14 DAY TRIAL // Advanced Micro Devices launched the Radeon R9 280 graphics card the other day so, naturally, its OEMs have introduced their own models. What we have here are the cards from Club 3D and VTX3D.
Both companies have chosen to use their rather peculiar naming conventions, though only VTX3D could be accused of being confusing.
After all, a name like Radeon R9 280 X-Edition can be really misleading, making you think about the Radeon R9 280X instead.
And while there have been a couple of R9 280X launched this week (from MSI and Sapphire), it's not really something relevant to the matter at hand.
Both VTX3D and Club 3D have launched Radeon R9 280 cards, not R9 280X, no matter what the names sound like.
So, at this point, we may as well detail the cards individually. First off, the VTX3D Radeon R9 280 X-Edition is a video card featuring a black PCB (printed circuit board) and a black and red cooling shroud.
Don't let the cooler fool you though. While the heat dissipation is bound to be better than on the reference card, and the noise lower, it didn't bring with it a jump in performance.
The specifications have been left alone, with a GPU frequency of 855 MHz (960 MHz boost state) and 3 GB of GDDR5 VRAM at 5 GHz.
As for video connectivity, you'll find a DVI port, an HDMI output, and a pair of mini DisplayPort connectors.
Now for the Club 3D card, called R9 280 royalKing (not exactly sure why it doesn't start with a capital “r”). It is, like the VTX3D adapter, left to operate at reference specifications, meaning 855 MHz / 960 MHz / 5 GHz clocks (GPU Base / GPU Boost / 3GB VRAM).
Also, like on the VTX3D card, there is one DVI port, one HDMI, and two mini DisplayPort outputs. Furthermore, the cooler is, again, a dual-fan model with a black and red coloring, albeit in a different panel and a paler shade of red.
The new cards might be listed for $279 / €279, each, but only if we're lucky. Pretty much all AMD boards are found in retail at $100 / €100 to $200 / €200 more than the MSRP, so it's doubtful that the R9 280 will hold their spot for very long. So people in the market for a board might want to move fast before prices go up.
