** GIBBO's EXPLANATION OF THE NEW AMD LINEUP - WHICH ONE SHOULD I BUY? **

OcUK Staff
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Hi there


I know a lot of people are struggling to understand where the new cards fit against the old cards etc. for price and performance.

I have already dropped some hints in the past weeks, but of course I've not being able to say too much due to being under NDA from AMD, but now the NDA has officially lifted so I can talk and talk, plus talk more. :D


In this summary we shall be forgetting R9 290 series, that will take on GTX 780 and Titan. What we are going to talk about is R9 280 and below.

In short this is how they compare:-

  • R9 280 Series is a re-badged HD 7970 GHz at a new price point, prices at OcUK start from £230-£240 ish inclusive of VAT for basic models, OC models are towards £300. HD 7970 GHz performs within 3% of the new card and there are some great deals are OC 7970 models worth grabbing over R9 280X
  • R9 270 series is a tuned/overclocked 7870 XT, so much so it pretty much matches a stock HD 7950 for performance. The problem is R9 270 series does not overclock much as they are generally overclocked quite a lot out the box. An overclocked HD 7950 gives better performance, especially on memory intensive stuff due to 384-bit interface and 3GB of VRAM.
  • R9 260 series performs about the same as HD 7790, 7850 is a faster card for the same money. Of course though R7 260X features AMD's new True HD sound.


To make things easier, I've even knocked up a nice picture for you guys with OcUK's price points on:-



zywg.jpg





As you can see AMD's older 7800/7900 range still represent the absolute best value for money, but these cards are now end of life and will soon disappear. Compared to NVIDIA AMD's pricing is exceptional, giving better value in the upper-end, we are sure NVIDIA will no doubt move pricing on GTX 770 soon and maybe even GTX 780, though officially nothing is confirmed, so it might not even happen because of course NVIDIA have more features such as PhysX, 3D Vision etc.


I hope this helps you guys understand the new stack better! :)


P.S. The above image is a representation of gaming performance, of course an overclocked HD 7950 pulls further ahead of R270XT and will beat a GTX 760, but stock for stock I've tried to place the cards performance as best as possible, but as always overclocks etc. could effect that image, so it is as fair as possible. The GTX 760 is a surprisingly good card for the money as it competes well with AMD's new and old lineup. Just their GTX 770 needs a little price tweaking. :)
 
Cheers Gibbo :)

I was going to look up benchmarks & reviews (well... I still am) but this makes it less urgent :p

Yes please do.

As with different OC models on the market, the chart is just a guideline.

For example GTX 760 beats both stock R270XT and R270XT beats stock HD 7950.

But overclock them all and HD 7950 and GTX 760 both beat R270XT.

Hence the chart is guideline only.
 
Might aswell wait for the r9 290. Its apparently only 10% slower than the 290X, but could cost a considerable amount less.

Im thinking £400 or below for it and its an amazing buy. Kind of like the gtx 780 to Titan.

This post is for the sub £300 graphics segment. :)

R290 series, HD 7990, GTX 780 series are all the £400 plus segment.
 
Gibbo I notice that you are still including the gold silver and bronze game bundles even thought according to reviewers the new 200 series is not included in the never settle bundle. I assume this is just OCUK doing this and not a directive from AMD, does this also mean that vouchers might run out without warning?



Source

Correct.
Now the system works automatically so if a product shows a free item, you will get it, if no free item is showing on the product, then you get nothing. So now you get warning. :)
 
Great chart Gibbo, really clears things up, quick and easy reference style!

So for those of us who got a 7950 for ~£160 that easily clocks past 7970 speeds (mine easily does 1100/5600) have got a card that rivals the 280X and 770 for £100 less! Schweeeet! ;)

Yes!
 
Hi there

A bit of an error by me on the prices, TOP was too low on stock in the end to offer a sub £200 price.

However tweaked the Matrix Platinum price down, it is now £221.99 which is the cheapest its ever being anywhere. :)
 
Getting closer in price to making me hit the buy button but think still need to be a little bit lower(£210-£215) and it'd be too difficult to resist :)

Think I'll wait for the 290x then get either it or the gtx780 to replace my 6950 xfire.

OcUK won't be going that low. :)
 
Mores the shame, my card's at the ready if you decide to lower it :)

Won't happen, we've sold 100's now at much higher price, and the 100 I put on special offer are flying, they will sell out and as our overall stock is getting low with no chance of replenishment the last few shall be going up in price considerably to well over £250 on Monday.

As by end of October we expect to have no 79xx left and the focus will be on the new models which cost more.
 
@ Gibbo

Do you have any plans to put the HIS 7950 IceQ boost on offer again, just to clear stock - obviously ??

Please.

Were doing our last offer on it tomorrow, then the 79xx deals will be stopping at OcUK as they are nearly gone and what is left will sell fine at much higher prices, so tomorrow will be your last chance.
 
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