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AMD R9 280X Crossfire Results & Benchmarks!

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Updated: October 18, 2013
280X Crossfire

Last week we reviewed AMD’s latest entry into the video card market, their new R9 280X and this week, we’re back with two Crossfire performance results and benchmarks.

For this set of tests we paired Gigabyte’s Windforce OC edition with MSI’s Twin Frozr Gaming edition R9 280X and manually set both cards to identical clock speeds.

We charted some pretty decent scaling results. Not everything was huge but overall, there were some nice performance boosts between the two cards. As Tek Syndicate noted in his testing, Crossfire frame times have improved from how terrible they use to be but still aren’t perfect, so take that into consideration when looking at the benchmarks. Enjoy!

R9 280X Crossfire Performance

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  • Mike Bellfield

    wow they perform like crazy in crossfire!

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/DarthRavan2012 Kevin Brennan

    Not bad, wonder how well the R9-290X will do and in Crossfire! #givemethecard

    • Fiberton

      Crushing

  • Rick Lott

    ill take 1 of those lol #givemethecard

  • DasXero

    I think there should be another crossfire/sli card to compare to

    • hakre1

      Did you not see the x2 behind many of the comparison cards?

      • Moinaldo

        The x2 does not mean crossfire, it’s one specific model from HIS… but don’t worry it’s easy to misunderstand, it’d have been better with “x^2″ or something like that

        • Serpent of Darkness

          The HIS 7970×2 is a dual GPU card. It’s two GPU in CrossfireX with one another, on a single PCB. If you compare them to two single 7970s in CrossfireX, the FPS correlation scales a little bit better. The idea behind the benchmarks is to give you some kind of foundation, or a comparison between dual GPU PCB-cards, a single, and two singles in CrossfireX. In addition, Elric has a GTX 770 and 780 card to compare the performance with the CrossfireX 7970 and RX9-280 cards. The Graph indicates that the RX9-280 and 7970 scale a lot better, in CrossfireX than the dual GPU PCB-cards. Scale by a factor of 1.90013 at 1080p, and the scaling is at 1.9205 at 1600p. So one person can come to the conclusion that Crossfire actually scales a little bit better at higher resolutions by 10.72%. Sadly, there should have been an SLI comparison, but you can probably crunch the numbers. Lets just focus on BF3. In 1080p, there’s a 90% increase in FPS performance with the CrossfireX setup versus a single RX9-280, and there is a 92.1% increase on 1600p. Let’s say SLI setups scale the same way. So GTX 770 will have 152.83 fps on 1080p, and it will have 94.4 fps on 1600p. GTX 780 will show FPS of 173.9 fps on 1080p, and in 1600p, the fps performance will be 110.43 fps. What’s the conclusion, CrossfireX scales rather well with the new RX9-280, and the performance is somewhere in between GTX 770 in SLI and GTX 780 in SLI–that’s if you do the math, or compare it to other 3rd party benchmarks.

      • Ryan Steckino

        That was for a boosted version of a single 7950.

        HIS HD7950 IceQ X2

        The X2 for this HIS model stands for an overclocked version of their 7950. This by no means stands for 2x HIS HD7950 IceQ X2. You see what they did there, huh? :D

        • hakre1

          Yeah my bad, I wondered why crossfired 7970s were so much lower performance…

          • Ryan Steckino

            Probably was a marketing ploy to cash in on unsuspecting victims. :P

  • System32

    I WANT IT NAOW!

  • erodz1892

    Isn’t these a re badge 7970? if so then why they blow away tyhe dual 770 ?

    • crazysymbols

      It doesn’t compare against dual cards, on single cards in these benchmarks.

  • UniversalModder

    #givemethecard

    • crazysymbols

      Not meant for here, that’s meant for twitter. Try tweeting.

      • CatDealer89

        it doesnt matter if he posts here or not, it still makes new people wonder ” hmm why is he doing that ” and they may go and look it up and spread the word.

  • Ryan Steckino

    Elric,

    Please post up comparisons to other Crossfire/Sli setups. This is a good benchmark, but if you want to convince people… we need to see the performance boost of R9 280X’s vs two 7970′s in crossfire versus other Crossfire/Sli setups.

    • awd

      That would be nice too, but I think these comparisons are great indicators of Price/Performance standards. Which is what most consumers are looking for.

    • Mlgpro Marik

      or vs a sli 780

      • alen

        you want to compare two cards which cost 600$ vs two cards which cost over 1200$

        • will

          not everyone cares about money

          • luke

            well then let them get the one wich is more expensive if money is not an issue , 2 280x cost as 1 780 sooo

        • Mlgpro Marik

          its not about the money, they are comparing 2 cards vs 1…

    • oomjan

      I agree compare it against stuff like 760 sli, 770 sli. also compare it against r9 270x crossfire etc etc.

  • Steve

    A simple 280x crossfire is still cheaper, comparable in price, to a 780. I love you NVIDIA, but your price gouging in the upper tiers need to stop.

    • Matthew

      Agreed; I am not a buyer of Nvidia products, though they may out do AMD in some or most areas, except where it counts: The wallet. Now, if they would also stop making it where the higher tier cards have the same OC capacity as the lower tier in the same class, then I would buy Nvidia in a heartbeat….BUT…Every since they got with Intel and figured out how to castrate voltage changes on cards just totally turned me against them… I am a modder and techy and messing with Voltages above and beyond simple software tweaks is what i do… They’ve practically made it impossible without changing components completely to effectively up voltages to really unleash what they are capable of doing in extreme cooling solutions, Ice water, Ln2, etc…. My hope is the prices comes down, and people wise up their tactics to reduce RMA’s and really understand they are overselling an under-made card, while blatantly selling it as wide open capable.. Thumbs down on that.

  • theJessGuy11

    The thing with these benchmarks though is that games of the current gen are being benchmarked. I know these cards are rebadged, but I bet these cards were really purposed for the next gen games which will ‘probably’ better utilize they’re features. Like Mantle for instance.
    Therefore, I await new benchmarks for the new upcoming games. Also once Mantle arrives. :0

  • Fiberton

    One thing of Interest. I was on the AMD earnings call yesterday and they talked about moving to 20nm in 2014 then finfet(14nm) for everything. CPU,GPU,APU

  • me

    How about regular Firestrike score results? Most of us have the free version of 3dmark.

  • Rizvic

    I have a 7970 ghz should I get the 280x and just crossfire them would that set me good for a few more years. I’ll also be gaming at 1080p nothing higher.

  • Rizvic

    I have a 7970 ghz should I get the 280x and just crossfire them would that set me good for a few more years. I’ll also be gaming at 1080p nothing higher.

  • fernando peguero

    #givemethecard i will take one any day great performance in cross fire

  • rawlston clarke

    Impressive as always but i wanted to see it up against a Titan since people say its the creme dela creme

  • bruno M. O. Cardoso

    #GiveMeTheCard is the best way to keep readers on the site

  • Bleed

    Talk of demolition!!! I would rather buy 2 of the 280X than 1 780 which is even more expensive..

  • skrin nirks

    So i have been debating on which cards to upgrade to lately with the new amd R9 series. But then i saw the scores and my two GTX660 TI in sli score as good as the GTX780. Thinking i might just go with the GTX780 in sli as it seems that theoretically it would run 4 times better then what i have now. Let me know if maybe im not looking at this right.

  • Scion™

    Thank you Elric for all these tech infos!!

  • Chuck Dorris

    #givemethecard AMD Radeon R9 280X CrossfireX vs AMD Radeon HD 7970 CrossfireX vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 SLI, please!

  • Daniel Brian Sanchez

    Awesome Article Elric! The dual AMD R9 280X Crossfire sure did get butt on Battlefield Three, but I do agree with Ryan Steckino, he makes a valid point by saying that we need to see the performance comparison to other dual GPU Crossfire/Sli setups in order to see the improvement between the previous generation, otherwise known as the 79xx’s series. As always, nice article Tech of Tomorrow!
    #givemethecard!

  • Andrejs Silvans

    That’s what I call crushing performance. 2 of these cost equal to 1 780 (sometimes cheaper) and outperform it like 1.5 times xD well played amd

    • g0ggy

      You are completely neglecting power consumption. Crossfire and SLI really eat a lot of electricity. This is especially a problem in countries were kilowatt/hour is more expensive.

      • Andrejs Silvans

        Someone that buys a card for $1000 does not care about his electricity bill. Sorry still gotta go with the 280x xfire solution.

        • g0ggy

          Actually some people would, especially in countries where electricity is extremely expensive such as Germany.

  • g0ggy

    Why are there no other Crossfire and SLI tests in this benchmark?

    I really see no point in comparing a single GPU to a Crossfire set-up. At least you could’ve shown the GTX 690 and the 7990.

    This comparison doesn’t really show us a lot …

  • Brokenshovel

    Unigine Heaven shouldn’t make there bias so obvious.

  • Ze Übermensch

    Performs pretty well.
    #givemethecard

  • Serpent of Darkness

    Nice benches. Wish Elrich did his own graphs on Frame Time Latency and his own explanation of what they mean, but not getting to nerdy about it. I feel he would do a great job communicating this to his fan base.
    Saw the video from Tek Syndicate. Some of the graphs like the Trine Graphs, has a larger Frame Time Band. I think it’s due to the fact that the RX9-280 and 7970 GHz, there’s a latency or delay between each gpu when they fire frames from the Fame Buffer. If I am not mistaken, CrossfireX Renders frames from each Graphic card. Primary goes first for Frame 1. Then the buffer card goes second for frame 2, and it’s a repeating process. So what essentially happens, in Trine, with CrossfireX is that one Frame Buffer will fire at a really small Frame Time. This translate to a higher FPS. 13 ms? It could be smaller than 13 ms. Then it jumps up to like 25 ms, then the 2nd Frame Buffers fire a frame to the monitor, and the graph spikes down to like 14 or 13 ms again, and so on. The process just repeats itself. This is good and bad. It’s good because the lower the frame time, the higher the FPS. In between each graphic card, it’s producing high FPS, or 1st derivatives. It’s bad because there’s a window of time in between each GPU firing a frame from their frame buffers. Remember, the GPU and the CPU communicate, the GPU basically creates the frame, and stores this information to the frame buffer. Following after that, it gets sent to the Monitor to be displayed. A simplified idea of what I am saying is like shooting two hand guns off, but not at the same time. You shoot one off, then you discharge the other gun. Think of the bullet coming out of the gun as a Frame being sent to the monitor. Lag between the two GPUs sending that frame, is the time it takes in between gun 1 and gun 2 discharging.
    I think it’s ignorant of NVidia to reveal G-Sync. I’m not trying to go off topic, but basically, if you read the nitty gritty, it’s basically saying that the monitor is actually the issue with Tears (two separate, but partial frames being displayed), ghosting (some delay in the transition of frames), micro-stutters(fames not being displayed because they have a higher frame-time aka lower fps), and runt-frames (partial frames from two sources (cards) being displayed). You’re monitor’s static refresh rate is really the issue. That 60 Hz refresh rate is what I am referring too. Simple and short, if frames aren’t produced under 16.667 ms, you’ll run into problems. This generation of graphic cards are so OP that the displays are lacking. So NVidia solved the problem with G-Sync.
    I think with PCIe through the PCI Bus, this could solve some problems with CrossfireX. The delay time in between firing off Frame Buffers 1, 2, and 3–looking at three graphic cards in CrossfireX, will get smaller. So this will shrink the deviation band in AMD graphic cards, when you look at Frame Time Latency Graphs. Also, through the PCIe Bus, they could probably better control when Frame Buffer 1, 2, 3, and 4 can fire off frames to the display, within that 16.667 ms through software, and it wouldn’t be necessary for it to occur on a hardware level.
    Another issue I can see with CrossfireX, and this is probably addressed with AMD Beta Drivers with Frame Pacing Software on them, is the fact that GPU 1, 2, 3, and 4 will attempt to ram 3 to 4 frames in that 16.667 ms window. That’s assuming they aren’t dropped because newer frames are produced. I suspect, without the beta driver, there’s nothing that actually regulates this. AMD Graphic Cards are like Race Horses. They want to ram frames into this 16.667 ms window of time, to display images, as fast as possible. When they can do it under the 16.667 ms window, I suspect the display takes on parts of the 2nd frame, from the 2nd frame buffer. Thus, a runt frame is produced…

    • Serpent of Darkness

      In the last paragraph, I am referring too PCIe CrossfireX that will be used on the RX9-290. A lot of people feel it’s not a big deal, but it is.

  • Diego Braz

    whats the power supply???

  • JumboJelly

    Elric,

    I’m thinking of purchasing the Asus r9 280x, but I have no benchmarks to finalize my decision! Please make some benchmarks of a single Asus 280x against some other cars like the 770 from nvidia.

  • brazilianloser

    Yeah the lack of comparison agaisn’t other Sli instead of single cards makes no sense.

  • Gabriel Aspee

    sorry i dont talk so good in english, but i can try to do the best of i can to express myself :(

    What program to rank the FPS you used?

    i have a Crossfire R9 280X Dcu2 TOP V2, on a Sabertooth Z77, i5 3570, and 16GB ram 1600mhz. and SSD 120 GB, and PSU 850 CM Silent Pro 80 plus SIlver

    And Drivers is Catalyst 13.9

    But in Tom raider i have a 60average

    in Metro Last Light have a 39-45 FPS

    Crysis 3 have a49-60 FPS

    I only play on one monitor Led 42″ Full HD, but really i dont know if the FPS will be much more, or i have a problem with my configuration…

    Some friends tell me what i hae a bottle neck, because that crossfire will be give to me much more FPS (like you sreenshots)

    i Hope your comments for What will be my problem?

    Thank you and best regards, and forget my bad english, i know is too bad :(

  • Daisuke Kopaka

    I have the R9280x as my primary card over my 7970
    it seems to be working fine
    should i still put my 7970 as my primary card though?