PowerColor PCS+ R9 290X Video Card Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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PowerColor PCS+ R9 290X Video Card Review - Today we examine what value the PowerColor PCS+ R9 290X holds compared to overclocked GeForce GTX 970. AMD's Radeon R9 290X pricing has dropped considerably since launch and constitutes a great value and competition for the GeForce GTX 970. At $350 this may be an excellent value compared to the competition.
 
I'd like to see BF4 using DX11 instead of mantle. Thanks for the review!
 
I bought this exact card for $270 after rebate a few weeks ago off of NewEgg. It's been incredible, especially stepping up from Crossfire'd 6970s. I've been playing the crap out of Far Cry 4 with it, and this review just confirmed what I've been seeing in practice. Highly recommended from me as well.
 
I'm using its older brother, an original Powercolor 290 flashed to be a 290x and an Accelero Xtreme III cooler.
This is silent at all times.
I run it with +50mV @ 1110MHz, max temp is mid 60's while hard benching. It will clock higher, but I'm happy :)
I've had memory running at 6480MHz with +100mV on the core, my regular GPU overclock voltage allows 5600MHz easily and higher, I perhaps should check the limit.
(GPU voltage influences max memory overclock)

The stock 290x with the Accelero cooler is a decent quiet alternative with similar clocking capability.
Not sure of the price difference though.
 
Would this card fit in crossfire on a pretty standard motherboard along with a reference 290x? With this one's fans being on the outside and not the in-between fans?

Hadn't realized Nvidia's performance had pulled so far away. Currently already have one 290x, but really need 2 for 1600p for max settings.
 
It is kind of fun to see what manufactures can do with these older cards. It looks like a good card at a good price.

I still can't wait to see what AMD can do with the R9 300 series. If it ever shows up. I wonder if the Samsung buyout deal is distracting them.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Would this card fit in crossfire on a pretty standard motherboard along with a reference 290x? With this one's fans being on the outside and not the in-between fans?

Hadn't realized Nvidia's performance had pulled so far away. Currently already have one 290x, but really need 2 for 1600p for max settings.
Click to expand...
You would have to measure your case. I imagine it would be a tight fit. The real problem I would see is all the heat.
 
Very interesting to see the difference in power usage to get different clock speeds over time. The Asus ROG 290X Matrix reviewed not too awful long ago used 617 watts to get a lower clock speed than this card could do with 428w.
 
jedimasterben said:
Very interesting to see the difference in power usage to get different clock speeds over time. The Asus ROG 290X Matrix reviewed not too awful long ago used 617 watts to get a lower clock speed than this card could do with 428w.
Click to expand...

but not only that.. those 428W of the overclocked PowerColor PCS+ 290X are also lower than the stock Asus 290X matrix which its really weird..
 
I always love looking at video cards with non reference coolers as reference coolers are a total pita to keep clean. Nice to see this card stay competitive, but my fear is that the 300 series may not be competitive for long when it finally comes out.
 
The Asus Matrixes were over volted a ridiculous amount, massively inflating the power draw But still, the power draw on this 290x is quite a bit lower. I've read on ocn that it's due to th memory they use or something, either way, it's know that the Powercoor PCSs draw less than other 290 equivalents.
 
It will likely be due to better silicon that needs less voltage.
Memory doesnt need much power, the GPU does.
 
jedimasterben said:
Very interesting to see the difference in power usage to get different clock speeds over time. The Asus ROG 290X Matrix reviewed not too awful long ago used 617 watts to get a lower clock speed than this card could do with 428w.
Click to expand...

Araxie said:
but not only that.. those 428W of the overclocked PowerColor PCS+ 290X are also lower than the stock Asus 290X matrix which its really weird..
Click to expand...

Without looking back at the reviews in question, were they using the same system and the same games? Things like that can make a big difference.
 
Relayer said:
Without looking back at the reviews in question, were they using the same system and the same games? Things like that can make a big difference.
Click to expand...
According to 'Test setup' on each review, the systems are identical and the games played were basically the same. The power figure they give is the maximum that the entire system pulls at any point during the review.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/03/30/powercolor_pcs_r9_290x_video_card_review/2#.VRnrxVVVhBc

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...rix_platinum_video_card_review/2#.VRnrylVVhBc
 
With freesync and Gsync coming into play when will that be a factor since the varying refresh rate would have a huge impact on gaming in the future.
 
jedimasterben said:
According to 'Test setup' on each review, the systems are identical and the games played were basically the same. The power figure they give is the maximum that the entire system pulls at any point during the review.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/03/30/powercolor_pcs_r9_290x_video_card_review/2#.VRnrxVVVhBc

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...rix_platinum_video_card_review/2#.VRnrylVVhBc
Click to expand...

Well, just as a guess this much further on they might be able to be stable at lower voltages and/or FC3 might have been where the extra power was used? Dunno, but it is an appreciable amount.
 
I'm being pedantic here, but seems like the train of thought was lost somewhere along the way and contradictory statements were made in the overclocking section.

Paragraph immediately following the first Afterburner pic:
The memory has a slight overclock as well, operating at 5.4GHz it is .4GHz faster than a reference R9 290X.
Click to expand...

Then under the overclock comparison table this was said:
PowerColor did not apply an overclock to the memory, which runs at the default 5.4GHz.
Click to expand...

Finally same issue in the overclocking section on the conclusion page:
There was no overclock applied to the memory which only operated at 5.4GHz.
Click to expand...

I think you meant to say PowerColor did apply a memory overclock, which runs at 5.4GHz now instead of the default 5GHz?
 
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the R9 290X Tri-X is a better card for a lower price. The Tri-X runs quieter than PCS+ and has one of the best coolers behind the Vapor-X.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202079

R9 290X really is a beast without any quirks as the GTX 970 with its memory partition. Already games like Rome Total War Atilla are showing stuttering and uneven frametimes on GTX 970 even at 1080p due to the memory partition.

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Total-War-Attila-PC-259548/Specials/Test-Benchmarks-1151602/

btw Grady did you see any perf improvement with 15.3 beta in Farcry 4.
 
Ludic said:
I bought this exact card for $270 after rebate a few weeks ago off of NewEgg. It's been incredible, especially stepping up from Crossfire'd 6970s. I've been playing the crap out of Far Cry 4 with it, and this review just confirmed what I've been seeing in practice. Highly recommended from me as well.
Click to expand...

Same here. Best price I'd seen on the card, so I jumped on that deal. So far, very impressed with the card. I know guys want to rag on Powercolor over rebates and tech support issues, but I have had no issues at all to report (note that the card I upgraded from was a Powercolor 7970 - still going strong and maxes out the AMD Overdrive OC sliders).

Hell, I even have one of the ubiquitous Powercolor 5450 1GB 'Green' $9.99 AR cards going strong in my HTPC. I've been a Powercolor fan dating back 4+ years now.
 
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