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

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