Source? All reviews I've read see the 290X at almost always at 1000 MHz in uber mode. Nvidia cards on the other hand are at about 850 MHz or even only base clock at default settings and also at their maximum boost bin with 94°C temp target.
You can't be farther from the truth.
Reference Titan's clock speed at AT varied from
966-992 mhz.
Reference 780's clock speed at AT varied from
969-1006 mhz.
R9 290X is about 7-12% faster than 780 at 1600P depending on the review. That means at similar clock speeds the R9 290X will outperform the 780/Titan.
Sweclockers review confirms this:
R9 290X @ 1075mhz vs. GTX780 with boost at 1082mhz and Titan with boost at 1087mhz.
R9 290X @ 1.075ghz beats Titan with boost at 1.087ghz in 5 out of 8 games:
http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/17772-amd-radeon-r9-290x/21#pagehead
Once after-market cards come out with beefed up VRMs and voltage unlock, if R9 290X can overclock to 1.2Ghz, it should have no problem keeps up with a Titan @ 1.25ghz and 780 @ 1.35ghz. Of course this is why NV is launching the 780Ti.
Either way, R9 290X trading blows with the Titan is good news since it costs "just" $550. Because of R9 290X the GTX780 Lightning fell from $750 to
$535 and now comes with 3 free games! R9 290 will be the card to watch if it comes in at $449. If it can be flashed/unlocked into the 290X, the 780Ti will look stupid at $699.
This is pretty good progress. At this pace we should have Titan's performance at $399 on 20nm by end of 2014 since we already have Titan's performance now in after-market 780s/R9 290X at $535-550.
Right, because in a day the cost to make a 780 dropped $150 for nvidia. Its more likely they couldn't make as good of a cooler, they copy everything else nv does.
Right....minus NV's rip-off 770/780/Titan pricing, beating NV to DX11.1 and 11.2, Eyefinity, not crippling the VRAM on their cards (570 1.28GB/580 1.5GB/680-770 2GB), allowing full voltage control and dual bios switches for bios flashing, leaving the back-end (ROPs) and memory bandwidth intact on 2nd best card in the lineup (5850/6950/7950) unlike NV that loves to cripple their cards not only on the CUDA/core/TMU level but on the memory bandwidth side too.
NV offers 760 at $249 and 680 at $499 and people sing praises. AMD undercuts 770 by $100 with R9 280X at launch and delivers $650-700 after-market 780 performance at $550 in the R9 290X and people are focusing on the reference cooler that has been a failure for overclocking on 4890/5870/6970 and 7970? Makes sense because there will be no cards like Gigabyte Windforce R9 290X, right?
We have seen
after-market coolers fix 480's poor temperatures and noise levels. It's a matter of time before the same is done on the R9 290X.
People have already used
MSI Lightning 7970s in Quad-fire. It will be possible to fit 2-slot after-market R9 290X cards in a CF or even Tri-Fire configuration and still overclock.
There are very limited cases when buying a reference flagship $550-650 card is preferable to a good after-market model. I guess for the next 18 months you'll keep telling us how hot and loud the R9 290X is, ignoring after-market versions like you did for 7970GE?
For saving 1000 dollars it's worth it. Considering most people game with headphones ANYWAY, I don't think any of that matters. For those of us who game with surround sound systems it might matter more but TBH, if you game using home theater speakers, you don't need a Crossfire/SLI system as you're gaming on a 1080p display unless you went all out and got a 4K display.
You can buy two R9 290Xs and move everything on water and still come in below the price of two Titans. You can fix R9 290X's temperature and noise levels but how can you make up 20-40% performance deficit against R9 290X CF with 780/Titan SLI?
Some hardcore gamers bought 3-4 Titans. Just 8 months later, $1,750 R9 290X Tri-fire will be schooling $3,000 Titan Tri-SLI setup. Given AMD's lack of resources over the years, it's remarkable that they keep forcing NV to drop prices and have forced NV's hand to release a full-fledged GK110 to regain the performance crown. That's pretty good if you ask me from a company that still cannot afford to build 550-560mm2 die flagships and continues to be dragged down by its poor performing CPU division.