AMD Radeon R7 260X, R9 270X, and R9 280X Tested

We’re going to compare and contrast the Radeon R9 280X, R9 270X, and Radeon R7 260X to their most closely-related cousins in the Radeon HD 7000 series, since the cards are ultimately very similar. In case you missed the news that hit last week, we should mention that the Radeon R9 280X is built around AMD’s Tahiti GPU, which also powers the Radeon HD 7970. The R9 270X features the same piece of silicon as the Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition and the Radeon R7 260X is powered by AMD’s Bonaire GPU, which first arrived on the Radeon HD 7790. These new cars, however, have been tweaked and enhanced in a number of ways.

  
Radeon R7 260X

First up we have the Radeon R7 260X. As you can see in the spec table above, the Radeon R7 260X sports higher engine and memory clocks than the HD 7790 and 260X’s default memory configuration is 2GB as well. The card’s higher clocks result in increased compute performance (1.97 vs. 1.79 TFLOPS) and memory bandwidth, and an increased TDP as well. Outputs on the card consist of dual, dual-link DVIs, a full sized HDMI, and a DisplayPort. Though there are only four ports, the card can power up to 6 monitors through the use of a DisplayPort MST hub. This is true for the other cards shown here as well.

  
Radeon R9 270X

Next up we have the Radeon R9 270X. The comparison between it and the Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition also yields a number of similarities, and the R9 270X’s clocks have been goosed up as well. The R9 270X’s GPU clock peaks at up to 1.05GHz and its memory clock has been increased to an effective 5.6Gbps. Versus the 1GHz and 4.8Gbps of the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, the Radeon R9 270X offers slightly higher compute performance (as seen in the table), but much more memory bandwidth--179.2GB/s vs. 153.6GB/s to be exact.

Other improvements to the R9 270X include tweak to its fan shroud, which is notched to allow for better airflow when two cards are installed in adjacent slots and the same output configuration as the Radeon R7 260X.

  
Radeon R9 280X

And finally we have the Radeon R9 280X. The large image above is of a reference card, but word on the street is that virtually all R9 280X cards sold by AMD’s AIB partners will feature custom designs, like the XFX card also pictured above.

Unlike the Radeon R9 270X and R7 260X, however, the Radeon R9 280X isn’t clocked any higher than AMD’s current flagship Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. In fact, the R9 280X has a slightly lower peak engine clock, though memory bandwidth is similar.