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
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.
With Hitman we finally see the 290X and 290 pull apart, but once more it’s to a fairly small degree. With the 290X not being as significantly throttled here the 290 trails by 4%, reducing it in status to the second fastest single-GPU card in this test. GTX 780 for its part isn’t too far behind and does pass 60fps, but we still see 290 beat it by 12%.
This also ends up being another situation where the 290 does well for itself compared to the GTX 770 and 280X. There it beats the GTX 770 by 42% and the 280X by 31%.
Moving on to minimum framerates, the performance situation shifts even more towards the 290’s favor. Now it’s once again ahead of the 290X, this time by 2fps or 3%, and the performance advantage over the GTX 780 grows to 23%.
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blank001 - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Intense review, but I think the custom cooler will make it a solid buy ultimately.Samus - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
definitely needs a better cooler. ridiculous potential held back by an intel-esk cooler.piroroadkill - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
*esqueRagnarKon - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Sold. I am very impressed.Such a dramatic decrease in price makes me feel like that both AMD and Nvidia were essentially ripping us off with the previous generations. I'd like to know what their profit margins were, and what they are now. Either way, I appreciate the seemingly competative pricing coming from AMD this time around.
$550 for 290X was a little outside my price range, but I can do $400. I shall be waiting patiently by my phone for until I get a notification that it is in stock.
BPM - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
I think the profit margin for 290 is less than 290x percentage wise. We may have cheaper flagship amd next yearRagnarKon - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
You are probably right. Still just leaves a bad taste in my mouth knowing that I paid so much for the previous generation, and that they are willing to cut launch prices but so much.I re-read the review after my head cooled down a bit and am now a little more concerned about the noise level. It isn't a deal-breaker for me, but it is a concern. I may have to wait for the non-reference coolers to come out before I take the plunge.
Ananke - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Noise level is LESS than 5850/5870. I had such card, it was pretty normal to me. It is at least twice less noise than 4870...Sandcat - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
The 5850/70 didn't need to run their fans at 60%. In fact, at stock profiles, mine never went above 65c, unlike these furnaces.slickr - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Just wait 2 weeks for custom cooler cards and this card is a beast. I mean it will probably be even faster with a natural OC on custom cooler cards, so add 4-5% more performance on top of the current one and lower noise levels at $400 and you have yourself a winner.I'll be waiting 2 weeks(hopefully less) and getting one with custom cooler and hopefully factory OC. I mean right now it pretty much beats Titan in half the games, with a factory OC and better cooler it going to come close to beating Titan at almost all the games.
So wait two weeks like me and get a custom cooled 290, for $400 its an amazing choice, I might consider getting a GTX 780 though if Nvidia lowers its price to $400 as well, so with 3 free games at $400 it may be better worth, but as of now the 290 is the king.
DMCalloway - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
You still have to dissipate the heat. Custom coolers are usually open design, so while it will be quieter all that heat is now going to be pumped into the case.