XFX R9 280X 3GB Graphics Card Review

A Closer Look

The XFX R9 280X DD BE OC uses a sleek looking dual 100mm fan cooling solution. It’s a stark contrast from the last generation of DD coolers from XFX. It’s quite a long card at about 11.5 inches.

The XFX R9 280X DD BE OC uses a fully black PCB and has a tonne of mounting screws to keep the large cooling solution in place.

The bottom is partially open and closed. You can get a glimpse at the dense aluminium heatsink and copper heat pipe array.

The top is mainly open with an XFX logo for aesthetics.

The XFX R9 280X uses a 6 pin and an 8 pin connector for power.

The XFX logo sits atop two CrossFire connectors for up to 4 way CFX.

The end of the cooler reveals four copper heatpipes and a hole where a fifth could be placed. Presumably the XFX R9 280X only needs four heatpipes while a fifth heatpipe might be reserved for higher TDP cards like the R9 290X and R9 290.

The rear I/O is different to the default config and has dual mini DisplayPort, dual DVI (one supports VGA adapters) and HDMI. Eyefinity 6 is possible with a single MST hub.