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

[Face2Face]

The 200 series is a part of the Never Settle Forever program according to Linus on his latest video review, at least the 280X is anyway. I didn't watch the other ones.

I saw that too, but all of the other reviews are saying different. I gotta say the Linus overview and review were pretty weak sauce, I was hoping for better...

2GB 7Ghz GDDR5 is not cheap. I assume thats why they went 512bit and lower clocks with the 290/290X as well.

True, I didn't think about the 7GHz side of it, as most GDDR5 modules won't hit that.

 

[Erenhardt]

If you hover over the gold emblem with your cursor it says 7900 series. So you should buy it and let us know

R9 280, R9 270 and R7 260 are all listed with the additional free item: game boundle

 

[seitur]

Does anyone have a link to review or has measured himself - power consumption during FHD video streaming services such as youtube and / or during x264 video playback from file on 'new' Radeons?

All reviews have only Blu-Ray Disc playback which is nice and helpful, but one does not watch BR only.

 

[AnandThenMan]

Ultimately the software collects the data and shoves the pixels on the screen

I think drivers should now be called pixel shovers from this point forward.

 

[Pariah]

except the lack of dx9 and eyeinf. support everyone said its at least as good sometimes even smoother than nvidias solution. so who cares how its done the endresults are important.

No, everyone didn't.

From Anand's review:

"Similarly while AMD’s frame pacing has improved to the point where we find it acceptable, 20% deltas are still generally twice that of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 690, never mind the extreme consistency single-GPU setups offer. We never realistically expected AMD to match NVIDIA’s frame interval consistency overnight, but in time it would be nice to see them get close, and for both parties to further improve beyond that."



THG did a crowd test at a convention and while the 13.8 driver helped, Nvidia was still pick in a blind test by 53% of 30 testers (27% AMD, 20% even) as opposed to 76% using pre 13.8 drivers (17% AMD, 7% even).

"Ditching the triple-screen setup (which is a shame—we really hope the update with frame pacing support in Eyefinity arrives soon) for one 30” monitor at 2560x1600 kicks this capability into gear, and really affects what a fresh group of testers thought of AMD’s performance. Again, giving credit to both companies when a respondent can’t pick a favorite, AMD doubles its score to 14 votes, while Nvidia drops to 22.

That’s still a fairly significant advantage pointing to the GeForce GTX 690 as a better-performing dual-GPU card."

 

[AtenRa]

The same graph says that Tahiti was launched when cost/die
was 50% higher than it is currently yet we see here people
complaining about a high launching price...

I agree and as i have said i completely understood why they raised Prices at launch. NV also took it to a different level at $999 but they only see what Intel does (AMD 6-7 years ago as well). :whiste:
Dont get me wrong, it is a positive move we have HD7970GE performance at $299 and once again, its AMD that lowers prices and start the dance not NVIDIA.

I just dont like it that after two years, 270/80 only bring lower price without any new features or extra performance.

 

[tg2708]

how does this look to you guys sell my month old 7970 for 250 or so and pick up a 280x or wait for the 290?

 

[thilanliyan]

how does this look to you guys sell my month old 7970 for 250 or so and pick up a 280x or wait for the 290?

If you want more performance, sell and go for a 290. If you're happy with the performance, keep the 7970.

 

[Rvenger]

At least it looks like XFX got their act together and made a better cooler on the 280x.

 

[Face2Face]

At least it looks like XFX got their act together and made a better cooler on the 280x.

Sucks that its voltage locked and overclocks like crap though
I never thought the XFX coolers were ugly, they just don't perform well.

 

[Teizo]

I saw that too, but all of the other reviews are saying different. I gotta say the Linus overview and review were pretty weak sauce, I was hoping for better...

I like Linus, but it seems of late he is for sale. Although, in his defense, it is hard to be totally honest and not burn bridges...so it is much easier to focus on just being a salesman.

 

[Face2Face]

I like Linus, but it seems of late he is for sale. Although, in his defense, it is hard to be totally honest and not burn bridges...so it is much easier to focus on just being a salesman.

I like him too, it's just his review was rushed and the benchmarks were rushed as well. Seems he spent a lot of time on the GTX 770 and 760 - but not on these cards.. didn't go into overclocking or anything.

 

[Aikouka]

I read Ryan's review of the 280X, and I like the value of the ASUS card. It is a little more than a current 7970, which you could probably just overclock. However, I'm considering getting one for my brother who isn't really computer savvy, so overclocking isn't really something I want to factor in. What I do like about the ASUS card is its overall quiet nature. It's got a good price tag, a good cooler, good factory overclock.

So, what's the hold-up? For me, it's the lack of the Never Settle Reloaded bundle. He isn't as big on buying games like me, so while I don't need the games (I own them all already), he could certainly have a field day with it. Going to eBay to buy a code is ruining the cost effectiveness even more as the cheaper 7970s already come with a code -- some with four games (the bundle and Crysis 3).

 

[raghu78]

I read Ryan's review of the 280X, and I like the value of the ASUS card. It is a little more than a current 7970, which you could probably just overclock. However, I'm considering getting one for my brother who isn't really computer savvy, so overclocking isn't really something I want to factor in. What I do like about the ASUS card is its overall quiet nature. It's got a good price tag, a good cooler, good factory overclock.

So, what's the hold-up? For me, it's the lack of the Never Settle Reloaded bundle. He isn't as big on buying games like me, so while I don't need the games (I own them all already), he could certainly have a field day with it. Going to eBay to buy a code is ruining the cost effectiveness even more as the cheaper 7970s already come with a code -- some with four games (the bundle and Crysis 3).

yeah the games are quite a good value. the asus hd 7970 dcii is a good card for USD 288 (268 after MIR). excellent cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121560

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/03/11/asus_hd_7970_directcu_ii_video_card_review/9#.UlRa2lP3x8E

 

[raghu78]

so the Sapphire R9 280X TOXIC boost clocks are 1150 mhz. that puts this card on par with MSI HD 7970 Lightning boost edition for max clocks on any currently available Tahiti card. :thumbsup: need to see a review of this card and how efficient the cooler is

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1227&pid=2023&psn=&lid=1&leg=0

 

[dmoney1980]

when will the 280x be available for purchase?

 

[Rickyyy369]

when will the 280x be available for purchase?

I read Friday the 11th somewhere.

 

[Face2Face]

so the Sapphire R9 280X TOXIC boost clocks are 1150 mhz. that puts this card on par with MSI HD 7970 Lightning boost edition for max clocks on any currently available Tahiti card. :thumbsup: need to see a review of this card and how efficient the cooler is

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1227&pid=2023&psn=&lid=1&leg=0

Cards looks pretty nice. Looks like they took a cue from the new Lightning cooler used on the GTX 780.

 

[Aikouka]

yeah the games are quite a good value. the asus hd 7970 dcii is a good card for USD 288 (268 after MIR). excellent cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121560

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/03/11/asus_hd_7970_directcu_ii_video_card_review/9#.UlRa2lP3x8E

Hmm that's certainly a good card to consider. Although the HardOCP article doesn't talk much about noise. The cooler on the 7970 and the 280X don't look much different (except for that fan), so I'm guessing that they would be similar noise-wise?

EDIT:

Although, the 280X is overclocked from the factory quite a bit more than the 7970 is. It probably won't matter much in the end when someone's only playing at 1080p though.

 

[Jaskalas]

They sold me on that Asus card to replace my 5850.

 

[MrK6]

The heck are the 290X reviews...

 

[Face2Face]

The heck are the 290X reviews...

OCT 15th my friend.

 

[blackened23]

They sold me on that Asus card to replace my 5850.

Yeah, that seems to be a great card which is appreciably faster than the 7970GE. I just hope that it does indeed come with the never settle bundle in order to cement the value status, so to speak.

 

[brandonmatic]

I'm quite happy with my decision to get a 7950 last month, but I really dig all of the new coolers on the R9 280X. I'm a bang-for-your-buck kind of guy, but I would be sorely tempted to get one of those new Asus/MSI/XFX cards even though the performance difference doesn't justify an extra $100.

I think the improvement in coolers in recent years has been a great development.

 

[UaVaj]

amd
class 1 = 290x
class 2 = 7970 n 280x (oc 7970)

nvidia
class 1 = titan n 780 (cut down titan)
class 2 = 680 n 770 (oc 680)

cannot see past all this excitement. after all a 280x is nothing more than a tweaked and rebadged 7970.
7970 is cheaper and has game bundle. why would anyone even touch a 280x?

hopefully the 290x stack up well with the titan. and is not cross broke.
until the 290x review show up. carry on.