AMD Radeon R9 290 Video Card Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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AMD Radeon R9 290 Video Card Review - It is time now to look at AMD's Radeon R9 290. This lower-cost R9 290 series video card packs a punch, not only in performance, but also in price. Watch it compete with the GeForce GTX 780, and win while being priced lower. This is the value you have been waiting for with gaming performance.
 
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GTX 780 will be $399 in a month :). Also is that seriously all they did to increase performance, raise the fan profile? These things must want good cooling bad.
 
At $400, we have ourselves a winner. AMD is not playing around this gen.

It would not surprise me if a pair of these bad boys, are faster than sli titans at higher resolutions.
 
damn what a card for 400 bucks. power consumption is a little high for my taste and I would love to see non reference cooled performance.
 
gordon151 said:
GTX 780 will be $399 in a month :). Also is that seriously all they did to increase performance, raise the fan profile? These things must want good cooling bad.
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Maybe the 780TI will get an immediate price drop too; since it plans to launch with a $300 premium and some games.

Win for everybody! Need to see non-reference coolers though. ASAP.
 
cannondale06 said:
damn what a card for 400 bucks. power consumption is a little high for my taste and I would love to see non reference cooled performance.
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At least we know that the new 47% fan speed profile is not throttling the card. Originally, the 40% fan would have. Now, it isn't.
 
At $400, it's pretty much priced the same as a 770 4gb ver.

Wow... just wow...
 
I didn't stay up this late for just this review, but it sure helped. Prices are finally back to normal for GPUs. Performance is epic too. Forget finding another 7970, I'll take two of these please.
 
Woooow. I am amazed at this card. I expected it to be $450. At $400 this card is insane. It's almost enough to make me regret jumping on a 780 after the price drop.

I might have missed it in the review, but is the stock 290 PCB the same as the 290X?
 
are these reference cooler so inefficient that there was no overclocking data available? how about 4k performance?
 
This what i was waiting for.. =D.. the right time to wait for a Non Reference cooling and Xfire those babies..
 
rennyf77 said:
are these reference cooler so inefficient that there was no overclocking data available? how about 4k performance?
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We are going to be covering that later. With the upcoming 780 Ti review at hand, we were running out of time. We will be covering it indepth especially when we start getting AIB cards.
 
gordon151 said:
GTX 780 will be $399 in a month :). Also is that seriously all they did to increase performance, raise the fan profile? These things must want good cooling bad.
Click to expand...

IF it handles like it's brother, on water they are very nice cards.
 
bah the 'performance driver' is just AMD upping the fan speed. i suppose i installed my own 'performance driver' on my 290X the minute i booted my computer and changed settings in CCC.
 
heflys20 said:
Maybe the 780TI will get an immediate price drop too; since it plans to launch with a $300 premium and some games.

Win for everybody! Need to see non-reference coolers though. ASAP.
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Yep, it most definitely is. Everyone, no matter what stupid fanboyism camp one belongs to, wins.
 
Derangel said:
Woooow. I am amazed at this card. I expected it to be $450. At $400 this card is insane. It's almost enough to make me regret jumping on a 780 after the price drop.

I might have missed it in the review, but is the stock 290 PCB the same as the 290X?
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as far as i can tell, it's the same, everything lines up the same

custom retail cards could be different
 
Brent_Justice said:
as far as i can tell, it's the same, everything lines up the same

custom retail cards could be different
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So potentially the current 290X waterblocks could work on the 290. That is great for anyone looking to get rid of the stock cooler on it.
 
Derangel said:
So potentially the current 290X waterblocks could work on the 290. That is great for anyone looking to get rid of the stock cooler on it.
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Barring something very odd, reference models will be the same pcb just with one die area physically cut off. It makes no sense for them to run different reference pcb's for the same 'generational class' card. So yeah, that means reference blocks will work.
 
Wow, it looks like I jumped the gun on using my promo credit to order a second 780.

Excellent to see competition bring prices down.
 
LOL@nvidia looks like another price drop is in order.for the 770 of course you know there wont be a price drop of 1cent on the 780.:p
good stuff though. i was really considering a 780 before the year was out but no longer.happens everytime
i about talk myself into a geforce card here comes amd:D

and thanks again [H]
 
Oh boy....I hope they have the custom cards ready by christmas.

If they do, ill be all over this like a fat kid on a cupcake...

The fan doent break 50% when un capped? It begging for a clock bumb....
 
Geforcepat said:
LOL@nvidia looks like another price drop is in order.for the 770 of course you know there wont be a price drop of 1cent on the 780.:p
good stuff though. i was really considering a 780 before the year was out but no longer.happens everytime
i about talk myself into a geforce card here comes amd:D

and thanks again [H]
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Well, the 780 does include 3 free high quality games, to be fair. And has better coolers to boot. I do like the price/performance of the 290, but man. AMD could made both this and the 290X so much more with better reference coolers. Literally every single complaint i've seen about the 290X has been related to that, something that AMD could have entirely prevented...

Gotta wonder WTF they were thinking. That said, excellent performance for 400$. It's the new value king for sure.
 
Looks like its time to sell my 7950's and pick up a single 290, and put it under water.
 
xoleras said:
Well, the 780 does include 3 free high quality games, to be fair. And has better coolers to boot. I do like the price/performance of the 290, but man. AMD could made both this and the 290X so much more with better reference coolers. Literally every single complaint i've seen about the 290X has been related to that, something that AMD could have entirely prevented...

Gotta wonder WTF they were thinking. That said, excellent performance for 400$. It's the new value king for sure.
Click to expand...

Probably were focused on keeping release msrp down too much and underestimated the negative feedback they would receive.
 
rennyf77 said:
are these reference cooler so inefficient that there was no overclocking data available? how about 4k performance?
Click to expand...

yes they are that inefficient, i'm guessing 4k stuff will show up when the custom cooled cards are released or if they plan to do a R9 290 crossfire.


xoleras said:
Well, the 780 does include 3 free high quality games, to be fair. And has better coolers to boot. I do like the price/performance of the 290, but man. AMD could made both this and the 290X so much more with better reference coolers. Literally every single complaint i've seen about the 290X has been related to that, something that AMD could have entirely prevented...

Gotta wonder WTF they were thinking. That said, excellent performance for 400$. It's the new value king for sure.
Click to expand...

reference cooling really isn't that important to AMD(nor do i think it's all that important to us consumers either), allowing their partners to do their own custom PCB/cooled cards have been their priority for the last 3-4 generations.

the only reason i'd ever buy a reference card be it AMD or Nvidia would be because i bought a 3rd party cooler and have no plans on ever using the reference cooler.
 
There will be plenty of good non ref stuff soon enough...Vapor X, Asus Triple Slotter, Toxic
 
Vexerz said:
Probably were focused on keeping release msrp down too much and underestimated the negative feedback they would receive.
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I agree. I think that in this case, they should not have gone that route - quietness isn't something to merely ignore with the reference cooler these days, especially after NV released the excellent Titan shroud. I mean, I don't think anyone would blink an eye at a 450$ 290 non X *if* it had the same cooler quality as the Titan or GTX 780. I know I wouldn't.

Don't get me wrong, the 290 is still an incredible value for the performance. But I can't help but think that AMD compromised on the cooler too much. Hopefully AIB makers can fix that up stat. I should note that not everyone can use open air coolers (eg aftermarket). Despite AIB makers improving the design, I don't really think that excuses AMD for the cheap plastic blower they're using - but for the 400$ price tag, that is easy to ignore. Oh well.
 
GREAT REVIEW BRENT! The 290 delivers even more then I had hoped..I initially thought we would see the same performance gap between the 7970 vs 7950, but it seems the gap is even less with the 290 vs 290X..This card certainly earned the GOLD Award you gave it..AMD is making all the right moves recently, and if Kaveri turns out to yield the expected results, their CPU/APU Line will get to share in the Lime Light as well!

I was all set to go 7950 (heavily OC'd) and 7970 (very nicely price) X-Fire until I read this review..I would have to lay out $320 for the 7970+FULL Cover GPU Block, vs $399 for the 290 and $100~125? for a GPU Block...so $320 for X-Fire with both cards under water, or ~$450 inital outlay (minus $250 for selling my Golden 7950 and GPU Block) =$200...

Thoughts guys? I am currently on 1080P, but will be getting a 1440P Korean LCD (hopefully O/C'able) for Christmas from my parents..What to do?:confused:
 
Didn't Kyle say something like the 690 cooler added almost $100 to the cost of the card? Scale that down a bit, the 780 etc cooler has to be adding a fair chunk to it.
 
ccityinstaller said:
GREAT REVIEW BRENT! The 290 delivers even more then I had hoped..I initially thought we would see the same performance gap between the 7970 vs 7950, but it seems the gap is even less with the 290 vs 290X..This card certainly earned the GOLD Award you gave it..AMD is making all the right moves recently, and if Kaveri turns out to yield the expected results, their CPU/APU Line will get to share in the Lime Light as well!

I was all set to go 7950 (heavily OC'd) and 7970 (very nicely price) X-Fire until I read this review..I would have to lay out $320 for the 7970+FULL Cover GPU Block, vs $399 for the 290 and $100~125? for a GPU Block...so $320 for X-Fire with both cards under water, or ~$450 inital outlay (minus $250 for selling my Golden 7950 and GPU Block) =$200...

Thoughts guys? I am currently on 1080P, but will be getting a 1440P Korean LCD (hopefully O/C'able) for Christmas from my parents..What to do?:confused:
Click to expand...

Always go for the new (kickass card this time round). Sell old stuff and get a 2nd part time job, work more hours for a couple months to go x-fire for the 290 when you go for the 1440p.
 
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