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
Synthetics
As always we’ll also take a quick look at synthetic performance. The 290X shouldn’t pack any great surprises here since it’s still GCN, and as such bound to the same general rules for efficiency, but we do have the additional geometry processors and additional ROPs to occupy our attention.
Hawaii performance on TessMark continues to underwhelm. 290 should have plenty of performance to create triangles, but it’s apparently having a problem fully utilizing them, a problem NVIDIA does not have.
Moving on, we have our 3DMark Vantage texture and pixel fillrate tests, which present our cards with massive amounts of texturing and color blending work. These aren’t results we suggest comparing across different vendors, but they’re good for tracking improvements and changes within a single product family.
3DMark’s texel fill test is one of a handful of tests where the 290 and 290X are actually separated by as much as the theoretical performance difference implies they should be. Clocked lower and with fewer CUs than 290X, 290 delivers 87% of the texturing performance.
Meanwhile the pixel fill rates show just how close the 290 and 290X can be even under best case circumstances for each card, due to the fact that they have an equal number of ROPs and equal memory bandwidth. Consequently the 290 loses almost nothing for pixel pushing power as compared to its bigger sibling.
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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.