Graphics Cards

ASUS’s STRIX Series started with AMD’s R9 280 series and NVIDIA’s GTX 780. From there the series has branched out to gaming peripherals, many of which we have also reviewed. STRIX has become ASUS’s mainstream gaming line behind their higher-end republic of gamers line. So when it comes to graphics card STRIX has effectively replaced the DirectCU line. While the cards still make use of variations of the DirectCU cooler, the marketing has changed to STRIX, which we feel is better anyways. That brings us to the card we are reviewing today, the STRIX GeForce GTX 970. The card features a nice factory overclock of 1114 MHz core and 1253 MHz GPU Boost, ASUS’s DirectCU II cooling with 0dB fan technology, which means the card will only run once it reaches a certain temperature threshold, a 6-phase DIGI+VRM design with Super Alloy Power and much more! Let’s see what this card can do!

NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 960 is here and it is really going to hit that sweet spot for gaming when it comes to the price / performance ratio. MSI of course have released a few different GTX 960 models (4 currently) and today we will be taking a look at their highest performance part the GTX 960 Gaming 2G. This card of course falls in MSI’s very popular gaming line and comes with a factory overclock bringing the core clock up to 1216 MHz and the boost clock up to 1279 MHz. The card also ships with MSI’s new Twin Frozr V cooling solution that has many new improvements that we will go over in detail. Being part of the Gaming Series this card uses MSI’s Military Class components and also comes with a great software suite. Will this be the GTX 960 for you? Read on as we find out!

NVIDIA’s GeForce 900 Series has been a long time coming and gamers have anxiously awaited it. NVIDIA has been using the Kepler architecture for quite sometime and when Maxwell was introduced last year we only saw the entry-level and budget friendly cards. When we finally got word that we would be seeing performance segment Maxwell cards let’s just say we got excited. Today we will be looking at our first review of a GeForce 900 series card and it comes in the form of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming. For starters the GeForce GTX 970 has 1664 CUDA cores, 104 texture units, 64 ROPs and packs 4GB of GDDR5 memory. Normally this card would have speeds of 1050 MHz core and 1178 MHz boost, but Gigabyte has overclocked their version to speeds of 1178 MHz core and 1329 MHz boost. On top of that Gigabyte has implemented their latest WindForce 3X cooler on the card to give you the best cooling possible. Let’s get this card on the bench and see what it can do!

AMD recently announced their Radeon R9 285 graphics card, this was their first major graphics card announcement since the R9 295X2 back in April. Looking at the naming of the card we expect it to be a replacement for the R9 280, but is it really? It has the same number of shaders, TMUs, and ROPs as the R9 280, but has a narrower memory bus at 256bit (vs 364bit of R9 280X) and less VRAM (2 GB vs 3 GB), although that memory is clocked higher (5.5 GHz vs 5.0 GHz). Looking at the specifications you may be wondering what what is the point? Well unlike the R9 280 which is built on AMD’s Tahiti silicon, the R9 285 is built on the brand new Tonga silicon. While it is still based on the same 28 nm process Tonga is said to be more efficient and also adds many of the features that we saw on the Hawaii silicon like XDMA CrossFire (no more CrossFire connectors), TrueAudio DSP, and the ability to connect 4 displays using all output connectors on the card. Today we are taking a look at Sapphire’s Radeon R9 285 Dual-X OC version of the card. It will feature a slight overclock on the core clock (965 MHz vs 918 MHz) and the memory (1400 MHz vs 1375 MHz). It will also have Sapphire’s Dual-X cooling solution which seems to be extremely quiet. Let’s jump in and see what this card can do.

Sapphire has just added a new graphics card to their R9 290X lineup. It is the R9 290X Vapor-X Tri-X OC graphics card. The thing that sets this card apart from their other R9 290X cards is that it features vapor-chamber technology to improve cooling even more than than their current cards and this card features a factory overclock on both the GPU and the memory. The card will have a GPU frequency of 1080 MHz (80 MHz over reference) and the memory will be running at speeds of 5.64 GHz (effective). Other features of the card include a pretty sleek backplate, a Sapphire logo that lights up and even changes colors and dual BIOS support. Is this the Radeon R9 290X that you want? Read on as we take a look...

Sapphire originally released their R9 280X Vapor-X back when the R9 280X’s were launched. The card was factory overclocked and featured Sapphire’s Dual-X cooler. Well Sapphire is releasing a new version of the card that makes use of Sapphire’s own exclusive Vapor-X cooling with its new Tri-X triple fan design. This should keep the Tahiti GPU nice a cool. On top of that this card is again factory overclocked, features Black Diamond chokes and a full Solid Cap design, and has dual BIOS support. Is this the R9 280X that you are looking for? Read on as we take a look…

Sapphire’s R7 250 Ultimate graphics card is unlike most other R7 250’s out there. The thing that most people will notice is that it is 100% passively cooled. This means that there are no fans at all so it will be 100% silent during operation. This makes it the perfect card for those building a silent PC or home theater PC. On top of that this card is actually based on the “Cape Verde” GPU rather than the “Oland” GPU that most R7 250’s are based on. So you get 512 shader units and faster GDDR5 memory. Let’s see what this passively cooled card is all about!

Here we are back with another graphics card review. Today we are taking a look at ASUS’s R9 270X DirectCU II Top Graphics Card. AMD’s R9 270X cards are of course based off the same 28nm Pitcairn GPU that we saw in the Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition graphics card. As the name of this card indicates it will feature’s ASUS’s own DirectCU II cooling solution, which should offer better thermals than AMD’s stock cooler while also producing less noise. This is also a TOP edition card so it is factory overclocked with the core clock being bumped up from 1050 MHz to 1120 MHz. The 2 GB of onboard GDDR5 remains at the same 5600 MHz (effective) as the reference design. Is this the R9 270X that you are looking for? Read on to find out...

Lately we have been taking a look at a lot of Radeon R9 280X graphics cards. These are based on the Tahiti GPU that was also found in AMD’s Radeon HD 7900 series cards. For those not looking to spend as much money the next step down in AMD’s latest graphics cards is the R9 270X/270 series. These cards are based off the Pitcairn GPU and still offer a very good price / performance ratio. Today we are looking at MSI’s Radeon R9 270 Gaming graphics card. This card will feature a factory overclock and MSI’s own Twin Frozr IV cooling solution. Is this the best graphics card for under $200? We are going to find out!

Today we are checking out our third Radeon R9 280X graphics card. The previous two cards were from Sapphire and Gigabyte and both those cards featured factory overclocks and custom cooling solutions. That card we are taking a look at today is no different. The ASUS Radeon R9 280X DirectCU II TOP features a factory overclock up to 1070 MHz, ASUS’s own DirectCU II cooling solution, DIGI+ VRM with 12-phase Super Alloy Power, and ASUS’s own GPU Tweak utility for easy tuning and monitoring of the card. Will this be your choice when looking at a Radeon R9 280X? Read on and find out!