[VC] XFX R9 3X0 Leaks, Early April Delivery Indicated

[WT]

Screw that waiting game. I bought a Powercolor PCS+ 290x for $270 AR last month and won't be getting buyers remorse whenever the 3x0 series comes out. I had only $300 to spend, so I bought what I could and I'm enjoying it. Since it would take a 390x to beat the 290x, and that new card won't cost anywhere near $300 at launch, I'm happy with my purchase.

Unfortunately in my case, the 290x wasn't the end of the upgrades, and now a 27" IPS panel is in the works. I'm still going to spend $500, but it will upgrade 2 components, not 1.

 

[xthetenth]

Upgrading two components and having one of them be the only thing that you use every second you use the computer is a nice upgrade to make.

I take it that changing the scaling worked well on your programs?

 

[Techhog]

Interesting. If "Trinidad" is the new R9 370, then where does that leave room for Tonga? These screenshots don't indicate Trinidad's shader and ROP counts, but they do indicate a 256-bit bus with 4GB of RAM - the same bus width and more memory than Tonga. The general consensus was that although the delta color compression technology was promising, Tonga was largely a bust - a larger transistor count than Tahiti, and not much more efficient. I suspect that once Tonga's lackluster reviews hit, and mid-core Maxwell started to decimate AMD's market share, they quickly went back to the drawing board to respin. I really hope they managed to pull a rabbit out of their hat this time - the market needs competition.

Correction: Tonga is 384-bit. The 285 had a cut-down bus, but the full Tonga in the 5K iMac is 384-bit.

Rumor is that Tonga will be the 275(X).

 

[Enigmoid]

Correction: Tonga is 384-bit. The 285 had a cut-down bus, but the full Tonga in the 5K iMac is 384-bit.

Rumor is that Tonga will be the 275(X).

No it is not.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Screw that waiting game. I bought a Powercolor PCS+ 290x for $270 AR last month and won't be getting buyers remorse whenever the 3x0 series comes out. I had only $300 to spend, so I bought what I could and I'm enjoying it. Since it would take a 390x to beat the 290x, and that new card won't cost anywhere near $300 at launch, I'm happy with my purchase.

Unfortunately in my case, the 290x wasn't the end of the upgrades, and now a 27" IPS panel is in the works. I'm still going to spend $500, but it will upgrade 2 components, not 1.

I can't imagine the new cards being better value than a cheap 290x anyway. Unless you care about power draw which I don't give a crap about. I care about power draw in ultrabooks and laptops, not gaming desktops.

 

[96Firebird]

Maybe Tonga will form a new volcanic island GPU?

First pictures of Tonga's newly-formed volcanic island

 

[boozzer]

if amd can release 390x at 600$ and trade blows with titan x for 400$ less, god, that would be something I would love to see damn, release date really should be april, not june/july.

 

[TemjinGold]

Why not have them release it at $400 then? Honestly, if 390X trades blows with Titan X, I hope for AMD's sake they aren't dumb enough to price it at $600.

 

[SimianR]

Why not have them release it at $400 then? Honestly, if 390X trades blows with Titan X, I hope for AMD's sake they aren't dumb enough to price it at $600.

I think the problem with this strategy is all it does is force NVIDIA to cut prices on all their products and essentially everyone is fighting for low margin scraps with high end parts. As much as consumers love it when AMD launches their high end parts at very competitive prices, I think AMD has tried this strategy and it didn't help them financially as much as you might imagine (like with the 5870 launching at $400).

I think it would make sense to price it at $500-550 if it trades blows with the Titan X and try to make as much as they can for as long as they can, realistically. I wouldn't doubt it if AMD does something along the lines of what they did with the 290 and 290X. Have the 390X launch at $549 and the 390 (non x - if such a card exists) with similar performance for a more reasonable price ($400?).

 

[Silverforce11]

AMD is not in a position to go aggressive price wars against NV who are sitting on cash and also strengthen by high margin HPC products.

They want to price it so that its attractive enough to generate good sales volume but not too low as to force NV's hand and thereby promote a price war. The good outcome is that AMD offers an alternative for those who are brand agnostic while NV offers their solid ecosystem for those willing to pay the NV tax.

 

[Bobisuruncle54]

It's not the hardware or the drivers that are AMD's problem. It's that people have been sucked in by marketing and only buy one brand. It's just like some people prefer iPhones over Android phones, there is very little in it these days but some remain loyal for no objective reason and also push it on to others.

Give me the best product for my budget and I don't care what brand it is.

 

[Silverforce11]

Its good you brought that up, I see so many clueless reviews of iPhones vs Android phones and they often list one of the advantage for iPhones is "More Apps" or "Better Ecosystem"... ridiculous given that I use both devices regularly and its far from true.

But even when reviewers are biased, it hasn't stopped the rise of Android.

 

[Bobisuruncle54]

Its good you brought that up, I see so many clueless reviews of iPhones vs Android phones and they often list one of the advantage for iPhones is "More Apps" or "Better Ecosystem"... ridiculous given that I use both devices regularly and its far from true.

But even when reviewers are biased, it hasn't stopped the rise of Android.

That's because Android has had a lot of money behind it, AMD doesn't have the same cash to back themselves up, and that's not because they haven't got products worth buying.

Apple vs Google is a much more even playing field then AMD vs Nvidia.

 

[geoxile]

It's not the hardware or the drivers that are AMD's problem. It's that people have been sucked in by marketing and only buy one brand. It's just like some people prefer iPhones over Android phones, there is very little in it these days but some remain loyal for no objective reason and also push it on to others.

Give me the best product for my budget and I don't care what brand it is.

The problem has always been image. There was a TED (not TEDX) talk about it. The strongest images stem from "why", a purpose, conviction, or ideal that they sell. In that regard AMD sits at the bottom. It feels like they're a directionless company, not even in a financial or tech sense, the company simply looks like it lacks conviction from the outside. Leaders like Intel and Nvidia who dominate their markets may simply let their products, promotions, and market dominance speak for them, but AMD really can't afford to keep quiet.

Roy Taylor is probably good for them in some way. He was the one behind Nvidia's TWIMTBP IIRC, which went well for them. He helped create the image that Nvidia seeks to deliver the best gaming experience, bar none. The name is self explanatory. Now he's at AMD, goading people on twitter and what not, trying to rally the fanboys and build fervor. It's a good idea. AMD needs a strong personality.

 

[at80eighty]

if the 390x releases @ 8GB, then the 395x2 might be the one i'll go for; hopefully pair that with a 4k monitor and be done with it for the next 2-3 years. maybe.

 

[Erenhardt]

Dat amd spam on zauba:
https://www.zauba.com/import-graphics-board-hs-code.html

 

[digitaldurandal]

I think the problem with this strategy is all it does is force NVIDIA to cut prices on all their products and essentially everyone is fighting for low margin scraps with high end parts.

Even if AMD released the 390x at 600 dollars and it was 5% faster than Titan X. I don't think it would cause much difference in price for Nvidia. Historically they demand a higher price for GPUs that are about the same speed or slower than AMD.

Even at the end of their last generation the 780ti was priced about $200 more than a 290x.

The 295x2 is already faster than that the Titan X and it is 600 bucks. Granted it is a dual GPU card but I don't think a single GPU with the same performance and price would really change anything for Nvidia. Maybe they drop their price very slightly, I don't see them dropping beyond say 10% in response.

The sad truth is that there are just too many users who only buy Nvidia and will not research the competition at all. If AMD releases something faster than Nvidia they will just make a comment about drivers or wanting to play Ubisoft games and move on without much though.

Nvidia has a much larger loyal customer base than AMD and I don't see them squabbling to grab those on the fence that are buying a GPU this year.

What it might do though is push Nvidia to make a larger performance jump with their next product to make sure they take the crown back.

 

[3DVagabond]

AMD customers are looking for value. It doesn't have to be cheap, but it can't be overpriced.

nVidia customers are looking for the fastest and they don't care what it costs. $1000 for 10% more? Sure, why not. Let it be slower though and they won't give you a plugged nickle for it.

 

[raghu78]

AMD customers are looking for value. It doesn't have to be cheap, but it can't be overpriced.

nVidia customers are looking for the fastest and they don't care what it costs. $1000 for 10% more? Sure, why not. Let it be slower though and they won't give you a plugged nickle for it.

Exactly. :thumbsup: All this talk about brand loyalty is just useless if Nvidia does not have the top performance. The minute AMD have a faster GPU the enthusiasts will switch without any hesitation. There will be a few who stick to Nvidia due to some negative experience with AMD products in the past but the vice versa also happens.

 

[Silverforce11]

If its slower, just crank up the DSR & AA.

Abuse its 12GB vram advantage to the max!

 

[Kippa]

Maybe Tonga will form a new volcanic island GPU?

First pictures of Tonga's newly-formed volcanic island

That's what happened when they took the cooler off the card.

 

[digitaldurandal]

Exactly. :thumbsup: All this talk about brand loyalty is just useless if Nvidia does not have the top performance. The minute AMD have a faster GPU the enthusiasts will switch without any hesitation. There will be a few who stick to Nvidia due to some negative experience with AMD products in the past but the vice versa also happens.

This might be true for you but this is definitely not true in general. How many people continued to buy 780 vanillas when the 290 was the same price? What about the 970 over 290x?

AMD and Nvidia often trade blows in mid tier, Nvidia will usually be more expensive, but still have more sales.

Nvidia can be slower and more expensive and still sell cards.

 

[raghu78]

This might be true for you but this is definitely not true in general. How many people continued to buy 780 vanillas when the 290 was the same price? What about the 970 over 290x?

AMD and Nvidia often trade blows in mid tier, Nvidia will usually be more expensive, but still have more sales.

Nvidia can be slower and more expensive and still sell cards.

The ref 780 stock clocks were low but the ref design had good OC headroom with a very good cooler. 20% perf increase was almost a given putting most ref 780s above Titan and on par or ahead of 780 Ti when overclocked.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/05/23/nvidia_geforce_gtx_780_video_card_review/7#.VQK1vY6UfSg

On the contrary the ref R9 290 and R9 290X throttled on stock until the fan speed was increased above 50%. The OC headroom was poor because of ref cooler. The ref cooler was loud and hot. Until the custom coolers launched the ref GTX 780 was a better overall package than ref R9 290. To make things worse prices on ref R9 290 were around USD 500 and on ref R9 290X around USD 650 during the first 4 - 6 months due to mining craze.

The ref GTX 780 was preferred as it had better quality than ref R9 290. Even custom R9 290s cards could not beat a custom GTX 780 when both were overclocked. They were close equals with the power efficiency going to Nvidia by a big margin.

So you are not telling the entire truth as it happened. If AMD have a quality product with better perf, good cooling, comparable power efficiency (which looks like it will happen this time) then I am sure buyers will pick AMD if they have the top performance.

By the way do not forget that Nvidia held the GPU crown with GTX 780 Ti and that has a trickle down effect across the entire GPU stack even if the lower products are not actually faster. If Nvidia lose at the top its a whole new ball game. Brand loyalty comes from leadership performance.

 

[3DVagabond]

If its slower, just crank up the DSR & AA.

Abuse its 12GB vram advantage to the max!

No doubt this is going to happen. Last fall (No. Hemisphere) we had all of the nVidia supporters swearing that 2gig was plenty of RAM for the next 2 years. Less than a year later we're going to be indoctrinated with you need 6gig or it isn't enthusiast level.

 

[3DVagabond]

This might be true for you but this is definitely not true in general. How many people continued to buy 780 vanillas when the 290 was the same price? What about the 970 over 290x?

AMD and Nvidia often trade blows in mid tier, Nvidia will usually be more expensive, but still have more sales.

Nvidia can be slower and more expensive and still sell cards.

Not at the top end and that trickles down for nVidia. (And to be clear I'm not talking about one card turning the whole market upside down like you're making it sound. )