Any other happy owners of Sapphire Dual-X cards? (280x here)

[NewbieOneKenobi]

http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=C4D1B443-6105-4A63-85DE-1732CC9C443D&lang=eng

This is my second 280x; unfortunately, the first one (Gigabyte WindForce3), though stronger, was damaged. I was afraid, especially after reading some detailed opinions online, that the 280x simply had some problems with the chip that led to overheating and lack of stability. Apparently, that was not the case, and the Dual-X is a wonder of a card. Even on pads, idle temps sit at 35-36C, and I've yet to see 60C even under load. By default, fans activate around 40C, which is relatively quick, but the sound is still not very noticeable. Even under more serious load, the fans are louder but not obnoxious — a 'so what' kind of feel. And the price! (130 bucks shipped; used but you couldn't tell at all apart from no foil.)

According to a test report I read (sorry, no link), the card overclocked nicely up until a relatively low point and then died, though. So I'm pretty sure 50-100 Mhz on GPU is going to be viable, but I'd rather not be taking too many chances until replacements become cheaper. Still, since I had to buy some Gelid Extreme anyway, so I might as well take the pads off and replace them with paste, to take the temps a couple of degrees down for quieter fan operation.

Also will have to see if the card can go passive outside of gaming or in lighter games.

I'm led to think the Dual-X cooler must be really good.

 

[don256us]

I've had about half a dozen of these cards over the last two years. Some are still working. I bought them all used and I used them for the FAH team here. They are indeed nice cards. It should provide you with lots of good gaming and what not. The 280x is a strong card. I don't think that the card will do passive cooling. That's a tall order for this GPU. It runs hot and pulls a lot of watts. If you like the card, don't try it.

 

[Tír na nÓg]

I have a 7970 Dual-X (not the GHz Edition) that does really well.

I have it since March or April 2012 and it never let me down.

It's a decent clocker: Core does 1180MHz/1.3v and memory 1750MHz (from 925/1325), 100% gaming stable.

Still doing very [email protected] on most recent titles!

I think your 280X and my 7970 are exactly the same cards, just the name and bios are different.

IIRC, the launched 2 different 280x's : one with 8+6 pins, and one with 8+8.