The AMD Radeon R9 Fury Review, Feat. Sapphire & ASUS

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• Gigaplex - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link

  "We do not compare OC'd cards."
  
  Well, technically you do, but usually only when there's no reference card. Problem is, if one vendor decides not to do a reference card, the custom cards get an advantage when comparing against reference cards of another vendor. We're only asking that you include a custom card as well in these situations.

• Ryan Smith - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link

  Whenever there isn't a reference card however, we always test a card at reference clockspeeds in one form or another. For example in this article we have the ASUS STRIX, which ships at reference clockspeeds. No comparisons are made between the factory overclocked Sapphire card and the GTX 980 (at the most we'll say something along the lines of "both R9 Fury cards", where something that is true for the ASUS is true for the Sapphire as well).
  
  And if you ever feel like we aren't being consistent or fair on that matter, please let us know.

• Ranger101 - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link

  Nvidia still has the fastest high end offering in the 980TI. Isn't that enough? Sometimes you just have to take a solid AMD win on the chin.

• Socius - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link

  Except a card that is $100 more than the GTX 980, and slower than it when OC'd, isn't a "win" by any means. Unless we're treating AMD like they're in the special Olympics and handing them a medal just for showing up.

• FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

  I know, rofl.
  
  The amd fanboy forgets pricing suddenly, when their master and god reams the backkside wallet holder, suddenly price is removed entirely from the equation !
  
  It's no secret amd fanboys are literally insane from their obsession.

• Socius - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link

  Really? The Fury is ahead of the GTX 980 and is a comparable value proposition? Yet again you run overclock benches with the Fury without showing the same being done on that GTX 980. I have no idea why you follow this policy of no cross-vendor OC performance comparisons as most people geeky enough to be reading this website would be interested in seeing final performance stats that they can achieve on a stock card, with basic overclocking. So if you have a card like the Fury that overclocks a whopping 5%, compared to a GTX 980 that can overclock 25-40%, yeah...you're doing a disservice to your readers by withholding that information. Especially when you don't even bring it up in your conclusion.
  
  Paid by AMD much? I never thought I'd have to look at any reviews other than those from Anandtech. But this website has been playing it too cautiously, and without the ultimate intent of showing best overall/actual performance and value to their readers.
  
  Seriously Ryan, I'm disappointed. I don't see why there would be an issue with showing a comparison between max OC between, oh, let's say, the Asus R9 Fury STRIX and the...Asus GTX 980 STRIX. Would be a pretty darn fair comparison of 2 different cards and their performance when given the same treatment by the same manufacturer.
  
  I don't know why I even bother commenting anymore.

• Orthello - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link

  I think it would be great to see an OC vs OC comparison, the problem is its unfair to do so now for Fury as there is no voltage control yet like there is for Nvidia Cards.
  
  When afterburner / trixx etc support the voltage control for Fury then we can really get the real max oc vs max oc , unless you are talking about overclocks at defualt voltage which makes no sense.

• Socius - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link

  At the end of the day, this is the product they've placed in people's hands. But even without voltage increases on the Nvidia side, you should be able to OC to around 1400MHz at least, when on a custom cooler design like the STRIX model, for example. But I don't think Ryan cares about what's "fair." That's why he's putting these custom boards up against the reference NVidia designed/clocked GTX 980. Because that's somehow a fair comparison. =D

• FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link

  Don't worry, the insanity is so rampant that if amd ever gets an overclock going- we will never hear the end of it - "OVERCLOCK MONSTER !!!!"
  
  On the 290 series amd fanboys were babbling all over the internet that nearly every amd card hits 1300 or 1350 "easily".
  Of course they were lying those were rare exceptions, but hey...losing is hard on the obsessed.
  
  Now we know the nvidia flagship core is a real monster overclocker, so we should not mention it ever, nor hear about it, nor factor it in at all, EVER FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.
  
  Frankly I can't get away from the sickly amd fanboys, it's so much entertainment so cheap my sides have never been busted so hard.

• Ranger101 - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link

  If quality articles that provide a balanced perspective disappoint you that's a shame. Take comfort in knowing the 980TI is currently still the fastest card. Allow me to once again commend Anandtech on an excellent article.