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Mini review of the Powercolor R9 270X Devil

PapaLazaru

PapaLazaru

PapaLazaru

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I have been mulling over getting this card for a while as a replacement for my MSI R6970 Lightning. I am only posting this as I know there are a fair few people still running 6950 / 6970's and I also know that many would say it is a pointless upgrade. On paper the 6970 Lighting is still a decent card, but I wanted something to try Mantle and something less power hungry and also cheaper. This is the cheapest new GPU I have bought in years as both the 6970 and my previous card before that, a 5870 cost me around £300.00 each. My CPU, a Phenom 965BE, is also getting on a bit and I wanted something that would not bottleneck it, though my next purchase will be an FX chip.

The Powercolor R9 270X Devil is currently priced at £157.99 with both a BF4 code (sold in MM for £13 and an AMD Ruby code (sold in MM for £18), which makes is a very attractive proposition for anyone on a budget. It also comes with a mouse mat in the box which is pretty cool.

The clincher for me is also the fact that OcUk are managing the warranty and any returns.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-161-PC

So let's have a little look at it -

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Nice to see a proper backplate on a 'budget' card -
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Size comparision to the 6970 Lightning. It is a big card.

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So my first impressions are that it looks pretty bloody amazing. It has been well built and I know from reading reviews the triple fan is both quiet and cool.

I did a quick bench on 3D Mark Firestrike 1.1 against the 6970 before I shipped it off to another forum member and the results were:

3789 with AMD Radeon HD 6970(1x) and AMD Phenom II X4 965

5339 with AMD Radeon R9 270X(1x) and AMD Phenom II X4 965

As you can see it is a massive improvement. I played a few rounds on BF4 last night and it is noticeably smoother and my frame rates have improved by around 20%. This will hopefully improve further with Mantle.

So anyway there you have it. I am very impressed with it and it just goes to show how far tech is improving when you can get a card for so cheap that blows away pretty much the fastest out of the box 6970 there was.

There are some proper reviews floating about as well. :D

- Product Review 1: http://www.custompcreview.com/reviews/powercolor-devil-r9-270x-2gb-review/19285/
- Product Review 2: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/powercolor_devil_r9_270x/
- Product Review 3: http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/graphics/37917-pc-270x-dev?showall=1&limitstart
 
Powercolor did a sterling job on this card to be honest and the current pricing makes it a steal, then factor in the games and mouse mat, its a true bargain.

Did better than I expected though, it really kicked your 6970's ass, gotta be a 7950 performing or beating card in games, which for £150 is a great buy. :)
 
I've been recommending these in spec threads for a while now - good to know it isn't a dud :p It looks like a great value card, particularly with the 5 free games OcUK give you with it. And I didn't even realise it had a backplate. Nice.
 
Nice review, looks like a great card and the one I think I was going to go for. Its pitty the price has gone up coz now it's the same price as comparable cards like the MSI Hawk which can be bought free p&p else where. :(
 
wook said:
Nice review, looks like a great card and the one I think I was going to go for. Its pitty the price has gone up coz now it's the same price as comparable cards like the MSI Hawk which can be bought free p&p else where. :(
Click to expand...
Me too ... had spent a few days debating whether to get this and finally decided that the all the extras (BF4 + Ruby at that stage) plus reduced price made it worth it ... so went to place order and found that in the 4 ot 5 hours between last looking at web site at work and going on computer at home to place order that price had gone up and BF4 was no longer included. So as effectively price had gone up by £32 decided to give it a miss and wait to see if it ever turns up on TWO or TO.
 
subbytna said:
From what I have read thus far the 270x doesn't figure in Mantle. Perhaps in future but nothing now unfortunately :/
Click to expand...


http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx

AMD Mantle Beta driver is currently supported on:

AMD Radeon™ R9 Series GPUs
AMD Radeon™ R7 Series GPUs
AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series GPUs
AMD Radeon™ HD 8000 Series GPUs
AMD A10-7000 Series and AMD A8-7000 Series APUs
Click to expand...

So Mantle is there and already supported for it.

Granted it's not one of the lead Mantle cards at the moment and hasn't had the full BF4 optimisation yet. But people keep telling me that about my 7970 and the difference in BF4 is still noticeable.

Either way, nice card Papa. Looks like you picked up a good deal and a sweet upgrade. :)
 
what are the general gaming temps of the card? would be interesting to know

and are the fans loud or not,i see powercolor have improved the vrm cooling on the newer gen cards,my 7970 powercolor card was let down by the cooler imo even though it was a non ref
 
deshepherd said:
Me too ... had spent a few days debating whether to get this and finally decided that the all the extras (BF4 + Ruby at that stage) plus reduced price made it worth it ... so went to place order and found that in the 4 ot 5 hours between last looking at web site at work and going on computer at home to place order that price had gone up and BF4 was no longer included. So as effectively price had gone up by £32 decided to give it a miss and wait to see if it ever turns up on TWO or TO.
Click to expand...

Wasn't just me that was muttering about missing this at the reduced price then. :D

Any chance of another graphics card sale? Pleeeaaassse!!! ;)
 
wazza300 said:
what are the general gaming temps of the card? would be interesting to know

and are the fans loud or not,i see powercolor have improved the vrm cooling on the newer gen cards,my 7970 powercolor card was let down by the cooler imo even though it was a non ref
Click to expand...

I shall endeavour to check this evening. Still very please with this card. BF4 is so much smoother now and I have also got rid of the dreaded memory leaks I was getting, which is bad news of anyone does get them with 5 / 6 series card, as the fix is to sell up unfortunately.
 
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