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XFX Radeon R9 285 Black Edition OC Review
By Olin Coles
Manufacturer: PINE Technology Holdings Limited, dba XFX
Product Name: AMD Radeon R9 285 Black Edition Double Dissipation
Model Number: R9-285A-CDBC
UPC: 778656066809
Price: Starting at $249.99 (Amazon | Newegg)
Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by XFX.
Some can afford the expensive top-end graphics cards that unlock multi-monitor gaming and ultimate performance, while others simply don’t need as much. The AMD Radeon R9 285 series is an upper-mainstream graphics solution that’s perfect for gamers wanting ultra video settings with a single monitor system, or add a second card later to build an AMD CrossFire set that will drive multiple displays with top-end settings.
AMD’s Graphics Core Next technology is now into it’s third generation with the launch of Tonga GPUs within the Radeon R9 285 series. AMD Mantle – the optimization technology that contributed to Microsoft’s DirectX 12 API, is still a central part of GCN, as well as AMD TrueAudio, FreeSync, and software-based Crossfire connections without a physical bridge. New to Tonga is an on-chip multimedia engine, lossless delta color compression, updated ISA instruction set, a high-quality scalar, and tessellation improvements.
In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the XFX Radeon R9 285 Black Edition Double Dissipation graphics card, model R9-285A-CDBC, which sells online for $249.99 (Amazon | Newegg). This XFX Black Edition Radeon R9 285 is an UltraHD 4K resolution-ready graphics card with 2560 Stream processors operating at 975 MHz with support for the upcoming DirectX 12 API. Equipped with twin 90mm cooling fans paired with long-life capacitors, the XFX Radeon R9 285 represents a solid value for mainstream gamers looking for top-end performance.
XFX Radeon R9 285 Specifications:
Information Courtesy XFX
| Technical Specifications | |
| Output | 1x HDMI 1.4a (with 3D) 1x DisplayPort 1.2 2x Dual-Link DVI-D |
| GPU | 975 MHz Core Clock 28nm Tonga processor 1792 Stream Processors |
| Video Memory | 2048 MB Size 256-bit GDDR5 5.5 GHz Effective |
| Dimension | 8.7″ x 4.4″ x 1.5″ Dual slot design |
| Software | Driver Disk Installation Guide Installation DVD |
| Accessory | 6-pin to 4-pin power cable 8-pin to 6-pin power cable |
| System Requirements | |
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UltraHD 4K Resolution is:
- 3840 x 2160 30 Hz TV
- 4096 x 2160 24 Hz TV
- Half frame 1920 x 2160 60 Hz IT
- Half frame 2048 x 2160 60 Hz IT
3 comments
Mugatu
16 September 2014 at 3:57 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
How is this card beating a GTX 780 in BF4 @ 1920×1200?? There is no way.
Olin Coles
16 September 2014 at 4:30 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I merely test the product, and post the results. If I had to explain why one performed better than another, it would begin with how AMD co-developed BF4 and optimized it to play with their Radeon graphics cards (as opposed to NVIDIA working on BF3), and then end with how Radeon R9 285 nearly matched performance on rare occasion with GeForce GTX 780 in two other tests. Overall though, GTX 780 is considerably more powerful than R9 285.
Xantosh
3 May 2015 at 12:24 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Is it true you can quad crossfire these (due to Bridgless crossfire) and how would even 2 or 3 of these compare to say a 4gb (or even 3.5gb lol) video card, because my board is capable of x16 x16 x4 (with a power stabilization buckle)