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MSI R9 280 Gaming v PNY GTX760 XLR8 – £185 shootout

We have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with almost completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests.

We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the closed chassis and 4 foot from the ground to mirror a real world situation. Ambient noise in the room measures close to the limits of our sound meter at 28dBa. It isn’t a real world situation to be measuring with a case panel off only a few centimeters away from a video card. Our noise figures may therefore be lower than other publications who record at closer distances, or without a fully closed case muting the noise.

Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on only the video card. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

KitGuru noise guide

10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
noise
The MSI R9 280 Gaming is quieter under load, although Nvidia's reference solution is surprisingly capable too.

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19 comments

  1. Well the R9 280 may perform better over all, there are other reasons to get the Nvidia over the AMD, one of which is the built in streaming to twitch in the Nvidia software, for anyone looking to stream games it’s a big plus as it’s super easy to use. Just food for thought as it’s not always about max performance per dollar.

  2. R9 290 = GTX 780
    R9 280 = GTX 770
    R9 270 = GTX 760
    (roughly)
    Sadly, the price does not reflect this (for Nvidia that is). No wonder the 280 won that round – it’s a good card for the price.

  3. Funny that in my country you can get gigabytes windforce GTX 770 for the same price as R9 280x (from the store not forums or sth).

  4. Sadly i see almost all pictures say that they use 290 not 280, so ofc it will win.

  5. BREC there is No r9 290 in this review, its an R9 280 Gaming.

  6. Radosław Greń

    Yep, it is better than my Radeon HD 5450…

  7. I have this card and it’s a beast you just can’t beat it for the price I run Titanfall everything maxed (maxed AA) on 24″ at 1080p never dropping below 60fps I bought mine for £167 from scan and that deal is on again right now! 3 free games included. Also you get free streaming software for 6 months with it xsplit game caster which is great. Brilliant card.

  8. i think im in love <3

  9. MSI R9 280 IS BETTER THAN NVIDIA GTX 760 I REALLY WANT IT BECAUSE OF THIS SO MUCH INTENSE POWER GAMING. I WANT TO REVIEW ANT TO KEEP THIS CARD FOREVER IN MY LIFE.

  10. Id like to review this because it looks like a beast, moreover id like to get this because gta V is on its way 🙂

  11. Would love to review this card… keeping fingers crossed.

  12. I’d love to review one of these!

  13. I have an msi gtx 760 OC and i would love to review and compair these.

  14. Ignacio Castillo

    Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity. I would love the chance to review and keep these cards. I would give you a great review. Thank you again

  15. ITS A good card for high gaming i thnk

  16. Ilove MSI

  17. i want to have this someday 😀

  18. The R9 280 is in-between the high end GPU and the budget friendly r9 270x.. If you are looking for a heavy duty,power kicking GPU the r9 280 would deliver it at your doorstep .
    With its dual fan,overclocking enthusiast would drool on the possibilities this baby can do.
    The r9 280 is a must get GPU for me..if you have the budget go for it.

  19. I am currently studying Computer Hardware Servicing and although I am new I know that this video card is surely a one of class just by looking at it the design was really extremely fantastic or should I say a design with sole purpose, I think with this kind of memory type and clock speed you shouldn’t worry about having some game lags on any game and experience high quality gaming experience. I commend this GPU as one of the most leading card today that anyone should have.