After AMD has officially announced the AMD Radeon R9 280, Asus has also announced their Radeon R9 280 featuring DirectCU II cooler, Super Alloy Power, and overclock factory settings. There are two variants, the R9280-DC2-3GD5 that comes with AMD reference clock speeds, and the R9280-DC2T-3GD5 (the TOP variant) featuring a factory overclock settings. Both cards feature a custom-design PCB that is closely similar to the R9 280X, even its cooler.
The Radeon R9 280 is based on the 28nm Tahiti silicon. You can say that it’s a rebrand of the old Radeon HD 7950, since the R9 280X is pretty much a rebrand as well. Its performance is somewhere near the Radeon HD 7950 Boost, with the R9 280 having a slightly higher clock speed.
The Asus R9 280-DC2-3GD5 is pretty much just like the reference card featuring a DirectCU II cooler, an exclusive CoolTech fan, a DiGi+ VRM with 12-phase Super Alloy Power, and support for GPU Tweak. Meanwhile, the TOP variant which is the Asus R9 280-DC2T-3GD5, has the same set of features with the R9280-DC2-3GD5, but comes with a higher clock speeds of 874MHz base and 980MHz Boost, as well as a faster memory clock speed of 5200MHz. Check out the rest of their specifications below.
Asus Radeon R9 280 Direct CU II Specifications
| Specifications | Asus R9 280-DC2-3GD5 | Asus R9280-DC2T-3GD5 |
|---|---|---|
| Graphics Engine | AMD Radeon R9 280 | AMD Radeon R9 280 |
| Bus Standard | PCI Express 3.0 | PCI Express 3.0 |
| Video Memory | GDDR5 3GB | GDDR5 3GB |
| Engine Clock | GPU Boost Clock : 933 MHz GPU Base Clock : 827 MHz | GPU Boost Clock : 980 MHz GPU Base Clock : 874 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 5000 MHz ( 1250 MHz GDDR5 ) | 5200 MHz ( 1300 MHz GDDR5 ) |
| Memory Interface | 384-bit | 384-bit |
| Resolution | DVI Max Resolution : 2560x1600 | DVI Max Resolution : 2560x1600 |
| Interface | DVI Output : Yes x 1 (DVI-I), Yes x 1 (DVI-D) HDMI Output : Yes x 1 Display Port : Yes x 1 (Regular DP) HDCP Support : Yes | DVI Output : Yes x 1 (DVI-I), Yes x 1 (DVI-D) HDMI Output : Yes x 1 Display Port : Yes x 1 (Regular DP) HDCP Support : Yes |
| Accessories | 1 x CrossFire cable | 1 x CrossFire cable |
| Software | ASUS GPU Tweak & Driver | ASUS GPU Tweak & Driver |
| ASUS Features | Super Alloy Power | TOP Series Super Alloy Power |
| Dimensions | 11.2 " x 5.7 " x 1.5 " Inch | 11.2 " x 5.7 " x 1.5 " Inch |
Price and Availability
We don’t have the MSRP for the Asus Radeon R9 280 series yet, but the retail price of the AMD Radeon R9 280 is $279. This gives us an idea that the price of the Asus R9280-DC2-3GD5 will be slightly above $280, while the Asus R9280-DC2T-3GD5 might be somewhere around $300.
But since the R9 200 graphics card are very popular amongst miners, I’m afraid that prices might be affected because of the mining craze.
I’ll post update once both the Asus R9 280-DC2-3GD5 and R9 280-DC2T-3GD5 becomes available to order.
