Review and testing of video cards for laptops AMD Radeon R9 M280X: Test | Specs | CPU | Config

The new generation of Radeon graphics cards for notebooks has been introduced in several phases. Among the first, the top-end card Radeon R9 M290X was announced, and among the latter was the discrete video adapter Radeon R9 M280X. We will consider it in this review. At the heart of the Radeon R9 M280X is the Bonaire graphics processor, which powers the Radeon HD 7790 desktop video card. Bonaire is equipped with 14 computing units (CUs), each containing four vector units (VUs). VU contains 16 stream processors and one texture unit. In total, Bonaire boasts 896 shaders and 56 texture units. The chip’s pipeline consists of four rendering units, each unit capable of processing four full-color raster operations per clock cycle. There are 16 ROPs in total. Two 64-bit memory controllers combine to provide a 128-bit memory bus. core frequency, it is underestimated for a mobile video card.

According to its characteristics, the video card for laptops Radeon R9 M280X, completely repeats the video card for the PC Radeon HD 7790, the only difference from which is the underestimated core frequency of the R9 M280X. The video card Radeon R9 M280X according to the available information, can be equipped with up to 4 GB of GDDR5 memory with a 128-bit interface. As for the clock speeds, the GPU frequency has been reduced from the Radeon HD 7790 by 100 MHz to 1000 MHz. In addition, the GDDR5 memory was cut, which in the R9 M280X operates at (1375) 5500 MHz, instead of 6000 MHz (AMD Radeon HD 7790). Together with a 128-bit interface, the memory provides a bandwidth of 88 GB / s. The performance of the R9 Radeon M280X falls somewhere between the Nvidia Ge Force 850m GTX and GTX 950M. Computer games released in 2014/2015 will run on a laptop in FullHD resolution with an acceptable number of frames per second, as a rule, only when the mid-high graphics settings are set. Gaming applications such as Watch Dogs, which are very demanding on the resources of the video card, can only be launched when the average settings of detail and display resolution are not higher than 720p.

Supported technologies

ATI PowerPlay Is a dynamic power management technology used in some graphics processing units (GPUs) manufactured by AMD (formerly ATI). The principle of operation is based on tracking the GPU load, determining the optimal parameters and correspondingly changing the clock frequency of the chip, memory and supply voltage, thereby optimizing the power consumption and heat dissipation of the video card. The technology in idle modes can disable unused GPU blocks.

ATI Eyefinity — a technology developed by the American company AMD that allows multiple displays to be connected together to a personal computer. ATI Eyefinity assumes connection from one to six displays inclusive to one graphics card. Desktop duplication and stretching modes are supported across multiple monitors, and a special new feature allows displays to be grouped into one large screen that can display a PC desktop or, for example, video, as well as windowed or full-screen 3D applications.

AMD HD3D — The technology is supported by an extended and open ecosystem that, when combined with specific AMD hardware and software technologies, enables the 3D viewing of many applications and processes on the PC.

AMD Enduro — Automatically disables AMD Radeon discrete graphics for lightweight applications and extends battery life.

AMD Zero Core — In a deep idle state, the new GPU consumes less than 5% of the power of full-fledged mode, disabling most of the functional blocks in this mode.

TrueAudio Is a built-in programmable audio engine in the AMD GPU, it provides guaranteed real-time processing of audio tasks, regardless of the installed CPU. To do this, several Tensilica HiFi EP Audio DSP DSP cores are integrated into the named AMD graphics processors, access to their capabilities is carried out using popular sound processing libraries, the developers of which can use the resources of the built-in audio engine using a special TrueAudio API. AMD has long and closely cooperated with many companies known for their developments in this area: game developers, developers of audio middleware, audio algorithms, etc., and several games with TrueAudio support have already been released.

PowerTune, designed for intelligent real-time power management. AMD PowerTune technology automatically overclocks and accelerates the system with the latest games. In addition, PowerTune also provides rich overclocking capabilities for the Tonga GPU. In the driver settings, the user can set several parameters, such as the target GPU temperature, the relative fan speed in the cooling device, as well as the maximum power consumption level, and the video card will do the rest by setting the maximum possible frequency and other parameters (GPU voltage, fan speed) in changed conditions.

API Mantle, a technology that helps make more efficient use of the hardware capabilities of AMD GPUs, as Mantle is not limited by the shortcomings of the available graphics APIs: OpenGL and DirectX. To do this, a thinner software shell is used between the game engine and the hardware resources of the GPU, similar to how it has been done for a long time on game consoles. The API was developed at AMD with the help of leading game developers from Dice, and Battlefield 4 was the first game to use Mantle, showing good performance gains from Direct3D to Mantle.

Specifications

Synthetic tests

• 3DMark – (Fire Strike Standard Graphics 1920×1080):3350
• 3DMark -(Fire Strike Standard Score 1920×1080):2796

Game testing

Dragon Age Inquisition. The resolution is 1920 × 1080 pixels, the graphics settings in the game (High), the average FPS was 21. When the resolution was increased to the level of 1920 × 1080 pixels, the graphics settings in the game (Ultra, MSAA: 2x) averaged 18 FPS.

Far Cry 4. At high settings (1920×1080, High, SMAA) the average number of FPS in the game was 20. At the maximum graphics settings (1920×1080, Ultra, SMAA) -16 FPS.

Battlefield Hardline. The resolution is 1920 × 1080 pixels, the graphics settings in the game (Hihg, DX11, 2xMSAA), the average FPS was 31. When the resolution was increased to 1920 × 1080 pixels, the graphics settings in the game (Ultra, DX 11, 4xMSAA) averaged 20 FPS.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare. The resolution is 1920 × 1080 pixels, the graphics settings in the game (High / On (Cache Shadow Maps Off) AA: FX), the average FPS was 33. When the resolution was increased to 1920 × 1080 pixels, the graphics settings in the game (Ultra, Extra / On (Cache Shadow Maps) Off), 2x Supersampling AA: 2x SM), the number of FPS averaged 30.