Powercolor R9 280X TurboDuo 3GB Graphics Card Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Currently it is difficult to obtain accurate pricing due to the grossly inflated R9 280X prices that are a result of the Litecoin/Scrypt mining frenzy. The MSRP price for the R9 280X is about £240 in the UK and $300 in the USA. That said the actual price is going to differ from current prices. Currently on Newegg this card retails for $420, but that’s just Newegg putting an insane markup on the price to capitalise on high demand. On Amazon this card can be found for $320. When pricing returns to normal we know that the price is going to be around $330~. In the UK pricing is less inflated as this costs about £270 for the Battlefield 4 Edition model. Normally Battlefield 4 Editions command a £15 premium in the UK so £255 for this card actually seems about right.

Overview 

So with the assumption that the Powercolor R9 280X TurboDuo will command a small premium of about 10% over MSRP what conclusions can we draw about the product? Well firstly on temperatures we can see the card offers up very impressive typical gaming load temperatures. These are in the 65-70 region which is actually pretty solid for any R9 280X. Under Furmark the card struggled and performed worse out of all R9 280X graphics cards we’ve tested hitting the low 80s. However, there is one MASSIVE reason for this. Powercolor’s R9 280X TurboDuo literally is silent. For a GPU which is notoriously hot, and as a result creates notoriously loud GPUs, Powercolor’s R9 280X is just super quiet. Under Furmark, under gaming, under everything. If you want an explanation for why temperatures are seemingly a little high – well this is why. Of course what this means is you can add on a more aggressive fan profile, which boosts cooling performance significantly, but even with the fans at 100% load this graphics card is quieter than a lot of R9 280Xs I’ve tested under Furmark. Powercolor have done a truly exceptional job to keep solid temperatures with fantastic acoustics. On this aspect alone the Powercolor R9 280X TurboDuo is a must buy because it’s the only R9 280X so far that can tame temperatures and offer silent operation.

If we now move on to other aspects the card is equally as pleasing. On the aesthetics front this card is quite honestly one of the best looking graphics cards I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something. However, that’s something for your own personal taste to decide, you may not like it. Even if we ignore the aesthetics you can’t ignore the exceptional build quality from the use of a metal shroud and metal backplate – it just gives the card a real luxury feel. Powercolor have also made a smart decision in offering dual DisplayPort connectors, it gives you so much more versatility for multi-monitor set-ups, and they include a mini-DP to full sized DP expander which is something a lot of vendors fail to do. In terms of performance and overclocking well the conclusion is pretty simple. Powercolor have applied only a modest overclock and as a result its one of the slower overclocked R9 280Xs out there. However, it has enough overclocking headroom to put it on par with most other R9 280Xs so even though you get less out of the box you can easily get more with some simple overclocking.

A couple more things worth considering are the warranty and game bundles. With regards to the warranty this graphics card only offers a modest 2 years, which for a R9 280X is quite low – I would of liked to see a 3 year warranty. However, a shorter warranty is what enables Powercolor to offer a more compelling price so you win some and lose some. Next with regards to game bundles I cannot really clarify because most vendors are offering different game bundles in different regions and with different retailers. However, In the UK we can see that for £270 the card is being offered with Battlefield 4 and the Radeon Silver Reward (which means you can pick two games from a choice of Thief, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Far Cry Blood Dragon and Dirt 3). That’s a pretty amazing deal, the games alone would be worth a sizeable chunk of that price should you want to sell them and recoup some of the price.

Pros

• Ridiculously Quiet (even more so when comparing it to other R9 280Xs)
• Competitively Priced
• Metal Backplate
• Good bundle deals in the UK
• Great memory overclocking
• Dual DisplayPort offers better multi-monitor capabilities
• Black PCB

Cons

• Temperatures could be aided by a slightly more aggressive fan profile
• Only a 2 year warranty
• Factory overclock could be higher
• Some coil whine on our sample

“If you’re looking for an R9 280X that looks good, is quiet, is affordable, overclocks well and offers versatile display outputs then look no further than the Powercolor R9 280X TurboDuo. To date I have been put off the R9 280X by its tendency to run hot and loud even on good custom coolers but Powercolor have taken that problem and chucked it out the window by offering the quietest R9 280X we’ve ever tested…and by a considerable margin. If you’re looking to buy an R9 280X then Powercolor’s TurboDuo variant has to be the leading contender if silent performance is at the top of your list.”

Thank you to Powercolor for providing this review sample.