MSI or Gigabyte R9 280x?

[inaamrahman7]

I am going to build a gaming PC soon, and the R9 280x looks decent to me. I couldn't decide whether to go for Gigabyte or MSI. Are there any differences apart from the aesthetic and number of fans?

I was also wondering if the prices of those cards are going to drop any time soon? I know these cards are extremely popular for coin miners (I won't be bothering with mining), and I read something about these cards flooding the market after the miners went with something else.

Would appreciate any help.

Specs
i5 4670k
Asus Z87-K or Asus Z87-plus or Gigabyte Ga-Z87-HD3 (most likely the Gigabyte one).
MSI or Gigabyte R9 280x
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8Gb/16Gb
Corsair CS650M (not confirmed)
Mid ATX tower case (not decided)
1TB 7200 RPM Samsung Hard Drive (From my previous PC as it has my files and Windows 8.1 on it. )
No SSD yet due to budget restrictions, but will probably get a 120Gb after a few months.

[inaamrahman7]

Just saw a great deal on the CXM 600W. Would that be sufficient for my rig?

Thanks

[minicale]

Anything over like 550w is overkill for modern systems unless you plan on using SLI or Crossfire then Id recommend going for something like 750w.

And with the different brands of gpus the main difference is the style and cooling ability they also can vary in sound but some brands like asus cards have custom boards so in theory then can overclock better.

[l1ghtm4st3r]

Both Gigabyte and MSI are great brands of graphics cards, you really can't go wrong with either of them.
It's said that Gigabyte are great for cooling due to their windforce coolers while MSI have a slight edge in overclocking ability.

I know Gigabyte also offer a 3 year warranty on their graphics cards, not too sure about the MSI.
Also beware that these cards are mediocre in length so make sure your case can fit them.

[plorhue]

the gigabyte r280x seems to be cheaper @ 225 pounds at amazon. Maybe that's worth considering..

[Butuz]

I'd go with Gigabyte myself.

Butuz

[Ttaskmaster]

MSI models are around £230-300 (seemingly depending more on which ones include BF4 than what the card is like), with a Core Boost of 1010-1050MHz.
Gigabyte Rev2.0 Windforce 3X OC is £290, with a Core Boost of 1100MHz.
I think all other specs are identical and both Mfrs have a 3 year warranty.

I've been looking at the MSI ones myself, as they seem cheaper for about the same performance and a lot of my more knowledgable friends prefer them over the Gig ones.
Then again, if my insurance cheque comes through, I'll possibly just get a Lightning instead!!

[MrRockliffe]

Does the MSI model not have VRM issues? I've heard a few people complaining about overheating etc

Someone else had trouble with the gigabyte on here too, saying that build quality was awful and quite loud.

Worth looking at the Asus one if you can get it. If it's through a reputable seller, xfx might even be worth a go.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Gigabyte has UK based RMA and I would probably get an XFX PRO 550W over the CXM 600W TBH. AFAIK,XFX PSU RMA is UK based and the warranty is longer too.

[Zypher20]

I've posted somewhere there are videos on youtube of both cards running at max and the gigabyte is much louder. You can get both cards for around £230ish. Overclockers often have the msi on deal of the day and dabs is the cheapest I have found the gigabyte which was at 228 or so. Dont forger the length of the cards if you have a fixed drivebay case. The msi one is shorter.

[Drangueos]

Gigabyte has a better warranty, usually takes 3 working days and MSI usually takes 15 working days.
For gaming Gigabyte cooler is more quiet, for mining MSI cooler is better.
I had both and they are good, for the moment I would go for Gigabyte because of the warranty.

[Jellyfish]

I would personally go for gigabyte. The main reason (i was tempted with msi) i say this is because i was reading on Ocuk (gpu section) that some of msi's cooler designs were leaking small amounts of fluids from the bearings (it may just be a bad batch) Anyways, check it out and see what you think. I have to admit though the Msi coolers do look pretty nice!

[TJBow]

The MSI cooler (twin frozr II) is better. It is cooler and quieter........but you pay a bit more for it. It depends on what you want - price or performance of the cooler.

[D1DM]

According to TPU the MSI one is quieter under gaming load, the Gigabyte is slightly quieter in idle. Overall I think I would vote for MSI.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/R9_280X_OC/
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_280X_Gaming/

Cooler Master G550M is a better choice than the Corsair CX600M, as it is independently regulated and has a longer (5 year warranty).

Review:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/CoolerMaster/G550M/

[Butuz]

Bear in mind that Gigabyte don't tune their fan profiles for silence, they tune them for low temps, whereas MSI tune their cards for silence under load, and (dangerously) high temps.

If you skim read the above links you'd think the MSI is such a better card as its so much quieter under load, delve under the hood however and you'll find the Gigabyte runs at 69c under load whereas the MSI runs at a scorching 87c under load.

I'd take the gigabyte, and use MSI afterburner to tune the fan profile to give 75-78c under load with much lower noise than in the review.

This is my pet peeve about reviews. Their all over the place when it comes to temps and fan noise as they use the manufacturers standard settings. What all review websites should do is put an additional graph in useing MSI afterburner to tune the load temperatures to exactly 75c on all the cards - then we'll really see what manufacturer has the best cooler and which one is quietest at the SAME load and SAME temps....... if only I was running a review site... :/

Butuz

[kompukare]

I'm sure the OP has long ago made up their mind, but anyway...

Note that the Gigabyte uses Elpida memory while the MSI uses Hynix (Hynix is better), and Gigabyte also skimped on the monitoring/controller chip:
"Gigabyte picked an ADP4100 voltage controller for the design. A very rare controller, it is a cost-effective solution, but does not provide voltage control or advanced monitoring via I2C."
While the MSI:
"The same CHiL CHL8228 as on many HD 7900 Series cards is used as a voltage controller. It offers software voltage control and monitoring, and is well supported by most software."

At peak gaming load (I usually ignore Furmark since AMD don't throttle as much as they probably should) the Gigabyte uses 244W while the MSI uses 203W.

It's true that the Gigabyte is cooler (although noisier) though. And this is all the more impressive since Gigabyte went for the easy option (no binning required) of pushing a crazy 1.26V through their card (the MSI is 1.08V). Unsure whether Gigabyte locked the voltage on theirs as they did with all but the earliest of their 7950/7970. At 1.26V I would be more interesting in undervolting as I think then the card's power consumption would sink to the level of the MSI one.

The high core voltage also meant TPU were able to reach a higher core clock (but far lower memory clock since Elpida chips are rather poor).

Overall, I would choose the MSI.