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AMD 2xx series how did they get it so wrong?

I agree I had a 290x it's noisy, loud and an electric munching monster, but with that cooler it's simply not fit for purpose and AMD failed hard right there
 
Think it boils down to a couple of things really, do i want to just pull a card out of the box, plug it in and have the fastest gfx card possible without having to worry about noise, heat, watercooling etc? if yes then buy a 780TI, you pay the premium for this.

If you dont mind noise and heat, then go for a 290x, if you do mind the heat, then watercool it or put an aftermarket cooling solution on it, should still work out cheaper than a 780TI.

If your shrewd and want top end but dont want to pay top end premiums, go for a 290 pro, it will perform out of the box near the top end cards, it will be hot and noisy, this will put some people off, it can be watercooled, or you can wait for a non reference version to become available.

The one unknown factor to remember in all of this is AMD have not put all their cards on the table yet, they still have Mantle up their sleeve, it could be epic, it could set sail for Fail, we dont know yet, but if it is great and really does increase performance of cards that support it, that close cap between the 780ti and the 290/290X will become even smaller, couple that with Non Reference, manufacturer tweaked versions (Sapphires Toxic range for instance) and you could well be looking at the R9 290/290X pulling ahead of 780TI.
 
NZXT30 said:
AMD had all the time in the world to design a gpu with a decent stock cooler that surpasses the 780/titan. Instead they designed a chip that is too hot too slow and pales in comparison to the excellent 7xxx series. And then we got the golden samples and throttling issues. It's so bad that it makes the gtx 480 that got so much criticism look amazing. Is amd's cpu failures draining funds from the gpu department? Nvidia has not been such a clear choice since the dreadful ati 2900.
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What ever you're smoking give some to me..
 
I'm going for a 290 pro, near Titan performance for 300 odd quid. OK the ref ones are hot and loud (subjective), but I'll be able to swap the cooler down the line if it really is that bad and it might have a bit of overclocking headroom if I want a bit more fps at the expense of some noise on the stock cooler. I can't justify a few more fps out of the box for an extra £140+ and the 290pro has the potential to keep up with the 780ti with some decent cooling. If I was made of money then fair enough, but the bargain hunter in me tells me AMD have won this round, regrardless if it runs hot and loud? Those parameters are fixable now, before the custom cooler cards are released.
 
Smudge said:
I'm going for a 290 pro, near Titan performance for 300 odd quid. OK the ref ones are hot and loud (subjective), but I'll be able to swap the cooler down the line if it really is that bad and it might have a bit of overclocking headroom if I want a bit more fps at the expense of some noise on the stock cooler. I can't justify a few more fps out of the box for an extra £140+ and the 290pro has the potential to keep up with the 780ti with some decent cooling. If I was made of money then fair enough, but the bargain hunter in me tells me AMD have won this round, regrardless if it runs hot and loud? Those parameters are fixable now, before the custom cooler cards are released.
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i think as you can accept the downside its a great choice, i would be happier joining you as i like the look of ati's upcoming tech more than nvidia but i cant accept the downside

for me it looks like i am running nvidia soon and hoping to jump back on ati next year sometime ><
 
thefogo said:
You must have some very loud case fans :eek:
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Well I've had my nice new sapphire 290 installed and on a long valley loop, in my corsair 540 with all the stock fans at 7v (which is all but silent) I can safely say either people haven't had or used the cards themselves or they just like posting dramatic nonsense on the internet.

I value a quiet pc and have over the years gone out of my way to address the noise issues, my current rig has all the fans running at 7v and the cpu is water cooled, the 290 is hammering along through valley at a solid 89c fan is going along at 48% (I've set mine to 70%) and yes its audible, is it unreasonable? NO, my crossfire 7950's which are twin frozr and windforce are louder, ok that's not a fair example as its crossfire and they are oc'ed to their limits however to say the 290 is extreme in the noise department is nonsense, its not quiet but the last truly quiet under load card I had was a 7970 direct cuii which wouldn't oc for its life.

I can imagine the type of chassis it is housed in makes a good difference my 540 seems to keep it running fine as does my raven rv02 but both cases probably represent some of the best air cooled cases you can buy, still if your using a top end card surely you would use a top end case or water cool it if not.

Back to see what clocks mine can handle.
 
Waiting for a 290x non reference. With Battlefield 4, Battlefront and Mass Effect new games all using Mantle then AMD should have the upper hand in the games that I want to play. Plus I need AMD for my monitors 3D.
 
This thread should be called " AMD 2xx series how did they get it so right apart from the cooler" The cooler is the only thing that's not as good as it could have been. The performance is spot on when comparing to Nvidia price point's. Creating a thread with the title it has is suggesting the whole card is bad which it isn't.
 
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I just went with my insticts and trusted in the review Gibbo did in which it is clear the card doesnt have to run like a jet, I'm glad I did, I bought a 7970 on launch and that was about the SAME noise as this is producing under full load, the loudest cards I have ever owned and heard were my 480's in sli and they were spaced far apart and in a seriously well cooled case, for some reason certain people have motivations to put amd down at every turn, they have given us a sensational card here for a fair price granted nvidia have given us some sensational cards too but never at a great price, if your in any doubts over getting a 290 due to the comments on heat/noise go get one only be cautious if your planning on using a small poorly cooled chassis.
 
TheRealDeal said:
This thread should be called " AMD 2xx series how did they get it so right apart from the cooler" The cooler is the only thing that's not as good as it could have been. The performance is spot on when comparing to Nvidia price point's.
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Agreed!
 
I think Nvidia fanbois have been used to paying over the odds for so long they have become brainwashed that paying more means your just more superior and the product is more superior, coupled with the fact AMD had a bad rep in gfx cards for a good while, they just cant fathom anymore that the tide has now turned, call it denial i guess?
 
It boils down to the fact that AMD is well cheaper than it's Nvidia counterpart, sounds like AMD has to throw in a better cooler too, and keep the price down, you can't have it all folks.


nitram100 said:
Plus I need AMD for my monitors 3D.
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No you don't, Nvidia works via Tridef too, although it's SBS instead of FS(as Nvidia won't allow FS outwith 3D vision).
 
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TheRealDeal said:
This thread should be called " AMD 2xx series how did they get it so right apart from the cooler" The cooler is the only thing that's not as good as it could have been. The performance is spot on when comparing to Nvidia price point's. Creating a thread with the title it has is suggesting the whole card is bad which it isn't.
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+1

The only problem is the poor cooler is affecting temps, noise, throttling, performance, etc. Once the decent aftermarket coolers arrive, all those issues will disappear.
 
I would like to know what's wrong with the 2xx series in general.

270X is great value for money. Is basically a weaker 7950.

280X is a 7970ghz on steroids (with DX11.2 support), many factory overclocked models come very close to stock GTX780 at 2/3 of the prices the later has.

290 pro at ~£300 has no competitor full stop. At bit more than 3/4 of the money than a GTX780 is as fast as.
(except 1-3 fps is big a gap for you worth the £100),
and has crap reference cooler that holds it back.

290X, costs less than 3/4 (71% to be exact) the price of the 780Ti, for 90% the performance on OLD games at 1440p or less. Is tad faster than the 780ti on BF4 (and bet you, newer games), and faster on "OLD" games at resolutions 1600p and 4K. And has crap reference cooler that seriously holds back the card.

In addition we haven't see the Mantle yet, nor even the first WHQL drivers for the 290/290X. While 780s have almost a year matured drivers.

What I just just see is AMD bashing for people trying to justify the Nvidia prices they pay. If the Nvidia had prices similar to AMD for the same performance, then things could have being tight and clear winner could have being decided next year.

And on all these I haven't put into the account the current "old" cards & prices.
Like the 7990 (which is way faster than the 780ti for £200 less and faster than the 290x for £50), or CF 7950s solutions that are almost at 1/2 the price of the 780ti.


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And if there was the choice between GTX690, GTX780ti and 290X at the same price, then there is no brainer what people should buy. GTX690.
 
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