AMD R9 290X Review

[barnsley]

why the hell do people keep riding the god damn 4k train, it's utterly irrelevant, that's like buying a car for it's diving capabilities. not relevant for the foreseeable future.
temps are worse, aesthetics are worse and no aftermarket coolers which allow the 780 to blast the 290x, someone who pays 450 quid for a card can't tell me he can't find those extra 30 quid for a better card.

But some people still buy cars for the driving experience funnily enough...

Also which cards exactly blast the 290x? I can imagine that fantastic MSI lightning card can do the trick (although it is almost £100 more...) but consider the card that the 290x beat was the EVGA SC model, currently still quite a bit more.

I'd rather compare performance when the 290x's drivers are more "matured" myself, it's been the case with AMD for a while (point in hand the 7970), the drivers are bum at first but improve and improve until the card does very well for the price. I should probably make myself clear, at the moment I agree that the 780 is a better buy but 6 months down the line I very much doubt it will be.

 

[Tripp]

So a gk110 a 680? Yet originally a 660ti was made as a 680 and then they realized the 7xxx series was too fast so they upped up their game. I highly doubt all these sudden "GK110 was supposed to be a 680! AMD is lucky!" comments are real.. fanboy talk...

Why can't people just have a constructive conversation?

as far as i know the gk110 was suppose to be a 680, but amd's cards were not up to snuff an they held it back. i thought that was quite common knowledge

 

[Zoot]

temps are worse, aesthetics are worse and no aftermarket coolers which allow the 780 to blast the 290x, someone who pays 450 quid for a card can't tell me he can't find those extra 30 quid for a better card.

I must say...

Your rather persistent antagonism towards AMD in this thread is slightly amusing. You don't like the 290X, that's fine, but if there wasn't any competition in the high-end GPU market, you'd have nVidia charging 1000+ for all their high end GPUs. Competition is always good, since we (the consumer) are always the winner.

 

[SeekaX]

But some people still buy cars for the driving experience funnily enough...

Also which cards exactly blast the 290x? I can imagine that fantastic MSI lightning card can do the trick (although it is almost £100 more...) but considering the card that the 290x beat was the EVGA SC model. I'd rather compare performance when the 290x's drivers are more "matured" myself, it's been the case with AMD for a while (point in hand the 7970), the drivers are bum at first but improve and improve until the card does very well for the price. I should probably make myself clear, at the moment I agree that the 780 is a better buy but 6 months down the line I very much doubt it will be.

diving. not driving.

the msi gaming beats the 290x quite comfortably for 30 quid more.
6 months down the line is too late to make the 290x a success anymore, then the 780 will have reigned for an entire year.

I must say...

Your rather persistent antagonism towards AMD in this thread is slightly amusing. You don't like the 290X, that's fine, but if there wasn't any competition in the high-end GPU market, you'd have nVidia charging 1000+ for all their high end GPUs. Competition is always good, since we (the consumer) are always the winner.

antagonism? i had a 6870 which was a great card, i'm not an AMD hater i just won't celebrate something that is half a year late to the plate and still doesn't take the crown. my concern here is that AMD did not deliver on the 290x which is bad for the consumer because at the moment we are steering right into your 1000+ situation because it is up to nvidia to take the monopoly if they like. i hope they will do the same as with the 6xx series to keep amd in the game.
the 290x should have wrecked the 780 and it did not, what is wrong with you people to still think it's a gift from heaven.
/edit
oh and btw, i would recommend the 280x to anyone over the 770 at the moment.

 

[SieB]

Off topic but... any links to information that this may have been the case? I can't fathom why nVidia would release a high grade, supercomputer/workstation architecture for us puny high-end mainstream users. Makes zero financial or business sense.

The Titan was simply nVidia's method of swinging their c**ks about AMD with hardware not up to grade for either workstation or industry orders, i.e Quadro and the Titan Supercomputer. Also they knew AMD couldn't respond quickly (10 months!), nice one nVidia. However gk110 for 680 grade GPU hmm... talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

The fact that people think the 680 should have been the 660 ti make me laugh.

Do people seriously think Nvidia would release a card with a 100% performance increase over the previous mid range card (560ti) for ~£200?

Do you not realize how stupid that sounds?

That whole rumour about someone from nvidia saying they looked at the 7970 and said "is that it" supposedly came from a guy who was told by a guy. The name of this misterious person from Nvidia has never been mentioned and niether has there been any creditability of the story actually being true.

Nvidia would be shooting themselves in the foot by releasing cards with 100x the perfomance for the same price as the preious gen. Just think how much money they would lose out on the previous gen.

Whenever has there been a 100% performance increase within one generation? oh thats right, never :lol:

 

[Tripp]

The fact that people think the 680 should have been the 660 ti make me laugh.

Do people seriously think Nvidia would release a card with a 100% performance increase over the previous mid range card (560ti) for ~£200?

Do you not realize how stupid that sounds?

That whole rumour about someone from nvidia saying they looked at the 7970 and said "is that it" supposedly came from a guy who was told by a guy. The name of this misterious person from Nvidia has never been mentioned and niether has there been any creditability of the story actually being true.

Nvidia would be shooting themselves in the foot by releasing cards with 100x the perfomance for the same price as the preious gen. Just think how much money they would lose out on the previous gen.

Whenever has there been a 100% performance increase within one generation? oh thats right, never :lol:

no mate thats called buisness why but out your best now, and have to spend more to do another series, when your oponent ain't pushing your mid-range gear???

 

[SieB]

no mate thats called buisness why but out your best now, and have to spend more to do another series, when your oponent ain't pushing your mid-range gear???

It's called delusion.

 

[Tripp]

It's called delusion.

yeah sure

 

[NeverBackDown]

the 290x should have wrecked the 780 and it did not, what is wrong with you people to still think it's a gift from heaven.

it does in many reviews. I have seen a review where it tops on a titan for most of the time.. Look at all reviews. Not just one.

 

[Tripp]

it does in many reviews. I have seen a review where it tops on a titan for most of the time.. Look at all reviews. Not just one.

agreed +1

 

[Zoot]

my concern here is that AMD did not deliver on the 290x which is bad for the consumer because at the moment we are steering right into your 1000+ situation because it is up to nvidia to take the monopoly if they like. i hope they will do the same as with the 6xx series to keep amd in the game.

I'm not following, as that's very odd logic right there, how does that work?

If anything, the 290X, thanks to its performance, far lower price (relative to the Titan), and great sales (so-far) is steering the market away from the ~1000 EUR/USD/GBP range.

 

[barnsley]

diving. not driving.

the msi gaming beats the 290x quite comfortably for 30 quid more.
6 months down the line is too late to make the 290x a success anymore, then the 780 will have reigned for an entire year.

Whoops I misread ^^. Well maybe we'll see after Christmas then? I guess that'll be a better time.

I doubt the £1000+ gpu market will ever fully take off. There are simply not enough people willing to spend that much on a computer, let alone a graphics card. The mid-high market is where its at (e.g. 270-280x,7870-7970,660-770)

 

[SieB]

yeah sure

Do you honestly believe that Nvidia even if they could would release cards with 100x the performance?

AMD and Nvidia have been around equal performance in the GPU market for years trading blows between generations.
Do you really believe that all of a sudden Nvidia magically managed to produces cards with a 100% performance increase and AMD some how managed to slip that far behind?

Does that make sense at all? No it really doesn't, at all.

At the time the 6xx series were being made Nvidia were having production problems and were struggling to get the cards out.
During this supposed time of Nvidia not being impressed by the 7970 they also magically found time to change all of the packaging, change SKUs, reschedule things and all the rest of it?

There is no way on earth that the 680 was originally intended to be the 660ti.
Look at all the money they would have lost out on with the previous gen cards, which were still being made and shipped at the time.

There are many other factors, just wanting to believe that Nvidia somehow has this magical 100% leap in performance is not one of them.

As I said before, there is no proof what so ever to the claim of the 680 supposedly being the 660ti. All that started from a rumour that one guy heard from another guy that Nvidia were not impressed with the 7970.

 

[barnsley]

-quick out of topic point-

I don't think I've seen the community this divided in a long time. Kinda surreal. We normally have a bit of a disagreement over things but this has been going on fo' dayyyyys.
:mellow:

 

[Tripp]

-quick out of topic point-

I don't think I've seen the community this divided in a long time. Kinda surreal. We normally have a bit of a disagreement over things but this has been going on fo' dayyyyys.
:mellow:

the only thing i disagree on is people flaming on this card. for one its only going to get cheaper, an secondly there ain't any aftermaket coolers on them yet. everyone seem to want to to set the ship on fire, before its even been tested to be sea worthy.

 

[SeekaX]

I'm not following, as that's very odd logic right there, how does that work?

If anything, the 290X, thanks to its performance, far lower price (relative to the Titan), and great sales (so-far) is steering the market away from the ~1000 EUR/USD/GBP range.

comparing it to the titan again, the titan isn't part of the 7xx range and therefore shouldn't be compared to the 780 or 290x. the price isn't far lower, it's 30 quid lower than a card with an aftermarket cooler which will outperform the card by far. 6 months, not on par, won't be on par till 2014, nvidia can crush them with the next series.

 

[Jeff_s510]

The big thing imo, AMD released there new flagship card, which will trade blows with the 780. It is about on par, and MAYBE even 5% faster or so in some situations. But this is a new gpu from AMD, and the card it is trading blows with what is a now an older GPU from Nvidia. The 290X should have been a clear winner to the 780, and it wasn't. AMD is not going to hold the crown this time around. When they launched the 7970, they did hold the crown, it was a much faster card compared to the 580. And the 7970 held its own against the 680! The new R9 290x is only on par with Nvidia's 780, which will soon be replaced by the 780 Ti. and yes, this is bad for us, the consumers. If the 290x had been a clear winner, then Nvidia would have to step up there game and launch something amazing to beat out the 290X, and also keep the price under control. But instead they can get away with launching something a little faster than the current 780, and still increase the price a little.

 

[CapitanoMal]

-quick out of topic point-

I don't think I've seen the community this divided in a long time. Kinda surreal. We normally have a bit of a disagreement over things but this has been going on fo' dayyyyys.
:mellow:

yeah I love OC3D even though I lurk more than post for the unbiased and calm community. Too little of both of those going on in here.

 

[Zoot]

comparing it to the titan again, the titan isn't part of the 7xx range and therefore shouldn't be compared to the 780 or 290x. the price isn't far lower, it's 30 quid lower than a card with an aftermarket cooler which will outperform the card by far. 6 months, not on par, won't be on par till 2014, nvidia can crush them with the next series.

6 months is some arbitrary figure you've pulled out of the air. Is nVidia's next GPU coming in 6 months? If you're privy to nVidia's internal schedules ala Tape-Out, 1st Silicon, Final Silicon dates etc. for their "Maxwell" architecture, not to mention TSMC's 20nm Planar Process schedule, lets hear it, because that would be quite interesting.

Also the whole "nVidia will crush.. blah... blah..." is just an opinion on your part, you've no evidence to back up those claims.

And yes, you can directly compare the R9 290X to the Titan. It performs largely similar (even better at times) according to the vast majority of reviewers. Example:

(Notice how the 290X slightly out-performs the Titan in this chart, while costing significantly less)

[Source]

 

[looz]

That doesn't make comparing it to Titan any less silly. It used to be a card for people who lacked the patience to wait for 780. Now it's either for epeen or for people who need the extra cuda cores and memory (not many)...

It competes with 780, and that's it. And while 780 delivers less fps per dollar, at least the reference cooler works.