** SAPPHIRE R290 PRO REVIEW & 1000+ IN STOCK!! **

Gibbo

Gibbo

Gibbo

OcUK Staff
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
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Hi there


First of all to celebrate simply how good this card is, we are doing a special *ONE DAY ONLY* launch price. We have allocated 250pc to this special price of £319.99 Inc. VAT, once these 250 have sold the price the price will increase to £329.99 Inc. VAT or tomorrow at 9am, whichever comes sooner:-



Sapphire R9 290 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card @ £319.99 inc VAT

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AMD Radeon R9 290 is a new graphics card powered by the latest AMD Radeon™ R9 290 graphics-processing unit (GPU). 4GB of super-fast GDDR5 memory for the best gaming experience at the highest resolutions including 4k and incorporates AMD Eyefinity and TrueAudio technologies to enable expansive multi-display setups and more accurate environmental sounds. R9 290 also includes support for both DirectX® 11.2 and AMD's new Mantle application programming interface (API) for great handling of even the most-demanding PC games.


Features:-
- DirectX 11.2 Support
- Open GL 4.2 Support
- Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support
- Crossfire Support upto 4-way: Native software crossfire (No bridge required)
- Gaming @ 4k Resolutions (UltraHD)
- Synergy with next-gen game consoles (Mantle)
- Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture - optimized from previous generation products

Specification:-
- GPU: Hawaii Pro
- Stream Processors: 2560
- Core Speed: 947MHz
- Memory Speed: 5000Mhz
- Memory interface: 512-Bit
- Memory capacity: 4096MB GDDR5
- Cooling: 2-Slot Blower Fan
- PCI-Express X16 lane required
- 750W or greater PSU required
- Power Connectors: 8-pin + 6-pin required
- Display Outputs: 2x Dual Link DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
- Warranty: 2yr


Was [£329.99] Inc. VAT

Only £319.99 inc VAT with FREE GAMES - 1000+ IN STOCK!!

ORDER NOW





My Review & Benchmarks - MAKE SURE YOU READ THIS!!



This review was conducted using AMD's latest 13.11 Beta 8 driver which offers some additional performance. The rig used was also a Haswell clocked at 5000MHz, compared to the previous rig which was 4800MHz. I also managed to clock the card further by flashing the Sapphire card with an Asus BIOS for voltage control, this allowed me upto 1185/6600 on the stock cooler. Changing to the MK26 cooler allowed me to increase core speed upto 1220Mhz, but unfortunately the memory overclocked decreased to 6400MHz, due to the MK26 not cooling the VRM's and memory as well as the stock cooling solution.

Water-cooling will be the solution to cool these bad boys if you intend on doing extreme overclocking, as a water-blocked card will see upto 1300MHz core and 6600-6800MHz on the memory, plus be about 30-40c cooler and silent.

This review is to merely show you what an R290 Pro can achieve in the right environment when properly cooled with the Asus BIOS to extra voltage.

To make it clear R290 Pro is not faster than R290X, it is only beating R290X due to the newer drivers and faster core clock along with slightly faster processor speed, when re-testing R290X we also found its performance improved in-line, making it still 6-10% faster than R290 Pro.

Download the Asus BIOS - HERE!


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CHARTS - UNFAIR COMPARISON DUE TO DRIVER / RIG CHANGE



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This is an unfair comparison against the R290X as the R290X results are two weeks old, using the launch drivers supplied on the CD out the box with cards and in a slightly slower clocked PC, Haswell at 4800MHz VS 5000Mhz, as we did not have the same PC available for testing. What these results show you is what R290 Pro is truly capable of and how it fairs against NVIDIA on their latest drivers, albeit again the R290 Pro has a slight advantage due to being in a faster machine. So please take notice of this!







Conclusion


In short for a little over £300, these things are an absolute steal. The card is identical to its bigger brother the R290X, the only differences being 2560 VS 2816 stream processors and the core speed downclocked to 947MHz from 1000Mhz. So about 6%-10% slower out the box but you save £100 / 30%

Please note an R290 Pro is not faster than an R290X, we did a quick re-test on R290X with the new drivers also at 1220/6600 and in Firestrike it scored over 6000 points in the Extreme preset, making it about 8% faster.

In short R290X is 6-10% faster than R290 Pro depending on the game / benchmark, but it is 30% more expensive, making the R290 Pro a bargain, especially when you consider the R290 Pro is beating overclocked GTX 780's and Titan by some margin. :eek:

Like R290X it still runs hot and can get loud, though it does run marginally cooler and marginally quiet, but not by much. An MK26 is ideal for anyone want to have a small/mild overclock on their card and enjoy silent running, but for maximum overclock attempts we recommend the stock cooler at 100% fan speed or water-cooling. :)

IN SHORT R290 PRO IS THE BEST VALUE FOR MONEY HIGH-END GAMING CARD ON THE MARKET!
 
HI there


Here are the other cards, also all in stock:-



Asus Radeon R9 290 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card @ £379.99 inc VAT

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AMD Radeon R9 290 is a new graphics card powered by the latest AMD Radeon™ R9 290 graphics-processing unit (GPU). 4GB of super-fast GDDR5 memory for the best gaming experience at the highest resolutions including 4k and incorporates AMD Eyefinity and TrueAudio technologies to enable expansive multi-display setups and more accurate environmental sounds. R9 290 also includes support for both DirectX® 11.2 and AMD's new Mantle application programming interface (API) for great handling of even the most-demanding PC games.


Features:-
- DirectX 11.2 Support
- Open GL 4.2 Support
- Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support
- Crossfire Support upto 4-way: Native software crossfire (No bridge required)
- Gaming @ 4k Resolutions (UltraHD)
- Synergy with next-gen game consoles (Mantle)
- Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture - optimized from previous generation products

Specification:-
- GPU: Hawaii Pro
- Stream Processors: 2560
- Core Speed: 947MHz
- Memory Speed: 5000Mhz
- Memory interface: 512-Bit
- Memory capacity: 4096MB GDDR5
- Cooling: 2-Slot Blower Fan
- PCI-Express X16 lane required
- 750W or greater PSU required
- Power Connectors: 8-pin + 6-pin required
- Display Outputs: 2x Dual Link DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
- Warranty: 3yr


Only £379.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW






Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card @ £339.95 inc VAT

GX-126-GI_400.jpg


AMD Radeon R9 290 is a new graphics card powered by the latest AMD Radeon™ R9 290 graphics-processing unit (GPU). 4GB of super-fast GDDR5 memory for the best gaming experience at the highest resolutions including 4k and incorporates AMD Eyefinity and TrueAudio technologies to enable expansive multi-display setups and more accurate environmental sounds. R9 290 also includes support for both DirectX® 11.2 and AMD's new Mantle application programming interface (API) for great handling of even the most-demanding PC games.


Features:-
- DirectX 11.2 Support
- Open GL 4.2 Support
- Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support
- Crossfire Support upto 4-way: Native software crossfire (No bridge required)
- Gaming @ 4k Resolutions (UltraHD)
- Synergy with next-gen game consoles (Mantle)
- Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture - optimized from previous generation products

Specification:-
- GPU: Hawaii Pro
- Stream Processors: 2560
- Core Speed: 947MHz
- Memory Speed: 5000Mhz
- Memory interface: 512-Bit
- Memory capacity: 4096MB GDDR5
- Cooling: 2-Slot Blower Fan
- PCI-Express X16 lane required
- 750W or greater PSU required
- Power Connectors: 8-pin + 6-pin required
- Display Outputs: 2x Dual Link DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
- Warranty: 3yr


Only £339.95 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW






HIS Radeon R9 290 Boost 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card @ £323.99 inc VAT

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AMD Radeon R9 290 is a new graphics card powered by the latest AMD Radeon™ R9 290 graphics-processing unit (GPU). 4GB of super-fast GDDR5 memory for the best gaming experience at the highest resolutions including 4k and incorporates AMD Eyefinity and TrueAudio technologies to enable expansive multi-display setups and more accurate environmental sounds. R9 290 also includes support for both DirectX® 11.2 and AMD's new Mantle application programming interface (API) for great handling of even the most-demanding PC games.


Features:-
- DirectX 11.2 Support
- Open GL 4.2 Support
- Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support
- Crossfire Support upto 4-way: Native software crossfire (No bridge required)
- Gaming @ 4k Resolutions (UltraHD)
- Synergy with next-gen game consoles (Mantle)
- Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture - optimized from previous generation products

Specification:-
- GPU: Hawaii Pro
- Stream Processors: 2560
- Core Speed: 947MHz
- Memory Speed: 5000Mhz
- Memory interface: 512-Bit
- Memory capacity: 4096MB GDDR5
- Cooling: 2-Slot Blower Fan
- PCI-Express X16 lane required
- 750W or greater PSU required
- Power Connectors: 8-pin + 6-pin required
- Display Outputs: 2x Dual Link DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
- Warranty: 2yr


Only £323.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW






MSI Radeon R9 290 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card @ £329.99 inc VAT

GX-224-MS_400.jpg


AMD Radeon R9 290 is a new graphics card powered by the latest AMD Radeon™ R9 290 graphics-processing unit (GPU). 4GB of super-fast GDDR5 memory for the best gaming experience at the highest resolutions including 4k and incorporates AMD Eyefinity and TrueAudio technologies to enable expansive multi-display setups and more accurate environmental sounds. R9 290 also includes support for both DirectX® 11.2 and AMD's new Mantle application programming interface (API) for great handling of even the most-demanding PC games.


Features:-
- DirectX 11.2 Support
- Open GL 4.2 Support
- Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio support
- Crossfire Support upto 4-way: Native software crossfire (No bridge required)
- Gaming @ 4k Resolutions (UltraHD)
- Synergy with next-gen game consoles (Mantle)
- Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture - optimized from previous generation products

Specification:-
- GPU: Hawaii Pro
- Stream Processors: 2560
- Core Speed: 947MHz
- Memory Speed: 5000Mhz
- Memory interface: 512-Bit
- Memory capacity: 4096MB GDDR5
- Cooling: 2-Slot Blower Fan
- PCI-Express X16 lane required
- 750W or greater PSU required
- Power Connectors: 8-pin + 6-pin required
- Display Outputs: 2x Dual Link DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
- Warranty: 3yr


Only £329.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW
 
[ZiiP]carrot;25247021 said:
Just to confirm, same pub as 290x,so gelid cooling option should work on this too?
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Yes same, so what works on 290X will work on 290 too. :)
 
4737Joker said:
nice review, just to clarify iirc the 780 hof on the charts is clocked at roughly 1200mhz on the core for the benches?

I could be wrong but just checking :)
Click to expand...

1317MHz core it was clocked or there abouts. :)
I shall be testing Gigabyte 780 GHz and 780Ti today to compare against R290 Pro. :)
 
covenantuk said:
I'm still not ecstatic about my GPU running at 90C 24/7 and I'm definitely not going back to a wind turbine level of noise from a graphics card in my system.

A little cheating from AMD imo in that department - be interesting to know how fast a 780 would be if it was allowed to run that hot?
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What an odd comment.

Do you realise you could run a 780 with the fans set to minimum, it will soon get upto 90c when under-load, especially overclocked and would not clock as far as it would when running cooler at say sub 80c.

All cards the same, cool them better, the further they clock.

So actually the question should be, wonder what core clocks an R290 would hit if the GPU temperature was maintained sub 60c, of course higher.

All cards the same, cool them more, they clock higher.

Titan and 780Ti also run pretty hot, they will see 80-90c under gaming quite easily, so AMD is not alone in hot running on these cards with big cores and lots of processing power.
 
RCoon said:
What an odd reply.

You do realise a reference 780 can be clocked to 1200mhz using the reference cooler, and maintain sub 75 degrees at less than 49 DB. The 290 and 290X cannot do that with their reference cooler, because they throttle at stock clocks already, and sound like a plasma heated dyson hoover. There is no headroom unless you buy a new cooler or watercool it. Which would then take the card to the same price point as a 780.

I'm happy to provide proof for all of this, screenshots and scores alike. I've been through 3 780's in the last few months, two reference, one windforce 3x OC, and had both reference under water for benchmarking with full cover EK blocks.

All that being said, nobody would buy a 780 now until the price drops again to realign with AMD, but anyone with a 780 or Titan would have to be insane to sell up and buy these instead, unless they intend to watercool. The Magnesium alloy reference cooler is far superior.
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So explain how I got 1200Mhz core then with the reference cooler with ZERO throttling? All benchmarkers run with fans at 100% when going for maximum overclock, as such with the fan at such speeds and card clocked to 1200MHz it remains sub 85c. At stock clocks it is very easy to keep an R290X from throttling, you just set a GPU temp limit of 90c and set the fan maximum fan speed of 60%, this keeps it both quiet/reasonable and prevents throttling.

I don't need you to provide me any proof, I was overclocking champion 10 years ago, in short I know what I am doing, 8 Pack even more so. Just like I can run 780's at 1300MHz on their stock cooler if the silicon is good, again with fans at 100%, which is also loud, just not as loud as AMD.

I don't understand why you want to show me screenshots? I know what 780's and every other card on the market can do, I've tested them all.

I've water-cooled 780's, they can achieve upto 1400MHz core in such circumstances again with good silicon and the R290's can manage 1300Mhz, both cards in complete silence and at these max levels the R290 still edges it.

So I am a little confused as to what you want to prove to me? I've already done it!

Of course I agree if you have a 780, its only a sidestep upgrade and simply not worthwhile, at no point have I suggested anyone with a 780 change to a R290, that would just be pointless.

On prices 780's won't move again, NVIDIA sales have exploded with the new price points, VGA sales in general are at the highest we've seen them in years, if not outperforming all previous records, seems to me current pricing set by AMD and NVIDIA is spot on, the sales speak volumes of such.

You do realise as well when you say buying an R290, then a waterblock brings it to same price point, difference being the R290 would have a big performance advantage and be quieter.

Right now we are testing 780GHz and 780Ti and clocking them, to add to the results, were world champions here, myself holding 3D Mark 2001 title from some years ago and 8Pack with multiple titles, we know exactly what were doing. :)
 
RCoon said:
Your overexageration with temperatures and "reasonable" noise levels on the reference coolers is impressive. Whatever makes you sell more plasma hoovers right?
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Then I shall simply direct you to customers who have these cards and are happy with them.

Temperatures upto 95c is fine (above it will throttle), the product is designed to work at such temperatures, you do understand this concept? So what about Titan, it also runs in the mid 80's range when the fan it set to stay quiet, it too like the AMD card also has no issues, the cards are designed to run at such temperatures and silicon can actually run upto around 120c before you've got a melt down issue. But as the expert your pro-claiming to be and want to prove to me stuff I already know, surely you know this? Facts are an R290 with fan set to a maximum speed of 55% won't even reach 95c, so won't throttle, even if you set the fan to 40% which is very quiet it still might not throttle, all depending on case/ambient temps etc.

The stock cooler with fan speed set to 55% is perfectly reasonable and is enough to keep the card typically around mid 80's with no throttling, even with a gentle overclock, again several reviews pointing this out online along with owners themselves.

We are not hear to say something is better than it really is, we've never said they are silent or run cool, we've told people how it is, then people can make their own informed decision, 100's of reviews out there, some saying its quiet and fine, some saying its loud, plenty of end-users out there now too.

I've openly said R290 / 780 are evenly matched, if you want silence guaranteed whilst gaming buy a GTX 780, if you want something which is newer, still more performance to potentially come, new technologies such as Mantle, True Audio, want to save some cash and are aware the card will not be as quiet or cool, then buy the AMD.

You need to realise we stock 1000's of both, what the customer buys is upto them and still a sale for us and to be honest we'd rather sell more of the expensive cards than the lower cost ones.

So there is no gain for us to lie or say something which is not true.
 
covenantuk said:
I don't understand all the hostility :)

How much noise I'm prepared to accept on a daily basis is not up for negotiation - I've had my days of running Delta fans thank you :D

Windforce GTX780 no overclock. 78C at full load, looping demo, 39-40dB. The Radeon 290 equivalent is either hotter or louder depending on your choices. In my view that's not worth the trade-off but I can understand that for some it is, no problem.

Actually I also have an issue with the 770/780 is the RAM allocation. 2GB on the 770 is too little for the latest crop of games so only choice imo is between a 770 4GB and a 780 3GB
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Agreed, just some people are mind bent on making out the R290 series to be far louder than they really are.

But the 780 WindForce are the quiestest, probably the only quieter card is Gainward Phantom. 8Pack is just testing 780 GHz from Gigabyte, its the quietest of them all, superb card. :)
 
Clov!s said:
How do these compare to the 7990?
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HD 7990 still is performance King, but a pair of these would smash a HD 7990 and of course have more flexibility.

I love the HD 7990, but a pair of these would be my choice any day for a little over £100 more and whole load more performance.
 
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