* AMD Radeon R9 290X Reviews Thread *

Rusty0611 · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:49

w3bbo said:
I would be surprised if the custom cooled varieties emerge before the 780Ti. The ball is now in NVIDIA's court. AMDs reply will be overclocked 290X's as per last time around with 7970 GHz edition.

Indeed. I think personally you'll end up with a similar spectrum as the last generation in pure performance terms. Trading blows in most games. Fag paper between the top 2 cards from the two companies and even less between the cards horizontally.

w3bbo · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:51

LtMatt said:
No doubt. How quiet is quiet mode?

Its all subjective tbh. Nobody can categorically say it is silent unless you have the same ambient temps and the same case cooling. In my opinion it certainly wasn't silent, quieter yes but not silent. You can make the card as quiet as you want with the new overdrive utility but this is obviously at the expense of core clockspeed and I doubt many will be buying a flagship card only to downclock it! The noise isn't helped at all by the small intakes at the end of the card nor the small vents on the side. I see little point in having an enclosed shroud card only to vent back into a case. They may as well have gone for a more open design and cut noise down dramatically.

Rusty0611 said:
Indeed. I think personally you'll end up with a similar spectrum as the last generation in pure performance terms. Trading blows in most games. Fag paper between the top 2 cards from the two companies and even less between the cards horizontally.

Yeah and lest we forget, these are very immature drivers with at the time of reviewing, no voltage unlocking available. With the voltage now unlocked (I think) and with better drivers and of course custom (read quieter/cooler) heatsinks the card will be the titan killer we all hoped for.

Orangey · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:52

LtMatt said:
What things does it beat it in Orangey? I better get my Ice-Q's ready for battle.

I saw on sweclockers, better min in Metro:

http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/17772-amd-radeon-r9-290x/9#pagehead

Probably an anomaly but still.

Make · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:52

I'm scared what the aftermarket coolers will do to case temperatures... 95c of heat dumped into the case and going near the CPU most likely.

But the performance does seem awesome.

One has to wonder what the green camp could do with a target temp of 95 though

Gripen90 · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:53

WTH happened to wattage usage on this card !
According to TPU !.
"Non-gaming power consumption is very high, too, and higher than previous products from AMD, far beyond what NVIDIA has to offer. Blu-ray power consumption, for example, is 78W! Comparable NVIDIA cards handle Blu-ray tasks with under 20W. Multi-monitor power consumption is similar, negatively affecting office users with multiple screens.
...
While I could describe the "Quiet" BIOS as "acceptable" given performance, the "Uber" BIOS just is not something you could seriously use every day."

Gibbo · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:53

Rusty0611 said:
Doesn't leave much overclocking headroom unless you're water cooling though. Going to be limited by temps and noise in reality. Custom cooled a while away too...

Upto 1250MHz on core now!

Rusty0611 · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:55

Gibbo said:
Upto 1250MHz on core now!

You're cheating. You've got 8 pack and fluid

.

Orangey · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:55

Make said:
One has to wonder what the green camp could do with a target temp of 95 though

Fermi

LtMatt · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:56

Gibbo said:
Upto 1250MHz on core now!

The end of titan dominance is nigh.

gappol said:
World Records already falling. The first of many I guess.

Stock Reference cards at -130°C. No add-on power card either.

*COUGH GTX Titanic COUGH*

LtMatt · 24 Oct 2013 at 07:59

Corrected my post above. Images should work now.

Orangey · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:00

LtMatt said:
The end of titan dominance is nigh.

Oh how the overpriced have fallen.

Uncle Petey · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:01

LtMatt said:
No doubt. How quiet is quiet mode?

I'd imagine it's the same as your old 7970 ref was at those speeds.
I think we both know why AMD only set it to 55% even in 'uber' mode

w3bbo · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:01

Make said:
I'm scared what the aftermarket coolers will do to case temperatures... 95c of heat dumped into the case and going near the CPU most likely.

But the performance does seem awesome.

One has to wonder what the green camp could do with a target temp of 95 though

Guys, before you get carried away, the target temp of 95c makes NO difference to case temperatures! A card running at 60c with its fan at 40% could expel the same amount of heat back into a case from a card running 95c with a fan at 20%.

A watercooled GPU that has a 40c load temp will still kick out the same heat as the very same aircooled GPU running at 80c. The 95c threshold is AMDs method of balancing noise and power, the same heatdump will occur regardless of reported GPU temp given the same load conditions.

LtMatt · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:02

Orangey said:
Oh how the overpriced have fallen.

Check this out. 16% faster than a 780 in Uber mode.

Uncle Petey said:
I'd imagine it's the same as your old 7970 ref was at those speeds.
I think we both know why AMD only set it to 55% even in 'uber' mode

True that Pete. I happily gamed with my 7970 reference up to 70% fap (typo should say fan but fap seems apt

) speed without problem though, thanks to g35 headphones.

That was at 1200/1600 and temps were about 75-80c in bf3.

Dicehunter · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:02

According to overclock3d.net, Video review in link below, The card feels rushed, Looks cheap, Runs stupidly hot and is on par with the 780.

Video Review -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lZ3Z6Niir4

Written Review -

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/amd_r9_290x_review/1

dom99 · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:03

I cant see it for general sale yet, I'm hoping it will be available this afternoon!

I must admit the temps and power consumption do worry me slightly, but I'm willing to look past that as it performs.

Does anyone know if they do AIO water coolers for GPUs?

Gazb · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:05

Wonder if anyone will be testing these in crossfire with a fx 9350 just off a laugh.

Heat and power aside the frame rates seem impressive for the money.

Make · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:12

dom99 said:
Does anyone know if they do AIO water coolers for GPUs?

Some, like the ARES 2 has them. Also there's a certain model from Hercules that I can't remember..

Most people just slap a an antec kühler on them, or any other asetek-branded cooler (Needs to have a round pump). Just remember to cool the VRM's too!

Rusty0611 · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:12

Nice review Matt. Give over on the cherry picking

.

Nadleeh · 24 Oct 2013 at 08:13

I like the performance of the card and was going for one ASAP, but that power/wattage usage in average use for movies etc is just INSANE ! 78watts when watching a Blu-ray DVD - are you kidding me ? - this tips me off. I'd be better of with R9-280X instead.

Competitor rules

*** AMD Radeon R9 290X Reviews Thread ***

* AMD Radeon R9 290X Reviews Thread *