MSI Radeon R9 280 OC Review

Closer Look

Taking a look at GPU-Z, we see the R9 280 is a Tahiti based GPU with 3GB of GDDR5 clocked at 1250 MHz, 1792 shaders, a 384 bit bus, and a 1000 MHz core clock. If these specs look familiar to you, it’s because they are. The 280 is a rebadged 7950 with an overclock. We’ll get more in to this later.

Starting with the front, we see our 280 is sporting MSI’s Twin Frozr IV cooler which utilizes dual fans, heat pipes, and a large fin array. As it goes with this style of cooler, GPU temps are much lower but case temps are higher since the hot air isn’t exhausted out of the back of the case.

One difference between the 7950s we have tested in the past and this 280 is that the 280 has a 6 and 8 pin connectors for power, whereas the 7950s had two 6 pins.

Around back we find the various outputs including a DVI, HDMI, and two Mini DisplayPorts.

As mentioned just above, this particular 280 has the Twin Frozr IV cooler strapped on to it. As we can see here, large heatpipes transfer heat from the die up to the large aluminum fins to keep the core temp down. There are also small heatsinks underneath the cooler to help keep the memory and other vital components cool.

Along the top edge we find the BIOS switch which allows you to toggle between the two BIOS profiles, as well as a metal support bracket which helps to stiffen up the card and keep it from putting so much pressure on the PCI-E slot, a problem I’ve noticed with some other cards in the past.

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