The AMD Radeon R9 290X Review
by Ryan Smith on October 24, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- Radeon
- Hawaii
- Radeon 200
Hitman: Absolution
The second-to-last game in our lineup is Hitman: Absolution. The latest game in Square Enix’s stealth-action series, Hitman: Absolution is a DirectX 11 based title that though a bit heavy on the CPU, can give most GPUs a run for their money. Furthermore it has a built-in benchmark, which gives it a level of standardization that fewer and fewer benchmarks possess.
Hitman is another game that makes the 290X shine, with the 290X taking a 16% lead over the GTX 780. In fact we’re getting very close to being CPU limited here, which may be limiting just how far ahead the 290X can pull. However this also means there’s plenty of GPU headroom for enabling MSAA, which we don’t use in this benchmark.
Moving on to 4K, the 290X once again extends its lead, this time by among the largest such leads to 30% over the GTX 780. This is actually good enough for 43fps even at Ultra quality, but for better than that you’ll need multiple GPUs.
To that end we’re CPU limited at 2560, though for some reason the GTX 780 SLI fares a bit better regardless. Otherwise at 4K the GTX 780 SLI achieves better scaling than the 290X CF – 64% versus 56% –so while it can’t take the lead it does at least close the gap some. Though enough of a gap remains that the GTX 780 SLI will still come a bit short of 60fps at 4K Ultra settings, which makes the 290X CF the only setup capable of achieving that goal.
When it comes to minimum framerates the 290X is able to build on its lead just a bit more here at both 2560 and 4K. In both cases the performance advantage over the GTX 780 grows by a further 3%.
Finally, for our delta percentages we can see that unfortunately for AMD they are regressing a bit here. The variance for the 290X CF at 2560 is 24%, which is greater than what the 280X CF was already seeing, and significantly greater than the GTX 780 SLI. Consequently Hitman is a good example of how although AMD’s CF frame pacing situation is generally quite good, there are going to be games where they need to buckle down a bit more and get it under control, as evidenced by what NVIDIA has been able to achieve. Though it is interesting to note that AMD’s frame pacing at 4K improves over 2K, by over 8%. AMD would seem to have an easier time keeping frame times under control when they’re outright longer, which isn’t wholly surprising since it means there’s more absolute time to resolve the matter.
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HisDivineOrder - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
It also beats it in highest temperature, which is ostensibly not the best thing to "win" at.Ryan Smith - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
As a heads up, a number of sections are still a work in progress. We got our second 290X much later than anticipated, so we worked on that so that we could bring you guys the Crossfire numbers and FCAT data right away.The rest of our writeup will be here by morning (we know you're all here for the charts anyhow).
Drumsticks - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
Thanks for the review! Pretty impressive to say the least.Before people (inevitably) whine about this being an "unfinished" review, I like how this is. It isn't exactly "polished" right now, but 90% of people are going to see the finished state. This also allows them to hit the review timing like AMD surely wants them to, while making sure the review is up to the standards we're used to.
banvetor - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
90% of Americans, you mean. Elsewhere in the world the day has already started for quite some time now...bill5 - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
kinda disapppointed with anand lately. you didn't even review most of the of the new amd lineup. and your bench suite is dated. Now we get a "work in progress" review?You're still in the upper echelon of sites with ease, but I think the site has slipped.
The Von Matrices - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
Couldn't you have just done a pipeline type review "First impressions" with the charts and then released a second article with analysis later? That would have made more sense to me than putting "work in progress."banvetor - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
I also strongly disagree with this strategy of publishing half-baked reviews (actually, in this case, seems more like quarter-baked or something) and only later filling it in.It would indeed make much more sense to publish a quick pipeline piece with some key graphs, and later (less than 24hs from Ryan's post above) publish the full review. If nothing else, it's more honest.
mfenn - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
Agree 100%. Situations like this are why the Pipeline exists. I don't come to Anandtech because you are the first. I come to Anandtech because you are the best. Take an extra few days to do a good, reference-quality review.superflex - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
Take an extra few days to do a good, reference-quality review which gives nVidia Titan the edge.There, fixed that for ya fanboy.
The butthurt is strong in this one.
pattycake0147 - Thursday, October 24, 2013 - link
I concur that this belongs in the pipeline. I waited to make a comment because of Ryan saying it would be finished in the morning, but morning is passed now and it is still a "work in progress". This is not what I have come to expect from Anandtech.