11-17-2013, 09:41 PM
A 280X worked fine for me and gave exactly the performance you'd expect based on it being a rebadged 7970 GHz Edition (see this thread).
Unfortunately, the specific card I used (the Asus Matrix Platinum) stopped working after five days, and I wasn't even using it for anything other than displaying the desktop at the time. I'd run a handful of short benchmarks on it - no "real world" cracking scenarios or anything, and it had never exceeded 70 degrees. I've been stuck in Asus RMA hell ever since, and reading reviews on New Egg, it sounds like a lot of people with this card are in the same situation.
If you avoid that specific card, though (or other lines that have higher than average failure rates), I think you'll be fine.
Unfortunately, the specific card I used (the Asus Matrix Platinum) stopped working after five days, and I wasn't even using it for anything other than displaying the desktop at the time. I'd run a handful of short benchmarks on it - no "real world" cracking scenarios or anything, and it had never exceeded 70 degrees. I've been stuck in Asus RMA hell ever since, and reading reviews on New Egg, it sounds like a lot of people with this card are in the same situation.
If you avoid that specific card, though (or other lines that have higher than average failure rates), I think you'll be fine.