Is the R9 280x GDDRM5 being outdated?

[SERPENTINE]

Hey there everyone.
I just wanted some thoughts:
Is the R9-280x 3GB DDRM5 becoming outdated for gaming?
If not, how many more years can you expect it to hold up?
Thanks,
SERPENTINE

 

[.vodka]

The 7970 launched 3 and a half years ago, then got renamed mid way to R9 280x. Essentially the same product, minus clockspeed differences.

It's an old, legendary card that will continue to provide good gaming performance, if you consider the increasing demands of games going forward and the need to start lowering settings to get framerates up to what you consider good enough.

It also supports some of the important DX12 improvements going forward (lower overhead) so it's supposed to get a little boost, too, now that windows 10 is around the corner. Not as much as the newer cards supporting proper DX12 features, but still.

 

[krumme]

History shows gcn performance in games is getting better and better. So while it get older performance increases. I think it will last up til the consoles is changed - or a year before as the consoles is build on the same type of arch.
I wouldnt worry about some irrelevant dx12 features nobody is going to program for. The card is made for dx12. Mantle is build on gcn arch. Dx12 is more or less like Mante. Its a solid card if your ps can take it.
While the few missing dx12 features is irrelevant the 290 series is more robust in other more important ways. We had some programmers explaing why. The same goes for maxwell gen2 as i remember. Some might chime in here?

 

[.vodka]

I meant GCN1.0 can't do DX12 FL12.0 like GCN1.1 and 1.2 can do, but it's still going to get a boost from DX12 as the other cards. Its future doesn't look bad at all.

Even with that in mind I agree, this card will probably last until the next console generation. GCN has aged gracefully and will continue to do so.

 

[MagickMan]

It's getting long in the tooth, approaching 4 years, but it'll be okay for 1080p in most games, though. If you aren't too demanding I'd say you can likely get another 18-24 months out of it before it becomes a boat anchor.

 

[Erenhardt]

Im using 7950 and can say that if you are running 1080p and don't mind dropping AA to more sane settings or disabling it altogether its is fine for a year or two.

3GB of memory is still a plenty for 1080p.

If future games don't use excessive amounts of tessellation which is Achilles heel of Tahiti, it should last at least until 14nm HBM extravaganza.

 

[Stuka87]

Im using 7950 and can say that if you are running 1080p and don't mind dropping AA to more sane settings or disabling it altogether its is fine for a year or two.

3GB of memory is still a plenty for 1080p.

If future games don't use excessive amounts of tessellation which is Achilles heel of Tahiti, it should last at least until 14nm HBM extravaganza.

The tessellation issue can be fixed by setting the max down to 8x or 16x in the control panel. So even that is not a game stopper.

I am still using an OC'ed 7950 as well, and its doing fine except for TW3, where it averages ~45fps on High.

 

[MattL]

I'm running a 7970... Just upgraded my monitor to a 1440p. I can get around 30-50 fps in Dragon Age Iquisition with everything set to Ultra, except the textures set even higher (fade touched), MSAA turned off, and Tessellation cranked down (though if I'm good for a bit more of a hit then I can crank it up, I think at High in the game setting I was getting basically a 10-15% FPS hit or so, which is still playable). So at 1080p I don't think it'd break a sweat to be honest, as long as you turn of MSAA.

Both my wife and I got 7970s a while ago (2-3 years), we are considering an ugprade of getting one 290x (You can get one for about 276 right now from New Egg after a mail in rebate) and then doubling up 7970s in one of our computers. I think that will last us at least another year or two.

 

[rancherlee]

with a 1080p monitor I wouldn't sweat running a 280X awhile longer, I'm sticking with my 1080P monitor for a long time and fully expect my 7950 (280) to keep playable framerates for years to come. Only thing that is tempting to me are CHEAP used 150$ 290 reference cards, I keep thinking about grabbing one and downclocking it bit to really lower the heat and probably end up using less power than my overclocked 7950. I might just wait for a used Fury Nano when everyone makes the jump to 14nm products late next year. The 3GB shouldn't become an issue at the framerates the card can make UNLESS you crossfire it.