AMD’s Radeon R9 285 Slots Just Below the R9 280, Will Retail for $249

During its “30 Years of Graphics & Gaming” event, held this past weekend, AMD took the veil off of its next graphics card: Radeon R9 285. This is a bit of an odd release, because despite it having the higher model number, the R9 285 ranks under not only the R9 280X, but the R9 280 as well. I hope that I’m not the only one who considers that to be a little bizarre.

Odd model name choice aside, the R9 285 is set to retail for $249, which is about $50 less than the 280. Its drawbacks when compared to that card is that it loses 33% of the VRAM and bus width – to 2GB and 256-bit, respectively. For those who are fine with a 2GB framebuffer, the R9 285 is undoubtedly tempting at its $249 price-point. It’s interesting to note, though, that a 4GB model is also going to be available, so it will be interesting to see what pricing is on that one.

We’re unable to share performance data on the R9 285 until next week, but on account of the reference model aligning so well with the 280, I can’t imagine that we’re going to see much of a difference between the two. Oh well – expect our look at MSI’s Twin Frozr IV edition soon.