The AMD Radeon R9 270X & R9 270 Review: Feat. Asus & HIS
by Ryan Smith on November 13, 2013 12:01 AM ESTMetro: Last Light
As always, kicking off our look at performance is 4A Games’ latest entry in their Metro series of subterranean shooters, Metro: Last Light. The original Metro: 2033 was a graphically punishing game for its time and Metro: Last Light is in its own right too. On the other hand it scales well with resolution and quality settings, so it’s still playable on lower end hardware.
AMD likes to pitch the 270 series as their primary 1080p cards, and although they generally do a perfectly fine job at it, Metro is a reminder that there are scenarios where they will come up short, particularly if trying to do 1080p at the highest quality settings. For these cards if we want framerates better than the 30s, we have to look at moving down a quality level.
At 1080p high quality, we can get our 270 cards up to the mid-40fps range. 270X of course leads the pack, but the 270 cards are very close behind owing to the fact that the only difference between the cards is the GPU clockspeed.
For the 270X in particular we’re looking at performance just a few frames per second behind the more expensive GTX 760, for a deficit of 6%. Otherwise the only cards close to it are of course the 270, and the outgoing 7870.
As for our 270 cards, they are second only to the 270X in anything near their price. The Asus card with its factory overclock is as to be expected faster, essentially splitting the difference between the stock clocked HIS 270 and the 270X. Furthermore in this test both cards are faster than the 7870 – a Pitcairn card with higher clockspeeds – showing the potency of the memory clockspeed increase. Finally, both cards are 10%+ faster than the GTX 660, making this an easy win for AMD.
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P39Airacobra - Saturday, July 26, 2014 - link
The 660 is great card but compared to the R9 270 non X it looses by a good margin (but the 660 has much better drivers). The GTX 760 wins against the 270. So the 270 fits in a very good spot especially for $179, And newegg even has a saphire R9 270 for $154. Nvidia can't come close to that price/performance.P39Airacobra - Thursday, August 14, 2014 - link
I really like my HIS R9 270 iPower IceQ X² card, When I buy a GPU I always try to get one with reference clocks especially if it's a AMD GPU. This can save some trouble with drivers issues. My 650 Ti was also based on reference clocks. And if you need the extra FPS you can always overclock. But honestly it is always best to leave the clocks alone. The performance gain from overclocking at the most will be 5fps average, That really is not worth fooling with. If your card won't get enough FPS in a certain game with certain settings it makes much more sense just to turn down the settings a little bit instead of stressing your expensive GPU. However at 1080 any 7870/270/270X should be fine a High-Ultra settings anyway.P39Airacobra - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Well I edited a copy of my bios on a HIS R9 270 ICE QX2 with Hynix, I set it to boot at stock AMD X model Voltage and I upped the fan profile a little bit to compensate, And I set the CCC oc limit to stock X model also. So it will boost to 1050mhz and 1.2v. But of'course I am too chicked too try and flash it. LOL, I am too afraid to ruin a good card that cost over $150 bucks. That's allot of money down the drain over simple flash risk.P39Airacobra - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
It would be nice if somone would do a crossfire review for the 270 nonX. Since it is the best bang for buck card with performance close to high end you would think they would. This card is also very popular because of it's performance and price. So WTH reviewers?P39Airacobra - Saturday, October 18, 2014 - link
I have to say again! I love the 270 series from AMD! AMD has finally corrected the artifact issues with the latest 14.9 and 14.91 Beta drivers! That is outstanding! I am so glad to finally see AMD with drivers as good as Nvidia's. The R9 270 is the perfect GPU! It can run anything at 1080p with absolutely beautiful settings! And you can now buy a R9 270 for $139 at newegg. This is a card that can do anything! And it is only $139. That is outstanding! It is the HIS model like mine too! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8... I am a little mad since I paid $179 for mine LOL. But if it helps other people to game. Anyway I can vouch that this card runs very cool too. It has a excellent cooler with copper pipes, The only drawback is it does not have heatsinks on the V-Ram, So do not overclock the V-Ram ever! But it runs 24c-28c idle, And never gets to 60c under heavy load clocked at 1050mhz. At stock 925mhz it never gets past 54c. That is outstanding temps for a Pitcairn chip. If you need a upgrade or are deciding on a GPU for a new build, This card for $139 is a fantastic choice.P39Airacobra - Saturday, October 25, 2014 - link
I noticed a really neat thing running CPU-Z log during game play. (Hitman Absolution) I was just curious of the boost clock speed. I wanted to see what clock speed it ran at. But it actually just runs at the labeled boost clock speed. The log showed It staying at 925mhz from the start of the game. So I was glad to see it at that speed. Here is the interesting part. When I looked at the voltage section of the log the card mostly ran at it's labeled voltage, But it also spiked at 1.250 which is the actual peak voltage for most 7870's. So it is nice to know my HIS R9 270 has same potential as the 7870 and R9 270X. The auto voltage is kinda neat. I also noticed my highest temp was 52c. I thought everyone said AMD cards run hot. I never seen this one go to 60c. I think I will just stick with my R9 270 for another 2 years. And hopefully ny then AMD will have another great bang for buck GPU like the R9 270. I was sold on Nvidia but now that AMD finally improved their drivers and removed the artifacts from Mafia 2, they seem to be finally caring about their drivers. I also noticed that textures on AMD GPU's look sharper, clearer and much cleaner than Nvidia. Also AMD's colors are much nicer, Nvidia's colors seem stale and dull now after using my R9 270.shredder962 - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
Late comment, but to those saying the 270 is a nerfed 270x are full of it.https://i.imgur.com/wU3qUII.png
This is my Asus Radeon R9 270 CUII OC overclocked to match the boost clock of the Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X Windforce Edition
Boo Yoon - Friday, December 11, 2015 - link
Hi,I am ignorant of a graphic card thing as a college female student and i was wondering if AMD Radeon R9 290 can support a monitor that I am going to buy. The monitor model name is 'QX2710 LED Evolution ll DP Multi TRUE10 TRUE 10 Matte 27" 2560x1440 Monitor' and it has a DVI-D, HDMI, VGI, and DP inputs. Somebody help me to know if the monitor is okay to buy for my graphic card. Thank you.
Loretta946 - Wednesday, October 3, 2018 - link
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