Introduction

It has been almost two years since AMD launched their GCN architecture based Radaeon HD 7000 ‘Southern Island’ series. The Southern Islands family was the first to support the TSMC 28nm GCN ‘Graphics Core Next’ architecture and today we will be looking at the successor to the Southern Islands codenamed Volcanic Islands.

The Volcanic Islands family is branded as the Radeon R200 series and takes performance and value to the next level. Technically speaking, the Radeon R200 series cards which include the Radeon R9 280X, Radeon R9 270X, Radeon R7 260X, Radeon R7 250 and Radeon R7 240 are GCN rebrands with the addition of new features but rather than giving away the same cards at the same price ranges, AMD added a few new features which we will detail in this article and slashed the prices so much that the Tahiti chip that once was $549 can now be bought for $299 US.

We have tested out the reference and non-reference variants of the AMD Radeon R7 260X graphic cards only yesterday. Today we will be testing the latest Radeon R9 series graphic card known as the Radeon R9 270X. The card is aimed towards the mainstream audience at a price of only $199. The specific model we are going to test is the HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X² with Turbo Boost and 2 GB memory. Let's see if $199 graphic cards have become capable enough for gaming on the current AAA titles.

AMD GCN (Graphic Core Next) Architecture

Before we get to detail the new card, let’s take a brief look at the architecture that has spanned over two years offering tremendous value to PC gamers – GCN. GCN or Graphics Core Next is based on the 28nm TSMC process across each variant.Originally debuted with the Radeon HD 7970 in December 2011, the GCN architecture was an giant step away from the older VLIW architecture featured on the Cayman ‘Radeon HD 6900′ cards. They did performed graphically well but their compute performance was crippled similar to NVIDIA’s GK104 lineup.

AMD took a bold step forward and introduced the GCN architecture with Graphics Compute Unit to handle the compute side of things basically delivering higher performance in compute and graphically intensive applications. The GCN architecture was the blend of both in a single die package aiming for high performance.

The AMD GCN architecture features 16-wide SIMD units with 64 KB registers addressed to each unit. Four of these SIMD units will form the basis of a Compute Unit or CU in short. 16-Wide design means that each CU will hold a total of 64 Stream Processors. The full GCN based Tahiti core features 32 Compute Units resulting in 2048 Stream Processors. The Radeon R7 270X we will be testing today has 20 Compute Units which results in 1280 SPs (Stream Processors).

Additional specifications include:

• Upto 32 Compute Units w/ Dual Geometry Engines
• 8 Render Back-Ends/ 32 Color ROPs/ 128 Z/stencil ROPs
• Upto 768KB Read/Write L2 Cache
• 128-bit/256-bit/384-bit GDDR5 memory interfaces

In addition to the this, GCN architecture also features the GCN Tessellation unit which is the latest iteration of hardware enable tessellation units with increased vertex re-use, off-chip buffering improvements and larger parameter caches. These result in a 4 times performance improvement over previous generation non-GCN based chips.

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We know that this is the most boring bit of details for some but it was essential to do a recap of the AMD GCN architecture since the new R200 series lineup except the two R9 290X and R9 290 are based off the same GCN architecture. So with the GCN reintroduced again, let’s take a look at the new (rebranded) graphic cards it has been fused inside this time.

AMD Radeon R9 Series – High-End Gaming Under $299

With the launch of the Volcanic Islands family, AMD announced two lineups – Radeon R9 and Radeon R7. The Radeon R9 are the high-performance graphic cards aiming the price range of $299 to $199. The other two R9 graphic cards aka Radeon R9 290X and Radeon R9 290 are yet to be launched but would be priced higher and would deliver higher performance.

Today we will be looking at the Radeon R9 Series tier 'Radeon R9 270X' graphics card which is the kind of performance at the $199 price range. According to AMD, the Radeon R9 270X is built for 1080P gaming with the highest quality settings possible in various titles. With a price of only $199 US which is lower than its predecessors which include the $259 Radeon HD 5850 and $239 Radeon HD 6870, the Radeon R9 270X delivers upto 3 times more value in performance per dollar in 3DMark FireStrike.

Talking about competition, the AMD Radeon R9 270X has no similarly priced competitor as the GeForce GTX 660 costs $179.99 while the faster GeForce GTX 760 retails for $249 US. AMD went ahead and chose the GeForce GTX 660 as its competitor since it was the only card close in the price range. According to the slides by AMD which you can see at the end of this panel, the Radeon R9 270X is upto 45% faster than the GTX 660 in Hitman Absolution, 49% Faster in Battlefield 3 and 26% Faster than the NVIDIA rival in Tomb Raider. The card secures a max score of 5500 Marks in 3DMark FireStrike, we will see how it fares in gaming and synthetic benchmarks shortly.

The Radeon R9 series graphic card lineup starts off with the $199 Radein R7 260X with 2 GB memory while the 4 GB variant would be available later on for a price of $229. It is followed by the Radeon R9 280X with 3GB memory and a price tag of $299. The Radeon R9 lineup also includes the flagship R9 290X and Radeon R9 290 graphic cards though we don't have official conformation regarding their prices at the moment. . The specifications for the Radeon R9 GPU lineup and some of their competitors can be seen below:

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HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X² 2 GB Graphics Card

The HIS Radeon R7 270X belongs to the Radeon R9 series which is aimed towards the high performance gaming audience. The Radeon R9 270X features the TSMC 28nm manufacturerd Curacao XT Silicon which is essentially a Pitcairn chip with a new codename. The Pitcairn XT chip which features the same specifications was fused on the Radeon HD 7870 which the Radeon R9 270X is meant to replace.

Unlike Bonaire and Hawaii, the new Curacao XT chip features no architectural enhancements since its based on the older GCN 1.0 core. This means that we won't see technologies such as AMD TrueAudio or the full support of DirectX 11.2 effects in gaming titles.

Technically speaking, the Curacao chip features a die size of 212mm² with a total of 2.80 Billion transistors crammed inside it. The Radeon R9 270X features a total of 20 Compute Units which result in 1280 total Stream processors, 32 ROPs, 80 Texture mapping units. The card has a total compute performance of 2.69 TFlops. The Radeon R9 270X features 2 GB of GDDR5 memory that operates along a 256-bit memory interface. The memory pumps out a total of 179.2 GB/s bandwidth.

Coming to the clock speeds, the HIS Radeon R9 270X has a max clock speed of 1100 MHz and 1140 MHz with Turbo Boost, the memory operates at a 1400.00 MHz or 5.6 GHz effective clock speeds. Compared to the reference models which operate at 1050 MHz, this is a nice improvement especially the addition of Boost technology by HIS. This still leaves alot fo room for overclocking since the card features a non-reference design and a better cooler.

The HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X² has a power draw of 180W that is provided through dual 6-Pin connectors and the PCIe expansion slot. The display outputs include Dual-Link DVI, HDMI and a Display port which can be used to display Eyefinity too. The card comes with a single CrossFire connector which allows Dual GPU CrossFireX functionality for upto two R9 270X cards together providing better performance. The slides can be seen below:

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AMD Radeon R9 270X ‘Curacao XT’ Features

The AMD Radeon R9 270X 'Curacao XT' is virtually the same chip as featured on the last generation Radeon HD 7870 hence their are limited amount of technologies included with this part. The AMD Radeon R9 270X features support for AMD Mantle API, DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3 and a few features as detailed below:

Ultra Resolution Gaming

Experience resolutions up to four times higher than HD and see everything your opponent throws at you — without sacrificing a single detail.

GCN Architecture

Primed to enable astonishing performance and breathtaking image quality, making it a top choice for gamers who expect the best.

Mantle

There’s optimization, and then there’s Mantle. Games enabled with Mantle speak the language of GCN architecture to unlock revolutionary performance and image quality.

AMD App Acceleration

Improve performance of everyday tasks such as Web browsing, office applications and video rendering.

AMD CrossFire technology

With outstanding performance scaling, a system equipped with AMD CrossFire technology system keeps you fragging while everyone else is reaching for an upgrade.

AMD PowerTune technology

Enables intelligent power monitoring to enable higher clock speeds and better performance in your favorite games.

AMD ZeroCore technology

Allows your AMD Radeon GPU to consume virtually no power when in idle state.

AMD HD3D technology

Play 3D games, watch Blu-ray 3D videos, and edit 3D photos on your 3D monitor, TV or projector

You might be wondering whether or not these same features exist on the Radeon HD 7790, well they do but the technology support for True Audio will be unlocked later when AMD ships a driver update in the future. You may continue reading on as we detail the new True Audio and API support for AMD’s Radeon R9 and Radeon R7 series graphic cards.

AMD Tiled Displays, Eyefinity and Multi-Display Support

With the R200 series, AMD is bringing new visual experiences into the equation with support for multi-display, Eyefinity and tiled displays. Previously, users went into alot of hassle for using Eyefinity on a single card since it always required min Display port connector equipped displays and buying a separate HDMI/DVI to display port adopter or buying a Eyefinity version of the specific graphic card which were available in limited quantities and had a price tag alot more than the reference models.

AMD is fixing this issue with the R200 series allowing a wide range of display configurations to be made possible and Eyefinity multi-display configuration available to the masses. The entire Radeon R7 and Radeon R9 lineup comes with Dual-Link DVI, HDMI 1.4 and Display port 1.2 which would enable a wide variety of configurations to be accessed by users. Although the entry level card won't actually be able to play games at such high resolutions, it will however become a cheaper way of having multiple displays for content creation, browsing and media boxes.

With the new display outputs in place, the Radeon R200 series cards would be able to support upto 6 simaltenous displays at once, three from the Dual DVI and HDMI ports and three from the single display port with the Multi-Stream Transport adopter technology which would enable support for three displays through a single display port

AMD is also bringing in a new VESA standard to enable support for Tiled displays which allows 4K monitors to stitch in a seamless single display experience. Currently, AMD only offers compatibility with two types of Ultra HD displays:

• Type 1: 30Hz and Below
• Type 2: 60Hz tiled into two halves 2K*2K @ 60 Hz

These features would enable high resolution gaming with Eyefinity technologies and 4K resolution for the ultra high-end enthusiasts. Its clear that both NVIDIA and AMD are aiming for the 4K resolution with their latest cards since it is the future upgrade path for PC Gamers. We are also currently looking at a growing trend towards 2560 x 1440 resolution. With new and powerful graphic cards available at great value, higher resolution and graphics would be push the boundaries of PC gaming further.

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AMD DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3, Mantle API

With the Radeon R200 Series, AMD is finally adding support for Microsoft DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3 and Mantle API. AMD has been working hard on Mantle API since a few years and just recently announced it at their GPU ’14 event. But before we get into that, let’s see what new enhancement DirectX 11.2 and OpenGL 4.3 have to offer!

Microsoft DirectX 11.2 is only fully featured on their Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating system so to take benefit of the new API, you would have to move over to the new OS. Recent reports also suggest that it is only the Radeon R9 290X, Radeon R9 290 and the Radeon R7 260X graphic cards which will fully support the DirectX 11.2 functionality while the others will support it but not deliver full functionality.

The DirectX 11.2 API makes use of 3D Tiled Resources and exposes AMD’s partially-resident texture feature. It also allows hardware managed virtual memory for the graphics processing unit and has several Tier-2 features supported such as Shader LOD clamp and mapped status feedback, mini/max reduction filtering and reads from non-mapped title returns 0.

The AMD Mantle API on the other hand is geared specifically towards the GCN powered Radeon graphic cards and is currently being integrated in Frostbite 3 based Battlefield 4 which is without a doubt the most anticipated title coming out this year after GTA V. Such is its fame that AMD even bundled their latest and top new Radeon R9 290X graphic card with the new title and those of you lucky enough to pre-order the GPU now would be able to redeem the game at no additional cost. So back to the API talk, currently developers have to operate through DirectX and OpenGL APIs to make games work but this doesn’t fully unleash the hardware capabilities of a PC nor do they allow ease of development to developers.

AMD Mantle High-Performance Low-Level API

The AMD Mantle API is being exclusively developed for GCN enabled Radeon graphic cards. This would allow developers to dig deep into the metal to bring console-level optimizations through ease of programming and faster optimizations over a coherent GCN chip architecture. This means that we would see better performance on the entire GCN architecture enabled AMD graphic card lineup ranging from the top Radeon R9 290X to the bottom R7 240.

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The AMD Mantle API comes with a light-weight driver that allows direct access to GPU hardware for the developers allowing for easier a much easier game development process. Its no surprise that the tech is first coming with Battlefield 4 since it has been officially bundled with AMD’s flagship Radeon R9 290X GPU.

This enables upto 9 time more draw cells per seconds than other APIs such as DirectX 11 for instance by reducing the CPU over head load which is than tasked upon the GPU hardware since its easily accessible. It also allows developers to include more optimization work from next gen game consoles to PCs which in return means the benefit for PC Gamers.

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In addition to this, you will have the option to select between Mantle and DirectX 11 if you are using a GCN core enabled GPU. Frostbite 3 is on the road to become one of the new mammoth tech engines in the gaming industry powering a portfolio of 15 AAA titles which include the upcoming:

• Battlefield 4
• Command and Conquer
• Mirrors Edge
• Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
• Need For Speed: Rivals
• Dragon Age: Inquisition
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• Mass Effect (New Title in the Franchise)

The AMD Mantle API not only allows GPU optimization but also gives the CPU a boost in performance since very low tasks are handled by the CPU such as rendering, loading and streaming (tasked upon the GPU) so this allows perfect parallel rendering that allows utilization of upto 8 CPU cores found currently on AMD’s FX processors. This also helps avoiding potential bottlenecks for the system that may occur if the CPU is under load which in the case of Mantle won’t happen at all.

Mantle API from AMD is surely a step forward from the traditional way in which games are developed by multi-plat studios and developers. The ease of use and unleashing the true power of PC hardware would provide high optimization to gamers which would result in a better and stable gameplay experience. Mantle would make its debut in December 2013 in Battlefield 4.

Unboxing the Radeon R9 270X IceQ X² Graphic Card

The HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X2 comes in a cardboard package which is hidden inside the cool plastic cover. Their are tons of labels and technical details regarding the HIS IceQ X2 cooler which is featured on the card. Turbo boost is also mentioned since this specific model features a 40 MHz clock speed bump with the added feature.

Out of the box, we can see that HIS went with the IceQ X2 cooling solution on their Radeon R9 270X graphics card. The cooler is both massive in weight and length measuring at 27cm long covering the entire length of the PCB. It is still not as close to the IceQ X2 cooler featured on its bigger brother aka the HIS R9 280X IceQ X2 which we will post tomorrow.

Display outputs on the card include a single DVI, full length HDMI and dual display ports which can be used with the multi-stream technology as detailed earlier. A large vent is placed right on top of the ports to push heat out side of the card so it stays cool and gets a fresh supply of cool air.

For cooling, the HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ x2 uses two 89mm dual axil fans that tend to get loud under load but are specifically designed to push lots of air into the heatsink so that the card stays cool even under massive loads and overclocked conditions.

Below, you can see a representation of how the card would look when equipped to the motherboard. The card uses dual-slot design and can easily be configured in Crossfire mode to gain more performance.

A Closer Look at the Radeon R9 270X IceQ X² GPU

Before taking apart the cooler shroud and heatsink, we take a last look at the graphic card from the top. The black shroud coupled with the silver mesh looks great and does a great job hiding the PCB components. The X mesh in the middle represents the IceQ X2 cooler and we can see an embedded logo on the top left corner of the card. The turbo sticker shows that the card supports Turbo Frequency.

Next up, we have the PCB itself with several components which we will detail in a short moment but the first thing we notice is the blue PCB. HIS Digital has been using blue colors for PCB for some time now since it suits the IceQ X2 design scheme but most people would disagree and a black PCB would be better off.

The Radeon R9 270X features a 5+1+1 phase making use of the DirectFET MOSFETs. You can notice in the shot that the display ports and HDMI output have a gold cover on top of them which is their to protect them from static and EMI interfaces. We can also notice a single CrossFire connector which will allow upto two-way multi GPU functionality for better performance and frame rates.

The Radeon R9 270X features the Curacao XT chip which is a rebranded Pitcairn chip housing 2800 Million transistors, 1280 Stream processors and a die size of 212mm².

The card is equipped with eight Elpida GDDR5 memory modules bearing the Elpida W2032BBBG code. The memory chips support upto 7 Gbps data transfer rates.

HIS's Radeon R9 270X IceQ X2 is powered by dual 6-Pin connectors since the board has a rated TDP of 180W. The non-reference board would require a bit more power input over the reference model hence power consumption would be a little higher.

Underneath the shroud lies a large aluminum fin array heatsink that measures the entire length of the card and offers superior cooling performance over the reference models. The whole heatsink is nicely arranged underneat the cooler shroud while the exposed heatpipes provide a nice touch to the looks of the graphic card.

Just on the side of the PCB, we can see a support bracket which is placed to avoid any sort of bends that may appear when equipping the card to the PCI-Express slot due to its heavy weight. This is a really good addition to the graphic card by HIS.

Underneath the heatsink is a pure copper base that dissipates heat directly off the GPU core into the aluminum fin array which is densely packed and cooled off with the use of dual fan design.

Heat is dissipated off with five 6mm copper heatpipes which run across the aluminum heatsink array to move heat more efficiently.

Test Setup

1. All games were tested on 1920×1080 and 2560×1600 resolutions.
2. Settings and visual configurations have been detailed for games on their benchmark charts.
3. Games with PhysX were benchmarked with the setting either kept on Low or Off for fair comparison.

HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X² Turbo Boost GPU-Z:

Graphics Performance and Benchmarks

3DMark 2013

3DMark from Futuremark further pushes the boundaries of benchmarking utilities going all out with cross platform support which include Windows, Windows Phone, iOS, MAC and even Android. The utility comes with three benchmark tests configured for different tiers of high-performance PCs, Mid-range PCs/Tablets and smartphone devices.

3DMark 11 Performance Test

Futuremark’s 3DMark 11 has been around for a while, being a comprehensive benchmark application to evaluate overall GPU and PC performance. 3DMark 11 as the name suggests makes use of DirectX 11 API and makes use of every DX11 feature at hand such as Tessellation, Depth of Field, Dynamic Lightning, Parallax Occlusion mapping, etc.

Aliens vs Predators

Rebellion Studios bring back the action to their Alien and the Predators franchise with the launch of 2010’s Alien vs Predators. The PC version of the title was one of the first games to feature DirectX 11 and tessellation.

Batman: Arkham City

The second title in the Batman: Arkham series has also been developed by Rocksteady Studios. Batman: Arkham City takes place in (isn’t it obvious by the name?) Arkham City which is infested with all the super-villains and their minions which Batman has previously met past his journey.

The game was released on PC in November 2011 and runs on the latest Unreal Engine 3 which features rich DirectX 11 detail, tessellation and PhysX support for NVIDIA cards.

Battlefield 3

Battlefield series is a name loyal to any PC gamer. Developed by DICE and published by EA, Battlefield 3 brings back the action, being one of the largest multiplayer launch titles of 2011. The game features both infantry and vehicular combat on some of the largest landscapes ever built in game with a total of 64 players pitted against each other.

Powering the game is DICE’s own Frostbite 2.0 engine. The successor to the original Frostbite engine that powered Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Battlefield 3 makes use of a highly detailed DirectX 11 engine, hardware accelerated tessellation and new lightning effects which deliver some of the most amazing visuals ever to be seen in a game.

Bioshock: Infinite

Bioshock Infinite, the third title in the franchise developed by Irrational Games takes FPS and story telling to a whole new experience. The game puts us in the boots of Booker who in search of a girl named ‘Elizabeth’ ends up on Columbus,  a bustling metropolis of the early 20th century that floats in the sky. The game uses a modified Unreal Engine making use of DIrectX 11 effects.

Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2, developed by Gearbox Studios is one of the hottest titles released in 2012. The game runs on a highly modified version of Unreal Engine making use of PhysX and rich DirectX 9 detail. During our test, we set the PhysX low for a fair comparison between the video cards.

CRYSIS 1

The first things to pop up on forums after Crysis’s launch was ‘Can my system run Crysis’. Almost every forum in the world, gaming or tech related was filled with the same question. This was not because of any bug but because of the technical and graphical achievement Crytek achieved with Crysis.

In 2007, Crytek released Crysis, A Sci-Fi FPS set on a jungle. The first few scenes were enough to determine the graphical leap the game took over others available at its time and still remains one of the most gorgeous looking titles to date. The game quickly became a benchmark to test modern PC’s performance. Crysis is powered by CryEngine 2 which makes use of a highly modified DirectX 10 set with technologies such as Ambient Occlusion and Parallax mapping detailing the rich Jungle in Crysis.

CRYSIS 2

Crysis 2 is the second title to be released by Crytek under their Crysis Franchise. The game is set in New York and revolves in the footsteps of Alcatraz who has to take out the Ceph and Cell along his path.

The game makes use of CryEngine 3 but at the time of its launch was shipped with DirectX 9 only. The game was later given DirectX 11 and High-Res textures through patches. We had our Crysis 2 with the latest DirectX 11 and High Res patch installed.

CRYSIS 3

PC gamers and Crysis franchise have a long running bond that cannot be broken apart. Crysis 3 is the last title of the franchise that for one last time puts in the Nano suit taking the role of Prophet. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic New York that is now under the control of C.E.L.L utilizing the left over Ceph technology to take grab in their quest for global domination by means of debt enslavement. We set out to take apart the CEPH and C.E.L.L forces in one last finale.

Visually speaking, the game is by far the most graphically intensive title ever developed with hyper realistic effects, textures and an environment with a massive scale. So much is the power of the CryEngine 3 that the game can only be ran on DirectX 11 compatible cards with a feature list length that never ends. Crytek had already done it once with the original Crysis and they have done it again with Crysis 3. Let’s see if the 2013 lineup of GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD hold up in it.

F1 2012

F1 2012 bring back formula racing with an actual representation of teams, drivers and cars. The game is developed on the Ego 2.0 engine by Codemasters which makes use of DirectX 11 feature set.

Far Cry 3

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, Far Cry 3 is one of 2012’s hit titles which makes us take the role of Jason Brody, a tourist stranded on a tropical jungle along with his friends which is filled with pirates and a mad man known by the name of ‘Vaas’.

The game runs on Dunia Engine 2 and features DirectX 11 effects along with making use of Havok Physics effects. The game is one of the most graphically intensive titles released.

Hitman Absolution

Hitman Absolution is the fifth entry to Agent 47’s Hitman franchise. Developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix, the game revolves around 47 once again, betrayed by his former handler Diana in order to protect Victoria, a teen girl. Mystery solves about the girl as the game progress.

The game makes use of a highly improved Glacier 2 engine making use of DirectX 11 effects, Tessellation, Global Illumination and Depth of Field. Hitman Absolution is also one of the most demanding and visually impressive titles to be released in 2012.

Metro Last Light

Metro Last Light once again puts us in the foots of Artyom, a survivor of the nuclear holocaust that shattered Russia. Metro: Last Light is considered as the best looking game to be released to date making use of intensive DirectX11 Tessellation, High-Res Textures, Global illumination lightning and more.

Saints Row IV

Saints Row IV takes the fight straight to Zinyak, a hostile alien leader who has taken over the world and put the president in a virtual simulation to mess around with him. The game revolves around Bridgeport, the place we have all known since Saints Row 3 but re-purposed by Zinyak to suit his needs. The game uses advanced DirectX 11 effects which are quite taxing for even the modern graphic cards.

Skyrim

The Elders Scroll: Skyrim was released by Bethesda in fall 2011. The game featured one of the most largest worlds ever created in an Elders Scroll game taking the RPG genre to the next level.

Stalker: Call of Pripyat

Stalker: Call of Pripyat is developed by Ukrainian studios GSC Games World. The game takes place after the events of Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. The game uses an updated X-Ray Engine 1.6 which features DirectX 11 effects such as Tessellation and dynamic shadows.

Sleeping Dogs

One of the new titles we included in our benchmarking list is Sleeping Dogs. The game gives us the role of Wei Shen, a Chinese-American undercover cop who has to infiltrate the Sun On Yee Triad organization. The game uses a powerful DX11 engine developed and tweaked by Square Enix that makes use of High-Resolution Textures.

Tomb Raider

The Tomb Raider franchise was rebooted this year with the latest title in the long running franchise. The players start off their journey with a younger and under-trained version of Lara who goes off on her first survival action journey.

Temperature and Thermal Test

No graphic card review is complete without evaluating its temperatures and thermal load. The HIS Radeon R9 280X IceQ X² we were shipped features the IceQ X² cooler which delivers much better cooling and stability over the reference model. This coupled with a custom designed PCB which improves overall stability and power rating of the board.

Note – We tested load with Kombuster which is known as ‘Power viruses’ and can permanently damage hardware. Use the software at your own risk!

IceQ X² is one of the quietest coolers, making the card quieter than the reference cooler. The card is below 28dB when watching movies, surfing Facebook, working. The card remains quiet whether you are gaming, online socializing, entertaining or working.

Fan Design

• The super large 2x 89mm dual axial fans draws massive amount of cool air to cool the GPU directly.
• The Q&C fan blade increases air velocity make cooling more efficiently while keeping noise level at minimum.
• The fan is extremely durable with a life span of up to 50,000 hours.
• 5x 6mm wide heatpipes optimize cooling performance by removing heat from the core area.
• The card also carries memory and mosfet heat sinks to provide extra heat dissipation from these areas.
• The card also features fan control and monitoring, you are able to read fan speed & ASIC temperature from iTurbo or other softwares.

Conclusion

When AMD launched the Radeon R200 series in Hawaii, their main focus was on value with the new series while the performance parts (Radeon R9 290 Series) would launch later this month. Although i wasn't impressed much with the Radeon R7 260X, the Radeon R9 270X totally delivers on the price per performance talks which AMD promised during their event.

The HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X2 is an overclocked model which retails for $219.99 US that is $20 more than the reference variants but with the extra cost not only you get a better cooler and a custom PCB but are endorsed with the Turbo Boost feature which provides a 40 MHz clock bump over its reference 1100 MHz clock speed. In terms of both cooling and performance with temperatures below the 75C mark leaving alot of headroom for over clocking. The cooler is definitely going to be alot of help and takes only two slots inside your PC which is easily manageable.

On the performance side, i was totally surprised to see the HIS Radeon R9 270X IceQ X2 coming close to a stock Radeon HD 7970. Should you be surprised too? Hell yes since this is a rebranded Pitcairn core and the factory overclock really does the magic pushing in additional frames.

The AMD Radeon R9 270X is the king of performance at $199 indeed but the HIS Radeon R9 280X IceQ X2 gives you even more cooling and faster gaming performance for a mere $20 more. The card gets a editor's choice award.