SAPPHIRE R9 280X TOXIC Edition - Performance Test



Introduction:

The SAPPHIRE R9 280X TOXIC Edition (280X TOXIC) features the exciting new Tri-X cooler design which uses three sophisticated aerofoil section fans together with industry leading 10 mm heat pipes to give unrivalled cooling efficiency. The stylish shroud is designed not only to look cool, but to manage the airflow over the card for maximum cooling effect. This new cooler, together with a high performance 10-phase power management system and high quality components such as the SAPPHIRE exclusive double sided Black Diamond chokes and long-life solid capacitors, has enabled SAPPHIRE to deliver stable higher power levels whilst keeping temperatures low. As a result the TOXIC edition features extreme factory programmed overclocks, delivering the best performance in the industry for this product family. And at the touch of a switch, the user can choose between UEFI and non-UEFI platforms.

Product Link: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/p...?pid=2023&lid=1

Suggested Retail Price: RM 1,279

Specifications:



Full specifications of 280X TOXIC can be found HERE

GPU-Z:


Unboxing:


The graphics card is packed in a black and orange box that points out some of its key features including having a 3GB VRAM, factory overclock, Tri-X cooling and TOXIC design.


The graphics card itself does have some appealing aesthetics with its unique triple fan cooler and the striking black and orange theme.


The graphic card has a two-slot thickness and is extraordinarily long as compared to any card in the market. The total length is about 31.5 cm.


The graphics card is equipped with AMD’s award-winning 28-nanometers GCN Architecture known for unrivalled performance and efficiency. The GPU is packed with groundbreaking features like AMD PowerTune and CrossFire (CF) technologies.


Let’s look closer on the PCB area of the graphics card. The VRM power design gives 12 phase power for stability in terms of voltage regulatory and consistent performance.


The memory chips are based on Hynix AFR GDDR5 which is known for high overclock ability.


The graphics card draws power from a pair of 8-pin connectors, as compared to a reference R9 280X card which has 8+6-pin connectors.

The crossfire (CF) connectors that support multiple card configurations up to 4-way CF.


Right next to the Crossfire connectors you have a small push button with a SAPPHIRE logo on it. This buttons enables you to toggle between UEFI and BIOS states. At first glance I thought it was a turbo switch to boost the performance but it wasn’t meant for that purpose.


The rear I/O panel includes two DVI ports, a HDMI port and a pair of mini DisplayPort.


The backplate’s unique design does add some aesthetic looks to the graphic card as well as provides extra rigidity to the PCB.


Included in the box is some documentation, a driver CD and a Sapphire sticker. We also have a mini-DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort converter, a HDMI cable, a Crossfire bridge and two dual-molex-to-single-8-pin Y-cables.

Test Setup:





Software & Tools:


SAPPHIRE TRIXX - A tuning utility to tweak the overclocking, fan speed and voltage control.

Stability Tests:

MSI Kombustor 3.3.0 - FurMark Burner

I managed to stress the graphics card running at stock clock without any error in about 10 minutes. The GPU core hit 82C during loads with the stock fan profile.

This post has been edited by owikh84: Dec 17 2013, 10:54 PM

Synthetic Benchmarks:

3DMark 13:


3DMark 13 Fire Strike (Extreme):


3DMark 11 (Performance):


3DMark 11 (Extreme):


3DMark Vantage:


3DMark 06:


3DMark 05:


3DMark 03:


Unigine Heaven 4.0:

Resolution 2560x1600 | Anti-aliasing: 8X | Custom Preset | API: DX11| Quality: Ultra | Tessellation: Extreme

Unigine Valley 1.0:

Resolution 2560x1600 | Anti-aliasing: 8X | Extreme HD Preset | API: DX11| Quality: Ultra

This post has been edited by owikh84: Dec 18 2013, 08:31 PM

Game Benchmarks:

Bioshock Infinite:

Resolution 2560x1600 | Ultra Quality Preset | DX11 only | Diffusion Depth of Field

Metro Last Light:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | Very High Quality Preset | DX11 | Texture Filtering: AF 16X | Motion Blur: Normal | SSAA: ON | Tessellation: Very High | Advanced PhysX: ON

Tomb Raider:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | FXAA | Quality: Ultimate | Texture Quality: Ultra | Texture Filter: Anisotropic 16X | Shadows: Normal | Shadow Resolution: High | Level of Detail: Ultra | Hair Quality: TressFX | Reflections: High | Depth of Field: Ultra | SSAO: Ultra | Post Processing: ON | High Precision: ON | Tessellation: ON

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 4X MSAA | Ultra Preset | Renderer: Enhanced Full Dynamic Lighting (DX11) | MSAA for A-tested Objects: DX10.0 Style [Standard] | SSAO Mode: HBAO | SSAO Quality: High | Enable Tessellation: ON | Contact Hardening Shadows: ON

Sniper Elite V2:

Resolution: 1920x1080| Anti-Aliasing: High | Texture Detail: Ultra | Shadows Detail: Ultra | Draw Distance: Ultra | Advanced Shadows: Low | Supersampling: 2.25X | Anisotropic Level: 16 | Compute Shaders: ON | Ambient Occlusion: ON | Motion Blur: ON | Reduced Mouse Lag: OFF

Sleeping Dogs:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | Enable Quality Anti-aliasing: Extreme | Enable High-Res Textures: ON | Shadow Resolution: High | Shadow Filtering: High | Screen Space Ambient Occlusion: High | Enable Quality Motion Blur: ON

Street Fighter IV:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 8X AA | Parallel Rendering: ON | Texture Filter: 16X | Model Quality: High | Background Quality: High | Soft Shadow: Highest | Self Shadow | High | Motion Blur: High | Particles: High | Extra Touch: Ink

Resident Evil 6:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | FXAA3HQ | Motion Blur: ON | Shadow Quality: High | Texture Quality: High | Screen Quality: High

Final Fantasy XIV:

Resolution: 1920x1080 | Maximum Graphics Presets

GRID 2:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 4X MSAA | Custom Preset | Night Lighting: High | Shadows: Ultra | Advanced FOG: ON | Particles: Ultra | Crowd: Ultra | Cloth: High | Ambient Occlusion: Ultra | Soft Ambient Occlusion: ON | Ground Cover: High | Vehicle Details: High | Trees: Ultra | Objects: Ultra | Vehicle Reflections: Ultra | Water: High | Post Process: High | Skidmarks: ON | Advanced Lightning: ON | Global Illumination: ON | Anisotropic Filtering: Ultra

This post has been edited by owikh84: Dec 17 2013, 11:43 PM

Dirt Showdown:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 4X MSAA | Ultra Preset | Shadows: Ultra | Post Process: High | Night Lighting: ON | Vehicle Reflections: Ultra | Ambient Occlusion: Ultra | Water: High | Objects: Ultra | Trees: Ultra | Crowd: Ultra | Ground Cover: High | Particles: High | Vehicle Details: High | Skidmarks: ON | Cloth: High | Advanced Lighting: ON

Far Cry 3:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 8X MSAA | GPU Max Buffer Frames: 1 | Widescreen Letterbox: OFF | DirectX 11 | Alpha to Coverage: Enhanced | SSAO Method: HDAO | Field of View: 73.15 | Overall Quality: Optimal | Textures: High | Ambient Lightning: High | Shadow: Ultra | Post FX: Ultra | Geometry: Ultra | Vegetation: Very High | Terrain: High | Water: Very High | Environment: High

Crysis 3:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | FXAA | Texture Resolution: Very High | System Spec: Very High | Game Effects: Very High | Object: Very High | Particles: Very High | Post Processing: Very High | Shading: Very High | Shadows: Very High | Water: Very High | Anisotropic Filtering: 16X | Motion Blur: High | Lens Flares: Yes

Call of Duty: Ghosts:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 4X MSAA | Image Quality: Extra | Depth of Field: Yes | Screen Space Ambient Occlusion: HBAO+ | Terrain Details: ON | Anisotropic Filtering: High | Motion Blur: ON | Distortion: Yes | Shadows: Yes | Texture Resolution: Extra | Specular Map Resolution: Extra | Water Map Resolution: High

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 4X MSAA | Environment Quality: Very High | Texture Quality: High | Shadow Quality: Very High | Reflection Quality: High | Motion Blur: ON | Ambient Occlusion: HBAO+ (High) | God Rays: High | Volumetric Fog: ON

Batman Arkham Origins:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 8X MSAA | Geometry Detail: DX11 Enhanced | Dynamic Shadows: DX11 Enhanced | Motion Blur: ON | Depth of Field: DX11 Enhanced | Distortion: ON | Lens Flares: ON | Light Shafts: ON | Reflections: ON | Ambient Occlusion: DX11 Enhanced | Hardware Acceleration PhysX: High

Batman Arkham City:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 8X MSAA | DirectX 11 Features: MVSS + HBAO | DirectX 11 Tessellation: High | Detail Level: Very High | Dynamic Shadows: Yes | Motion Blur: Yes | Distortion: Yes | Lens Flares: Yes | Light Shafts: Yes | Reflections: Yes | Ambient Occlusion: Yes | Hardware Acceleration PhysX: High

Aliens vs Predator:

Resolution: 2560x1600 | DX11 MSAA Samples: 1 | Texture Quality: 2 | Shadow Quality: 3 | Anisotropic Filtering: 16 | SSAO: ON | DX11 Tessellation: ON | DX11 Advanced Shadows: ON

Lost Planet 2 (Test A):

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 4X MSAA | Motion Blur: ON | Shadow Detail: High | Texture Detail: High | Rendering Level: High | DirectX 11 Features: High

Lost Planet 2 (Test B):

Resolution: 2560x1600 | 4X MSAA | Motion Blur: ON | Shadow Detail: High | Texture Detail: High | Rendering Level: High | DirectX 11 Features: High

Overclocking:


With a supplied voltage of 1.3v, I managed to push the GPU core frequency to 1250 MHz (boost) and video memory frequency of 8200 MHz. The VRAM frequency is my best personal record so far and I guess SHAPPIRE did really bin the memory chip seriously. Impressive!

Thoughts & Verdicts:

The SAPPHIRE R9 280X TOXIC Edition is a great graphics card for gaming and overclocking. Its stock performance was smooth and stable all the time without a hitch during the tests. The tri-fan cooler also worked brilliantly to dissipate the heat generated by the GPU. The card hit 82C max in the stress test with stock fan profile, but that was in 34c room temperature. The overclock ability of this card did impress me especially with its awesome memory overclocking. All in all, the graphics card gives you what you need for gaming.

I would like to thank puteih for sending his graphics card for review.

Performance: 5/5
Materials: 5/5
Specifications: 5/5
Appearance: 5/5
Performance/Price Value: 5/5

Pros:
+ Impressive performance and stable
+ Outstanding overclock ability
+ Equipped with high quality components and state-of-the-art Tri-X cooler
+ Nice looking design with good color theme
+ Comes with unique backplate to protect the PCB

Cons:
- Price could be lower
- No dual BIOS chips
- The cooler is quite loud at 100% fan speed
- The color scheme might be hard to match themes in custom build
- It is a very long graphics card
- Comes with 2 years warranty only
- SAPPHIRE TRIXX is not included so need to download it from their website

This post has been edited by owikh84: Dec 18 2013, 09:26 PM

Good to see the high performance memory

This post has been edited by Newboxx.com: Dec 17 2013, 11:08 PM

Are these actually easy to get in Malaysia? Because from what I've seen in online stores like newegg and amazon, they're all sold out or price has been jacked up like crazy.

Bloody cryptocurrency craze :[

Yes, it is easy to get in Malaysia.
You might want to check it out at LYN garage sales for pricing HERE

Bro, your test settings for Unigine shows 1080p, should be 1600p right?

Kudos to another great review . Really informative n helpful with all those benchmark to buyer in doubt.
The oc Memory freq. is juz damn sweet

oops, yes you are right that it should be 2560x1600.
Thanks for correcting bro.

Thank you for the compliment bro.
It was really in a rush until I forgot to run BF4 benchmark
Nevertheless I had a wonderful time playing with the OC hehe.

P/S: I think this would be the last exclusive graphics card review for me. My next reviews would be in the form of roundup type.

This post has been edited by owikh84: Dec 18 2013, 09:23 PM

One question to owikh84

So lets say if already on 7970, and running just 1080p, do you think is worth it (now) to change to 280 R9?

Or just find another 7970 and just Crossfire

Hi bro, it's not worth to change from 7970 to 280X since the latter is equivalent to a 7970GHz.
Getting another 7970/7970GHz or 280X (can CF with flashed-with-GHz-bios 7970/7970GHz) would be your best choice.
There's no any single-GPU card that is near to the performance of 2X 7970 CF.

hello,

Thx good Review, enjoy the data/info i just have.. small bone to pick with Sapphire design.. is just me or it look like MSI lightning Cards( reject edition msi Lightning)
- and just 8000 score for firestrike ... hmm

8k+ GPU score on Fire Strike is normal for any 280X.

ASUS 280X Matrix Platinum:


This post has been edited by owikh84: Dec 19 2013, 07:48 PM