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R9 280X vs. GTX 770 (2GB)

Yay! I actually finished doing the tests that I said I would do in this post. Whenever I sit down to make a post, I always don't want to type a whole lot, because then I have to get up and walk it off for a while and I give myself a headache. But whatever, I will now start typing this post. >_>


The Cards are on the Table

Puns! But in this case they really are on the table. In any case, I (as I often do) made some adjustments to my test. I didn't test the R9 290X because I wanted to get the 770 and 280X tested and written up first. But I successfully modded my R9 290X with a Kraken G12 and Asetek 570LC AIO cooler, and managed to overclock it to 1200 MHz which is a nice result. I might make a post on that later.


Anyway... I love graphics cards so let's take a look at the cards.


Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Vapor-X

The card on the left is a Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X. This card launched for about $350-360 making it actually quite expensive for a 280X, but it is a great model. It's still cheaper than the $400 GTX 770, although the price of these did come down. Some basic Tech Specs! Yay!


For those that don't know, the R9 280X is a re-branded HD 7970 GHz Edition which is a Re-branded HD 7970, with higher core clock speeds and faster GDDR5 memory.


Graphics Processor (Silicon)

GPU: "Tahiti XTL"

GPU Family: "Southern Islands"

Silicon Process: TSMC 28nm

Die Size: ~350mm 2

Transistors: ~4.3 billion








Graphics Processor (Specification)

Graphics Architecture: Graphics Core Next 1st Generation (GCN1)

Graphics Cores: 32

Total Stream Processors: 2048

Total Texture Units: 128

Geometry/Tessellation Processors: 2

Raster Engines: 2

L2 Cache: 768 KB

Pixel Pipelines: 32

GPU Engine Clock: 1070 MHz

FP32 Shading Power (Theoretical): 4.3 TFLOPS (FMA)


Memory Subsystem

Memory Type: GDDR5

Memory Speed (Effective): 1550 MHz (6200 MHz)

Memory Capacity: 3 GB

Memory Bus Width: 384-bit

Memory Bandwidth: 297 GB/s


 

I enjoyed typing that. Anyway, for the GeForce


MSI GeForce GTX 770 Twin Frozr

The card in the middle of the top picture is MSI's Twin Frozr GTX 770. It's a nice cooler but it doesn't come with a back plate which doesn't even make me a Sad Panda because I don't really care. Anyway this card was originally launched for $400, but I think it got a price cut.


For those that don't know, the GTX 770 is a re-branded GTX 680 with faster GDDR5 and a slight increase in core clock speeds.



Graphics Processor (Silicon)

GPU: "GK104-425"

GPU Family: "Kepler (GK10x)"

Silicon Process: TSMC 28nm

Die Size: ~294mm 2

Transistors: ~3.5 billion









Graphics Processor (Specification)

Graphics Architecture: Kepler

Graphics Cores: 8

Total Stream Processors: 1536

Total Texture Units: 128

Geometry/Tessellation Processors: 8

Raster Engines: 4

L2 Cache: 512 KB

Pixel Pipelines: 32

GPU Engine Clock: 1215 MHz (Includes GPU Boost on this specific card).

FP32 Shading Power (Theoretical): 3.7 TFLOPS (FMA)


Memory Subsystem

Memory Type: GDDR5

Memory Speed (Effective): 1750 MHz (7000 MHz)

Memory Capacity: 2 GB

Memory Bus Width: 256-bit

Memory Bandwidth: 224 GB/s


 

Okay, now that I have got that out of the way, I will type about my test set up, re-iterated from my previous post, and anything else I think is important to disclose.


Test Setup and notes

  • AMD Ryzen 5 3400G @ stock (4.1 GHz in games) (4 core, 8 thread, 4MB L3)

  • 16GB 3200 MHz 16-18-18 (2x8)

  • MSI B450M Mortar

  • WD Green 240 GB M.2 SATA

  • Sabrent Rocket 256 GB M.2 NVME

  • Silverstone Strider 1000W PSU

  • Windows 10 Pro (1903)

  • AMD Radeon Driver 19.11.1

  • NVIDIA Driver 441.12

  • Both cards run at PCI-e 3.0 8x

  • Both cards do not throttle. This is not a test of thermals.

  • R9 280X runs 1070 MHz / 6200 MHz

  • GTX 770 runs 1215 MHz / 7000 MHz


I am fully aware that the Ryzen 5 3400G isn't the Best Gaming Processor In The World, but all tests are GPU bound and results are gathered from at least 3 runs to rule out issues with inconsistency. Anything else is outside of my control (Driver/OS/Game issues for example).


If people that are angry, fanboys and/or hate me, take issue with my test setup; the games I tested; their settings; or anything else I would like to direct their attention to this video which accurately represents my attitude regarding that issue.

 

I am having a depressive episode but I am going to try and 'power through it'. So I might not be as quirky or say stupid things as much. Or I might do, because I am just like that.


I combined all of the results into one graph, to make it a bit more compact. I will list the settings for each game first.


Settings Used


Metro: Last Light Redux

1920x1080

Quality: Very High

SSAA: Off

Texture Filtering: AF 16X

Motion Blur: Normal

Tessellation: Very High

Advanced PhysX: Off


Batman: Arkham Knight

1920x1080

Texture Resolution: Low

Shadow Quality: High

Level of Detail: High

Motion Blur: On

Chromatic Aberration: On

Film Grain: On

Texture Filtering: 16X Anisotropic

GameWorks: ALL DISABLED


Tomb Raider

Exclusive Full Screen

1920x1080

Quality: Ultra Preset

Motion Blur: Yes

Screen Effects: Yes


Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

1920x1080

DX12

Vsync/mGPU/Overlays: Off

MSAA: off

Point Light Quality: High

Glare Quality: High Terrain

Object Quality: High

Shading Samples: High

Terrain Shading Samples: High

Shadow Quality: High

Texture Quality: Low

Enviromental Effects: Yes

Cosmetic Clouds: Yes


Far Cry: New Dawn

Ultra Preset

75 FoV

1920x1080


Metro: Exodus

DX12

1920x1080

Quality: Low

Texture Filtering: 16X

Motion Blur: Low

Tessellation: Full

Advanced PhysX: Off

Hairworks: On

Ray Trace: Off (Obviously)

DLSS: Off (Ditto)

Shading Rate: 100%


Gears 5

Medium Preset

1920x1080

Ambient Occlusion Intensity: 11

Particle Spawn Rate: 7

FoV: 90


 

Results