Sapphire R9 280X Toxic Edition 3GB Review

Introduction When it comes to overclocked graphics card with ridiculous speed Sapphire's Toxic series is one of the most renowned in the "AMD world". Today we have Sapphire's Toxic R9 280X which comes with a massive out of the box overclock of 15% - taking it from 1GHz core to 1.15GHz core, on the memory we see a more modest increase of 100MHz (6.67%). The Sapphire Toxic R9 280X features the respected Tri-X triple fan cooler with a huge 10mm heat pipe and a dense aluminium heatsink. From what I've heard and read about this graphics card already the main selling point of this GPU is its ability to offer near-GTX 780 levels of performance for a substantially lower price. This graphics card from Sapphire showcases the versatility of AMD's Tahiti family of GPUs which have formed the basis of the HD 7950, HD 7970, HD 7970 GHz Edition and now the R9 280X. This isn't the first R9 280X we've taken for a spin: you can check our review of the Sapphire Vapor-X OC R9 280X here and our review of the XFX Double Dissipation R9 280X here. That said the Sapphire R9 280X Toxic Edition really is in a whole different class to your average R9 280X which has a 50-100MHz overclock, or runs at stock speeds. Sapphire's packaging points out most of the key features we have already mentioned such as the Tri-X cooling and Toxic design. There's also 3GB of GDDR5 capable of Eyefinity and 4K gaming that's worth pointing out. Sapphire also have dual BIOSes on this card for UEFI and conventional BIOS motherboards. The back details some more of those key features along with Sapphire's tagline for the Toxic R9 280X which is "Mad and Dangerous". Included in the box is some documentation, a driver CD and a Sapphire sticker. In terms of physical accessories we have a mini DisplayPort to full size DisplayPort adapter, a HDMI cable, a Crossfire bridge and two dual molex to single 8 pin power supply adapters. A Closer Look The cooler as we already mentioned is Sapphire's Tri-X design which features two 8mm heat pipes, two 6mm heat pipes and a single 10mm "superpipe". The fans, left to right, are sized at 100mm, 70mm and 100mm respectively. The back of the Sapphire R9 280X Toxic Edition has a rather suave looking backplate that adds to the rigidity and aesthetics of the design. The Sapphire R9 280X Toxic is a real beast in length. Sapphire have chosen to keep the card at a two slot thickness and as a result the length has been increased to make room for the massive cooling it needs. The total length is about 12.25 inches or 31.5 centimeters. Due to the massive overclock, and the massive overclocking headroom, the Sapphire Toxic R9 280X needs dual 8 pins for power delivery. It has dual CrossFire X connectors for up to 4 way CFX. There's also a dual BIOS button to switch between conventional and UEFI BIOS modes. Both BIOSes have the same clock settings. The bottom is an open design. Interestingly the card seems to be slightly bent/skewed under the weight or pressure of the rather large cooling solution. The end is also an open-venting design and you can see that huge 10mm heatpipe coming down the middle. Display ports include dual mini Display Port, HDMI and dual DVI (the white DVI port supports DVI to VGA conversion). With an MST Hub Eyefinity 6 is fully supported. Testing Procedure Methods To test the performance of video cards at eTeknix we run a variety of tests at four different resolutions, where supported and appropriate, across a suite of games and benchmarks. We run each of these benchmarks three times to take an average and use the latest WHQL-certified video card drivers from AMD and Nvidia to test with - namely Catalyst 13.4 and Nvidia Forceware 320.49. For newer RX 2XX series graphics cards we have had to test with the 13.11 Beta to avoid compatibility issues. To attain noise levels we hold a decibel meter approximately 3 inches away from the card after running Furmark for five minutes. To achieve idle noise we allow the system to stay idle at the desktop for 5 minutes before taking a noise reading. To achieve temperatures we take the maximum temperature of the GPU core during Furmark load as recorded by CPUID HW Monitor. To achieve idle temperatures we take the minimum recorded GPU core temperature in CPUID HW Monitor after desktop-idling for 5 minutes. To measure power consumption we take the maximum stable power consumption at idle on the desktop over a 5 minute period, and for load we take the maximum stable power consumption during Furmark load. Like with acoustic measurements we do not read off the maximum stable power consumption value until after 5 minutes to give the system enough time to stabilise at its power envelope. Test System: Motherboard - Asus Rampage IV Extreme X79 LGA 2011 (chipset fan disabled) Processor - Intel Core i7 3960X at stock clock speeds of 3.3GHz with Turbo Mode disabled. RAM - 16GB (2 X 8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 1866MHz at 9-10-9-27 CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i with Quiet Fan Profile Power Supply - Corsair HX1050W Main Storage Drive - Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD over SATA III interface Chassis - Lian Li T60 Test Bench Displays - Dell U2711 Ultra Sharp for 2560 by 1440 and we use the LG IPS 234 & LG IPS 224 with the Dell U2711 Ultra Sharp to run 5760 by 1080. Operating System - Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit We would like to thank Asus, Corsair, Kingston, Lian Li and all our other partners who supplied us with test equipment and hardware. Their generosity makes our testing possible and without them we wouldn't be able to produce the reviews we do, so thank you! Games Used Aliens Vs Predator Dirt Showdown Hitman: Absolution Metro Last Light Sleeping Dogs Bioshock Infinite Tomb Raider Resolutions Used (where possible) 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1080 2560 x 1440 5760 x 1080 Hardware Used Plug "killawatt" style electricty usage meter Benetech GM1351 decibel meter Software Used 3DMark 11 3DMark 2013 CPUID HWMonitor Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Furmark 1.10.5 3DMark 11 "3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world’s most popular benchmark. Designed to measure your PC’s gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads." From 3DMark.com 3DMark 2013 "The new 3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. And it's not just for Windows. With 3DMark you can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It's the most powerful and flexible 3DMark we've ever created." From Futuremark.com Unigine Heaven 4.0 "Heaven Benchmark with its current version 4.0 is a GPU-intensive benchmark that hammers graphics cards to the limits. This powerful tool can be effectively used to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful conditions, as well as check the cooling system's potential under maximum heat output. It provides completely unbiased results and generates true in-game rendering workloads across all platforms, such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS X." From Unigine.com. Aliens Vs. Predator "Aliens vs. Predator, also known by fans as Aliens vs. Predator 3 or AVP3 to distinguish it from earlier titles, is a 2010 video game developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Sega for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is a sequel to Aliens versus Predator 2, although it does not have any connection with that game's plot. Instead it charts events on the planet BG-386, where a Weyland-Yutaniresearch team led by Karl Bishop Weyland has discovered aYautja Pyramid, and is simultaneously studying the Xenomorphs found there and hoping to unlock the advanced technology contained within. The Aliens soon escape, prompting a response from the United States Colonial Marine Corps, while the Predators also send three of their member to investigate." From Avp.wikia.com Bioshock Infinite "BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter like you’ve never seen. Just ask the judges from E3 2011, where the Irrational Games title won over 85 editorial awards, including the Game Critics Awards’ Best of Show. Set in 1912, players assume the role of former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, sent to the flying city of Columbia on a rescue mission. His target? Elizabeth, imprisoned since childhood. During their daring escape, Booker and Elizabeth form a powerful bond -- one that lets Booker augment his own abilities with her world-altering control over the environment. Together, they fight from high-speed Sky-Lines, in the streets and houses of Columbia, on giant zeppelins, and in the clouds, all while learning to harness an expanding arsenal of weapons and abilities, and immersing players in a story that is not only steeped in profound thrills and surprises, but also invests its characters with what Game Informer called “An amazing experience from beginning to end." From Bioshockinfinite.com Dirt Showdown "DiRT Showdown is the new arcade racing game from the team that brought you the award-winning DiRT series, uncaged in 2012. Pick up and play controls combine with electrifying events, frenzied crowds and stunning graphics to deliver high octane, dive in and drive thrills from event one." From Codemasters.com Hitman Absolution "Hitman: Absolution is the fifth title in the Hitman series by producer, IO Interactive, published by Square Enix and co-published by Eidos. The game was released for thePlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows on November 20, 2012. Hitman: Absolution runs on IO Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine, combining classic Hitman game mechanics with new mechanics." From hitman.wikia.com Metro Last Light "Metro: Last Light (formerly Metro 2034) is a first-person shooter and horror video game developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released in May 2013. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features a mixture of action-oriented and stealth gameplay. The game exists in the universe of the novel, Metro 2033, and its sequels, written by Russian author, Dmitry Glukhovsky, but does not follow any direct storylines from the books. Metro:Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, proceeding from the canonical ending from the novel, ending where Artyom chose to call down the missile strike on the Dark Ones.Metro: Last Light features technology which boasts of lighting effects and improved physics claimed to set a new graphical benchmark on the PC and consoles." From Wikipedia.org Sleeping Dogs "Welcome to Hong Kong, a vibrant neon city teeming with life, whose exotic locations and busy streets hide one of the most powerful and dangerous criminal organizations in the world: the Triads. In this open world game, you play the role of Wei Shen, an undercover cop trying to take down the Triads from the inside out. You'll have to prove yourself worthy as you fight your way up the organization, taking part in brutal criminal activities without blowing your cover. Torn between your loyalty to the badge and a criminal code of honor, you will risk everything as the lines between truth, loyalty and justice become permanently blurred." From Sleepingdogs.net Tomb Raider "On 5 March 2013, Square Enix released Tomb Raider, billed as a reboot of the franchise. In Tomb Raider, the player is confronted with a much younger Lara Croft who is shipwrecked and finds herself stranded on a mysterious island rife with danger, both natural and human. In contrast to the earlier games Croft is portrayed as vulnerable, acting out of necessity, desperation and sheer survival rather than for a greater cause or personal gain." From Wikipedia.org Acoustics The acoustic performance of a graphics card is an increasingly important consideration for PC users and Gamers these days. While fan noise is unlikely to ruin the gaming experience, no one likes a noisy graphics card and no one will argue with the fact that quieter is better. Many users are willing to sacrifice temperatures to gain a noise advantage, but with better cooling solutions being developed it is increasingly common to be able to get both better cooling and better acoustic performance than a reference solution on most custom cooled graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD partners. That said both AMD and Nvidia have stepped up their game too with regards to acoustics on their reference coolers. Ultimately, acoustics will always be a big deciding factor when there is often very little differentiation between graphics cards using the same GPUs. Find details of our acoustic methodology on page 3. Power Consumption With electricity becoming increasingly expensive across most parts of the world the need for computer components to become power efficient has never been more relevant. Graphics cards are often the most power hungry components inside a system so having an efficient graphics card is very important to keeping power bills under control. Power is often correlated to heat and so lower power consumption means a graphics card is likely to run slightly cooler and put out less heat into your system meaning your other components will run cooler with improved longevity. AMD and Nvidia have also both made power consumption an integral part of the way graphics cards dynamically overclock so the need for graphics card vendors to use efficient VRM and PCB designs is becoming important to maximise performance. Find details of our power consumption methodology on page 3. Temperatures The cooling solution which graphics card vendors use is one of the main differences that consumers have to contend with. Apart from their acoustic properties, the thermal properties of graphics card coolers are extremely important. Lower temperatures are always better and with AMD and Nvidia opting to use dynamic overclocking algorithms that take temperature into account it is important that graphics card vendors use high performance cooling solutions in order to maximise performance. The era of graphics cards reaching dangerous temperatures are now in the past but the importance of lower temperatures still remains. Lower temperatures mean better stability, longer component longevity and lower fan speeds. That said temperatures are one of the most important non-performance related properties on a graphics card. Find details of our temperature methodology on page 3. Overclocking Given that most HD 7970/R9 280X GPUs "top out", in terms of their maximum overclock, between 1100-1200MHz I was impressed to see our Sapphire R9 280X Toxic reach 1230MHz. The memory also overclocked great reaching a staggering 7.2GHz (which is very high for an R9 280X). How did this translate into actual performance? Well we managed to boost our 3DMark11 score from P10909 to P11462 - a 5%~ boost. In 3DMark11 the R9 280X simply can't catch an R9 290 or GTX 780 and is better than an overclocked GTX 770, but in real world games it still does astoundingly well relative to the GTX 780/R9 290. Final Thoughts Pricing Sapphire's Toxic R9 280X is hitting the market at 20% above the MSRP of the AMD R9 280X which is $300/£240. This means in the USA we are seeing pricing of $359.99 at Amazon while in the UK we're seeing pricing of £267.94 and £269.99 from Scan Computers and Overclockers UK respectively. Overview As a feat of GPU engineering the Sapphire R9 280X Toxic is a brilliant graphics card. For an AMD R9 280X it is stupendously fast thanks to Sapphire's really high overclock. It also runs very cool considering the hefty overclock, though noise does suffer a little as a result - but considering how cool it runs you could easily tweak the fan profiles (using something like Sapphire's TriXX utility) to reduce noise at the expense of a few extra degrees. What's even more impressive is that the Sapphire R9 280X Toxic was able to overclock further, than its already high overclock of 1150MHz, to 1230MHz. Though sadly our sample wasn't good enough for the unlocked voltage to make any further progress above the 1230MHz that could be achieved using factory voltage settings. I think the aesthetics and the build quality also speak volumes about how much work Sapphire have put into this card and we can clearly see the use of high quality materials, both on the PCB and with the cooling solution. Sapphire's Radeon R9 280X Toxic Edition graphics card certainly isn't going to be for everyone though. I will highlight a few of the negatives with it that are worth considering. The first is that being an R9 280X pushed very close to its limits, the card does use a lot of power. We were seeing about 17.5% more than an R9 290 at peak load. So clearly the "price you pay" for getting a cheaper card than more expensive GPUs (like the R9 290 or GTX 780), is increased power consumption. However, for the enthusiastic overclocker high power consumption is part of the overall experience. Second is that it is a very long graphics card. At just over 12 inches you're going to need lots of space for it, and a well ventilated case because this graphics card produces a lot of heat thanks to the efficiency of the Tri-X cooler in moving heat away from the GPU. The last point worth mentioning is that you're paying a significant 20% premium for a speed-binned pre-overclocked GPU. If you're on a tight budget then buying something like the Sapphire Vapor-X OC graphics card and overclocking it to the same level as the Toxic Edition is something worth considering to save money. Though you wouldn't be able to access the same level of cooling offered by the Toxic edition and there is no guarantee the GPU would be capable of overclocking as far as the Toxic Edition (the silicon lottery is always a gamble). Pros Close to GTX 780/R9 290 levels of performance for much less money Looks like a beast! Efficient cooling solution Overclocks well thanks to strong VRM and cooling Cons Consumes a lot of power Is a very long graphics card Produces a lot of heat Only a 2 year warranty "If you're looking for the best AMD Radeon R9 280X money can buy, in terms of prestige and performance, then the Sapphire R9 280X Toxic Edition is the graphics card to consider. For a modest premium over the price of a normal R9 280X you can be snapping at the heels of a GTX 780 or R9 290. Furthermore, Sapphire's innovative Tri-X cooling solution does a solid job of regulating the large amount of heat produced by the power hungry overclocked R9 280X GPU. It's Toxic, but in a good way!" Thank you to Sapphire for providing this review sample.