The AMD Radeon R9 270X & R9 270 Review: Feat. Asus & HIS
by Ryan Smith on November 13, 2013 12:01 AM ESTTotal War: Rome 2
The second strategy game in our benchmark suite, Total War: Rome 2 is the latest game in the Total War franchise. Total War games have traditionally been a mix of CPU and GPU bottlenecks, so it takes a good system on both ends of the equation to do well here. In this case the game comes with a built-in benchmark that plays out over a forested area with a large number of units, definitely stressing the GPU in particular.
For this game in particular we’ve also gone and turned down the shadows to medium. Rome’s shadows are extremely CPU intensive (as opposed to GPU intensive), so this keeps us from CPU bottlenecking nearly as easily.
Total War: Rome 2 is another solid victory for the 270 series. At our highest 1080p settings all cards can average better than 30fps, with the 270X outright tying the GTX 760 in the process. Otherwise for the 270, it can best the GTX 660 by over 15%.
Making one other quick comparison, the 270 looks especially good opposite the 7850 here. Not only does it crack 30fps when the 7850 couldn’t, but its 25% performance advantage is the largest lead we’ll see today.
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iTzSnypah - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
I'm not sure I like the R9 270. It should have been a cut card ~18CU's. I mean you can edit the BIOS to let up to +50% power limit so the only differentiation of the 270 and 270X (power) can be side stepped rather easily.The only hope is the 270X is binned much much higher than the 270 (to the point where the 270's are dogs), else there really isn't that much reason to buy one.
Also I'm surprised that the ASUS R9 270 wasn't a single 8pin connector.
blanarahul - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
A single 8-pin connector would essentially make it a 270X.Gnarr - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
Are you really complaining that the card is not handicapped enough and that you can get a very powerful card for a low price? And you say that you don't like that you can get this card this cheap?P39Airacobra - Saturday, May 31, 2014 - link
WTH? Really? That is the dumbest thing I ever heard! That is like getting a million dollars and then saying you should have got less. What is wrong with you?I am glad the 270 is just the same as the 270X, I only paid $179 for it, And all I have to do is go into CCC and set my clock from 925mhz to 1050, And bam I got 270X , And with better power efficiency. However I leave it at 925mhz because it has more than enough power to max most games at stock. You can't get a better deal than this right now. Now if AMD can just get their drivers right and keep the artifact problem gone. So far 14.4 stable has no artifacts, But the new 14.6 beta has artifacts in games that require physx, (like Mafia 2) So I just keep 14.4 installed. It's sad that it has been over 2 years and AMD is still having artifact problems in their drivers. This has effected allot of 280/280X users. Some figure out that it is the drivers, And others just returned their cards, It's amazing how nobody wants to admit what the real problem is, It is like they want to worship and praise AMD instead of solving the artifact issue.
The Von Matrices - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
The 270X seems like a pointless card to anyone willing to adjust clock speeds since it is the same GPU as its cheaper sibling, much like the 7970 GHz edition was to the 7970. I remember most 7970s (including mine) easily clocked to 7970 GHz edition speeds with little or no voltage increase. Is the 270 the same in regards to reaching the clock speed of the 270X?kyuu - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
I'm guessing the difference will be binning. So while you might end up with a 270 that can clock up to (or beyond) a 270X, there's a chance you may not if you were unlucky and ended up with lower quality silicon.blanarahul - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
The difference will be TDP. I think the 270 is already operating near it's power limit. But the 270X has a lot of headroom.yacoub35 - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
The right choice would be to get a 7950 Boost for under $200 and skip the 270-series generation which is rebranded lower-level hardware.doggghouse - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
Yeah, the 7950 Boost is a great bargain for now... until the supplies dry up. I managed to grab one for my nephew's new PC for $160 after rebate! It even came with the Never Settle Gold... going to be a great addition to his first PC :)garadante - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
I'm not sure if I'm missing the section that points it out, but what does the asterisk behind the 280X in the graphs represent? Does it represent some sort of caveat or warning that we should be aware of?