R260/270/280/290/290x Review thread

[smithkt]

If the rumored price and performance pans out, the focus will shift to heat and noise, at least until 3rd party cooler designs are available. After that, who knows. FUD never rests. This is true of both camps.

 

[Ieat]

Smart money would be on $599. With the latest round of greedflation $549 would be a surprise. People thinking $499 are just dreaming IMO.

 

[Keysplayr]

Hey Groove there is already a R2xx review sticky at the top of the forum.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2346519

 

[Lepton87]

Pretty impressive for the 290X. Anyway, any predictions for the sure to ensue trolling and goal post shifting:

Stock price?

Financials?

290X uses (OH MY GOD) 9 more watts at load during gaming?

What?

My bet is G-Sync and of course that 9 more watts, that's going to be the deciding factor for the superiority of GK110

 

[DiogoDX]

As fast as titan by [H]. So faster than Titan in real world.

 

[Lepton87]

As fast as titan by [H]. So faster than Titan in real world.

But it doesn't go in as smoothly into the PCI-E socket as Titan does.

 

[Grooveriding]

This is a good thread to put to bed the FUD until reviews tonight. Answers both the questions many were debating, possible price and performance. Five hours until NDA lifts!

 

[BallaTheFeared]

How do you people come up with this stuff?

You'll know in nine months when there is a response.

 

[AnandThenMan]

But it doesn't go in as smoothly into the PCI-E socket as Titan does.

lol nice one.

So this thing is finally going to have the curtain lifted, feels like forever since we first started hearing about the R9 290X. I hated the new naming scheme when I first heard it, but it's been growing on me.

 

[tviceman]

Congratulations to AMD. They have a fast chip on their hands. Nvidia slow balled GK110's performance on the Geforce side of the things, high balled the price, and are about to get shown up. Even if it's late in the 28nm cycle, at the very least this should setup price cuts so that 20nm won't start off with astronomical pricing.

 

[DooKey]

Congratulations to AMD. They have a fast chip on their hands. Nvidia slow balled GK110's performance on the Geforce side of the things, high balled the price, and are about to get shown up. Even if it's late in the 28nm cycle, at the very least this should setup price cuts so that 20nm won't start off with astronomical pricing.

20nm is going to have astronomical pricing. Take it to the bank.

 

[Grooveriding]

20nm is going to have astronomical pricing. Take it to the bank.

I think so too, prices will be even higher than they are now. Worse yet TSMC's initial 20nm process delivering less of a performance benefit increase compared to 28nm than 28nm did from 40nm.

So more expensive for less of a performance leap. Good times.

 

[blackened23]

TSMC's 20nm will offer more transistor density (obviously) but will not be anywhere near as good as intel's 22nm with FinFET process in terms of leakage and overall efficiency. Basically, TSMC's 20nm will be similar to their 28nm process in that respect - it won't be on intel's level in terms of low leakage (eg. high efficiency for mobility). Intel is still far, far ahead of TSMC in terms of technology because they've already spent their billions on FinFETs. TSMC is still going through growing pains with FinFETs, and it won't be ready for a long time.

TSMC's 20nm with FinFET process (oh wait, their marketing department calls their 20nm with FinFET process "16nm" :awe: ) should be ready 2015 or in 2016. ::shrug: The real increase with 20nm is transistor count - this will enable a higher transistor count with more CUDA cores and CUs for Geforce and Radeon whenever GPUs arrive on 20nm. Essentially that is where the performance increase will come into play - 20nm parts will have 1.5 to 2 times the transistors compared to current 28nm parts.. Think Maxwell with over 6000 CUDA cores. That will happen on 20nm, but that wont' happen until late 2014 or 2H 2014 by the most optimistic estimates (if TSMC can deliver on time, and TSMC's track record of "on time" is horrible).

I do feel that wafer costs will be a big issue from the get-go and nvidia will definitely be in a better position than AMD to take advantage of that from the start most likely. On the other hand, I believe Apple and Qualcomm will have first dibs on basically everything 20nm , because they both have cash and TONS of it - certainly nothing that NV or AMD can match. For this reason it is entirely possible that Maxwell may be introduced on 28nm, and then later produced on 20nm as a high end part whenever 20nm is ready. Who knows.

 

[toyota]

I wonder if he meant 12:01 AM Eastern. he is in Central time zone so it will be 11:01 PM where he is.

 

[uclaLabrat]

Pretty impressive for the 290X. Anyway, any predictions for the sure to ensue trolling and goal post shifting:

Stock price?

Financials?

290X uses (OH MY GOD) 9 more watts at load during gaming?

What?

I'm going with AMD's red not being green enough.

 

[Janooo]

Hey Groove there is already a R2xx review sticky at the top of the forum.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2346519

The subject says: R260/270/280 Review thread not 290

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Pretty impressive for the 290X. Anyway, any predictions for the sure to ensue trolling and goal post shifting:

Stock price?

Financials?

290X uses (OH MY GOD) 9 more watts at load during gaming?

What?

G-Sync, and the rest of Nvidia's software/hardware advantages would be my guess.

 

[blackened23]

I'm pretty excited about G-sync. Yet, according to the live stream NV which I watched - it won't be ready until Q1 2014. I'm not sure that is an existing issue as of yet, because it won't be ready for some time. This isn't detracting from it. I hope G-sync or something along those lines becomes ubiquitous - it looks pretty amazing in motion. Software OTOH I agree with, although AMD has made progress there. Hopefully Eyefinity CF is fixed at launch with the 290X.

Anyway, the software may be forgivable (by this, meaning that it works but has slightly less functionality than NV's CP + nv inspector, etc) given that the cost is 550$. This is not dissimilar to the 5870 launch IMHO - the price is perfect if that (550$) is true. I'm about 99% sure that AMD will sell a TON of 290X cards at that price since it matches the Titan, and even more with the 290 at 450$ if it (290 non-X) performs even with the GTX 780.

 

[Attic]

Well, seeing as though I couldn't wait for reviews of this thing, I'm now comfortable saying I can wait a few more hours. Excitement is palpable on my part even though I won't be buying one.


Though I feel like a broken record,... I wish there was something more exciting below $200. It's like nVidia snuck up behind me and hunched down around knee height, then AMD came over and shoved me over a snickering nVidia. Not even an apology, like I deserved it.

 

[stahlhart]

The subject says: R260/270/280 Review thread not 290

Not any longer. I'll leave this thread up, but please contain review discussions to the sticky after the NDA lifts.
-- stahlhart

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I'm pretty excited about G-sync. Yet, according to the live stream NV which I watched - it won't be ready until Q1 2014. I'm not sure that is an existing issue as of yet, because it won't be ready for some time.

This isn't detracting from it. I hope G-sync or something along those lines becomes ubiquitous - it looks pretty amazing in motion.

I wasn't trying to be tricky, just saying what I think the logical counters are for this card.

The more obvious is its lateness for current 28nm users, which has nothing to do with 40nm and later hold outs and the gotta have it people.

I personally skipped the 780 even though I really wanted it because I didn't want to spend that much, a few bucks six months later isn't going to change my opinion and it seems the 290X is still going to be slower same as the 780 was without the benefit of bitcoins for either.

 

[Lepton87]

G-Sync, and the rest of Nvidia's software/hardware advantages would be my guess.

R290X is too "plasticky" and lacks the good in-hand feel of metal Titan, also NV cares about their consumers and don't want them to damage their expensive hardware so they incorporate their innovative OV protection program. Shame on AMD for not being so consumer friendly!

 

[blackened23]

Maybe AMD had the right idea with keeping the price secret now that I think about it. The 550$ (*IF TRUE*) price basically caught everyone off guard, not even AIB manufacturers thought it would be that, apparently. (changed last minute, supposedly)

Remember how everyone thought the GTX 680 would cost 600$ prior to launch? And then it dropped at 500$ and surprised everyone the day before launch? I wonder if that Roy guy who used to work at NV had anything to do with that.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I'm pretty excited about G-sync. Yet, according to the live stream NV which I watched - it won't be ready until Q1 2014. I'm not sure that is an existing issue as of yet, because it won't be ready for some time.

This isn't detracting from it. I hope G-sync or something along those lines becomes ubiquitous - it looks pretty amazing in motion.

I wasn't trying to be tricky, just saying what I think the logical counters are for this card.

The more obvious is its lateness for current 28nm users, which has nothing to do with 40nm and later hold outs and the gotta have it people.

I personally skipped the 780 even though I really wanted it because I didn't want to spend that much, a few bucks six months later isn't going to change my opinion and it seems the 290X is still going to be slower same as the 780 was without the benefit of bitcoins for either.

I like how nVidia is packaging their name around gamers, not just performance but the tools a lot of us use. Like G-Sync, ShadowPlay, and it's direct interface with Twitch.

On a personal level I already use Virtual V-Sync but G-Sync seems a whole lot better, I also use my HD4600's Quick Sync to encode on the fly reducing the FPS hit from recording video, I don't twitch, but you can do the same with your HD4600.

So there are some options out there that do what Nvidia is trying to compile into a single package, though it seems there are clear advantages with using the Nvidia ecosystem in this regard.

R290X is too "plasticky" and lacks the good in-hand feel of metal Titan, also NV cares about their consumers and don't want them to damage their expensive hardware so they incorporate their innovative OV protection program. Shame on AMD for not being so consumer friendly!

Nvidia should care more and stop those pesky bios flashing programs that subvert their will.

 

[blackened23]

I have no idea how you use that Lucid Virtu garbage. I tried both 1.0 and 2.0 and it didn't work with literally the majority of my games. It works with a select few like BF3 but for the most part, it is horrible.

It sounds good on paper, but in practice it doesn't work right with new releases. BSOD and crash city last I tried in many games. Thank goodness for adaptive vsync with NV. (speaking of which, this is something that AMD needs in CCC if the 290X doesn't have this) Isn't that essentially the same thing without dealing with Lucid's horrible compatibility?