AMD Radeon R9 280X, R9 270X, R7 260X, R7 250 and R7 240 Launch Details

AMD R9 2XX Series

The R9 2XX series is by no means fully launched today with AMD R9 290 and 290X models still to come. Though today we get two models the R9 280X and R9 270X. Both of these cards come with competitive pricing to tackle the gamer sweet spots of $200 and $300.

The AMD R9 270X is designed to tackle the GTX 660 and GTX 760 at the $200 price point. Of course the GTX 760 is priced at $250 but will no doubt get price cuts as a result of AMD’s new launch.

The R9 270X is designed to max out most games at 1080p. It is based on the HD 7870 and performs closer to a HD 7950 (non-boost) thanks to the increased clock speeds on the core and memory.

At $199 it offers much more value for money than predecessor cards did.

AMD claim to trump Nvidia’s GTX 660 by 49% in Battlefield 3 as well as by 45% in Hitman Absolution. Of course the battle between the R9 270X and the GTX 760 is much closer as our detailed review, which you can read here, shows.

Next is the R9 280X which is a revamped HD 7970. Coming in at $299 it redefines value for money in that performance segment.

With a 1GHz core clock and 6GHz memory clock we see HD 7970 OC/GHz Edition like performance. At just $299 this is going to really put pressure on Nvidia’s GTX 770 and you can see just how much pressure in our review here.