The Official R9 270x, 280x and 290x Buyers Club Thread

AMD Radeon R9 290 (non-X) gaming performance leaks out

The Radeon R9 290, which will be released next week is going to be a very good graphics card for the price.

According to multiple reports Radeon R9 290 will easily beat GeForce GTX 780 in almost any game or benchmark. Of course that’s while being priced significantly lower (even 290X is cheaper) than GTX 780. Earlier leak from Overclockers UK revealed that overclocked R9 290 can even beat the R9 290X or the TITAN in some scenarios.

AMD Radeon R9 290 specifications
The R9 290 is equipped with Hawaii PRO GPU, a cut-down version of XT. The main difference is in Stream Processors count. The R9 290 has 2560 SPs, which is exactly 256 less than 290X has. Since texturing units are tied with the number of cores you will also get less of them — 160. The ROPs count should remain at 64, which is a very good number for high-resolution gaming. Of course even memory bus was not crippled in any way, so 4GB GDDR5 memory and 512-bit are still in the game. According to DarkLord’s preview this card will consume around 250 Watts, which is a similar number to TITAN’s or 780′s.

AMD Radeon R9 290 gaming performance
Everyone knows that synthetic benchmarks are not the most reliable way of comparing cards. For that reason games are usually the most interesting part of every review. Games, which were selected by the leaker, actually do include some AMD favored titles, but not as many to call this comparison unreliable.

So in these games, as shown below, you should expect at least the performance of GeForce GTX 780, NVIDIA’s card couldn’t win with the new 290 in any game. Only in BioShock Infinite and Battlefield 3 the GTX 780 was able to offer the same framerates as the R9 290. The difference between the GTX 780 and R9 290 is withing the margin of error, so I guess which card is going to win will depend on the reviewing site and its sponsors.

The R9 290 is supposedly featuring the same BIOS profiles as 290X: UBER and Quiet. It also has the same issues, mostly with temperature and noise. I guess the appearance of the aftermarket cooling solutions should be the best moment for buying this card.

The R9 290 will be released on October 31st, for the price around $399 to $449 (to be confirmed).

AMD-Radeon-R9-290-Gaming-Performance.png

http://videocardz.com/47294/amd-radeon-r9-290-non-x-gaming-performance-leaks

Fry-Take-my-money.jpg
 
I could have waited for 290 but I opted for the 290x because I really felt like AMD earned the sell + I have been nickel and dimming rebates for a long time and I got some credit card cash rewards that I was able to use. Sapphire 290x for 579.99 with BF4 and a 5% off new egg coupon helped me make up my mind. This is the first high end video card I have bought at launch. It looks so neat in its box. Haven't even opened it up yet. The box states it supports TRIXX for tweaking. Going to play with it soon. The box also states a 750w PSU with 1x150w 8 pin connector and 1x75w 6 pin connector recommended, quite high PSU requirement for single card.

I'm assuming you're going to put it under water, yes? Let us know how you get on.
 
What I'm really curious about - 290 and the possibility of it being flashed with a 290x bios + better overclocking.

If this turns out to be true...290 will be the best card in the last 5+ years.



Unfortunately they stopped that already, they are locking those extra stream processors on the hardware itself and not via software like they did back then on 6950.
 
Unfortunately they stopped that already, they are locking those extra stream processors on the hardware itself and not via software like they did back then on 6950.

How do you know this? While I expect it to be the case, nothing as of yet has confirmed it AFAIK.
 
I'm assuming you're going to put it under water, yes? Let us know how you get on.

Have an EK block on order from frozen CPU and working on temporary GPU only block in the mean time.
 
Any news for Never Settle Forever for us early 290x adopters?

Also anybody getting weird gpu usage spikes? It does this while idle and I can't figure out why. CCC said it's 0% usage but afterburner said it's something else.

5mzog4.jpg
 
yeah i'm getting the spikes at idle. though my 'idle' includes steam, origin, and several tabs in chrome open. (cheap german porn)
 
Koolance's "no plans at this time" has turned into "coming soon". :D

running my 2 290x's on air in a backup system, until i can get those blocks to put them into the "wet" system.
 
Getting ready to water cool my 290x with Swiftech MCW80 block and dremel some aluminum heat sinks to fit hot spots.

290xcoolingtweaks.jpeg
 
Any news for Never Settle Forever for us early 290x adopters?

Also anybody getting weird gpu usage spikes? It does this while idle and I can't figure out why. CCC said it's 0% usage but afterburner said it's something else.

5mzog4.jpg

bios able to change states/Power settings really fast think haswell tech
might use asus bios and their gpu tool or wait until afterburner supports the card.
not sure if turning off hardware support in your browser helps.
 
so many memory chips lol.

How do the vrm's look contact surface-wise?

Looks just like the 7970 series. Slight offset on the heat sink.

You mean these circled in red? (Photo of Sapphire HD7950 VRMs)

VRMSHD79705.jpg
 
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Hardly any clearance. A shim might be best for clearance.


IMGP3866.JPG

Over on overclock.net Iv seen people saying you dont need shims for the 290x's. People are already putting the arctic accelero extreme on the 290x.

But I do have some shims laying around, ill post later to show if people will need a shim.
 
Over on overclock.net Iv seen people saying you dont need shims for the 290x's. People are already putting the arctic accelero extreme on the 290x.

But I do have some shims laying around, ill post later to show if people will need a shim.


May be a good idea to be safe. If the surface were to bow at all it could hit that exterior metal part and not make good contact against the gpu. Also in my photo you can see how the little resistors are kind of poking up their heads. Hopefully AMD didn't plant a crazy transistor sticking up to make contact with unauthorized heatsink/block that could short out the gpu. Once I get this done I will find out how well it works. Worst case scenario I short out the gpu.
 
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May be a good idea to be safe. If the surface were to bow at all it may hit that exterior metal part and no make good contact against the gpu. Once I get this done I will find out how well it works. Worst case scenario I short out the gpu.

LOL I dont like that worst case scenario. I was thinking to wait to see someone else try it first lol.

I do want the Asus 290x if I get one since its not voltage locked. I know the bios Iv seen for the 290x gives ya 1.45v. Which would be pretty badass on water :)
 
Any links to people sticking Accelero Xtremes on 290xs? I'd love top read some of the numbers they're getting.
 
Any links to people sticking Accelero Xtremes on 290xs? I'd love top read some of the numbers they're getting.

I'd like to know this as well. If the numbers are good I'll buy a reference card as soon as they're in stock. I don't wanna wait till December for aftermarket 290X cards.
 
All I know for now is that arctic cooling are looking at it (see previous posts).

2-3 of us sent support questions for some of their coolers. The unanimous answer was "we're currently evaluating what fits".

I'm supposed to get my 290x monday-tuesday. I might look into swapping the one on my 7970 at that point.
 
It's looking good so far. The Accelero Xtreme should be able to knock 20 - 30 degrees off stock cooling with good application of thermal paste and good case airflow.
 
It's looking good so far. The Accelero Xtreme should be able to knock 20 - 30 degrees off stock cooling with good application of thermal paste and good case airflow.

it fit on your 290x? (not sure what you mean by "looking good so far")
 
Hi guys, I would like to ask if a 520-watt psu will be able to handle a single 290x since I don't really plan to upgrade my psu. Answers will be appreciated.
 
AMD requires at least 750W with single 8 pin rated for 150W and another single 6 pin rated for 75W.

Seems very high but I think this card has potential when over clocked to draw alot of power under load.
 
Hi guys, I would like to ask if a 520-watt psu will be able to handle a single 290x since I don't really plan to upgrade my psu. Answers will be appreciated.

Can you please list everything in your system, along with the MAKE and MODEL of the exact PSU you have? If you have a modern quad core system and more then 1 HD/SDD then I would say you need to jump up to at least a 650W just to be safe..Crosair is having a sale on a lot of their refurb PSU..I would recommend this 600W 80+ for $44.99..

For those of you who do not have full WC loops, I will be soon be producing bracket adapters that will allow you to use your choice of AIO WC units along with a 92mm fan mount to provide active airflow over the VRM area..I am currently in the planning stage with a master machinist and trying to hammer out the cost of the initial run..I may end up doing a Kickstarter or talking to Kyle about doing pre-oders here, since I want to line up about 100+ for the first run.
 
Well my parts are:

Processor: Intel i5-3300
HDD: Seagate 500GB 5400 rpm
SSD: Intel 330 120gb
Mobo: ASrock z77 pro-3
PSU: Seasonic m12ii 520w bronze
GPU: Sapphire 7850

and 3 stock fans.
 
Well my parts are:

Processor: Intel i5-3300
HDD: Seagate 500GB 5400 rpm
SSD: Intel 330 120gb
Mobo: ASrock z77 pro-3
PSU: Seasonic m12ii 520w bronze
GPU: Sapphire 7850

and 3 stock fans.

You should be just fine, as long as you don't go crazy trying to max O/C the card..It is going to give you ~2.5X the performance of your 7850 outta the box, so you should be just fine.
 
Ugh just waiting for newegg to get 1 in stock. Got the H90 on the way to get ready for some modding :)
 
Can you please list everything in your system, along with the MAKE and MODEL of the exact PSU you have? If you have a modern quad core system and more then 1 HD/SDD then I would say you need to jump up to at least a 650W just to be safe..Crosair is having a sale on a lot of their refurb PSU..I would recommend this 600W 80+ for $44.99..

For those of you who do not have full WC loops, I will be soon be producing bracket adapters that will allow you to use your choice of AIO WC units along with a 92mm fan mount to provide active airflow over the VRM area..I am currently in the planning stage with a master machinist and trying to hammer out the cost of the initial run..I may end up doing a Kickstarter or talking to Kyle about doing pre-oders here, since I want to line up about 100+ for the first run.

Not to pimp someone else's site, and not trying to get into trouble.......:D
but you might want to talk to the guys at RealRedRaider.com they are really into custom mods and often do stuff just like you are planning. A good bunch of guys there.
 
You should be just fine, as long as you don't go crazy trying to max O/C the card..It is going to give you ~2.5X the performance of your 7850 outta the box, so you should be just fine.

Well that's sounds good but I'm kind of worried about when non-reference coolers come out. Will the TDP still be the same? What do you guys think?
 
Well my parts are:

Processor: Intel i5-3300
HDD: Seagate 500GB 5400 rpm
SSD: Intel 330 120gb
Mobo: ASrock z77 pro-3
PSU: Seasonic m12ii 520w bronze
GPU: Sapphire 7850

and 3 stock fans.

You should get yourself a nice 750W PSU. That 550 is going to be at the red line if you try and OC that 290X....I see blue smoke in your future.

Ugh just waiting for newegg to get 1 in stock. Got the H90 on the way to get ready for some modding :)

No kidding......I haven't seen 1 card for sale all weekend.....except for the junk on eBay.
That and newegg looks like the only place who had even the slightest bit of stock.:(
 
Say I went for a full custom loop and a 290 (non x). My current system is an OCed 7950, SSD, HDD, some USB peripherals 6 cse fans, and a 4770k clocked at 4.6ghz on air. A 650 watt Super Flower Amazon 80+ would be fine I imagine, but if I were to put it (and possibly the 4770k under water, but left the 4770k at the same OC, and maybe shaved sopme voltage off due to lower temps + delid) under water and OC, how limited would I be? I imagine I would be able to go for a pretty extreme overclock and remain under 620 watts, which sould be OK long termish for my PSU (despite it being 3 years old).
 
Say I went for a full custom loop and a 290 (non x). My current system is an OCed 7950, SSD, HDD, some USB peripherals 6 cse fans, and a 4770k clocked at 4.6ghz on air. A 650 watt Super Flower Amazon 80+ would be fine I imagine, but if I were to put it (and possibly the 4770k under water, but left the 4770k at the same OC, and maybe shaved sopme voltage off due to lower temps + delid) under water and OC, how limited would I be? I imagine I would be able to go for a pretty extreme overclock and remain under 620 watts, which sould be OK long termish for my PSU (despite it being 3 years old).

I think the draw of these cards is a lot more than the 7950.
Plus you have to look at what the pump draws as well.
I'd sit down and look at the total watts currently and then add in the new card's needs....
I would bet you'll need more than 620 to do the job.:D
 
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