GIGABYTE R9 290X OC and ASUS GTX 780 Ti DCUII Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,596
GIGABYTE R9 290X OC and ASUS GTX 780 Ti DCUII Review - Today we look at the GIGABYTE R9 290X 4GB OC and ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II OC video cards. Each of these video cards features a custom cooling system, and a factory overclock. We will push the overclock farther and put these two video cards head-to-head for a high-end performance comparison.
 
Great comparison review! I am truly impressed with both cards. I did not expect to see a 290X at such low load temps. Gigabyte did an amazing job with their HSF.
 
Looks like the Gigabyte card suffers from similar performance deficits the MSI 290x that was reviewed recently did. I wonder if this is attributed to better drivers from NVIDIA or worsening DirectX performance from AMD's drivers, since performance parity was a lot closer in these comparisons last year.
 
The 780ti pulling more power than the 290x is interesting.

Still quite expensive for what you get in both instances though.
 
I just ordered a 290x here in Canada for $480 ($450 after MIR) seems that because prices have come back to normal levels, shouldnt the 290x be compared to the 780 now and not the Ti? we all know the Ti is faster, and a monster when clocked high. But it seems you should have amended this review by adding in a non-ref 780 for persepctive. Thanks for the info though! Hope my 290x clocks a little better than your sample!
 
Armenius said:
Looks like the Gigabyte card suffers from similar performance deficits the MSI 290x that was reviewed recently did. I wonder if this is attributed to better drivers from NVIDIA or worsening DirectX performance from AMD's drivers, since performance parity was a lot closer in these comparisons last year.
Click to expand...

NVIDIA had always the advantage in driver support to improve the performance with every driver release, while AMD has been busy to bring Support to mantle, (in this review wasn't even tested the latest Beta 337.50 Drivers which drop the DX optimization), however this isn't because AMD have worsening the Performance its simply due the fact that the 780TI have out of the box a higher clock and overclock way better, thats why perform better in those reviews, while generally its tested the reference model..
 
psyclist said:
I just ordered a 290x here in Canada for $480 ($450 after MIR) seems that because prices have come back to normal levels, shouldnt the 290x be compared to the 780 now and not the Ti? we all know the Ti is faster, and a monster when clocked high. But it seems you should have amended this review by adding in a non-ref 780 for persepctive. Thanks for the info though! Hope my 290x clocks a little better than your sample!
Click to expand...

nonsense... both 780, and 780TI will be better performer than 290X when overclocked its involved...

every grade card should be tested with the other brand counter part no matter price.. highest end NVIDIA card with Highest end AMD card and so on..
 
To me, if your spending that kind of money on a video card, that price delta is irrelevant. So while the 290X bring more value,, NV gtx780ti just bring more performance and features,

It's good to better cooling on both these cards. I wonder if heat soak is still an issue with 290x.
 
We generally compared cards based on price. When we started this review, both cards were much more similar in price. That has changed in the last few weeks.
 
1397411267OPl8cM2MpM_9_1.gif


Oh, my, would you look at that. Wondering what all the fanboys that were screaming "OMG, zee huge powa!!!" in every 290X review have to say about that.
 
Meeho said:
Oh, my, would you look at that. Wondering what all the fanboys that were screaming "OMG, zee huge powa!!!" in every 290X review have to say about that.
Click to expand...

Not just fanboys were saying that. Just about everyone was. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the power draw in this review, but in a good way now.
 
Instead of comparing it to a reference GeForce GTX 780 Ti like normal the ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II, a fully overclocked and customized video card to give it the best competition.
Click to expand...

Accidentally a word there ;)
 
Meeho said:
Oh, my, would you look at that. Wondering what all the fanboys that were screaming "OMG, zee huge powa!!!" in every 290X review have to say about that.
Click to expand...

I was surprised as well when I saw the power draw figures.
 
These are non-Reference cards. The power delivery will vary quite a lot than the reference PCB counter-parts. I won't be surprised if an overclocked 780 GTX Ti draws more power. I could be dependent on many factors on a non-reference PCB, for example VRMs used, number of capacitors. Type of chips (ASICS) or memory used.
 
psyclist said:
I just ordered a 290x here in Canada for $480 ($450 after MIR) seems that because prices have come back to normal levels, shouldnt the 290x be compared to the 780 now and not the Ti? we all know the Ti is faster, and a monster when clocked high. But it seems you should have amended this review by adding in a non-ref 780 for persepctive. Thanks for the info though! Hope my 290x clocks a little better than your sample!
Click to expand...

Price has already been addressed, in terms of performance, 290X and 780 Ti are the "performance" comparisons, which sometimes differ from the "price" comparisons. Prices on R9 290X have been drastically in fluctuation, started extremely high, now maybe the price is finally settling down. We will evaluate the next comparisons with the prices at that time.
 
Nice review guys.

I think the radeon power draw was a bit above expected, based on halving the amounts I recall from the dual gpu cards' review. But the Nvidia power draw in this one is much higher than half of the dual gpu card review. So they are probably pushing it pretty good compared to stock.

I think that's why at first glance, the Radeon power draw seems low.
 
Brent_Justice said:
Price has already been addressed, in terms of performance, 290X and 780 Ti are the "performance" comparisons, which sometimes differ from the "price" comparisons. Prices on R9 290X have been drastically in fluctuation, started extremely high, now maybe the price is finally settling down. We will evaluate the next comparisons with the prices at that time.
Click to expand...

Actually I am VERY glad to see the TOP CARD from both companies compared head to head. I hope it happens OFTEN. This is [HARD]ocp, price is no object for many members.
 
netsez said:
Actually I am VERY glad to see the TOP CARD from both companies compared head to head. I hope it happens OFTEN. This is [HARD]ocp, price is no object for many members.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, Overclockers Comparison Page is about overclocking...fundamentally being able to buy a lower model product at a cheaper price, overclocking it, and getting or exceeding the performance of a higher end model.

Then again, I suppose we are both right, depending on how one looks at it.
 
When the 780 Ti and the 290X were first reviewed the cards were a lot closer in performance. It's disappointing to me that NVIDIA seems to have improved upon their drivers much more so than AMD has in the same time frame. Great review, I appreciate these types of articles.
 
The original 290X cooler, for all of it's faults, in uber mode maintained full clocks. The reference "Titan" cooler though doesn't allow for boost clocks to be as high as the aftermarket coolers do. Add to that the increased temp targets for the latest nVidia drivers and you have most of the nVidia "driver" improvements explained, IMHO.
 
I don't get all this 780ti is faster than the 290x. First off, my stock 290x scores 10200 in firestrike. When overclocked to the max. I get 12575 in firestrike. I have not seen the first single 780ti pull that score off. I am not saying that it can't, I'm just saying that I have not seen it yet. But, with that said. I am not saying the 780ti does not do better than some 290x's, or vice versa, but to come to a conclusion of that nature across the board is just wrong. You have fan boy's of all types, just some are ATI, while others, well, they are NVIDIA fan boy's. But,no matter which card you choose to buy and hype up. I dare any 780ti or 290x to jump on my 3 280X'S that I traded my one 290x for!!! So, I will end this post with this. I say f all the new cards, just stack up on the old ones. More power, less money.
 
Last edited:
Auburn_Tigers said:
I don't get all this 780ti is faster than the 290x. First off, my stock 290x scores 10200 in firestrike. When overclocked to the max. I get 12575 in firestrike. I have not seen the first single 780ti pull that score off. I am not saying that it can't, I'm just saying that I have not seen it yet. But, with that said. I am not saying the 780ti does not do better than some 290x's, or vice versa, but to come to a conclusion of that nature across the board is just wrong. You have fan boy's of all types, just some are ATI, while others, well, they are NVIDIA fan boy's. But,no matter which card you choose to buy and hype up. I dare any 780ti or 290x to jump on my 3 280X'S that I traded my one 290x for!!! So, I will end this post with this. I say f all the new cards, just stack up on the old ones. More power, less money.
Click to expand...
Why stack up old ones when you can stack up new ones? :D:p
 
Auburn_Tigers said:
I don't get all this 780ti is faster than the 290x. First off, my stock 290x scores 10200 in firestrike. When overclocked to the max. I get 12575 in firestrike. I have not seen the first single 780ti pull that score off. I am not saying that it can't, I'm just saying that I have not seen it yet. But, with that said. I am not saying the 780ti does not do better than some 290x's, or vice versa, but to come to a conclusion of that nature across the board is just wrong. You have fan boy's of all types, just some are ATI, while others, well, they are NVIDIA fan boy's. But,no matter which card you choose to buy and hype up. I dare any 780ti or 290x to jump on my 3 280X'S that I traded my one 290x for!!! So, I will end this post with this. I say f all the new cards, just stack up on the old ones. More power, less money.
Click to expand...

LoL you said fanboys when you are a AMD fanboy? hilarious:p. since when a Synthetic Bench like 3dmark its any indicative of performance with different brands?. AMD cards do better in 3dmark, Nvidia cards do better in Unigine Heaven and Valley Benchmark, they are good to compare same cards or similar gen cards of a brand like what it was some time ago with GTX 660TI-GTX670 and 7950-7970, real world test its what really matters..

btw.. you need to learn how to search better..

FireStrike Extreme

FireStrike
 
Auburn_Tigers said:
I don't get all this 780ti is faster than the 290x. First off, my stock 290x scores 10200 in firestrike. When overclocked to the max. I get 12575 in firestrike. I have not seen the first single 780ti pull that score off. I am not saying that it can't, I'm just saying that I have not seen it yet.
Click to expand...

If you haven't seen 780 Tis beating 290Xs in Firestrike, you haven't been looking very hard. The 780 Ti kills the 290X in graphics score especially.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1406832/single-gpu-firestrike-top-30/0_30
 
AMD fanboy? That would be a no. I have used one just as much as the other, so a fanboy, that would be the wrong term to use here. Unigine Heaven, yes. Been there done that. I hold 77 fps every thing maxed out,cpu stock and gpu on air. So again. My 290x still rocks and beats a lot of 780ti. So, as I state before. Some 290s win,some lose.
 
Most of the 780 Tis overclock to 1200 MHz easily at which point an OC 290 X becomes 15% slower. I have two TriX 290s and have done several comparisons. Overclocking potential of 780 Tis is just too much than the 290s. I get stuck at 1100 MHz on the TriX but can easily hit 1250 on the Ti. Even with 1100 vs. 1100, the Ti has a 5-8% advantage in performance. If you take the extra overclock into consideration, the difference becomes larger only.
 
Armenius said:
Looks like the Gigabyte card suffers from similar performance deficits the MSI 290x that was reviewed recently did. I wonder if this is attributed to better drivers from NVIDIA or worsening DirectX performance from AMD's drivers, since performance parity was a lot closer in these comparisons last year.
Click to expand...

AMD R9 290X performance has regressed from the earlier reviews. there are reports of AMD 14.3 beta drivers having serious throttling issues. AMD has to correct this problem.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1477228/14-3-throttling-issue

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013...rectcu_ii_oc_video_card_review/4#.U01aHKKfZ8E
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...c_asus_gtx_780_ti_dcuii_review/7#.U01dAqKfZ8E

2560 x 1600 SMAA 4x High settings

ASUS R9 290X DC2T (1050 mhz) - 48.2 fps
Gigabyte R9 290X (1115 Mhz) - 46.7 fps

2560 x 1600 SMAA 2TX Very high settings .

ASUS R9 290X DC2T (1050 mhz) - 43.2 fps
Gigabyte R9 290X (1115 Mhz) - 42.7 fps
 
Last edited:
raghu78 said:
AMD R9 290X performance has regressed from the earlier reviews. there are reports of AMD 14.3 beta drivers having serious throttling issues. AMD has to correct this problem.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1477228/14-3-throttling-issue

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013...rectcu_ii_oc_video_card_review/4#.U01aHKKfZ8E
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...c_asus_gtx_780_ti_dcuii_review/7#.U01dAqKfZ8E

2560 x 1600 SMAA 4x High settings

ASUS R9 290X DC2T (1050 mhz) - 48.2 fps
Gigabyte R9 290X (1115 Mhz) - 46.7 fps

2560 x 1600 SMAA 2TX Very high settings .

ASUS R9 290X DC2T (1050 mhz) - 43.2 fps
Gigabyte R9 290X (1115 Mhz) - 42.7 fps
Click to expand...

Alas, this is what is expected from AMD from time to time. I hope they get their DX drivers up to speed with NVidia's. Otherwise in non-Mantle games, the difference in performance will be a gaping hole :/.
 
Does anyone know the maximum voltage allowed in OC Guru II for the Gigabyte? I just ordered this card and am trying to nail down if its +100mv or +200mv, in reading another review elsewhere they stated the max voltage they could get from this card was 1.35v can anyone speak to that? I want me some voltage so I can crank this card up!
 
Did anyone else notice the awful reviews of the 290x gigabyte card at newegg? Seems like a gamble to pick up this card.
 
babochee said:
Did anyone else notice the awful reviews of the 290x gigabyte card at newegg? Seems like a gamble to pick up this card.
Click to expand...

I got my Gigabyte 290X card installed finally, sitting at 1200/6200 @ 1.275v, VRM's get a little warm after extended BF4 sessions (92ish) but so far this card is a beast.
 
babochee said:
Did anyone else notice the awful reviews of the 290x gigabyte card at newegg? Seems like a gamble to pick up this card.
Click to expand...

Newegg reviews are the least reliable reference to follow. (IMO.)

Now, me personally, I'm recommending staying away from the vendors who are dual suppliers (nVidia/AMD) when looking at Hawaii at least. The coolers that are designed for GK110 (which is a physically larger chip) and being pressed into service for Hawaii aren't performing as well as the better coolers from companies like Sapphire and Powercolor. These are designed from the ground up for AMD chips.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top