PowerColor Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC Review
Category : AMD
Published by Christian Ney on 09.01.14
With the new Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC, PowerColor introduce its first graphics card equiped with their new TurboDuo cooling system. An efficient and silent solution on the paper according to the manufacturer. Other than that the card features a reference Radeon HD 7970 PCB and a slight factory overclocking. Let's see what it can do.
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Presentation
The new Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC graphics card from PowerColor features a reference design PCB, TurboDuo cooler and a tiny factory overclocking. Overall it is PowerColors interpretation of a non-reference Radeon R9 280X graphics card.
Since it is the TurboDuo OC version of the PowerColor Radeon R9 280X series, the card features a slight factory overclock of 30 MHz on the core. While the standard reference Radeon R9 280X GPU is set to work at 850 MHz for the base clock and 1'000 MHz for the Boost clock, the PowerColor TurboDuo OC works at 880 MHz for the base clock and 1'030 MHz for the Boost clock.
Unfortunately, no factory overclocking was done on the 3GB of GDDR5 memory that remains at the recommended 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz effective).
During our testing the PowerColor Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC held 1'030 MHz most of the load time. We have only experienced downclocking under FurMark where the GPU clock was going up and down from 1'030 MHz (1.150v) to 880 MHz (1.050v) past 70°C. We didn't notice any throttling while gaming.
Specifications
| R9 280X TurboDuo OC | R9 280X DC II Top | Radeon R9 280X | |
| Chip | Tahiti XT2/L | Tahiti XT2/L | Tahiti XT2/L |
| Process | 28 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Transistors | 4.31 billion | 4.31 billion | 4.31 billion |
| GPU clock | 880 MHz | 1'070 MHz | 850 MHz |
| GPU Boost clock | 1'030 MHz | N/A | 1'000 MHz |
| Memory GDDR5 | 3'072 MB | 3'072 MB | 3'072 MB |
| Memory clock | 1'500 (6'000) MHz | 1'600 (6'400) MHz | 1'500 (6'000) MHz |
| Memory interface | 384 Bit | 384 Bit | 384 Bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 288.0 GB/s | 307.2 GB/s | 288 GB/s |
| Shader Cores | 2'048 | 2'048 | 2'048 |
| TMUs | 128 | 128 | 128 |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| TDP | xxx Watt | xxx Watt | 250 Watt |
| PCB Type | Reference Design | Custom Design | Reference Design |
| Lenght (PCB - Total) | 26.8 - 26.8 cm | 26.8 - 28.7 cm | xx.x - xx.x cm |
| Height (PCB - Total) | 11.0 - 13.0 cm | 12.2 - 14.8 cm | xx.x - xx.x cm |
| Slots | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Cooler | TurboDuo | DirectCU II | AMD Reference |
| Launch Price | $XXX | $XXX | $299 |
The card
Like the name of the card indicates, the PowerColor Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC is equiped with their new TurboDuo cooler introduced with the Radeon R9 series. In this case you get three pure copper GSG-shaped heatpipes that have a diameter of 8 millimeter. The heatpipes are not in direct contact with the core, there is a pure copper base inbetween. Soldered to the heatpipes you find the fin stack which is being provided with fresh air via two 90mm fans. The fans are manufactured by PowerLogic and carry the model number PLD09210D12HH.Overall the cooler is well made and finished. Good thermal paste has been used and the copper base actually has a nice finish, not mirror though. Memory chips aren't actively cooled.
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For its Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC, PowerColor makes use of an AMD Radeon HD 7970 reference design PCB. The PCB is identical, the only changes we noticed is that the power design components are different and there is the full number of phases, 6+1+1+1 (GPU-Memory-PLL-PCIe) phases for the TurboDuo card versus 5+1+1+1 for the reference 7970 card. Other than that PowerColor also put a small aluminium heatsink on the MOSFETs of the main VRM to actively cool them.
Checking the voltage regulation chip we find a digital multi-phase controller CHiL CHL8228G from International Rectifier that is taking care of both GPU and memory.
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The memory chips used are made by Elpida and carry the model number W2032BBBG-6A-F. They are specified to run at 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz effective).
Photo Gallery
Delivery
Bundled with the graphics card there is a software CD, an installation manual, a soft CrossFire bridge, a DVI to VGA adaptor, a mini DP to DP adapter and one power adapter (6-pin to 8-pin). The bundle is well furnished compared to what we are used to get.
Test Setup
| Mainboard |
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| CPUs |
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| Memory |
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| Graphic Cards |
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| Drivers |
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| Games and OS |
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| HDD |
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| PSU |
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Weighted average
Temperatures / Noise levels
Fan Speed
Noise Level
For the noise level results, we measured the noise level using a decibel meter (Voltcraft SL-200) located at 1 meter away from the graphics card.
Idle Temperature
Idle, temperature is taken after 15 minutes @ lowest, 40 %, 50 %, 70 % and 100 % fan speed.
Room Temperature: 25°C
Temperature under Furmark
For FurMark, temperature is taken after 15 minutes of GPU Burn test at lowest, 40 %, 50 %, 70 % and 100 % fan speed.
We stopped the test when the GPU temperature hit 90°C.
Room Temperature: 25°C
Temperature and fan speed under BattleField 3
For BattleField 3, temperature and fan speed values taken are the highest achieved after 1 hour gaming @ auto fan speed.
Performance/Watt
| Graphics Cards | Performance Index | Power C. (Watts)* | Performance/Watt*10 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 53.55 | 178 | 3.01 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN (Ref) | 85.05 | 306 | 2.78 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 (ASUS DC2OC) | 70.92 | 257 | 2.76 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 (ASUS DC2T) | 62.00 | 227 | 2.73 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti (GBT GHz) | 90.53 | 333 | 2.72 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 (ASUS DC2OC) | 81.66 | 302 | 2.70 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 (ASUS DC2T) | 47.37 | 177 | 2.68 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 (Ref) | 68.36 | 258 | 2.65 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 (ASUS DC2OC) | 56.63 | 218 | 2.60 |
| AMD Radeon R9 270 (ASUS DC2OC) | 50.00 | 195 | 2.56 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (Ref) | 40.87 | 169 | 2.42 |
| AMD Radeon R9 270X (ASUS DC2T) | 53.85 | 230 | 2.34 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 (ASUS DC2T V2) | 50.53 | 219 | 2.31 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 (ASUS DC2T) | 42.39 | 190 | 2.23 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7790 (ASUS DC2OC - Ref PCB) | 33.44 | 151 | 2.21 |
| ASUS Radeon R9 280X DirectCU II Top | 73.03 | 334 | 2.19 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (ASUS Matrix P.) | 70.75 | 325 | 2.18 |
| AMD Radeon R9 280X (ASUS DC2T) | 68.85 | 321 | 2.14 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 30.8 | 151 | 2.04 |
| PowerColor Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC | 69.43 | 347 | 2.00 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 (Ref) | 50.49 | 254 | 1.99 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 (XFX DD - Ref PCB) | 64.27 | 329 | 1.95 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 (Ref) | 36.83 | 208 | 1.77 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 (Ref) | 41.19 | 252 | 1.63 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Ref) | 31.88 | 200 | 1.59 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5850 (Ref) | 30.05 | 193 | 1.56 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5870 (Ref) | 35.98 | 232 | 1.55 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 (Ref) | 73.44 | 500 | 1.47 |
| *Entire system | More is better | Less is better | More is better |
The "Performance Index" value is calculated as the sum of all benchmarks results divided by the amount of games (3DMark and Unigine are not included into the calculation).
Performance/Price
| Graphics Cards | Performance Index | Price (€)* | Performance/€*10 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7790 | 33.44 | 91 | 3.67 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 50.53 | 143 | 3.53 |
| AMD Radeon R9 270 | 50.00 | 144 | 3.47 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 42.39 | 124 | 3.42 |
| AMD Radeon R9 270X | 53.85 | 159 | 3.39 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 40.87 | 121 | 3.38 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 47.37 | 144 | 3.29 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 30.80 | 100 | 3.08 |
| AMD Radeon R9 280X | 68.85 | 241 | 2.86 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 56.63 | 199 | 2.85 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 53.55 | 193 | 2.77 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 64.27 | 232 | 2.77 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 62.00 | 228 | 2.72 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 70.75 | 260 | 2.72 |
| ASUS Radeon R9 280X DirectCU II Top | 73.03 | 271 | 2.69 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 70.92 | 266 | 2.67 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 50.49 | 190 | 2.66 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 31.88 | 126 | 2.53 |
| PowerColor Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC | 69.43 | 277 | 2.51 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 68.36 | 291 | 2.35 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 81.66 | 415 | 1.97 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 36.83 | 205 | 1.80 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti | 90.53 | 582 | 1.56 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 41.19 | 310 | 1.33 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5850 | 30.05 | 260 | 1.16 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5870 | 35.98 | 335 | 1.07 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 73.44 | 708 | 1.04 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 85.05 | 832 | 1.02 |
| * 06/01/2014 | More is better | Less is better | More is better |
For the price we took the lowest price available on geizhals.eu.
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| With the Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC, PowerColor is
offering a R9 280X based on a Radeon HD 7970 reference PCB paired up
with their own new cooling solution. Overall, the TurboDuo OC did good
in our testing, performance is the way we expected it to be, cooling performance
is
on a good level, the card is very silent and we like the design of the
cooler. As always we would have liked to see the manufacturer overclock the memory and it would have been nice to get a higher factory overclocking on the GPU. Further improvements could have also been made regarding the price and power consumption under load. |
- Performance
- Cooling performance - Design - Noise levels - Bundle |
- Memory Clock
- Price |
|
| Cooling / Noise Level | + | - | |
| PowerColor's new TurboDuo cooler did a very good job on the Radeon R9 280X. The cooling performance was on a good level and most of all the noise levels were very good. The card is inaudible in idle and very silent under load. | - Cooling performance
- Noise levels |
||
| Performance | + | - | |
| Overall the 3D performance is good but as said
previously, we would like PowerColor to push the factory clock further
in order to improve performance of its card and stand out from the
masses because the slight overclock of 30 MHz does only bring roughtly 1
% performance gain. Idle power consumption of the PowerColor card is very good, we measured 46 Watts on the wall, 2 to 3 Watts less than other tested Radeon R9 280X. Unfortunately the card doesn't shine green under load with a rather high result. With the PowerColor card our system draws 347 Watts under FurMark while it draws between 335 and 321 Watts with other R9 280X or even a reference Radeon HD 7970. |
- Performance
- idle power consumption |
- Performance/Price
- Power consumption under load |
|
| Recommendation / Price | + | - | |
| It looks like PowerColor focussed effort on the
cooler and didn't pay too much attention to the rest for. In
the end it results in a silent and well cooled graphics card but with
high load power consumption and shy factory overclocking. The price has also been overlooked, the TurboDuo OC costs 30 Euros more than the cheapest R9 280X and you can find faster and better cooled cards with custom PCB for less money. |
- Gaming | - Price | |
| We gave the Radeon R9 280X TurboDuo OC from PowerColor 3.5 out of 5 stars. | |||
