Manufacturer: HIS Price: $ 200/$300 US Author: Steven Walton Date: 10/14/2013

[ Introduction ]

Today we are checking out the latest HIS iPower IceQ X² Turbo graphics cards based on the Radeon R9 280X and R9 270X GPU’s. Priced at $320 and $220 these graphics cards are factory overclocked and feature upgraded cooling on a re-designed PC... Last week AMD introduced their latest generation of GPU’s with the Radeon R7 240, R7 250, R7 260X, R9 270X, R9 280X. Sadly these products were all re-badged GPU’s from the Radeon HD 7000 series, a series that has been around for almost 2 years. While AMD has done a little tweaking by increasing core and memory clocks on most cards, this does essentially make them factory overclocked versions of their former selves. The Radeon R9 270X for example is a slightly tweaked version of the old Radeon HD 7870, featuring a 50MHz core speed bump. The Radeon R9 280X was a little more disappointing as it was based on the Radeon HD 7970 but came with a lower core clock speed than the GHz Edition of that card. In the end we found the new Radeon Rx 200 series rather disappointing, as it was clear old was new again. Of course we do have the R9 290X to look forward to, but sadly AMD didn’t open with that as Nvidia did with the GTX Titan. Surprisingly many reviews praised this new GPU series for delivering exceptional pricing, the R9 280X costs just $300 while the R9 270 can be had for $200. Problem is, before their release the Radeon HD 7970 was already at $300 and the 7870 could be had for $200, so what was the big deal? Honestly we are still not sure why everyone made such a big deal out of the pricing, after all it was Nvidia’s GTX 700 series that hammered the pricing down. That said, many of the GTX 700 series parts are re-branded products, though Nvidia went to a little more effort to disguise the fact. They also lead with a radically new flagship product that redefined single GPU performance. Getting back on track, the Radeon HD 7970 did start life at $550 back in January of 2012, but was reduced in price after the GeForce GTX 680 was released and then reduced once more after the GTX 680 was re-badged into the $100 cheaper GTX 770. Then we have the Radeon HD 7870 which was released in March of 2012 and started life at $350. It was eventually reduced to under $200 and for roughly the same price it was slightly faster than Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 660. It seems the Radeon R9 280X and R9 270X pick up at pretty much the same place. So with things carrying on much as they were, the R9 280X does battle with the cheaper GTX 760 or the more expensive GTX 770, while the R9 270X is nipping at the GTX 660 Ti’s heals. On the menu today we have re-worked versions of the Radeon R9 280X and R9 270X from HIS which are part of their elite iPower IceQ X² Turbo series.

Table of Contents >>> Introduction <<< R9 280X iPower IceQ X² Turbo R9 270X iPower IceQ X² Turbo Test System Specs Benchmarks: Battlefield 3, Crysis 3 Benchmarks: DiRT 3, Far Cry 3 Benchmarks: Max Payne 3, Sleeping Dogs Benchmarks: Medal of Honor, Hitman Benchmarks: Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 6 Benchmarks: BioShock Infinite, Metro Last Light Power Consumption & Temperatures Conclusion Next Page ->

Narc	Posted on: 10/16/2013 11:27 AM Great looking cards and I can Crossfire the 280X with my 7970 so that's not a bad deal. Thanks for the review.

Syd	Posted on: 10/17/2013 01:52 PM HIS make great cards I am on the look out for their 290X! Ohh please review it.