HIS Radeon R9 280, 285, 280X, 290X IceQ X2

Published: Oct 18th 2014, 09:57 GMT

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First review is always the hardest

It’s been years since I started this website, but I didn’t feel the need to make a review. I’ve always admired the work from people at other sites. The amount of dedication required to prepare such a comprehensive test is always overwhelming. You need time, knowledge and equipment to even consider making a review.

Writing a review is not as easy as it was few years ago. Putting a card through few tests and writing down all the results is not enough. We need to analyze the behavior of the GPU in each scenario to fully understand the limits of a particular model.

Nevertheless, I finally found time, gained experience, and received substantial support from HIS, who were happy to contribute by adding more cards to this test.

I couldn’t possibly have picked a better time to introduce my first review, as the second half of 2014 is a very exciting time for all graphics cards enthusiasts. AMD has just updated their mid-range stack, and NVIDIA introduced their new series.

I decided that my first ever review will cover Tonga-based graphics, the Radeon R9 285.

To make this review a little more interesting I added Sniper Elite 3, which was just recently updated to support Mantle, Shadow of Mordor, known for very high VRAM requirements, and Alien: Isolation.

This test however will not include frame pacing or 4k experience, as both require significant investment, which I am not yet ready to make. My goal is to expand my review inventory in a new graphics card first. That said, my next review will cover Maxwell based model.

Next few pages will showcase each card that is being tested in this review.

Review Contents
Page 1Introduction
Page 2Overview HIS Radeon R9 285 IceQ X² OC
Page 3Overview HIS Radeon R9 280 IceQ X² OC
Page 4Overview HIS Radeon R9 280X iPower IceQ X² Turbo
Page 5Overview HIS Radeon R9 290X iPower IceQ X² Turbo
Page 6Overview EVGA GeForce GTX 760 Superclocked ACX
Page 7Overview Palit GeForce GTX 770 JetStream
Page 8Overview Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti OC
Page 9Testing platform and methodology
Page 10Games Batman: Arkham Origins ● BioShock Infinite ● Total War: Rome 2 ● Alien:Isolation
Page 11Games Company of Heroes 2 ● GRID Autosport ● Hitman Absolution ● Watch Dogs
Page 12Games Metro: Last Light ● Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor ● Tomb Raider
Page 13Games Battlefield 4 ● THIEF ● Sniper Elite III
Page 14Test 3DMark Fire Strike ● Catzilla ● CompuBench
Page 15Test ComputeMark ● TessMark ● Luxxmark
Page 16Test Power consumption ● Temperature
Page 17Test Overclocking
Page 18Conclusion