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

Titan performance at $550 but it runs 15C hotter and draws 50 watts more at full load? Sign me up!

Yeah I'd love it to sip power and run nice and cool but for fuck sake, this thing is competing with a $1000 video card and besting a $650 card while coming in at $550! To me, that's a pretty fair trade off that I'd take any day of the week.
 
pcjunkie said:
LOL...wtf is it with fan boys that brings out the personal jealousy so much?
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Jealousy? Lol

You are confused friend.

If you think that 95c(GPU outside the case) is fine then you are grasping for straws.
 
AllBlackFan said:
Have you read any responses to your posts? You're just coming off as a broken record now.
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He is either a troll or paid shill. No way to tell either way for sure.

Not that it matters.

The "don't touch the poop" rule applies to either group.
 
Flopper said:
not getting laid does that to many ;)

290 with a waterblock for BF4, oh so good that feels.
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Yeah they must thinking everyone is running full 3D mode at 100% fan 24/7/365...!

Doesn't everyone realize its still less heat/power than running sli/xfire?

I don't get all the hate....
 
Flopper said:
not getting laid does that to many ;)

290 with a waterblock for BF4, oh so good that feels.
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What about the 99% that won't be getting waterblock? And how much is the 290x going to cost you now with waterblock to run as fast and cool as GTX 780?

Why bother going thru all that when superior hardware already came out many months before 290x?
 
TroyX said:
Jealousy? Lol

You are confused friend.

If you think that 95c(GPU outside the case) is fine then you are grasping for straws.
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So don't buy one...I'll wait for an after market one with better cooling. Problem solved. Anything else?
 
Flopper said:
290 with a waterblock for [anything], oh so good that feels.
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Fixed. Take that extra $100 saved by getting the 290x instead of the 780 and apply it towards a waterblock, suddenly the noise and thermals don't seem to matter.
 
I slammed GTX 480 also for running hot and using slot of power so I'm no nvidia fanboy.

It's just that when one needs that much heat and power to achieve what they want is not something I recommend.

Gpu's don't last long with this much heat, just ask all the Fermi owners.
 
You know, this may well be one of the best video cards to really judge custom cooling solutions from AIB partners with a direct correlation between cooler efficiency, card speed, and acoustics.

Waterblock manufacturers will love it also! Really like this card!
 
TroyX said:
Jealousy? Lol

You are confused friend.

If you think that 95c(GPU outside the case) is fine then you are grasping for straws.
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What part of target temperature don't you understand? You can have it run 80c if you'd like, it will just be louder or slower and you will gain nothing.

"We have designed the 290 Series to operate at a steady state of 95C. By running at 95C, we are both maximizing the performance and minimizing the acoustics of the product. Be assured, that 95C is a perfectly safe temperature at which the GPU can operate for its entire life. There is no technical reason to reduce the target temperature below 95C"

TroyX said:
Gpu's don't last long with this much heat, just ask all the Fermi owners.
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I believe the Engineers that designed this card over you, It wouldn't be in AMD's financial interests to have a large failure rate.
 
DJS4000 said:
I don't think you have any idea about temperature differentials and thermodynamics in general. According to you, a space heater that draws 2kw at the wall but only reaches 50°C heats up a room more than an equally sized heater that draws 1kw but reaches 90°C.
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My example/numbers had no "equally sized" statement. Because in video card terms we can't/don't know the sizes of heat dissipation. (And really it you're just looking at heat dumped in room we don't care too much about dissipation rates and such.)

Temperature is a relation between energy and surface area available to dissipate the energy. Because of this, it's impossible to have a heater that's 50c with 2kw draw and the same sized heater that's 90c with 1kw draw. (IF dissipation rate is the same between the two. if you add a fan to the 2kw surface area then it's entirely possible to sit at 50c and still be at 2kw while the 1kw heater is at 90c).
 
TroyX said:
I slammed GTX 480 also for running hot and using slot of power so I'm no nvidia fanboy.

It's just that when one needs that much heat and power to achieve what they want is not something I recommend.

Gpu's don't last long with this much heat, just ask all the Fermi owners.
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We understood your points the first 84 times you made those. You have now been relieved of AMD Flavor forum posting access. The trolling has to stop.
 
Yakk said:
You know, this may well be one of the best video cards to really judge custom cooling solutions from AIB partners with a direct correlation between cooler efficiency, card speed, and acoustics.
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I was thinking along similar lines. Much like the 8800 with an AC Accelero bolted on, or MSI bringing out the Twin Frozr, or Gigabyte giving us the WindForce, etc.

I'm very interested to see the results from manufacturers solutions. Because I sure as hell am not impressed with AMD's reference cooler performance. AMD is target marketing these to PC enthusiasts.
They need a hat trick with the following:
1. Performance - bullseye
2. Price - bullseye
3. Power/Heat - miss

Again, it's a trade off to get GTX Titan performance for almost half the cost... especially if one is not willing to wait for the non-reference coolers.
 
Last edited:
Kyle, thank you ^ eleventy billion for seeing TroyX the Troll to the exit. I'm very impressed at the price and performance. This looks like the perfect self-gift to myself for X-Mas. :D
 
So any word on when would those non-reference models be hitting the streets?

I tried approximating the time diff between 280X ref and non-ref but those were too close apart to be of any help.
 
The 290 reg is gonna be a beast @ $400.

Down the road.. sub $400 290 ftw.
 
atp1916 said:
The 290 reg is gonna be a beast @ $400-450...
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I was going to buy a 290x from the egg last night but thought about this too. There's also a big gap from the $550 290x to the $300 280x so depending on where the 290 is placed it might be the card to buy.
 
J3lly said:
So any word on when would those non-reference models be hitting the streets?

I tried approximating the time diff between 280X ref and non-ref but those were too close apart to be of any help.
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I read somewhere mid to late november, sorry can't post a link, I'm at work.
 
Ok, read the whole review.
Two things:
- Considering the way the power balance thing works, why didn't AMD remove the maximum clock? Assuming it balances 95°C and 100% fan speed, why wasn't it allowed to go up in clock speed as high as possible, instead of being artificially capped to 1ghz?
- There has been no mention in the review that the 290x is a "Titan killer" that comes NEARLY A YEAR LATER. Seriously, whoever bought the Titan at launch made the best investment since the 8800GTX...

Now, onto the guru3d xfire review. Curious to see if the frame pacing thing works properly now.
 
DejaWiz said:
I was thinking along similar lines. Much like the 8800 with an AC Accelero bolted on, or MSI bringing out the Twin Frozr, or Gigabyte giving us the WindForce, etc.

I'm very interested to see the results from manufacturers solutions. Because I sure as hell am not impressed with AMD's reference cooler performance. AMD is target marketing these to PC enthusiasts.
They need a hat trick with the following:
1. Performance - bullseye
2. Price - bullseye
3. Power/Heat - miss

Again, it's a trade off to get GTX Titan performance for almost half the cost... especially if one is not willing to wait for the non-reference coolers.
Click to expand...

Only reason I see for getting a reference model is if you are also buying waterblocks.

Aside from price, I wouldn't be surprised if AMD designed this reference cooler to be "just" good enough to beat nvidia and giving their AIB partners a HUGE opportunity to distinguish themselves saying by how much *more* their card "beats the Titan" and REALLY promote this card. It's like a marketing manager's wet dream when you see all the extra performance you can talk about and sell!
 
Thanks for the review guys. Congrats to those who purchased or are about to. I'm really interested to see what these things are gonna do in xfire and with mantle. Also to Kyle, thanks for owning that troll.
 
kache said:
Ok, read the whole review.
Two things:
- Considering the way the power balance thing works, why didn't AMD remove the maximum clock? Assuming it balances 95°C and 100% fan speed, why wasn't it allowed to go up in clock speed as high as possible, instead of being artificially capped to 1ghz?
- There has been no mention in the review that the 290x is a "Titan killer" that comes NEARLY A YEAR LATER. Seriously, whoever bought the Titan at launch made the best investment since the 8800GTX...

Now, onto the guru3d xfire review. Curious to see if the frame pacing thing works properly now.
Click to expand...

Check out PCPER's review as well for framing.
 
kache said:
Ok, read the whole review.
Two things:
- Considering the way the power balance thing works, why didn't AMD remove the maximum clock? Assuming it balances 95°C and 100% fan speed, why wasn't it allowed to go up in clock speed as high as possible, instead of being artificially capped to 1ghz?
- There has been no mention in the review that the 290x is a "Titan killer" that comes NEARLY A YEAR LATER. Seriously, whoever bought the Titan at launch made the best investment since the 8800GTX...

Now, onto the guru3d xfire review. Curious to see if the frame pacing thing works properly now.
Click to expand...


I don't think X amount of months between the releases makes up for the fact that this card costs about half of the titan, this is not just great for people that are going to buy the AMD card but also great for nvidia fans that will get top tier nvidia cards at much LOWER prices due to the 290X's pricing.

Here's a preview of 290X in CF:

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...deon-R9-290X-CrossFire-and-4K-Preview-Testing
 
I'm somewhat interested...but with 1080p not necessarily being the focus, I suppose I'll wait.
Still, seems like a great card.
 
im reading in a few places that this card will throttle back nearly 300mhz due to excessive heat? Is this true?
 
tobi54 said:
I don't think X amount of months between the releases makes up for the fact that this card costs about half of the titan, this is not just great for people that are going to buy the AMD card but also great for nvidia fans that will get top tier nvidia cards at much LOWER prices due to the 290X's pricing.

Here's a preview of 290X in CF:

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...deon-R9-290X-CrossFire-and-4K-Preview-Testing
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Timing does mean something. People who bought a Titan 10 months ago got their money's worth, IMHO. Sure, it is a lot of money, but that is the price you pay when there is no competition and you want the best product at the time.

You will most likely see nVidia respond with more price drops, even on the Titan, I would think. Then the value favor in AMD starts to diminish. IMHO, the only great thing about the 290X is its value right now in terms of performance.

ZaC851 said:
im reading in a few places that this card will throttle back nearly 300mhz due to excessive heat? Is this true?
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PCPER noted that AMDs version of GPU Boost is very inconsistent and they said AMD was not as open about how it works and decides frequency.
 
kache said:
why didn't AMD remove the maximum clock?
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Its probably the best bin they could reliably get for the price point from TSMC. Basically AMD is guaranteeing you a 1Ghz clockspeed so long as the temps are OK.

kache said:
290x is a "Titan killer" that comes NEARLY A YEAR LATER.
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8 months actually. If it'd been a 11-11.5 month difference then you'd have been right, so close.

kache said:
Seriously, whoever bought the Titan at launch made the best investment since the 8800GTX...
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Even at launch Titan was widely regarded as having terrible bang for the buck as it had a gargantuan price premium over the 780GTX for not much of a performance improvement.

kache said:
Curious to see if the frame pacing thing works properly now.
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Its been working since AMD intro'd it several driver releases ago.:confused:
 
Wow - I want one! The question is to hold out for a custom card with some better cooling. I have had really good experiences with my 2 previous reference cards (5870 and gtx680) though it sounds like this card could be even faster with a better cooler as there would be less throttling. Also wonder if the 780s will come down any to match the price. If so, it would be a tougher decision.

Thanks for a great review.
 
mesyn191 said:
Its probably the best bin they could reliably get for the price point from TSMC. Basically AMD is guaranteeing you a 1Ghz clockspeed so long as the temps are OK.
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But there is a big "but" there. PCPER found and mentioned in their video about the 290X that it would reach 1Ghz, but the caveat was that it would rarely hold its frequency for a long time in the boost clock. This is different to how the 700 Series/Titan work. With those cards you often boost and stay there consistently, meaning a more long term performance increase
 
twzTechman said:
Wow - I want one! The question is to hold out for a custom card with some better cooling. I have had really good experiences with my 2 previous reference cards (5870 and gtx680) though it sounds like this card could be even faster with a better cooler as there would be less throttling. Also wonder if the 780s will come down any to match the price. If so, it would be a tougher decision.

Thanks for a great review.
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I'm definitely holding out for better cooling, I'm hoping they'll be out by the time black friday comes along, might even get a good deal.
 
ZaC851 said:
im reading in a few places that this card will throttle back nearly 300mhz due to excessive heat? Is this true?
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Yea in "quiet mode" this can happen easily. "Uber mode" it appears to be less of an issue. Neither mode runs the fan at higher than 55% of top speed though.

It appears to be possible to force the fan to run higher if you like but its pretty noisy if you run anywhere near 100%. Another review had the noise at something like 62dB IIRC at top speed. Right up there with those old Delta screamer 10k rpm fans.
 
I guess people didn't read the part about the 95c. it was a design target along with noise, the temperature it set to run at 95deg c with the lowest fan speed possible up to a pre-set max fan speed

Now I'm really curious to see the 290! from the specs it seems it will not be much different, however I wonder if they share the same thermal target
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
I guess people didn't read the part about the 95c. it was a design target along with noise, the temperature it set to run at 95deg c with the lowest fan speed possible up to a pre-set max fan speed
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That's fine the card was designed to last through the warranty period up to 95C.

But...the majority of user do not watercool. I can see why people with aircooling don't want a gpu exhausting 85C+ into their rooms.
 
so, as non reference coolers rarely work in multi GPU setups, I'm wondering how these will handle crossfire/trifire...

I really want to buy 2 and get a 3rd down the road, but I'm really hesitant with these heat numbers
 
mesyn191 said:
I
8 months actually. If it'd been a 11-11.5 month difference then you'd have been right, so close.
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He said nearly a year, so he is accurate enough.

mesyn191 said:
Even at launch Titan was widely regarded as having terrible bang for the buck as it had a gargantuan price premium over the 780GTX for not much of a performance improvement.
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780GTX didn't exist when the Titan came out.

Lets be more clear. Specifically, the Titan was regarded as having awesome performance in the single GPU ring that rivaled dual-GPU cards. But for slightly cheaper and no compatibility issues that come with owning a dual card. And the bonus was great stock cooling. The price was high because AMD had nothing similar to compete with.
 
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