We've sampled a couple of AMD's R9 280X models so far and neither products have blown us away. Being that they are essentially a re-badged HD7970, the flagship Radeon card from the previous generation, it is hard to be impressed. Nonetheless, the HD7970, sorry, R9 280X has more than enough grunt to compete with the best cards out there. There are a few minor tweaks to the architecture but none that make the 280X as ground breaking as its bigger brother, the 290X. In short with the R9 280X you are getting a HD7970 GHz edition with a few extra bells and whistles. Whether these additions present any tangible benefits we will leave for you to decide.