PowerColor TurboDuo Radeon R9 280 3GB OC CrossFire Video Card Review

Introduction of the PowerColor TurboDuo R9 280 3GB OC

Last month, AMD sent us over three R9 280 3GB video cards to look at. We had looked at the model before, and chose to pretty much ignore it after our initial review due to some terrible pricing on the model. AMD's decision to drop the price quite aggressively meant that the company wanted to see another push on the model.

Having had a second look at the model, with the new pricing structure we find ourselves a lot more impressed with how the card sits on the market. When we initially looked at the card, it was never a bad product; it offered some great performance, and the Sapphire version we looked at had a nice cooler and bundle. What had ultimately let it down, though, was the high price point that AMD set for the card.

With the high price point gone, the model looks a whole lot more attractive to us. With the new price point, a pair can now be had for under $500. This now puts the price point of the R9 280 3GB lower than a single R9 290X 4GB. So, with that in mind: What happens when we put a pair of these better priced cards together?

Well, there's only one way to find out. With two overclocked R9 280 3GB cards installed in our system, today we'll see just what kind of performance we're able to get out of this setup. As always, though, there's a few things we need to do before we find out just how strong performance is. So, let's get started with the bundle, and move from there to see just what PowerColor is offering us today with the PowerColor TurboDuo R9 280 3GB OC.

Package - What comes inside the box

Looking at the front of the box, you can see the TurboDuo labeling stands out in the middle of the box. Across the top, we can see the PowerColor logo. Just to the right of the logo, you can see this model is overclocked. Moving south of the TurboDuo logo, you can see the R9 280 model, and below that we have some of the main features, which include 3GB GDDR5, Eyefinity, and 4K Support, to name some of the big ones.

Turning the box over, you can see the top half covers the system requirements, and some of the main AMD features that are supported. Across the bottom, though, you can see it's all about the TurboDuo cooling technology, and the gold power kit. When it comes to the gold power kit, we've got multiphase power design, direct FET, and a digital PWM setup. As for the cooler, the improved dual 90mm fan setup improves both noise levels and temperature readings.

Moving into the bundle, you can see it's very bare, with not much going on at all. We've got the Quick Installation Guide sitting next to the Driver CD, and a single 8-pin to 6-pin PCIe power connector to round things off.

PRICING: You can find the PowerColor TurboDuo R9 280 3GB OC for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The PowerColor TurboDuo R9 280 3GB OC retails for $268.83 at Amazon.