The AMD Radeon R9 270X & R9 270 Review: Feat. Asus & HIS
by Ryan Smith on November 13, 2013 12:01 AM ESTTotal War: Rome 2
The second strategy game in our benchmark suite, Total War: Rome 2 is the latest game in the Total War franchise. Total War games have traditionally been a mix of CPU and GPU bottlenecks, so it takes a good system on both ends of the equation to do well here. In this case the game comes with a built-in benchmark that plays out over a forested area with a large number of units, definitely stressing the GPU in particular.
For this game in particular we’ve also gone and turned down the shadows to medium. Rome’s shadows are extremely CPU intensive (as opposed to GPU intensive), so this keeps us from CPU bottlenecking nearly as easily.
Total War: Rome 2 is another solid victory for the 270 series. At our highest 1080p settings all cards can average better than 30fps, with the 270X outright tying the GTX 760 in the process. Otherwise for the 270, it can best the GTX 660 by over 15%.
Making one other quick comparison, the 270 looks especially good opposite the 7850 here. Not only does it crack 30fps when the 7850 couldn’t, but its 25% performance advantage is the largest lead we’ll see today.
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Ryan Smith - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
Non-reference. There isn't a reference 280X, so we're using an XFX card as a proxy.garadante - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
Ah, alright. And I also noticed that there's no overclocking section on this review, which is one of the most important aspects of any GPU review for me personally. Is there a specific reason for that?Erenhardt - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
AMD cards cant be overclocked within "out of the box" policy. Contrary to nvidia cards, which overclocks nicely giving free performance for every CUDA user.garadante - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
I don't know what you're smoking Erenhardt, because AMD cards overclock quite nicely. In fact, overclocking AMD cards is currently much more user open because they can be overvolted, whereas Nvidia has locked down on user overvolting. And I have no clue what "out of the box" policy you're trying to mention. Overclocking an AMD card won't void the warranty unless there's damage to the card itself. Please don't try to troll.ddriver - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
Too bad most nvidia gpus suck in compute...Ryan Smith - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
Solely a matter of timing. I have the data, but this launch happened opposite APU13. So it had to be written very quickly.The 270X topped out at 1150MHz Base (1200MHz boost) and 6.5GHz memory. The HIS 270 topped out at 1075MHz base (1100MHz boost) and 6GHz memory. The Asus topped out at 1125MHz (1150MHz boost) and 6GHz memory.
garadante - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
Ah, alright. Thanks Ryan! So unless it's a fluke, the 270X might be slightly better binned than the 270. Are the default BIOS still not allowing for overvolting like most of the 290 series? Or because these are refreshes, is overvolting already possible with current tools without updates?blanarahul - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
How can the GTX 760 beat the R9 280X in Hitman: Absolution?!The Von Matrices - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
It was said in previous articles (but it should be included in all articles that have the 280X in the chart) that there is no reference 280X card or heat sink so the results they are using are from an XFX card with custom PCB and cooling (but stock clock speeds).laskdfjoiewjfalsd - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
For the love of God post the Nexus 5 review already. I come here everyday and see random stuff like this while a flagship is being put off to the side!