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

Meeho said:
Has this forum really had to put up with 10 years of your trolling or is it a recent thing for you?
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They usually come out of the woodwork when either company releases a new card that's both faster and cheaper than competitor's offering. Why they have to come and defend their purchases and berate the new product (wah wah it's way too hot, wah wah too noisy, wah wah power bills etc.) is beyond me though.
 
theirlaw said:
First off, after weeks of anticipation I'd like to thank Brent and Kyle for delivering such a detailed review.

The 290X certainly is a powerhouse given that it can compete with the best that nVidia has to offer, but I can't help but think that once the dust settles, and prices are dropped and the 780 Ti is available that those who wish to water cool and overclock their cards (like myself) will likely opt to spend the additional money for the 780 Ti. The overclocking headroom and efficiency ultimately make more sense to me.

Props to AMD though. The 290X is a bit late, but it's an absolute monster in the price/performance department. And I hope this isn't taken as me pooping on AMD... my current card is a 6970, so not only am I a happy AMD owner, but I'm also in the market for a new card before 2014.
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watercooled 290x nothing else make sense.
 
I really hope that [H] does a R9 290X CFX review with the following configurations.

R9 290X CFX OC
GTX 780 SLi OC (possibly with custom cooled cards that are already at factory overclock speeds faster than a Titan)
GTX Titan SLi OC
GTX 780 Ti SLi OC (when it's released)

I really want to see these benchmarks to make any meaningful decision of potentially changing my cards.

Comparing stock GTX 780 is like driving a Ferrari at 60 MPH and saying performance is not good. :rolleyes:
 
IdiotInCharge said:
Yeah, I'm not sure either then. Will have to look it up later.
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Same as the 7000 series. Their HDMI 1.4 port is backed up by a much faster chip than is required for HDMI 1.4, so technically can support 4k@60. More than likely we'll see a driver update to enable HDMI 2.0 now that the spec has finally been released. This is much like some of the current 4k TVs that are getting a firmware update to enable HDMI 2.0 on their ports.

AMD called it FastHDMI when they first released it with the 7000 series.
 
Cool Vibrations said:
They usually come out of the woodwork when either company releases a new card that's both faster and cheaper than competitor's offering. Why they have to come and defend their purchases and berate the new product (wah wah it's way too hot, wah wah too noisy, etc.) is beyond me though.
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I can return my gtx 780 tomorrow and buy 4 of these cards if i wanted too. If you cant handle other forum members point of view on a product you might want to start your own website so you can only hear what you want to hear.

Meeho said:
Has this forum really had to put up with 10 years of your trolling or is it a recent thing for you?
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So you have to revert to name calling because you cant relate to other peoples opinions about a product?
 
Just let it go Kickass...bottom line is the 290x is titan perf for half the price. Why don't you just admit that is KICKASS !! :D Sure there are some caveats like power consumption and heat output and sure that has me a bit disappointed but over all this is still a great card.

No one is saying it wins in every category... but again... its half the price of a titan @ similar perf and it totally destroys the titan @ 4k res. Then add true audio, mantle and bridgeless crossfire with improved frame pacing and you have the ingredients of a great card.

You've been using 780 sli for a while so sure 290x isn't that great of an update for you but for everyone else titan perf for half the cost is FANTASTIC.
 
Spyhawk said:
Just let it go Kickass...bottom line is the 290x is titan perf for half the price. Why don't you just admit that is KICKASS !! :D Sure there are some caveats like power consumption and heat output and sure that has me a bit disappointed but over all this is still a great card.

No one is saying it wins in every category... but again... its half the price of a titan @ similar perf and it totally destroys the titan @ 4k res. Then add true audio, mantle and bridgeless crossfire with improved frame pacing and you have the ingredients of a great card.

You've been using 780 sli for a while so sure 290x isn't that great of an update for you but for everyone else titan perf for half the cost is FANTASTIC.
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There is a reason that nvidia allows this to happen. You see when you have a monopoly a company can be forced by the government to breakup . If nvidia wanted too tomorrow they could release a 290x killer but I am sure this is all planned out for us consumers. We have to think AMD is in the lead for at least a few months ..right
The 290x is a great substitute for a titan or gtx 780 like card but what I believe kickass is trying to get across the 290x is less efficient and can not perform as well as a overclocked GTX780 or titan
 
UnrealCpu said:
If you cant handle other forum members point of view on a product you might want to start your own website so you can only hear what you want to hear.
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I have no qualms with differing opinions personally, it's just when people keep stating their opinion over and over again (whilst indicating that this product could be easily destroyed by the competition) I start to get a slight headache.

You've indicated this product essentially holds no value to you. So......What's keeping you in this topic, if you don't mind me asking? To remind us, which we can easily read in most reviews, that it's hot?
 
heflys20 said:
I have no qualms with differing opinions personally, it's just when people keep stating their opinion over and over again (whilst indicating that this product could be easily destroyed by the competition) I start to get a slight headache.

You've indicated this product essentially holds no value to you. So......What's keeping you in this topic, if you don't mind me asking? To remind us, which we can easily read in most reviews, that it's hot?
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Again this is a discussion forum if you cant take the heat get out of the kitchen
It seems like you only want to hear one side and be done with it
It's a discussion forum and you are now putting words in my mouth saying this card has no value to me but that's not true at all it is still a interesting topic to me to discuss
 
UnrealCpu said:
I can return my gtx 780 tomorrow and buy 4 of these cards if i wanted too. If you cant handle other forum members point of view on a product you might want to start your own website so you can only hear what you want to hear.
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Since when did point of view equate to blatant flamebait instigating? Perhaps you should count how many posts you've made in this single topic alone (at least 20). Or should I quote every post you've made that was absolutely irrelevant to the review?
 
Ok you chased me off . I will now read how you will chase off kickass from this discussion too. Both 10 year veterans

Goodnight!
 
Well I guess I will see how the 780ti performs, but this doesn't seem like its worth the $1100 upgrade from my 680 SLI. I was hoping for it to be at least 10-20% faster than the 780 especially that there is no overclocking. I think I am going to be waiting for next gen or price drops.
 
kcthebrewer said:
Well I guess I will see how the 780ti performs, but this doesn't seem like its worth the $1100 upgrade from my 680 SLI. I was hoping for it to be at least 10-20% faster than the 780 especially that there is no overclocking. I think I am going to be waiting for next gen or price drops.
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Those kind of gains aren't realistic before the next gen with die shrink.
 
Have to admit I was prepared to spend $699 for this R9 290X and I would not have felt cheated.

$549 for Titan level performance is just phenomenal though. Will be the most expensive single component I've ever purchased, but now that I've seen the numbers I know it will also roughly double my frame rates going from 6970 at 1080p.

Thanks for the review! It was worth waiting for.
 
This card needs lower nm this is like Fermi all over again wrong time wrong place. performance wise pretty competitive but i feel like if Amd had enough resources they could have done much better card
 
not impressed
a price drop + refresh and AMDs slim lead is gone
explains why AMD is betting the farm on mantle....
and wow thats some high temps and power use for one card
seems like AMD may also be at the limits of GCN which again why they MUST have mantle to stay in the game VERY bad thing here
 
Aside from the temp/power levels I am very impressed by the legs this card has. Wouldn't be surprised if it helped push a lot more 4k monitors earlier than expected. Can't really do much about the power but hopefully the usual Asus/Gigabyte/etc coolers can make an impact on that heat.

The results from this card make me very interested in seeing how the regular R9 290 turns out.

Elios said:
not impressed
a price drop + refresh and AMDs slim lead is gone
explains why AMD is betting the farm on mantle....
and wow thats some high temps and power use for one card
seems like AMD may also be at the limits of GCN which again why they MUST have mantle to stay in the game VERY bad thing here
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A bit of an overreaction. Both companies need new tech to help distinguish their products (GSync, PhysX, TressFX, etc) and to give their products an edge in big releases. I'd relax on the idea that Mantle is an all-or-nothing deal for AMD unless you're saying the same thing with GSync for nVidia, which would just be funny I guess.

Also, so what if the GTX780 gets dropped to the same price as the 290x? Do you really think that the 780ti news is a surprise to AMD? They both go back and forth like this on new releases and the 290x is already positioned for the expected price drop for the 780 and to square off at a price advantage against the 780ti. Mission accomplished for AMD, unless the 290 is close enough in performance to cannibalize 290x sales.
 
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i gotta give AMD credit on the crossfire scaling

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that's epic scaling
 
Lol at the Nvidia butthurt. If you need to come into a 290x thread to tell everyone how cool you are for paying more for less you need to get a life.

Looks like this is probably the pinnacle of what AMD could've achieved on 28nm. Any more transistors and you might as well be using it to brew coffee. I don't really have a use for it as two 7950 is fine at 1600p, if not faster, but I was planning on moving to 4K next year and it's nice to see two of these will maintain 60fps min. Probably the best card for 5760x1080p as well.

Nice job AMD. Now to just wait for a card to be released with a practical cooler.


Brent_Justice said:
Our test systems are kind of loud, I run my fans on my H100 at full speed to achieve a high overclock. I can say I did not notice the fan on the 290X until I set it to 100% fan cap, then it spun up pretty high, about 65-70% in Crysis 3, and I could hear it. But it wasn't annoying, my cpu fans were louder.
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CPU fans louder than a blower. That's [H].
 
lol at the replies on the first page where people missed the part that 290x is running 95c and uses more power than Gtx480.

I can care less if its $100 cheaper if this thing wont last you a year before it fries.


stop the nonsense please.
 
Business6 said:
Aside from the temp/power levels I am very impressed by the legs this card has. Wouldn't be surprised if it helped push a lot more 4k monitors earlier than expected. Can't really do much about the power but hopefully the usual Asus/Gigabyte/etc coolers can make an impact on that heat.

The results from this card make me very interested in seeing how the regular R9 290 turns out.



A bit of an overreaction. Both companies need new tech to help distinguish their products (GSync, PhysX, TressFX, etc) and to give their products an edge in big releases. I'd relax on the idea that Mantle is an all-or-nothing deal for AMD unless you're saying the same thing with GSync for nVidia, which would just be funny I guess.

Also, so what if the GTX780 gets dropped to the same price as the 290x? Do you really think that the 780ti news is a surprise to AMD? They both go back and forth like this on new releases and the 290x is already positioned for the expected price drop for the 780 and to square off at a price advantage against the 780ti. Mission accomplished for AMD, unless the 290 is close enough in performance to cannibalize 290x sales.
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imo real winner of this round is the 7970 >.>
 
Kyle, you didn't mention about the 95c in the Conclusion once, how come?
 
Henry75 said:
This card needs lower nm this is like Fermi all over again wrong time wrong place. performance wise pretty competitive but i feel like if Amd had enough resources they could have done much better card
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Well, 780 is 25% larger and uses 15-19% less power so it is quite a bit easier to cool. At these prices the 290X is still a better card.
 
I think I am done with this thread. Enjoy your R9 290X upgrades.
As a consumer and indifferent to brand of cards, AMD has failed us, twice. It was the same scenario with the 7970 with the exorbitant pricing that allowed nVidia to push $1000 cards as flagship.

P.S. I continue to maintain that the people who paid $1000 bucks for Titan had more money than sense.

P.S.S. One thing people are forgetting is the price drop on 780s down to $500 and introduction of the 780 Ti. If 780 Ti is even introduced at $650 as speculated then R9 290X even becomes more irrelevant than it already is.
 
Thanks for the great review. I think AMD hit a grand slam with the 290X.
 
KickAssCop said:
I think I am done with this thread. Enjoy your R9 290X upgrades.
As a consumer and indifferent to brand of cards, AMD has failed us, twice. It was the same scenario with the 7970 with the exorbitant pricing that allowed nVidia to push $1000 cards as flagship.

P.S. I continue to maintain that the people who paid $1000 bucks for Titan had more money than sense.

P.S.S. One thing people are forgetting is the price drop on 780s down to $500 and introduction of the 780 Ti. If 780 Ti is even introduced at $650 as speculated then R9 290X even becomes more irrelevant than it already is.
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Yes, please leave.
 
great review. awesome card. MUCH better value than my Titan. not sure it's worth moving from a highly oc'd Titan.

really pumped to see frame pacing appears to be much better. I may give xfire another go down the road.
 
I remember when GTX 480 came out and offered 2x performance over the previous generation and yet Kyle still slammed it for running too hot.

Why is he praising the 290x so much in this review if it runs hotter and draws more power than gtx480, not once he mentions the heat issues under 'conclusion' in the review.

Not cool.
 
TroyX said:
I remember when GTX 480 came out and offered 2x performance over the previous generation and yet Kyle still slammed it for running too hot.

Why is he praising the 290x so much in this review if it runs hotter and draws more power than gtx480, not once he mentions the heat issues under 'conclusion' in the review.

Not cool.
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He did recommend waiting to get one with a custom designed cooler(not at the conclusion).

I don't see how anyone could deny the value and performance of the 290x. Even with the crappy reference cooler the card is whooping on the Titan which is almost double the price.

I think these reference cards are going to shine when water cooled with some good voltage control. 290X has a lot of life in it. The raw hardware in the 290X is very capable. I expect the 290X to be extremely popular amongst hard core over clockers and gamers.
 
TroyX said:
lol at the replies on the first page where people missed the part that 290x is running 95c and uses more power than Gtx480.

I can care less if its $100 cheaper if this thing wont last you a year before it fries.


stop the nonsense please.
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Maybe learn to read?

AMD has set the default temperature of these GPUs to run at a max of 95c. That means that the GPUs are going to run at 95c. This will be a shock to you at first, as you are not used to your video card running so hot, but it is OK. AMD states that the thermal threshold for these GPUs is well above 95c. AMD is confident in the set temperature of 95c to deliver a stable experience. There is no technical reason to lower the temperature, but you have the option to if you want.
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Very nice AMD.

Taking out an opponent's card that is twice the price. Very good.
 
atp1916 said:
Very nice AMD.

Taking out an opponent's card that is twice the price. Very good.
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except they didnt....
unless you count the ONE 4k test....
and the card uses more power then 480 AND runs hot as fuck
 
I'm waiting for a Crossfire review, it's hot as fuck and does not overclock all that well. Hopefully [H] uses a SLI 780/Ti vs 290X in Crossfire with new drivers. Nothing matters more to me than smooth gaming and my 7970 Crossfire setup was terrible.
 
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