[section_title title=”Closer Look”]Closer Look
Taking a first look at the Club3D R9 280 royalKing graphics card, the first thing that struck me was the clear and concise contrast of red and black; something which relates to AMD graphics cards and of course, is a popular combination. This particular card is cooled by 2 fans over an aluminium heat sink which uses three thick copper pipes to help dissipate heat from the card core itself. The particular cooling method is CoolStream technology which is Club3D’s name for the cooler; much like MSI call theirs the Twin Frozr etc. It is also worth noting that this particular card is a dual slot card for those who might need a single slot solution etc.
The fan blades themselves have the Club3D logo on which includes the company motto; Play your cards right.
In terms of connectivity, the Club3D R9 280 royalKing has the following ports:
1 x DVI-D (support up to 2560×1600)
1 x HDMI 1.4a (support up to 4096×3112 4KHD)
2 x Mini DisplayPort (support up to 4096×2160 4KHD)
Plenty of options to connect up your monitors and has support for 4K resolutions via DisplayPort and HDMI. This card also features support for up to 6 monitors using AMD Eyefinity.
Across the middle of the cooler, we have the royalKing logo which signifies this particular Club3D graphics card belongs to the Poker Series; Club3D’s way of branding graphics cards and I have to say, I am really impressed with what they have done thus far.
One of the most interesting things about the Club3D R9 280 royalKing graphics card is the inclusion of a custom Club3D back plate as standard. Most graphics cards currently on the market with probably the exception primarily of EVGA (NVIDIA only), fail to include one which considering in most peoples cases there is a window is present, this only increases the aesthetic of not only the graphics card, but also of the entire build. There is a cut-out in the shape of a club which is to signify the card is a Club3D card and of course the logo and moniker can be found on there too.
Taking a closer look at the copper heat pipes cooling the royalKing, they are 8mm in diameter which is more than capable of keeping the AMD Tahiti chip under control in combination with the fans and of course the large heat sink.
The Club3D R9 280 royalKing graphic card requires 1 x 8pin and 1 x 6pin to power this particular model and it is to be expected as the R9 280 is a literal refresh of the AMD 7950 series and it shows with the use of key components etc.
