Great card. Honestly I don't see why anybody would pay 300$ more for a GTX 780. The performance advantage of the 780 over this card is clearly not 300$.
Given that an OC 780 can rub elbows with Titan, it's clear that the 780 should cost more... but more than DOUBLE the price of 280X? It's seriously laughable. Then again, I'm not the target market for $600+ GPUs.
Well, nobody who was looking for a good price-performance ratio was choosing the 780 over a 770 anyways, so the 280X really does not change anything here. Let's wait for the 290X and see what happens to the pricing of the 780 and the Titan then.
NV said they had no plans to drop the 770's price, I would think a 780 drop is even less probable unless 290X just trounces it... Heck the 280X mostly matches or outperforms the 770 and it's $100 less!
I'd been thinking of going NV for my next upgrade (from 2x 6950s), but if AMD can come thru with their frame pacing driver update for Eyefinity in November I'll probably choose AMD again.
EF seems more flexible than Surround anyway, software-config wise.
nVidia won't admit they're going to do a price drop until they are DOING a price drop. Saying, "Yeah, we're gonna do one. In a few weeks. You know. Once we sell as many GPU's before we have to drop," seems like it'd be stupid to say.
I really don't know what to make of any of this.. when Nvidia's high end 6x series came out it widely accepted as beating out the 7950-70 yet somehow or another Amd caught up. Than along comes Nvidia's high end 7x series and the 7970GHZ manages to kinda sort of keep pace. Than we have these new cards which are based loosely on the those cards and at stock their coming very close to... I think Anand said within 5% or so. That tells me that there isn't really a huge difference so it will be interesting to see what comes out of amd with their top end cards.
It's clear there's no night/day difference so far.. anyone with a good card in the last year and a bit is sort of set for now.
The article lists this as having "two" dual-link DVI ports. As far as I'm aware, none of the current ATI model video cards have "two" dual-link DVI ports, and issue I ran into when I wanted to drive two big cheap Korean Shimian 2560x1440 monitors that only come with dual link DVI inputs.
It's a bit confusing. They're always physically DL-DVI ports; but electrically you're right, they can only drive 1 DL-DVI monitor. I'll go amend that to try to clarify it.
i'm not sure why there is no customized 770/780 in the gaming test, although it was pointed out in the article, but it felt like biased marketing for this card, all reviews show that the stock 280x are almost head to head with 770 GTX, but this one is biased as they are comparing a customized 280x with reference Nvidia Cards, for most of people, they will look up the charts and think this one actually beats the 780 GTX for half the price, shame on you anadtech.
In fairness. Isn't that always the case, I very rarely see OC cards compared in the same review. It's always the non reference being compared to reference...I don't think I saw any 7970GHZ OC's mixed in with any 770/780/titan reviews...Like...all non-reference reviews are biased, even against cards of the same make.
I really think you need to step back and read your comment. You make no sense whatsoever other than sounding like you are a complete and utter green team excitable mess because a card like this nearly beats a stupidly overpriced card like the 780.
The reason they have put a stock GTX780 in the test (which even the vanilla card costs 499 UK POUNDS!!!!) is just to show that a card that costs as low as 260 quid is biting at its heels, of course a customised 780 is going to take another 10% lead but this test is just to show that if you are in the market for a 770/780, this card is something you should seriously considering before dropping cash nVidia's way!
No to mention that when Mantle drops for BF4, this card will more than likely blow a 770/780 out the water anyway and for that game a 290x wont be necessary to hold a massive frame rate.
Sucks this card has no overclock-ability, but at it's price point it makes a stock GTX 780 look like a horrible buy. I know the GTX 780 overclocks like a beast, so It can take a 30% lead pretty easily with an avg OC, but still it's $649 dollars.
mwildtech, Overclocking is a hit and miss in every product, especially one that is out of the box clocked at higher values than the competition can often overclock to. That being said two other reviews where able to get some very solid overclocks.
Agreed - if the card can't even stand 10 MHz more, it will loose stability at stock clocks as soon as the chip degrades a little - which happens exponentially faster with more voltage..
that's one of my problems with overclocked cards.. I really don't trust them at all and simply prefer a stock card I can screw around with.. give it a great cooler and I am happy..
wow, really nice factory OC there, I liked the cooler performance! still waiting fot 290/290x to show up... I bet we will have "non-X" versions of the smaller cards too, but launched a few months from now.
anyway, this is mostly just curiosity. I just purchased one GTX660 (non-TI) as it is the fastest card with just 1 PCIe power connector, and I believe this keeps noise and heat manageable with smaller cases for casual gaming.
Technically, the 660Ti has a TDP and should also run perfectly well with a single connector. I think it only comes with 2 connectors to provide a bit of security versus bad PSUs, or in order to give you a little head room for overclocking. But yeah, for casual gaming the 660 gives the best price-performance ratio for anybody who needs more than iGPU performance.
Of course the fastest card within a 150TDP would be an underclocked and/or undervolted Titan.
yeah, the hd7870 also seems to eat the same amount of power than gtx660, but also has 2 connectors for "safety". too bad nothing changed in 150wTDP world with this new re-spin of products - we will have to wait for 20 or 14nm for that. not a problem for me :)
Since when is having an 80mm fan surrounded by two 90mm fans "asymmetric." That's the very definition of symmetry. Asymmetry would be if the 80mm fan was on one side of the card and the 90mm fans were in the other two places.
I'm actually in the UK myself and assumed you were a Yank. My bad. Where are those prices btw, cause I am looking to upgrade my GPU and these 280X are tempting as sin itself.
Word of Advice: Also check German shops for new cards, you can get the 280X for 300€ (408$), and delivery to the UK is 13€ (18$) usually. Not a big difference on this card right now, but worth checking whenever you look for a new card. German c't magazine has a nice comparison site that can find the best price all over Europe:
Head over to www.bjorn3d if you are curious about what happens when the full 375 are tapped for juice. Nothing anywhere as comprehensive as here, but still pretty interesting :)
Given the small price premium, ASUS still has the best combination of warranty/noise vs cooling/stock OC, IMO. Would've liked to see MSI or GB samples.
Wow, Sapphire finally learned that it's important to cool the VRMs. About time...
Here's hoping they've also improved the quality of the fans on their cards, too. Every Sapphire card I've owned (3-4 of them over the years) either had the fan die or start to click or buzz within 6-9 months of owning it, one a lot sooner.
I completely disagree with this card being classified as "double slot." The heatsink takes up 2.5 slots, and the backplate renders the slot above useless for any card that needs the full slot width. The only thing "double slot" about this card is the PCI bracket. This needs to be clearly stated in the article.
Test results depend strongly on the case used for the testing and also on the geometry of the measurement room, most importantly the distance between the card and the microphone.
I seem to remember that AT is testing with the card in an open setup, while kitguru are referring to a closed chasis in the review you have linked.
For general testing we're in a closed setup, specifically a NZXT Phantom 630 (as listed in our test apparatus section).
Also, keep in mind that our intention here is for these results to be relative, not absolute. We're primarily concerned with which card is louder/quieter and by how much. The problem with absolute results is that more so than any other attribute we test, it varies heavily with the environment, both with regards to the case and the room the computer is setup in.
hhmmmmm.........not that impressive from the red team and im guessing the 290X will just be a supe'd up 280X (hopefully not). but i think i'll be sticking with my cfx 7970's (asus top versions)... but if the green team drop the 770/780's in price then i do believe those will be a price - performance wise bargin... i guess we must still wait for the 290X to come.....and see...
"hhmmmmm.........not that impressive from the red team" LMAO! It's near 30% faster than a standard 7970 and is full DX11.2... numb nuts. Even beats a 780 on half the benchmarks and the true Radeon optimized games designed for the new Radeon using consoles aren't even out yet.
i disagree - for those in your position i would rather upgrade to a gtx670 or 7850 (or there abouts), save those extra bucks for early next year or better yet, stick with what you got now and purchase something early-mid next year. i only got my 7970's late last year, before that i had a 4870 for as long as i can remember (tried 2xgtx670's but 1 of them DOA, hence 7970 the only choice).
prices will always drop - my thoughts have always been whats the best value not what is the best performer out there.... and with this 280X power hunger mode on, i don't see the 290X being any better in that department therefore requiring more out of your whole system to utilize the full performance of it, to which i don't think its worth it....but hey, go nuts if you like!
You can always wait, but you can never really win with tech. In the uk, 7850 is about £110-130. 7970 can be had for £210-230. Bear in mind the 3gb & 384-bit...for peeps in the uk at least it seems like 'old' 7970 stock is the same excellent value as a 7850, for now at least it seems you can't lose.
For a serious gamer (1000 hours a year at least), with assumed electricity cost of 0.20$ / kWh, thats already 40$ a year. Keep in mind that people who need to watch that kind of money are often students, some of them playing (and/or working) more than 1000 hours a year, and also keep in mind that some of the international readers of AT may also pay 0.50$/kWh, and you may also be looking at 200$ or more cost per year. Most people won't call that minimal.
That aside, I personally do not worry about 60$ electricity per year, but 200W additional draw will lead to a noticeable increase in noise, and that I do care about a lot. So I most definitely care to see those numbers in any review.
I'll be upgrading my 3 way 570's for 2 of these Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Toxic's, it even comes with a great oc utility, a small tweak and it'll be as good as the over-priced 780.
I get 47 average FPS in BioShock Infinite benchmark (2560x1440, very high) with my 7850 clocked at 1050 gpu and 1300 vram, and 8320 @4.5ghz... everything running very cool.
In game with FPS showing, its at about 50+ most the time and dips to 35-40 every once in a while.
I nearly wasted close to £800 on 2 770's a few month back, glad I didn't, glad I waited, sapphire radeon R9 280X Toxic is clearly about the best GPU price and awesome performance on the market today.
good stuff, hopefully this brings on some serious 7970GE sales sooner or later :) i have a good 720W PS, but am not sure if it could even handle this reliably on top of everything else.
I bought a MSI R9 280X GAMING and it overclocks and cost less and has a 3 year warrenty. Good article though. Find it hard to believe that Sapphire decided not to include some OC room on this card.
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xTRICKYxx - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Wow, those are some crazy high power draw numbers on Furmark!nathanddrews - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
It's a good thing I never play Furmark!prasanth - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I laughed way more than I should have at that..Da W - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
With that amount of power draw i don't see the point of not buying a 290X instead.Conduit - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Because enthusiast class GPU's are so cheap........ShieTar - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
The 290X will cost twice as much. That would be considered a point by some people.Conduit - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Great card. Honestly I don't see why anybody would pay 300$ more for a GTX 780. The performance advantage of the 780 over this card is clearly not 300$.colonelclaw - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I concur. Let's hope Nvidia also agree with you and drop the price of the 780 by a significant number.GBHans - Sunday, October 13, 2013 - link
I agree. And considering these have 3gb of VRAM, not only do they disrupt the 780 price/performance, they clearly embarrass the $50 more 2gb 770's.nathanddrews - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Given that an OC 780 can rub elbows with Titan, it's clear that the 780 should cost more... but more than DOUBLE the price of 280X? It's seriously laughable. Then again, I'm not the target market for $600+ GPUs.truprecht - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
No, it's clear the Titan should cost less.nathanddrews - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I meant more expensive than the 280X.ShieTar - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Well, nobody who was looking for a good price-performance ratio was choosing the 780 over a 770 anyways, so the 280X really does not change anything here. Let's wait for the 290X and see what happens to the pricing of the 780 and the Titan then.Impulses - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
NV said they had no plans to drop the 770's price, I would think a 780 drop is even less probable unless 290X just trounces it... Heck the 280X mostly matches or outperforms the 770 and it's $100 less!I'd been thinking of going NV for my next upgrade (from 2x 6950s), but if AMD can come thru with their frame pacing driver update for Eyefinity in November I'll probably choose AMD again.
EF seems more flexible than Surround anyway, software-config wise.
HisDivineOrder - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
nVidia won't admit they're going to do a price drop until they are DOING a price drop. Saying, "Yeah, we're gonna do one. In a few weeks. You know. Once we sell as many GPU's before we have to drop," seems like it'd be stupid to say.just4U - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
I really don't know what to make of any of this.. when Nvidia's high end 6x series came out it widely accepted as beating out the 7950-70 yet somehow or another Amd caught up. Than along comes Nvidia's high end 7x series and the 7970GHZ manages to kinda sort of keep pace. Than we have these new cards which are based loosely on the those cards and at stock their coming very close to... I think Anand said within 5% or so. That tells me that there isn't really a huge difference so it will be interesting to see what comes out of amd with their top end cards.It's clear there's no night/day difference so far.. anyone with a good card in the last year and a bit is sort of set for now.
adamantinepiggy - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
The article lists this as having "two" dual-link DVI ports. As far as I'm aware, none of the current ATI model video cards have "two" dual-link DVI ports, and issue I ran into when I wanted to drive two big cheap Korean Shimian 2560x1440 monitors that only come with dual link DVI inputs.adamantinepiggy - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Oops, meant AMD video cards, but still think have ATI brand embedded in brain.Ryan Smith - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
It's a bit confusing. They're always physically DL-DVI ports; but electrically you're right, they can only drive 1 DL-DVI monitor. I'll go amend that to try to clarify it.commissar0617 - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
newegg says 2x dual-link. adamantine is wrong.commissar0617 - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
never mind... that's the other cards... looks like some cards have a single DP, and put the bandwidth into the second DVI portslayernine - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Try running three of them :PConduit - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
In the last paragraph of the first page it says " Sapphire has attacked to the card".Pretty sure you mean't attached.
;D
jdon - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
I've heard it both ways....YazX_ - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
i'm not sure why there is no customized 770/780 in the gaming test, although it was pointed out in the article, but it felt like biased marketing for this card, all reviews show that the stock 280x are almost head to head with 770 GTX, but this one is biased as they are comparing a customized 280x with reference Nvidia Cards, for most of people, they will look up the charts and think this one actually beats the 780 GTX for half the price, shame on you anadtech.Spunjji - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Yes. Boo to them for misleading all those poor theoretical other people who are more stupid than you.Yeoman1000 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
In fairness. Isn't that always the case, I very rarely see OC cards compared in the same review. It's always the non reference being compared to reference...I don't think I saw any 7970GHZ OC's mixed in with any 770/780/titan reviews...Like...all non-reference reviews are biased, even against cards of the same make.So chill, and maybe hold off on the shaming.
treeroy - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I agree - most reviews compare OC cards against stock reference ones. And quite rightly - it's much easier to compare them that way imo.Drumsticks - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Yeah... Relax. In addition to the various reasons above me, they mentioned multiple times that an OC'd 770 would perform differently.devilskreed - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
ANd would be priced even higher..Better to save $100 in an OCed 770 and invest in an OCed 280xEmperorRosko - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
I really think you need to step back and read your comment. You make no sense whatsoever other than sounding like you are a complete and utter green team excitable mess because a card like this nearly beats a stupidly overpriced card like the 780.The reason they have put a stock GTX780 in the test (which even the vanilla card costs 499 UK POUNDS!!!!) is just to show that a card that costs as low as 260 quid is biting at its heels, of course a customised 780 is going to take another 10% lead but this test is just to show that if you are in the market for a 770/780, this card is something you should seriously considering before dropping cash nVidia's way!
No to mention that when Mantle drops for BF4, this card will more than likely blow a 770/780 out the water anyway and for that game a 290x wont be necessary to hold a massive frame rate.
just4U - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
When reviewing cards they usually throw them up against stock variants for comparison.mwildtech - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Sucks this card has no overclock-ability, but at it's price point it makes a stock GTX 780 look like a horrible buy. I know the GTX 780 overclocks like a beast, so It can take a 30% lead pretty easily with an avg OC, but still it's $649 dollars.VaporX - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
mwildtech, Overclocking is a hit and miss in every product, especially one that is out of the box clocked at higher values than the competition can often overclock to. That being said two other reviews where able to get some very solid overclocks.MrSpadge - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Agreed - if the card can't even stand 10 MHz more, it will loose stability at stock clocks as soon as the chip degrades a little - which happens exponentially faster with more voltage..just4U - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
that's one of my problems with overclocked cards.. I really don't trust them at all and simply prefer a stock card I can screw around with.. give it a great cooler and I am happy..jerrylzy - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
I think it can. mine 7970 can stand 1200/1700commissar0617 - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
my sapphire 7970/oc has overclock ability. after I change the TIM, i will probably be able to get it to 1.1ghzMombasa69 - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
It comes with an OC utility....Mombasa69 - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
Check out bjorn3d(dot)comMentions the OC Utility.
marc1000 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
wow, really nice factory OC there, I liked the cooler performance! still waiting fot 290/290x to show up... I bet we will have "non-X" versions of the smaller cards too, but launched a few months from now.anyway, this is mostly just curiosity. I just purchased one GTX660 (non-TI) as it is the fastest card with just 1 PCIe power connector, and I believe this keeps noise and heat manageable with smaller cases for casual gaming.
ShieTar - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Technically, the 660Ti has a TDP and should also run perfectly well with a single connector. I think it only comes with 2 connectors to provide a bit of security versus bad PSUs, or in order to give you a little head room for overclocking. But yeah, for casual gaming the 660 gives the best price-performance ratio for anybody who needs more than iGPU performance.Of course the fastest card within a 150TDP would be an underclocked and/or undervolted Titan.
marc1000 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
yeah, the hd7870 also seems to eat the same amount of power than gtx660, but also has 2 connectors for "safety". too bad nothing changed in 150wTDP world with this new re-spin of products - we will have to wait for 20 or 14nm for that. not a problem for me :)The Von Matrices - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Since when is having an 80mm fan surrounded by two 90mm fans "asymmetric." That's the very definition of symmetry. Asymmetry would be if the 80mm fan was on one side of the card and the 90mm fans were in the other two places.piroroadkill - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Fact.treeroy - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
The Asus is more expensive and is notably slower, and I don't have to worry about overclocking with the Sapphire.I wonder which one I'll buy.
Nice review by the way - glad to see a review of this card at last, this one hasn't got a lot of coverage but it's the one I've been eyeing.
Skiddywinks - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
What? The Asus is $40 cheaper.treeroy - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Here in the UK, the Sapphire card is $430 and the Asus one is $440 [USD]Skiddywinks - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I'm actually in the UK myself and assumed you were a Yank. My bad. Where are those prices btw, cause I am looking to upgrade my GPU and these 280X are tempting as sin itself.treeroy - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Those are on Overclockers UK - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?k...I can't find many places selling the cards, but OCUK was the cheapest of what I saw.
ShieTar - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
Word of Advice: Also check German shops for new cards, you can get the 280X for 300€ (408$), and delivery to the UK is 13€ (18$) usually. Not a big difference on this card right now, but worth checking whenever you look for a new card. German c't magazine has a nice comparison site that can find the best price all over Europe:http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/eu/
Of course, sometimes it can make even more sense to import the 309$ card from the US and just pay the VAT at customs (61$).
Gunbuster - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Nice to see AMD cars not in that cheap ass ATI happy meal plastic red.AssBall - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Because Tonka Truck yellow is your favorite color?ninjaquick - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Head over to www.bjorn3d if you are curious about what happens when the full 375 are tapped for juice. Nothing anywhere as comprehensive as here, but still pretty interesting :)Impulses - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Given the small price premium, ASUS still has the best combination of warranty/noise vs cooling/stock OC, IMO. Would've liked to see MSI or GB samples.MrSpadge - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Agreed - the cooler on the Asus is most impressive and would decide things for me, if I didn't already have my GTX660Ti.yacoub35 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Wow, Sapphire finally learned that it's important to cool the VRMs. About time...Here's hoping they've also improved the quality of the fans on their cards, too. Every Sapphire card I've owned (3-4 of them over the years) either had the fan die or start to click or buzz within 6-9 months of owning it, one a lot sooner.
The Von Matrices - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
I completely disagree with this card being classified as "double slot." The heatsink takes up 2.5 slots, and the backplate renders the slot above useless for any card that needs the full slot width. The only thing "double slot" about this card is the PCI bracket. This needs to be clearly stated in the article.Casecutter - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Not a fan of the Tonka truck color most as it would have folk think I bought a Zotac. ;-)Nothing a carbon faux fiber applique wouldn't fix.
jenesis33 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
Looking to build a new PC... so considering this card.http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/za...
Kitguru has shown a very low noise level for this card.. which is vastly different to test result here?
Any suggestion of reasons?
ShieTar - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
Test results depend strongly on the case used for the testing and also on the geometry of the measurement room, most importantly the distance between the card and the microphone.I seem to remember that AT is testing with the card in an open setup, while kitguru are referring to a closed chasis in the review you have linked.
Ryan Smith - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
For general testing we're in a closed setup, specifically a NZXT Phantom 630 (as listed in our test apparatus section).Also, keep in mind that our intention here is for these results to be relative, not absolute. We're primarily concerned with which card is louder/quieter and by how much. The problem with absolute results is that more so than any other attribute we test, it varies heavily with the environment, both with regards to the case and the room the computer is setup in.
FuriousPop - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
hhmmmmm.........not that impressive from the red team and im guessing the 290X will just be a supe'd up 280X (hopefully not). but i think i'll be sticking with my cfx 7970's (asus top versions)... but if the green team drop the 770/780's in price then i do believe those will be a price - performance wise bargin... i guess we must still wait for the 290X to come.....and see...Mombasa69 - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
"hhmmmmm.........not that impressive from the red team" LMAO! It's near 30% faster than a standard 7970 and is full DX11.2... numb nuts. Even beats a 780 on half the benchmarks and the true Radeon optimized games designed for the new Radeon using consoles aren't even out yet.All this for only £260-£280!
jenesis33 - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
NV already stated they are not dropping price for GTX 770 / 780.So yeah. i understand this is not impressive for ppl arleady have 7970 and etc.
But for some1 like me who is upgrading from a GTX 560, i think it's great news.. Awesome performance for price...
FuriousPop - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
i disagree - for those in your position i would rather upgrade to a gtx670 or 7850 (or there abouts), save those extra bucks for early next year or better yet, stick with what you got now and purchase something early-mid next year. i only got my 7970's late last year, before that i had a 4870 for as long as i can remember (tried 2xgtx670's but 1 of them DOA, hence 7970 the only choice).prices will always drop - my thoughts have always been whats the best value not what is the best performer out there.... and with this 280X power hunger mode on, i don't see the 290X being any better in that department therefore requiring more out of your whole system to utilize the full performance of it, to which i don't think its worth it....but hey, go nuts if you like!
Yeoman1000 - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
You can always wait, but you can never really win with tech. In the uk, 7850 is about £110-130. 7970 can be had for £210-230. Bear in mind the 3gb & 384-bit...for peeps in the uk at least it seems like 'old' 7970 stock is the same excellent value as a 7850, for now at least it seems you can't lose.commissar0617 - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
WHO CARES ABOUT POWER CONSUMPTION? a 200w power draw difference will mak minimal difference if your power bill....ShieTar - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
For a serious gamer (1000 hours a year at least), with assumed electricity cost of 0.20$ / kWh, thats already 40$ a year. Keep in mind that people who need to watch that kind of money are often students, some of them playing (and/or working) more than 1000 hours a year, and also keep in mind that some of the international readers of AT may also pay 0.50$/kWh, and you may also be looking at 200$ or more cost per year. Most people won't call that minimal.That aside, I personally do not worry about 60$ electricity per year, but 200W additional draw will lead to a noticeable increase in noise, and that I do care about a lot. So I most definitely care to see those numbers in any review.
Mombasa69 - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
I'll be upgrading my 3 way 570's for 2 of these Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Toxic's, it even comes with a great oc utility, a small tweak and it'll be as good as the over-priced 780.NeatOman - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
I get 47 average FPS in BioShock Infinite benchmark (2560x1440, very high) with my 7850 clocked at 1050 gpu and 1300 vram, and 8320 @4.5ghz... everything running very cool.In game with FPS showing, its at about 50+ most the time and dips to 35-40 every once in a while.
Cataclysm_ZA - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
How on earth are your GTX780 scores so low?Ryan Smith - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
What do you mean exactly?blank001 - Sunday, October 13, 2013 - link
I think he finds the < 10 FPS difference on average between the 280x and 780 surprising.Nikhilanand - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
This card is awesome for the price it asks.... Gaming performance getting near GTX 780.Mombasa69 - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
I nearly wasted close to £800 on 2 770's a few month back, glad I didn't, glad I waited, sapphire radeon R9 280X Toxic is clearly about the best GPU price and awesome performance on the market today.Mombasa69 - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
Next games ported from the new consoles are all optimised for Radeons, these will even outperform Titans when those games are released.Hrel - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
This a great article for the Asus card. Clearly the best bang/buck. Shockingly lower noise levels. Once again, great article overall!araczynski - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
good stuff, hopefully this brings on some serious 7970GE sales sooner or later :) i have a good 720W PS, but am not sure if it could even handle this reliably on top of everything else.tuklap - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
wow this is somehow awesome for a $350 VCi7 - Sunday, November 17, 2013 - link
I bought a MSI R9 280X GAMING and it overclocks and cost less and has a 3 year warrenty. Good article though. Find it hard to believe that Sapphire decided not to include some OC room on this card.psychok9 - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
Hi staff, what's the problem with this card? You've typed wrong numbers?Shipping Core Clock 1100MHz vs Overclock Core Clock 1100MHz
I hope it's a bad typing... can you correct it?
psychok9 - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
My bad... :) nevermind... the gpu most unlucky in the world.shammialwis - Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - link
I wonder if I can run this beast on my aerocool strike-x 600w 80plus bronze psu without any issues.. Help me people....