of 44-50 fps with No MSAA, all other standard options maxed, advanced options disabled.

 

Pros:

+Wide Bus width.

+Better than the GTX 960 at the same cost!

+3 GB VRAM

+3 Fans

+Runs very cool

 

Cons:

-Only 3GB VRAM

-it's a long card

-not ideal fo 4k60fps

-Partial DX12 support

 

Verdict:

 

It's better than my GTX 660 and the GTX 960 and the R9 285.But makes no sense as you can always OC any 280 and get a 280x!

 

 

Cost:$417(atleast where i live)

Rating 3.6/5

Indus Monk = Indian+ Buddhist

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Posted

Cool review but I would recommend finding a way to test at 1080p because 1336x768 benchmarks are pretty much useless.

Sergeant, United States Marine Corps

Network Administrator, Comptia A+, Security+, Cisco Certified Networking Associate

From a G3258 to dual Xeon E5-2670's

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Cool review but I would recommend finding a way to test at 1080p because 1336x768 benchmarks are pretty much useless.

really wish i had a 1080p monitor...

Indus Monk = Indian+ Buddhist

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Posted

really wish i had a 1080p monitor...

Do you have a 1080p TV in your house? If so when benchmarking hook it up to that, also I believe AMD has a technology which allows you to run games at higher resolutions and then downsample them to your native resolution similar to that of NVIDIA DSR. Doing that would give pretty accurate benchmarks within 2-3 FPS.

Sergeant, United States Marine Corps

Network Administrator, Comptia A+, Security+, Cisco Certified Networking Associate

From a G3258 to dual Xeon E5-2670's

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Do you have a 1080p TV in your house? If so when benchmarking hook it up to that, also I believe AMD has a technology which allows you to run games at higher resolutions and then downsample them to your native resolution similar to that of NVIDIA DSR. Doing that would give pretty accurate benchmarks within 2-3 FPS.

i have a 1080i TV which is basically 720p

Indus Monk = Indian+ Buddhist

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Posted

i have a 1080i TV which is basically 720p

http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/vsr

On your 1366x768 monitor you should be able to use VSR to get it to run at 1080p in games for more accurate benchmarking :)

Sergeant, United States Marine Corps

Network Administrator, Comptia A+, Security+, Cisco Certified Networking Associate

From a G3258 to dual Xeon E5-2670's

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Posted

hmm i highly doubt its better then the 960 because my 680 is has around the same performance as it(before overclocking) and the 680 beat the 7970 in many games.

cpu: intel i5 4670k @ 4.5ghz Ram: G skill ares 2x4gb 2166mhz cl10 Gpu: GTX 680 liquid cooled cpu cooler: Raijintek ereboss Mobo: gigabyte z87x ud5h psu: cm gx650 bronze Case: Zalman Z9 plus


Listen if you care.

Cpu: intel i7 4770k @ 4.2ghz Ram: G skill  ripjaws 2x4gb Gpu: nvidia gtx 970 cpu cooler: akasa venom voodoo Mobo: G1.Sniper Z6 Psu: XFX proseries 650w Case: Zalman H1

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hmm i highly doubt its better then the 960 because my 680 is has around the same performance as it(before overclocking) and the 680 beat the 7970 in many games.

then why is everyone on the forum saying "280x over gtx 960"???

Indus Monk = Indian+ Buddhist

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then why is everyone on the forum saying "280x over gtx 960"???

bang for buck. not performance. Sort of backfired when i got liquid cooled gtx 680 for £100.

cpu: intel i5 4670k @ 4.5ghz Ram: G skill ares 2x4gb 2166mhz cl10 Gpu: GTX 680 liquid cooled cpu cooler: Raijintek ereboss Mobo: gigabyte z87x ud5h psu: cm gx650 bronze Case: Zalman Z9 plus


Listen if you care.

Cpu: intel i7 4770k @ 4.2ghz Ram: G skill  ripjaws 2x4gb Gpu: nvidia gtx 970 cpu cooler: akasa venom voodoo Mobo: G1.Sniper Z6 Psu: XFX proseries 650w Case: Zalman H1

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Posted

 

How is everyone doing? today i am here to review the Sapphire R9 280x vapor!. A very heavy and long card...-so let's get started!
 
 
 
OVERVIEW
 
 
The card has 3 fans which are rather quiet, even under load. Contrary to popular belif... the card runs a lot cooler than my older GTX 660. I can tell that just by touching the case (a cooler Master k380 with a side panel window fan).
 
 
PORTS
 
2 DVI ports, 1 HDMI port and 1 display port
 
 
Gaming performance:
 
I have tried 2 titles; Mad Max and GTA V. Mad Max gave me a solid 60 fps on very high(highest setting for the game(at 1366x768)). GTA V, in the in game benchmark, gave me a max of 54 and an average of 44-50 fps with No MSAA, all other standard options maxed, advanced options disabled.
 
Pros:
+Wide Bus width.
+Better than the GTX 960 at the same cost!
+3 GB VRAM
+3 Fans
+Runs very cool
 
Cons:
-Only 3GB VRAM
-it's a long card
-not ideal fo 4k60fps
-Partial DX12 support
 
Verdict:
 
It's better than my GTX 660 and the GTX 960 and the R9 285.But makes no sense as you can always OC any 280 and get a 280x!
 
 
Cost:$417(atleast where i live)
Rating 3.6/5

 

you cannot "OC any 280 and get a 280X" because the 280X has more stream processors...

So the moment you OC the 280X, it will be way faster, again.

 

R9 280 = 1792 SPs

R9 280X = 2048 SPs

 

Did you ever think a 280X would ever push 4k60FPS??

You may have overshot your goal, like A LOT if you thought that, seeing as even the 980Ti Lightning cannot do that with every game.....

 

aside from that, thank you for sharing your experiences with this card.

Current setup

Images of setup: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/183-show-off-your-setup/?p=5872590

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Posted

really wish i had a 1080p monitor...

Activate VSR in CCC.

 

hmm i highly doubt its better then the 960 because my 680 is has around the same performance as it(before overclocking) and the 680 beat the 7970 in many games.

Yeah it is better. A non-ref 960 with high factory oc was barely on par with a reference 7970 that clocked at 925mhz and this 280x Vapor-X come with 1100mhz boost clock which is faster than 7970 Ghz ed.

 

perfrel_1920.gif

| Intel i7-3770@4.2Ghz | Asus Z77-V | Zotac 980 Ti Amp! Omega | DDR3 1800mhz 4GB x4 | 300GB Intel DC S3500 SSD | 512GB Plextor M5 Pro | 2x 1TB WD Blue HDD |
 | Enermax NAXN82+ 650W 80Plus Bronze | Fiio E07K | Grado SR80i | Cooler Master XB HAF EVO | Logitech G27 | Logitech G600 | CM Storm Quickfire TK | DualShock 4 |

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Activate VSR in CCC.

 

Yeah it is better. A non-ref 960 with high factory oc was barely on par with a reference 7970 that clocked at 925mhz and this 280x Vapor-X come with 1100mhz boost clock which is faster than 7970 Ghz ed.

 

 

well that certainly is surprising. i do vaguely remember linus going nuts over the 680 over the 7970 back in teh day. 

cpu: intel i5 4670k @ 4.5ghz Ram: G skill ares 2x4gb 2166mhz cl10 Gpu: GTX 680 liquid cooled cpu cooler: Raijintek ereboss Mobo: gigabyte z87x ud5h psu: cm gx650 bronze Case: Zalman Z9 plus


Listen if you care.

Cpu: intel i7 4770k @ 4.2ghz Ram: G skill  ripjaws 2x4gb Gpu: nvidia gtx 970 cpu cooler: akasa venom voodoo Mobo: G1.Sniper Z6 Psu: XFX proseries 650w Case: Zalman H1

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well that certainly is surprising. i do vaguely remember linus going nuts over the 680 over the 7970 back in teh day. 

Yep, the 680 did stomped 7970 on release day, even 670 is slightly better. AMD released 7970 Ghz to compete with the 680 later that year.

Early driver for 7900 series was pretty bad, took them a year(Catalyst 12.11 Beta 8) to slowly fix them and now the card really fly with extra performance for DX12 under the hood. 

| Intel i7-3770@4.2Ghz | Asus Z77-V | Zotac 980 Ti Amp! Omega | DDR3 1800mhz 4GB x4 | 300GB Intel DC S3500 SSD | 512GB Plextor M5 Pro | 2x 1TB WD Blue HDD |
 | Enermax NAXN82+ 650W 80Plus Bronze | Fiio E07K | Grado SR80i | Cooler Master XB HAF EVO | Logitech G27 | Logitech G600 | CM Storm Quickfire TK | DualShock 4 |

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funny, i have this exact card in my system. serves me well in the games i play (think i got 1080 60fps constant with some high settings some ultra settings on the battlefront beta). though i'm gonna swap it out 

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funny, i have this exact card in my system. serves me well in the games i play (think i got 1080 60fps constant with some high settings some ultra settings on the battlefront beta). though i'm gonna swap it out 

Why would you? It does what you need it to.

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Why would you? It does what you need it to.

maybe he wants to use 3 8k monitors :P..... just kidding... he may want to play on ultra?

Indus Monk = Indian+ Buddhist

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maybe he wants to use 3 8k monitors :P..... just kidding... he may want to play on ultra?

Idk, it isn't worth it to go from high to ultra. 

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Idk, it isn't worth it to go from high to ultra. 

 

i dunno. we'll see how things go when games like fallout 4 come out. i imagine a 280x will run that game just fine 

 

maybe he wants to use 3 8k monitors :P..... just kidding... he may want to play on ultra?

 

i've been leaning 1440p for a bit lol... 

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i dunno. we'll see how things go when games like fallout 4 come out. i imagine a 280x will run that game just fine 

 

 

i've been leaning 1440p for a bit lol... 

I PERSONALLY would not get a 1440p 60hz monitor. I would maybe get a Korean panel and OC it to 120hz.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

280x beating a 960. no

280x is better except in witcher 3 which is not even a valid comparison since the 960 beats even the 780...

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