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

[LtMatt]

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...

Fair play for having the balls to say what a lot of us think. Its going to make you public enemy No.1 for a while though.

 

[LtMatt]

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/AMD-R...5597TestsAMD-Radeon-R9-290X-Benchmark-1093119

At first I'm like wow ! faster than Titan.... the I look down and see a HD7970 which is non-oc'ed and so darn close in performance and I think ehmm... not so wow !

Haha i thought the same. The 7970 is a card that handles high res well though. If you had a 680/770 in there the difference would be a bit more impressive.

 

[LtMatt]

That graph would look a bit different with the Titan @1000mhz.

The RRP would look a bit different as well i reckon.

 

[LtMatt]

gm
hm the morning debate, bottom right what does fixed boost mean, does that mean no boost?
i guess that makes the bench make more sense but we know how much a 7970 & 780 can overclock, no one runs them at stock

so its just going to come down to how much room the 290x has to overclock where it should really be on that chart

i can see nvidia releasing a overclocked(overpriced) 780 to turn it upside down

I think that means that a fixed boost clock was set to stop the core clock jumping around. Not sure really.

I am looking at it in the same way as a lot of non ref GTX 780s also beat a stock Titan until overclocking is brought into the equation.

They don't have to, the MSI lightning and EVGA Classified already take some beating.

You have to compare stock to stock though. I'm sure there will be similar non ref cards coming out for the 290/X 4-6 weeks after launch. Then it would be right to compare those to the non ref 780's.

 

[LtMatt]

they will milk it!
like a goat!

I don't know about anyone else but my Udders are standing to attention!

 

[LtMatt]

That bios thing makes me think overclocking must be very limited on air, if a separate limited bios is needed to keep it quiet.

Could be nice for water cooled cards though, switch into 'loud' mode. I want to see 1300mhz GTX 780 VS whatever 290X can clock to..

Its going to be just like Tahiti. You need to keep it cool if you want large overclocks. With a proper 3d party cooling solution, MSI, Asus Plat etc or watercooling id back a 290X with the fully unlocked bios.

 

[LtMatt]

What is more interesting than anything for me is the scaling between the HD 7970 and R9 290X, if you adjust the clocks back to 1000mhz the scaling is almost exactly 37.5%, the same as the increase in shaders.

Or putting another way find a game bench for a HD 7970 @1ghz, add 37.5% and it will give a rough idea what the R9 290X will do.

Interesting point. The performance scaling boost from core clocking a tahiti has always been impressive. A quick look at a 7950 @1100 will tell you that.

 

[LtMatt]

i hear kaap has some evga nipple clamps, maybe he'll let u borrow them
he has 4 of them lol

LOL. I'd be honoured to share his nipple clamps. Providing he washes them first.

Come on Matt I am going to need some input, what are the best waterblocks to get for AMD cards, full length only though.

Why would you ask someone who's idea of watercooling is owning a H100i?

 

[LtMatt]

Reference 780/titan are crap clockers as well, mostly down to the blower cooler. non reference is where the Mhz is at, same will apply to the 290's

But according to Broomstick all 780's do 1300?

They are self adhesive.

You know more about AMD cards than me.

I've no idea Kaap. I've yet to try to watercool anything. Its on my todo list though. Will likely have a stab at it when i upgrade to a single gpu when my 7950's stop cutting the mustard at 1440p.

Not necessarily true. Mine does 1250+/ 1800 .

Silicon lottery as always.

 

[LtMatt]

Of course but I was just pointing out that not all reference cards are crap clockers.

Yep i didn't think they were. My MSI 7970 OC was reference and that was certainly a diamond in the rough.

Now if you'll excuse me i need a moment.

 

[LtMatt]

Could it heat a small family home?

Not really. It fluctuates around 85c on the default fan profile. 780s and Titan are made to run at this temperature on air.

Aye its pretty much standard temp for these cards. AMD just gets a harder time because their cooler shroud is plastic and Nvidia's is metal. The Nvidia obviously looks nicer but if AMD adopted a design like that their prices would rise. Most people buying AMD gpu's care about price. That's how i see it anyway.

 

[LtMatt]

All joking aside, when I get my cards up and running any help from the AMD regulars will be most welcome.

You don't need it.

I care about price ! that's why I buy nVidia reference

What i meant by that was, someone looking to get good bang for their buck generally buys AMD. Someone who doesn't care about that buys Nvidia. Not quite a one fits all solution but you can see where im coming from.

 

[LtMatt]

And I guess I just fancy green

Your sig gave it away.

 

[LtMatt]

Stop with the silly images and gif's please gents. Lets get the thread back on topic!.

Yes sir.

 

[LtMatt]

furmark trottle cards, no manufacturer runs the cards in furmark.
its a bad testing program.
one reason any nvidia card has a stop in the driver for it.
they be burning up if they didnt have it in place.
so the test those guys did is a misdirection.

290x is a card for eyefinity, bigger resolutions, a 7970/280x is a 1920x1080 due to at such resolutions there are minor difference even between mid to top end cards. I blame DX there.

some picture
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...ands-details&p=5211529&viewfull=1#post5211529

Will you look at that sleeping dogs performance with SSAA. 512bit bus/compute ftw. Sleeping dogs 2 has just been announced as well.



Who said 4gb wasn't enough for 4k?

 

[LtMatt]

Difference is massive in some games.

The whole thing is pointless to the vast majority of us though. Hardly anyone games in 4k or will for another couple of years.

Not if its priced well.

I think AMD should stop the NDA at 3PM GMT today just as the Nvidia conference starts. Steel their thunder

image removed.

 

[LtMatt]

Those figures look way too dodgy

Also to get those fps the settings have to be turned down. There is no way a R9 290X is going to get 46.19 on sleeping dogs @4k when an overclocked HD 7970 struggles to get 60fps @1080p

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18536130

We need proper reviews.

Results look correct to me. Using HIGH SSAA not extreme Kaap. This is how my 7970 handled SSAA high at 1080p on old drivers. (13.1)

Spoiler

 

[LtMatt]

I have to say I am very impressed with this 290X. Seeing those bench results in Crysis 3 is very good and is actually faster than my SLI Titans were at 5760x1080 (4K has over 2 million more pixels).

One 290X stomping on 2 Titans and at higher resolutions is very impressive indeed.

Edit:

In case people missed it, I am being sarcastic and want to see settings used.

Obviously its not with max settings. That's fairly obvious.

 

[LtMatt]

Isn't the High setting not SSAA but another form of AA though? i.e. less intensive on the memory

No you're thinking of the normal setting Mr Galloway.

 

[LtMatt]

some images from the event.
Nothing sexy.
http://imgur.com/a/05esi

Haha stock cpu cooler.