AMD Radeon R9 290 Video Card Review @ [H]

Loving this competition. We all win when AMD and Nvidia are one upping each other. I'm an Nvidia user but I will admit that Nvidia will take advantage of no competition and overprice their cards. AMD is really doing a great service to gamers. Maybe some day I will go Red, maybe.
 
Just as I suspected. The 290 and the 290X do not have as much overclocking headroom when compared to the GTX 780. Thus when all cards are overclocked the 780 comes out on top.
Actually if you listen to the review they mention that the R9 290 they got was a pretty good OC'er and they managed to get it faster than the R9 290X in game benchmarks. The OC'd 780GTX baaaarely ekes out a win, usually by 1fps @ 1440p, in nearly all of those games and that was all tested at sub-1600p resolutions.

For those who care about numbers and such just go to near the end of the video around the 8 min. mark.

As has been mentioned over and over and over you slap a better cooler on either the R9 290 or 290X and you'll suddenly see lots more OC headroom.
 
Whole bunch were available on the egg at 0400 this morning.
Just looked and ASUS, MSI and Sapphire are still available
Go go go.

Looks like a stout card, this 290.

The prices sure can't be beat.......damn......and they have product to sell........holy shit......trifecta.

Ordered and in the packing stage! If it ships from nj I will have it tomorrow!
 
Actually if you listen to the review they mention that the R9 290 they got was a pretty good OC'er and they managed to get it faster than the R9 290X in game benchmarks. The OC'd 780GTX baaaarely ekes out a win, usually by 1fps @ 1440p, in nearly all of those games and that was all tested at sub-1600p resolutions.

For those who care about numbers and such just go to near the end of the video around the 8 min. mark.

As has been mentioned over and over and over you slap a better cooler on either the R9 290 or 290X and you'll suddenly see lots more OC headroom.

yeah and the 780 they have is a poor overclocker, they have stated this in previous videos.
 
So are there a lot more R9 290s in the channel or less demand/buyers or both? I can't believe the MSI and Sapphire are still in stock.

EDIT: answered my own question:

Anyhow, AMD tells us the Radeon R9 290 should be available at online stores starting today, thankfully in higher numbers than the so far hard-to-find R9 290X. We'll have wait and to see how that supply picture meets the demand, of course.
Source: http://techreport.com/review/25602/amd-radeon-r9-290-graphics-card-reviewed
 
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yeah and the 780 they have is a poor overclocker, they have stated this in previous videos.
Nope, they said it was an average OC'er. They go on about it at length earlier in the video because they said they'd gotten some complaints from people who thought they'd put a 780GTX Lightening up against a reference cooler R9 290/X.
 
Thank you for the review!


The reference cooler is so bad, pretty much like the reference R9 290X :mad:

Problem is, if things turn out to be like they were when the R9 280X released, then except for ASUS and MSI there really won't be any other quiet solutions:
GIGABYTE simply dropped the ball in the 'quiet' department with their 280X OC, as Sapphire did with least two of their 280X OC cards (Vapor-X and TOXIC).
 
So are there a lot more R9 290s in the channel or less demand/buyers or both? I can't believe the MSI and Sapphire are still in stock.

Hmm, typical first run yields would point to more 290, than 290x parts even on a mature process. As the process gets tweaked it should even out considering it's a big, but not Huge chip.
 
The reference cooler is so bad, pretty much like the reference R9 290X :mad:
I dunno about "bad".

The [H] reviewer mentioned multiple times earlier in the thread that at default fan settings noise wasn't an issue (60-70% cap is loud though) and the card wasn't underclocking itself at all.

If you want to OC on air though yea wait for the AIB cards.
 
I dunno about "bad".
OK, not bad.

Let's just call it as it is right now: It sucks. At least for anyone that's concerened about noise.

I'm not really looking for OC, as most AIBs seem to offer these days moderately OC'ed cards coming right out of the gate without much of a price premium.

I'm usually looking for cards with cooling solutions that don't sound like a leaf blower when gaming, but still provide really good performance.

The AIBs better come through this time around with their custom cooling solutions, or this will look like the state of things with the R9 280X (again, see here).


Not trolling.
 
Just ordered the XFX 290 from newegg.

I couldn't resist the price, haven't had an AMD card since 9700pro, wish me luck folks.
 
The 290 looks like the real home run of AMD's lineup right now. It still runs too hot and too loud, but the price/performance is excellent.

Suddenly, heading to the Christmas season, the GPU market looks totally different and is much cheaper. A lot of people will be getting some good gifts under the tree this year.
 
So is the 290 matching, or beating the 290X because the 290X is constantly hitting thermal limits?

Would I be correct to assume that if both were put under water, the 290X would come up on top?

I wouldn't run either of these cards on a stock cooler, and would want to Crossfire a pair under water. At $400 + waterblocks x2, the cost isn't that great at all. Especially considering what a single GTX 780 cost just a couple of weeks ago.
 
So is the 290 matching, or beating the 290X because the 290X is constantly hitting thermal limits?

Would I be correct to assume that if both were put under water, the 290X would come up on top?

I wouldn't run either of these cards on a stock cooler, and would want to Crossfire a pair under water. At $400 + waterblocks x2, the cost isn't that great at all. Especially considering what a single GTX 780 cost just a couple of weeks ago.

yes, the 290 is beating the 290x in some cases due to thermal limits. put both on water and the 290x will pull ahead.
 
Let's just call it as it is right now: It sucks. At least for anyone that's concerened about noise....I'm usually looking for cards with cooling solutions that don't sound like a leaf blower when gaming, but still provide really good performance
At defaults (47% fan cap) its not a leaf blower though. :confused:
 
tim to sell the 7950 and get one! i just wish non reference were available like the 40 people before me said lol
 
No 4K / UHD benchmarks? I'm guessing Kyle and Brent were under time constraints with the upcoming 780 Ti article.
 
Shit - I need a card now.

I have a 770 4gb on the way that I can return unopened but my only option is a reference 290.

I could use the 770 and then try to return without a restocking fee when the 290 non-ref cards drop but I risk losing $50 in the process.

Why is the 290 so damn loud!
 
oh, ok we are going to start comparing the crash and burn runs now? I'd like to see a 1300mhz 290x being used in every day use.

I can't overclock my 290Xs beyond 1100 MHz.
I suppose they will OC well if we ever get to adjust the VCore.

Anyone know what the physical dimensions of this card are?

Same card as the 290X physically.
 
I can't overclock my 290Xs beyond 1100 MHz.
I suppose they will OC well if we ever get to adjust the VCore.

Mine too. Waiting for voltage tweaking. I think one will do 1125 MHz...but big deal. With BF4 crashing so much, I've stopped using my Crossfire OC of 75 MHz...just to make sure it's not part of the issue (crashes persist, so I'm 99% sure it's just DICE being DICE at launch).
 
Try other games to verify crashing. BF4 is not the benchmark and stop using X64 .exe to stop the crashing.

Anyways, is there any information on when AIB coolers will be available. Normally, on both NV and AMD it used to be about 7-14 days but this time is it longer?
 
Rumor mill says next month or end of this month at absolute earliest for AIB cards with better HSF's.
 
Nice review!

I'm glad the amd cards are performing better this go-around. Makes nvidia lower their prices :)

Now give me a review that pits this card against the 780Ti in both single card and sli/xfire setups.

Keep it up [H].
 
The performance we experienced leads us to believe, with an educated guess, that at Eyefinity resolutions and 4K the R9 290 will be faster than the GTX 780. The R9 290 series seems to excel at higher resolutions above the competition thanks to its architecture and memory subsystem. We see the R9 290 being a popular card for affordable Eyefinity gaming. If you want to get into Eyefinity gaming, and money is an issue, this is the perfect video card to start with.

Cannot wait to see some reviews of EF with a single vs CF 290....was planning on getting another pair of green cards early next year (to give me some more slider play @ 5760x1080 over my 560Ti's) but after this review.....very likely I'll go red again.

I haven't had much issue with either company's cards or drivers in the past.....though I will say (now) as a Surround user, that NV leaves a lot to be desired trying to run Surround while staying productive, rather than spending the minute+ switching back and forth from Surround to 'Enable all displays' and vice versa. In this regard, if AMD one-ups them there as well, then my decision is even easier.

NV needed this kick in the ass quite a bit. Kudos AMD for finally delivering it. :)
 
Good on AMD for answering strongly yet again!

It's a bit sad to see all those people buying GTX 770s just because of brand loyalty and that game deal.
I'd like to see AMD being rewarded a bit more for their efforts.
 
Rather get an AIO cooler and buy a bracket over on OCN, cheaper, and alot cooler.

Please provide a link as to what AIO and what bracket is available. I may be missing something, but I have yet to find any AIO that you can change the CPU block for GPU. I do not think this is available, but please prove me wrong.
 
Good on AMD for answering strongly yet again!

It's a bit sad to see all those people buying GTX 770s just because of brand loyalty and that game deal.
I'd like to see AMD being rewarded a bit more for their efforts.

Then they can only blame themselves for keeping green prices artificially high...lol....
 
yes, the 290 is beating the 290x in some cases due to thermal limits. put both on water and the 290x will pull ahead.

The problem though is if you put it underwater you will have almost completely negated AMD price advantage over Nvidia. $400 for the card + $150-$200 for the Water Block.

Geforce 780TI is $699 for the moment and I suspect today's news is liable to get a reaction out of Nvidia, (perhaps another price cut.)

Even if 290/290x is slightly faster then say 780ti or Titan do I really want the hassle or possibly risk voiding the warranty if you had a problem (for certain manufacturers).

One thing I like about Nvidia, they are overpriced but they really do work out of the box without having to mod anything. That's not to say I don't like AMD, but there is no question there cards are simply not as well engineered even if they are faster.
 
Seiki rep said they'll have their 39" 4K/60Hz on the market Q2 '14. The holdup is HDMI 2.0. I doubt it'll be over $800.

I wish it ran at 120Hz or 144 rather than 60Hz at that resolution. I'm sure someone will try to over clock them.
 
I'm really happy about this price. I too thought it would be around 450, but at 400 I plan to put this on water rather than wait for Dec for custom coolers and besides, being on water I hope I can get more over clock out of it anyway. AMD has created the perfect storm, so to speak.
 
I have a Arctic Cooling Xtreme III on my GTX570. R9 290 is compatible, and it will fix all of the complaints of noise/heat. I am for sure on the 290 bandwagon, considering this is a "free" fix to the heat/noise complaints. Now I just have to pray I kept the cooler for my 570 and didn't steal all of the fans and other things off it for my many other stupid hobbies.
 
I'm beginning to wonder if the Ref coolers are the better option.

Do you really want the non-ref versions dumping 95C heat into your case?

Seems like a trade-off between {Exhaust heat at cost of noise} or {less noise but heat in-case}

I agree with your thinking here, which is why at $400, this card may be the first GPU I can afford to put on water, hoping that at a 47% fan rate, there is lots more over clocking to be had. I was going to wait to see what the 780Ti would do since it would only be 100 more, but I'm going to go with the 290, put it on water and wait until 22 chip comes along as well as Maxwell in 6 months. This card on water will be great for 6 months and I don't change cards often (currently running a 6970).
 
Then they can only blame themselves for keeping green prices artificially high...lol....

They are doing what they can do. They don't exactly have the most healthy balance sheet among companies out there and they have a lot of resources spread around lots of different projects. Now that they have been able to land their stuff in all the next gen consoles and with Mantle around the corner, execution will determine whether this all has been worth it or not. If they execute, they won't necessarily need the highest performing thing on the market to dominate, just the best value on the market.
 
Cooling with the Jet Engine stock cooler is a non-starter for me, will reconsider when QUIET alternatives come out. I already have a box with 4 previous ATI/AMD stock coolers in it ... and some NVidia coolers too of course. :confused::eek::rolleyes::cool:
 
Mine too. Waiting for voltage tweaking. I think one will do 1125 MHz...but big deal. With BF4 crashing so much, I've stopped using my Crossfire OC of 75 MHz...just to make sure it's not part of the issue (crashes persist, so I'm 99% sure it's just DICE being DICE at launch).

Are you running realtec or xonar sound? If so, it's probably punkbuster causing your crashing problems. DICE as usual is using that trash product again, which doesn't stop anything (there were and still are aimbotters on the servers since release day)
 
The problem though is if you put it underwater you will have almost completely negated AMD price advantage over Nvidia. $400 for the card + $150-$200 for the Water Block.


One thing I like about Nvidia, they are overpriced but they really do work out of the box without having to mod anything. That's not to say I don't like AMD, but there is no question there cards are simply not as well engineered even if they are faster.

First off, I can get an EK block ranging from 105 - 118 at Performance PCS so that's way off. Second of all, even if I went Nvidia I would still put it under water so there is no negation of AMD's price advantage.

You can say that their fan solution isn't as well-engineered, but I think as far as the actual card itself it's the other way around. For AMD to put a whipping on Nvidia with a (much) smaller die says a lot.

Then you have the issue of Mantle rapidly approaching, which I think could end up being huge. I'm not into BF4, but when AMD says significant gains I actually believe them. Hopefully the word gets out to the general public what AMD is bringing to the table.
 
hmm, a Custom cooled 290 is in my future, Unless the 780 takes another nose dive, I don't really have an interest in the games offered. I wish they had 2 versions, $450 with no games $500 with games or something like that.
 
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