AMD Radeon R9 290X with Hawaii GPU pictured, has 512-bit 4GB Memory

[etched Chaos]

I suppose I am a AMD boy, would be a nVidia boy if they lowered their prices and were actually better at what I'll use the cards for. Back when I knew absolutely nothing, I thought nVidia would be the cards for me, what with all those CUDA's they have, but then I saw the benchmarks using Lux SLG renderer and I wasn't as excited.

Then this thread happened and I became a devout AMD boy, but don't hold me to it, those 20nm beasts might sway me back to nVidia, but probably not - what with both consoles being all AMD now.

Back on topic, no sane marketer would ever allow the 290x to face down the Titan if it wasn't superior in the majority of benchmarks. You can skew the benchmarks to make the card look superior but the moment the full reviews come out there'd be an uproar when the Titan turns out better overall. By tackling the 780 they pick on the card in their price-range and won't be encouraging talk of the Titan-killer - though this thread seems they've failed .

 

[flopper]

take my money amd.

 

[Boomstick777]

First post, been lurking for weeks as I peruse the posts in aid of picking out my new GFX card but thios thread has both made me laugh my arse off and annoyed me. Namely the nVidia fanboys strutting around and rubbing in the rumoured temps from a single benchmark that means sod-all in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks to them I'm now firmly in the AMD corner, I'm a sucker for a good underdog and also the Radeon cards are just better at what I require them for (£ per perf (I'm a skint bugger) and Lux renderer performance). But this thread was important as if I ever have the cash a 290 looks like the card for me, I'm not doing 4k gaming and would be nice to have a AMD beast to brag about .

Now to the point I wanted to make, it's about Kaapstad and his comment on them picking a 780 because of it's vram shortage in comparison. He's having a dig at AMD, but why wouldn't they pick a 780? It's the card in direct competition with them for the price-range they might sell at and the vram comparisons are much better than using a Titan (33% adv over a 50% disadv). So not only are they pointing out that you can get superior 4k performance, but you can get that for around the same price (yes i know the prices aren't released yet but there's no way in hell they'll price it in the Titan range).

Now, the fact that 4k comparisons are pointless right now means little, both companies are hitching their wagons to the 4k train and there's no point in them picking a Titan because if you have no budget, the Titan will be king if you're wanting 4k gaming (that 50% extra vram).

Perhaps the smug nVidia fanboys should hold their tongues until legitimate benchmarks and temp figures come out, lest they end-up having to consume tons of humble pie for rubbing it in for weeks on end. But of course they'll still have Batman smoke...

Hey, welcome to the forums. Got to say I don't agree with your post, couldn't be further from the truth tbh, this forum is heavily AMD biased, the few that do have Nvidia cards me included have been joking, but that's all it is, a bit of fun. The majority just keep quiet.. Kaapstad will likely buy 4 290X's at launch . Gregster may buy one. No need to take it all seriously.

With regards to Physx, you can't say Physx is 'propriety evil' and Mantle isn't. Total hypocrisy lol.

 

[ICDP]

Assuming your not an alt...

I think your missing that a lot of it is tongue in cheek referring back to the days of the GTX480 and the big deal that was made about its temperatures by certain AMD fans - so most of its now a bit of ribbing in kind rather than meant as seriously as your taking it.

Very few people in either camp actually care much about temperatures on a high end card - the hardcore enthusiasts will dunk em under water or atleast replace the heatsink with an aftermarket jobbie and focus will be on performance and overclocking.

Can I have my ribs cooked please? Use one of them new fancy R9 290X grills

Totally agree, the joking and trolling comes from both sides. It's only true fundies who actually believe the crap they spout about the enemy. The rest of us will purchase their GPUs from Nvidia or AMD depending on performance, requirements and price.

Nvidia and AMD are both companies who want your money, any perceived evilness or goodwill is just marketing. Do what's good for you and your wallet, AMD or Nvidia be damned.

 

[etched Chaos]

I hate both equally right now, physx because I'm currently using a 5850 and I want Batman smoke and Mantle because I'm not a Battlefield player and as such it's not at all enticing to me yet .

As for the forum being AMD biased, I'm not seeing it, well not yet, CPU's are all about the Intel mostly (stupid lack of progress slowing things down) and the nVidia boys post more than the AMD boys right now (especially in this thread). I expect the AMD boys are hiding their shame til prices and benchmarks hit .

 

[Five.Stars]

Because then it would probably not be able to put out more than 30fps...

Whilst that is true as tressfx would decrease the performance, the same settings on the 780 would show the 290X even further ahead.

Difficult to make amy kind of judgement based upon a couple of benchmarks at 4K, as memory bandwith etc will all be playing a part, the very fact it is ahead of nvidia's high-end, mainstream part is a good sign that it will at least be on a par with the 780.

I still think it will be ~10% faster across the board, with the non-x version coming in around about 780 performance (perhaps slightly slower, single figure percentage).

 

[Gregster]

Can I have my ribs cooked please? Use one of them new fancy R9 290X grills

Totally agree, the joking and trolling comes from both sides. It's only true fundies who actually believe the crap they spout about the enemy. The rest of us will purchase their GPUs from Nvidia or AMD depending on performance, requirements and price.

Nvidia and AMD are both companies who want your money, any perceived evilness or goodwill is just marketing. Do what's good for you and your wallet, AMD or Nvidia be damned.

Well said and it has been great in this thread (and others) to have some light hearted banter with neither side serious. I remember the GTX 480 getting the same treatment and nobody was bothered or offended then as I remember it. For sure we can all favor one side or t'other but remember that neither AMD or Nvidia give two hoots about us, as long as we buy the product.

 

[Matson]

zzzzzz why are they holding back the benchmarks n giving us teasers...If your product is good then you should be showing it off not hiding it. I can't help but feel a little unimpressed considering the titan and 780 have been out for a while and this card only about matches them.

 

[Rofflay]

zzzzzz why are they holding back the benchmarks n giving us teasers...If your product is good then you should be showing it off not hiding it. I can't help but feel a little unimpressed considering the titan and 780 have been out for a while and this card only about matches them.

And the hush hush pre order prices as well.Everything points to it being equal to a 780 and at the same price point.In otherwords it is AMD being AMD again.


Badly made, noisy and hot and most likely coil whining like a bitch.Gaming Evolved i do not think this is sorry im out until January as its been ages since i got my 580 and only now am i seeing double that fps on single cards

 

[Kaapstad]

zzzzzz why are they holding back the benchmarks n giving us teasers...If your product is good then you should be showing it off not hiding it. I can't help but feel a little unimpressed considering the titan and 780 have been out for a while and this card only about matches them.

The problem with AMD holding back the performance and review figures is if the R9 290X is as good as AMD would have us believe, then they are losing sales to people buying GTX 780s.

 

[flopper]

zzzzzz why are they holding back the benchmarks n giving us teasers...If your product is good then you should be showing it off not hiding it. I can't help but feel a little unimpressed considering the titan and 780 have been out for a while and this card only about matches them.

you dont understand engineering then.
they beat the 780 and match/beat titan at a 430mm chip vs a 520mm or whatever the Titan has at the same node.
awesome in any book.

 

[Locky]

The 290X in a nutshell. Too hot and too expensive.. /end

 

[Rofflay]

How many people get impressed about engineering? Hey man my card is way more impressive than your card from an engineering point of view.Meanwhile the other person has had his card for six months and you are both getting equal frame's.


Only one person is impressed here and it aint the guy on his 780 lol

 

[Matson]

you dont understand engineering then.
they beat the 780 and match/beat titan at a 430mm chip vs a 520mm or whatever the Titan has at the same node.
awesome in any book.

I understand that but those cards have been out for ages and i guess i just thought the highest end AMD card would have a decent advantage over those.
Like has been said before if you dont mind crossfire you mazewell just go with a 7990..its faster and from the looks of it about as hot as the 290x.
it just shows the £440 7990's that were on sale today where a steal.

 

[Buckster]

is all of the core size used on the 780 though ?

 

[Gregster]

The 290X in a nutshell. Too hot and too expensive.. /end

Nvidia fanboy

 

[TheRealDeal]

I understand that but those cards have been out for ages and i guess i just thought the highest end AMD card would have a decent advantage over those.
Like has been said before if you dont mind crossfire you mazewell just go with a 7990..its faster and from the looks of it about as hot as the 290x.
it just shows the £440 7990's that were on sale today where a steal.

How do you know it run's hot. I hope you are not basing it on the furmark results. It was shown on here that the gtx780 with a good cooler can reach 95oc in furmark which is even hotter but when running games reaches no where near these temps.

 

[ICDP]

How many people get impressed about engineering? Hey man my card is way more impressive than your card from an engineering point of view.Meanwhile the other person has had his card for six months and you are both getting equal frame's.


Only one person is impressed here and it aint the guy on his 780 lol

I agree on the engineering side in this case, I don't care if it has a smaller die than GTX780. Having said that, I have a GTX780 and if R9 290X beats it and is cheaper then I will be impressed and upset at the same time.

 

[Kaapstad]

is all of the core size used on the 780 though ?

I was thinking about this the other day

The GTX 780 probably has less active transistors than the R9 290X and the Titan has more than the 290X.

 

[Orangey]

Not a lot has been said about launch drivers, I'm wondering what peoples' thoughts are given that the 7970 got a huge boost later on. It's still GCN but tweaked a fair bit.