AMD Radeon R9 290X Battlefield 4 Edition – 8,000 and "No Specs" For Pre-Order

[wand3r3r]

I know this was buried in one of the threads.

Pre-order a card based on rumors? They are really going out on a limb here.

What we have learned since bringing you that news is that AMD will be releasing a grand total of 8,000 AMD Radeon R9 290X Battlefield 4 Edition cards. This means globally and not just regionally! We also learned that the cards specifications and the final price of the card will not be disclosed when the pre-order begins. This means that you’ll have to put down a deposit without knowing the price or clock speeds of the card that you will be purchasing. This is a very interesting and something we’ve never seen done before in recent times. To top that off only certain Add-In board partners will be offering it.

http://www.legitreviews.com/amd-radeon-r9-290x-battlefield-4-edition-8000-specs-pre-order_125224

 

[Elixer]

Meh.
If you don't like it, then don't pre-order it.

I am sure lots of other people will, and most of them don't care what it costs, they just gotta have it.

 

[Saylick]

Heh, yep. I posted that earlier on the main GPU14 thread and it got buried fast.

As for the blind pre-order, it makes zero sense in my mind unless AMD is seriously desperate...

The details behind Mantle won't even be talked about until a month after the pre-order date, let alone not even releasing the specs. There is absolutely nothing concrete to gauge 290X's performance; you would have to love AMD and BF4 a crap ton in order to justify a purchase like this.

 

[GaiaHunter]

The sad part is that I bet there will be enough crazies to buy all of them...

 

[tigersty1e]

that's the thing.

there aren't enough cards for the crazies. so they make the rules such that only the crazy psychos are buying.

 

[Jaydip]

So what about R9 290, is it coming at the same time? will get one for my brother.

 

[Saylick]

So what about R9 290, is it coming at the same time? will get one for my brother.

My guess is no. Only 290X at time of pre-order.

 

[ShintaiDK]

You have to be insane (read completely dumb.) to preorder something you dont know what is, how it performs or what it even cost.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

Watch it be a ~$1000 card for a preorder price of $299. That would hype the hype.

 

[raghu78]

I don't see the logic in opening pre-order while the NDA is still in place. AMD should have delayed the opening of pre-orders to when the NDA expire and when launch reviews are out.

But given the pricing of R9 280x we can make a guess R9 290x might be USD 500 - 550 for the normal version. the BF4 version might be around USD 530 - 580. anything more would be disappointing

 

[SiliconWars]

I think they're gonna cost a bit more than that. These are limited edition, you always pay more for that and there might be some other BF4 stuff included.

 

[Bubbleawsome]

Guessing $100 more than stock, so $650-699

 

[Skurge]

This is hilarious.

 

[blackened23]

This has to be the stupidest pre-order i've ever heard. So folks are supposed to pay a deposit for a pre-order without knowing the final price and not having performance data.

I'm lost for words here. What the heck is this garbage?

 

[flopper]

smart plan, more people talk about amd, new cards than ever before.
hype works.

 

[RussianSensation]

It isn't hard to assume that R9 290X will end up at or near 780. What's more disappointing is that AMD doesn't appear to have secured a deal with DICE/EA for BF4 to be included in their GE program. 8000 cards with BF4 is nearly the same as 0 cards when looking at a broad picture on a global scale. You'd think AMD would undercut 780 and bundle BF4 with every 290X card. That would have added more value and acted as a key differentiator.

With EVGA GTX780 ACS + Batman AO bundle going for $10 more and adding nearly 10% more performance over a stock 780, AMD shouldn't be releasing a reference R9 290X without a solid AAA game if they are gunning for $599 and above.

 

[Genx87]

This has to be the stupidest pre-order i've ever heard. So folks are supposed to pay a deposit for a pre-order without knowing the final price and not having performance data.

I'm lost for words here. What the heck is this garbage?

AMD's clown marketing department on display again. Watch as this card doesnt live upto expectations. Yeah, I know, hard to believe an AMD product not living upto expectations.

 

[RussianSensation]

AMD's clown marketing department on display again. Watch as this card doesnt live upto expectations. Yeah, I know, hard to believe an AMD product not living upto expectations.

Since R9 290X is so late vs. 780, unless it beats it by 20% or undercuts it significantly, it'll never live up to expectations. In the GPU industry we expect products to get cheaper and/or faster over time relative to competition. Launching nearly 6 months after 780 and barely beating it at $599-649 is not an accomplishment.

 

[96Firebird]

They will all be sold quickly, but that just shows how dumb some people are.

However, I'm sure they will enjoy their purchases regardless of how it stacks up to other cards.

 

[Enigmoid]

Since R9 290X is so late vs. 780, unless it beats it by 20% or undercuts it significantly, it'll never live up to expectations. In the GPU industry we expect products to get cheaper and/or faster over time relative to competition. Launching nearly 6 months after 780 and barely beating it at $599-649 is not an accomplishment.

Agree completely. But amd did the same thing with mobile (384 core mars gpu) despite being generally slower than the 640m (the highly clocked models with GDDR5 do okay). The only reason that these are still relevant is because nvidia released the GK 208 which cut down the memory bus to 64 bits and the use of DDR3 has increased in mid-range mobile gpus (660m at 950/1250 had to have gddr5 while the 750 at 1058/1250 often uses ddr3, making it slightly slower to the same speed).

 

[tviceman]

Since R9 290X is so late vs. 780, unless it beats it by 20% or undercuts it significantly, it'll never live up to expectations. In the GPU industry we expect products to get cheaper and/or faster over time relative to competition. Launching nearly 6 months after 780 and barely beating it at $599-649 is not an accomplishment.

That is EXACTLY what I said.

I think Hawaii's biggest enemy with respect to performance will be it's power draw. It may in fact be way more efficient per mm^2 than GK110, but GK110's perf/watt is pretty darn amazing, especially considering it's size.

 

[Kenmitch]

My gut says pre-order one....My wallet says don't do it.

I have a strange feeling about this one....Positive tho.

Depending on pre-order $ amount I might roll the dice.

 

[etrin]

well it doesn't look $599 fast to me.
And no reviews or anything before ordering is just asking for it.
Mantle, the only game that says it will do it is BF4 and they say they will release a mantle patch in December.

This sounds like something N would do LOL

they are just waiting on N to blink.
It will be $10 less than whatever N does.

 

[lavaheadache]

Its not like you wont be able to sell the card if its not what you want.

 

[BrightCandle]

Preorders are always largely done against a product that isn't complete or shown in final state, its always a risk. In this case its even more of a risk because there are no usable performance numbers (AMD 7000 series overperform in firestrike against NVidia and Intel when compared to what happens in games). I think its a very expensive preorder risk to make, and in the end if its really only 780 levels you would probably end up with a 780 now, cheaper right now. The 780 is also a known quantity with mature drivers and working games.

If he 290X is anything like the 7970 release the drivers might be a disaster area for a month. I would wait for the hardware to arrive and get benchmarked before I went near them.