AMD Radeon R9 290X Video Card Review @ [H]

Elios said:
proof?
is it more then 10% faster unlikely
stomping would mean 20% faster OR MORE (hint its not)
the 290x BEARLY beats it and even that its only by a few fps who cares STILL WAY TO HOT
and STILL USES MORE POWER

id get a pair of 7970s over this turd
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Stomping has an official percentage threshold now, nice to know.
I think the fact you are not impressed by this card is clear.
 
I honestly woudn't be suprised one bit if the 290 did indeed take out its higher-ended competitors with a big OC.

It's still got the 512bit memory bus and most of the horsepower of the 290X.

My magic 8ball says the 290 is gonna be the real show-stopper here.
 
AllBlackFan said:
Stomping has an official percentage threshold now, nice to know.
I think the fact you are not impressed by this card is clear.
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well stomping normal implies a one sided fight....
this is not one sided
the 290x falls between the 780 and Titan and in limited areas is faster
but even that again doesnt matter since you have turn setting way down on all the cards
and i dont know about you but i dont want two of these pumping 500+ watts of heat in to my room
 
480 was literally 100 watts for barely 10% over the 5870, for 100$ more. It was just as noisy as the 290x. People thought it was a great card.

290x is 60 watts for a solid 15% on the 780, for $70 less. It is in a far better position than the 480 was, even the 580. Half as much money for titan performance. You could buy an aftermarket cooler and not be spending more money than on a stock 780.

Yes I'm not impressed with how inefficient it is but it's not like it's $749 and they castrated compute performance like they did with kepler
 
AllBlackFan said:
Stomping has an official percentage threshold now, nice to know.
I think the fact you are not impressed by this card is clear.
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This thread has been highly informative. DESTROYS is 5-10%, STOMPS is 20%. I suggest a SOUND TROUNCING for that 11-19% window.

This thread has gone full retard though, wow. If you own 780's or Titans, maybe this isn't a good upgrade. If you a generation (or more) back, like many of us are, this is a blessing. Regardless of what brand you want, there is an opportunity here for some pretty aggressive pricing. Which is good.
 
DarkSynergy said:
480 was literally 100 watts for barely 10% over the 5870, for 100$ more. It was just as noisy as the 290x. People thought it was a great card.

290x is 60 watts for a solid 15% on the 780, for $70 less. It is in a far better position than the 480 was, even the 580. Half as much money for titan performance. You could buy an aftermarket cooler and not be spending more money than on a stock 780.

Yes I'm not impressed with how inefficient it is but it's not like it's $749 and they castrated compute performance like they did with kepler
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you can get stock 780s for the same price now
 
Elios, i'm gonna call your mama and tell her to cut power to the basement.
 
Definitely interested in seeing the 290 Pro's price point. I've been very close to purchasing a 770 but now it's the wait and see game.

And why are these kids crying about the 290x's power consumption? You might want to look at the difference between the 5850/5870 and the GTX480 before you compare the 290x and 780/Titan. The wattage difference (100-150+) was much more significant and particularly telling was the percentage at 30-50% more power for the 480 vs 5850/5870 compared to what, 40-60w and 18-20% versus the 780/Titan?

Fact of the matter is that none of these cards are efficient because you're still talking 350-400w of power consumption.
 
DraginDime said:
I want to build a mini-itx rig with an R9-290x, would need to have fans that exhaust inside the case.....I would put an aluminum rack in it and use it as a make-shift easy bake oven! Think it will work? :D

Props to AMD for not pricing this card through the roof. They really have a great video card here.

I wonder if the 4K performance of the Titan isn't on par due to lack of development for drivers for that resolution? It seems AMD is pushing 4K harder then Nvidia has been. But that's just my assumption.

Excellent [H] GPU review as always Kyle/Brent.
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I believe the benefits in 4K are hardware related, not driver. 512-bit memory bus/L2 Cache, ROP Caches, all if it feeds into better high resolution/pixel count performance.
 
AllBlackFan said:
I don't think anyone would say this card was intended to be an upgrade for 780 owners. Compete with sure. I think "faulty drivers for gaming" is a bit of an exaggeration, in fact bordering on complete bullshit.

Also. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw :D

I think my assessment for my time in PC gaming and reading personal reviews on forums from AMD owners clearly justifies my point and should not be pointing out as BS .
Btw is cursing a common practice on this forum?


Not-the-fastest-card-you-can-buy doesn't equal obsolete.
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eloj said:
And there we are. Now both the trollers that promised to go away on pages 11 and 12 are back. Did you simply forget, or did your masters compel you to return to the mine?

Never mind, I withdraw the question.
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So you keep on referring to people on here as trolls . Maybe this due to the fact you could be the ultimate troll not letting people discuss this topic with different points of view?

Elios said:
you better off with dual 780's
wile its faster you still cant max out a game on a screen like that so who cares?
youll still need 2 of them and its not worth it to put that much heat in your case
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Agreed. While it is a know fact heat reduces over clocks and kills components it is more than likely the 290x will cause numerous issues for pc users where components will eventually fail from heat or high voltage this card outputs. Remember power supplies degrade in wattage every year

AceCR42 said:
Why the fuck would he get two 780's when two 290X's are faster and cheaper?
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More cursing . Once again you comparing a stock GTX780 to a über mode 290x . Gtx 780 non reference board and cooler when overclocked is still faster then a 290x . 290x might be 1-3 fps faster in 4k


KickAssCop said:
How is this name calling permissible is beyond me.
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Funny i am thinking the same thing because they are getting away with insulting forum members. I thought this was a discussion forum where people can discuss anything they want unless proven otherwise

mekkanic said:
I dont turn on the heat in my house because R9 290x.
Other than that....looks solid.
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What are you going to do in the summer when it is 70degrees in your computer office


DASHlT said:
OMG THE THERMALS AND NOISE!!! HORRIBLE!!!!

If anyone from nvidia bitches about thermal and noise, just bring up the 470/480/570/580 GTX's that operate at normal around 90c.

Either way great damn review Guys. Cant wait to see what a 290 can do!
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Why you bringing up video cards made over 2 years ago? This has nothing to do with the engineering of current GTX780 or titan

DeadSkull said:
And the 290x will whoop the 780 butt at high res gaming....what is your point?

People are not going to be buying the 290x to game at 1080p :rolleyes:
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You use the term whoop but every know factual review clearly shows against a stock titan or gtx780 it was 1-3% faster at 4k . Also with the extreme thermals and noise is it really worth it to upgrade . I'd rather wait for a TI card

InternationalHat said:
Can one of the mods change this guy's forum title to something like micropenis for implying that HardOCP is on the take with their reviews?
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Insulting more members wow. Let me guess you did not like what he had to say about the 290x?
 
Business6 said:
Definitely interested in seeing the 290 Pro's price point. I've been very close to purchasing a 770 but now it's the wait and see game.

And why are these kids crying about the 290x's power consumption? You might want to look at the difference between the 5850/5870 and the GTX480 before you compare the 290x and 780/Titan. The wattage difference (100-150+) was much more significant and particularly telling was the percentage at 30-50% more power for the 480 vs 5850/5870 compared to what, 40-60w and 18-20% versus the 780/Titan?

Fact of the matter is that none of these cards are efficient because you're still talking 350-400w of power consumption.
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and you realize people bitched about the 480 too right? the 480 and 470 were ridiculed by many and rightly so. power consumption on the 290x is pretty high out of the box but the issue is it goes sky high when oced according to TPU. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_290X/31.html

Power draw also increases immensely, going from just above 400 W for the whole system to around 650 W!

that much increase is scary.
 
WaltC said:
Brent, your review also mentioned that with the user freeing up the fan controls to run as they might that it opens up a performance delta over the Titan even at < 4k resolutions, if I read that right...? Impressive review for an impressive product.
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It did in one game, Far Cry 3, but not the others tested. It is possible it could in future games, like BF4.
 
cannondale06 said:
and you realize people bitched about the 480 too right? the 480 and 470 were ridiculed by many and rightly so. power consumption on the 290x is pretty high out of the box but the issue is it goes sky high when oced according to TPU. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_290X/31.html

Power draw also increases immensely, going from just above 400 W for the whole system to around 650 W!

that much increase is scary.
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Good factual data thank you .
 
DeadSkull said:
And the 290x will whoop the 780 butt at high res gaming....what is your point?

People are not going to be buying the 290x to game at 1080p :rolleyes:
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Ummm, I will. :D But, then again, I only have 2 x 6950's so this 290X would definitely out do them. (I use my computer on a 50 Inch LCD LED Backlight Sony Bravia TV at 1080P.)
 
UnrealCpu said:
Snip..
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Not sure why you quoted me, you addressed none of the points I made in my post, I never called anyone a troll.

Also I don't recall [H] being too concerned about cursing.

Edit: Oh, now I see it you responded inside the quote for my post but only mine. I stand by my BS call.
 
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TwistedAegis said:
I'm glad you reminded us midway through the review that it was on the "Quiet" mode, because I had forgotten that and was vaguely disappointed. However, I do want to point out what jumped out at me - on a lot of these games, the minimum FPS on the 290x was substantially higher than some of the other cards, up to 50%.

If I have 2 cards with the same average, but one has a minimum of 20 FPS and the other is 35 FPS, I'm taking the latter every time.

That being said...would a move from Crossfired 6970s to a single 290x be a no-brainer? Waiting for an aftermarket cooling design, that is. The sad thing is, I'm still not seeing games being able to be clearly maxed out on 1600p.
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I mentioned it on the test page, before the gameplay testing, that all data was done in quiet mode except for the specific testing between quiet and uber modes.
 
Quartz-1 said:
Wow. Excellent article. Can you please elaborate on two things:

1. What was the power consumption with 100% fan?
2. What fan level was used in 4K mode? If you were using Quiet mode, how does moving to Uber and 100% affect things?
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1.) Power consumption went up 4W from Uber Mode
2.) Uber Mode fan 55%, didn't test 100% fan at 4K
 
cannondale06 said:
and you realize people bitched about the 480 too right? the 480 and 470 were ridiculed by many and rightly so. power consumption on the 290x is pretty high out of the box but the issue is it goes sky high when oced according to TPU. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_290X/31.html

Power draw also increases immensely, going from just above 400 W for the whole system to around 650 W!

that much increase is scary.
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I understand that completely, I'm just saying the comparisons don't really work just because they have the same range in power consumption as it isn't the same scenario. People are conveniently avoiding the big picture just to argue and be douchebags. If the 780/Titan were consuming 100w less I would completely agree, but that isn't the case. I did miss TPU's note at the end of the overclocking page about the power consumption and that is absolutely ridiculous. When the non-reference designs start getting reviewed it should show a much more clear picture of the good and bad with this chip.

Also, just an aside concerning the 480 is that looking at those charts from back then, performance from game to game, brand to brand varied FAR more than it does today.
 
cannondale06 said:
I bet most people that get a 290x will be at 1080. nothing wrong with that if you have a highly oced cpu that can push it and you like to crank every setting and or you have a 120/144 screen.
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It's just an alternative for users not opting to go with nvidia . The prices will surely dropped to low 500s for a GTX780 and I bet will happen before Christmas. I can not wait to see the TI against the 290x. If I had a choice i think a non reference cooler/board would be a better option unless you have 4k then crossfire would be the best way to go. I like the fact AMD now allows you to space your cards out. But even then with both cards equaling to almost 200c combined is it really worth it to run these cards in your case? Just because it supposedly exhausts the hot air, the cards themselves are hot. A while back in this thread using infrared it showed a 95c hot spot at the back of the card
 
DASHlT said:
OMG THE THERMALS AND NOISE!!! HORRIBLE!!!!

If anyone from nvidia bitches about thermal and noise, just bring up the 470/480/570/580 GTX's that operate at normal around 90c.

Either way great damn review Guys. Cant wait to see what a 290 can do!
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People bitched about the heat and noise with those, too. And rightfully so.

My 570 doesn't even come close to that...granted, I have a non-ref cooler model so I only see a max of about 58C and it's whisper quiet.

I'm holding out for non-ref hsf 290X models to swarm the market to see what can be done, and I'm already getting in the mindset of being pleasantly surprised. AMD's ref cooler for this 290X falls short, imo.
 
"Uber" mode is going from 40% fan speed to 55% fan speed. Comparing OC'ed $100 more expensive to a non-OC, downclocked fan is...I don't even know what that is.
 
Brent_Justice said:
1.) Power consumption went up 4W from Uber Mode
2.) Uber Mode fan 55%, didn't test 100% fan at 4K
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Nice review Brent! :)

A bit too noisy for my taste, but I really liked the new powertune and look forward to reviews with aftermarket coolers.

One question though about the powertune settings: When you set a temp, is it hardlocked at that temp in the sense that it can never go over that temp regardless of what load you put on the GPU? If so, that would be a very cool feature. Set and forget. :)
 
DejaWiz said:
People bitched about the heat and noise with those, too. And rightfully so.

My 570 doesn't even come close to that...granted, I have a non-ref cooler model so I only see a max of about 58C and it's whisper quiet.

I'm holding out for non-ref hsf 290X models to swarm the market to see what can be done, and I'm already getting in the mindset of being pleasantly surprised. AMD's ref cooler for this 290X falls short, imo.
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I agree and this was mentioned in a review online that the reference cooler is basically trash
 
Tamlin_WSGF said:
Nice review Brent! :)

A bit too noisy for my taste, but I really liked the new powertune and look forward to reviews with aftermarket coolers.

One question though about the powertune settings: When you set a temp, is it hardlocked at that temp in the sense that it can never go over that temp regardless of what load you put on the GPU? If so, that would be a very cool feature. Set and forget. :)
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Do not know yet, till I test overclocking.
 
UnrealCpu said:
So you keep on referring to people on here as trolls . Maybe this due to the fact you could be the ultimate troll not letting people discuss this topic with different points of view?
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No, he got it right:

Agreed. While it is a know fact heat reduces over clocks and kills components it is more than likely the 290x will cause numerous issues for pc users where components will eventually fail from heat or high voltage this card outputs. Remember power supplies degrade in wattage every year
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OMG! Stop, leave, please. You have no idea what you're talking about and how temperature and heat differ. It's even more annoying since your OC'd 780 uses a tiny bit less if not more power and heats the PC accordingly.
 
Honestly, in general isn't GPU overclocking nowhere near as efficient or even noticeable as CPU overclocking? It always seemed you saw outsized issues, power and temp gains vs actual performance gains, particularly when using multiple cards.
 
Holy LOL's at this thread. I check back and it's 27 pages. All in all I am not pleased with the noise of the card, do not care about temps - although I guess both go hand-in-hand. That said, for 549? It's acceptable. Beating the Titan quite a bit at the higher resolutions while mostly matching it at lower resolutions? Not too shabby. Good showing performance wise, not a good show noise wise. That can be fixed easily enough, though.

I have a GTX 780 already but if I were in the market for a new I would definitely give this a long consideration. Beast of a card. I'd want an aftermarket version, though. I do think it's kinda messed up that extremist NV fans are bitching about this card - I mean, the 290X is the reason for potential price cuts next month, the 780ti, and the holiday bundle. Yet bitch bitch bitch about the 290X noise. Whatever I say, I think everyone on both sides should be happy.
 
xoleras said:
I have a GTX 780 already but if I were in the market for a new I would definitely give this a long consideration. Beast of a card. I'd want an aftermarket version, though. I do think it's kinda messed up that extremist NV fans are bitching about this card - I mean, the 290X is the reason for potential price cuts next month, the 780ti, and the holiday bundle. Yet bitch bitch bitch about the 290X noise. Whatever I say, I think everyone on both sides should be happy.
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This! Even if you are an Nvidia fanboy (and being a fanboy of anything is pretty stupid), you have to be a moron not to appreciate the benefits this card will bring to everyone.
 
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