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Partner Cards: 10 Radeon R9 270 And 270X Boards, Reviewed

Partner Cards: 10 Radeon R9 270 And 270X Boards, Reviewed
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We're not particularly fond of AMD's reference Radeon R9 270-series cooling solution. Fortunately, most of the company's board partners have their own heat sinks and fans. We take 10 cards and measure their clock rates, thermals, and acoustics.

Because AMD has so many board partners, and because their products launch at staggered intervals, we changed the way we round them up, starting with Partner Cards: Two Radeon R9 290s And Five 290Xs, Updated. The Tom's Hardware team in Germany has been busy working on Radeon R9 270 and 270X cards also, so we thought it was time to publish their findings (now 10 cards-deep) here as well. 

Overseas, the Radeon boards aren't priced as problematically as they are in the U.S. Over there, you can find some pretty solid deals. Here, they're less compelling, starting at least $50 higher than AMD's $180 launch price. For the sake of summing up our local market, though, let's do a spot check on what Newegg has in stock.

Radeon R9 270 (Newegg)
HIS iPower IceQ X² Turbo H270QMT2G2M R9 270 2 GBOut of stock
Sapphire Dual-X 100365L R9 270 2 GB
$230
Radeon R9 270X (Newegg)
Asus DirectCU II R9270X-DC2T-4GD5 R9 270X 4 GB$350
Club 3D royalQueen CGAX-R927X6 R9 270X 2 GB
Out of stock
Gigabyte GV-R927XOC-4GD R9 270X 4 GB$300
HIS IceQ X² Turbo Boost Clock H270XQMT2G2 R9 270X 2 GB
$280
MSI Radeon R9 270X Gaming 4 GB
Out of stock
PowerColor PCS+ AXR9 270X 2GBD5-PPDHE R9 270X 2 GB
$280
Sapphire Toxic Radeon R9 270X 2 GB
$345
Sapphire Vapor-X 100364VXL Radeon R9 270X 2 GB
$300

As additional cards become available, we plan to add them and update the round-up. Based on reader feedback, we're also publishing certain parameters you won't find on every data sheet. Still, specs like measured length, width, and height are crucial for proper fitment, so you'll find all of that in the following pages. Also included are videos, along with fan and temperature diagrams. If firmware gets updated, we test that too.

Radeon R9 270 and 270X Overview

Asus DirectCU II R9270X-DC2T-4GD5 R9 270X 4 GB
Club 3D royalQueen CGAX-R927X6 R9 270X 2 GB
(1/27/2014)

Gigabyte GV-R927XOC-4GD R9 270X 4 GB
HIS IceQ X² Turbo Boost Clock H270XQMT2G2 R9 270X 2 GB
HIS iPower IceQ X² Turbo H270QMT2G2M R9 270 2 GB
(1/27/2014)

MSI Radeon R9 270X Gaming 4 GB
PowerColor PCS+ AXR9 270X 2GBD5-PPDHE R9 270X 2 GB
(1/27/2014)

Sapphire Dual-X 100365L R9 270 2 GB
(2/26/2014)
Sapphire Toxic Radeon R9 270X 2 GB
(2/26/2014)
Sapphire Vapor-X 100364VXL Radeon R9 270X 2 GB

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  • 0 Hide
    13thmonkey , 31 March 2014 09:10
    Is it me, or are there no conclusions noted in this. the first and last cards don't hold their rated speed, this is not commented on at all. What's going on... has the content just been missed off?
  • 0 Hide
    Shneiky , 31 March 2014 11:28
    The video comparison - Sapphire Toxic Radeon R9 270X 2 GB is the quietest of the bunch. It is not only me who thinks likes this. And it has been measured 6 db over the slightly noisier Sapphire Dual-X 100365L R9 270 2 GB and only 2 db below the "jet plane" Asus card. I think something somewhere, went terribly wrong.
  • 0 Hide
    pandem0nium , 2 April 2014 13:15
    Would be nice to see which memory each card comes with, as Hynix and Samsung memory tend to overclock further with less volts than the more common Elpida memory.