The AMD Radeon R9 290 Review
by Ryan Smith on November 5, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- Radeon
- Hawaii
- Radeon 200
Bioshock Infinite
Bioshock Infinite is Irrational Games’ latest entry in the Bioshock franchise. Though it’s based on Unreal Engine 3 – making it our obligatory UE3 game – Irrational had added a number of effects that make the game rather GPU-intensive on its highest settings. As an added bonus it includes a built-in benchmark composed of several scenes, a rarity for UE3 engine games, so we can easily get a good representation of what Bioshock’s performance is like.
With Bioshock we once again see the 290 trailing the 290X by a small margin, this time of 5%. It’s the difference between technically sustaining a 60fps average at 2560 or just falling short, but only just. Meanwhile compared to the GTX 780 the 290 is handed its first loss, though by an even narrower margin of only 3%. More to the point, on a pure price/performance basis, the 290 would need to lose by quite a bit more to offset the $100 price difference.
Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note not only how much faster the 290 is than the 280X or the GTX 770, but even the 7950B. The 290 series is not necessarily intended to be an upgrade for existing 7900 series, but because the 7950’s performance was set so much lower than the 7970/280X’s, and because 290 performs so closely to the top-end 290X, it creates a sizable gap between the 7950 and its official replacement. With a performance difference just shy of 50%, the 290 is reaching the point where it’s going to be a practical upgrade for 7950 owners, particularly those who purchased it in early 2012 and who paid the full $450 price tag it launched at. It’s nowhere near a full generational jump, but it’s certainly a lot more than we’d expect to see for a GPU that’s manufactured on the same process as 7950’s GPU, Tahiti.
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RussianSensation - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Spot on. People continue to focus on reference GPU performance but unless you have a cramped case (which you shouldn't really have with such premium components) or are going quad-fire, using a reference cooler is almost always inferior to open-air dual slot designs with heatpipes and larger 80-100mm fans.hoboville - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Yup, there have been some cards (EVGA 780 w/ ACX cooler) that have benefited tremendously from special dual-slot coolers. That card was highly overclocked, ran cooler than reference, and was 95%+ of Titan performance. It was also only $10 more than the base 780.It just makes no sense that AMD has to flash around their reference cooler for 2 months with a shoddy card before we, as consumers, can buy a decent card that isn't just for looks (cooler shroud, anyone?).
aznjoka - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
This makes Nvidia's price drop, well looked over. The price/performance ratio of the 290, is quite well and back down at practical levels. AMD has done us all a great doing, saving our pockets from being emptied by the hungry Green men.Homeles - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
The same AMD that charged us out of our rears for the newly-launched 7000 series, mind you.Spunjji - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
They're both as guilty as each other on that one.techkitsune - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
" we cannot in good faith recommend a card this loud when any other card is going to be significantly quieter."That's nothing at all. Try throwing that against my 3 9000RPM Delta fans, each at -65dBA. -57dBA? Hah!
I could put four of these 290 GPUs in my tower and my three Deltas would still scream louder.
jljaynes - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Agreed - I consider myself an old school PC builder. If my rig doesn't sound like a prop plane taking off when I press the power button I am doing something wrong. I come from an era where a nerd's worth is measured by the number of case fans he has on his PC. I thought builders that put fan controls on their rigs were sissies. It's all or nothing - on or off, don't you turn down the speed.That, and any self respecting gamer uses a good set of headphones => noise is pretty much irrelevant, at least IMO.
techkitsune - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
That's right. Hunt with your ears as your FOV is very limited. Headphones are the only way to go in this regard with the super-power of Delta in your case.HisDivineOrder - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
It must be nice thinking everyone is talking low, but your hearing damage causes you not to notice what you're missing. When you're asking everyone to speak up, don't be surprised.jljaynes - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Go look up "noise isolation" or "noise canceling"