AMD Begins Massive Wave of Price Cuts on R9 290x and 290

[MetroP]

The price cuts are in effect right this instant. They were spotted on both newegg and amazon.

 

AMD has initiated a wave of extremely aggressive price cuts to the enthusiast GPU segment. Bringing the R9 290 price down from $399 to $299 and the R9 290X down a sizable $150 from $549 to $399. The 290 series isn’t the only one affected either. We’ve seen The R9 285 go for as low as $229 and the 280X down to $269.

Anybody remembers this tweet ?

 

Looks like this is what AMD was talking about.

Source

[SeanBond]

Awesome. This is just awesome. 

[Trik'Stari]

Get that 290x down below $350 and you might get me to buy one this christmas.

 

Where does the 290x stand against an overclockable 970 like the gigabyte G1?

[Derangel]

Get that 290x down below $350 and you might get me to buy one this christmas.

 

Where does the 290x stand against an overclockable 970 like the gigabyte G1?

 

Depends how well the specific card overclocks I suppose. The 290x has some decent overclocking headroom with a good cooler on it. The 290x would probably beat it out in pure benchmark performance but they're both damn good cards.

[ZestyJalapeno]

P-P-P PRICE WARS!!!!

[Excon]

Get that 290x down below $350 and you might get me to buy one this christmas.

 

Where does the 290x stand against an overclockable 970 like the gigabyte G1?

290x would beat it, the 290 and 780 where tied basically.

[Trik'Stari]

290x would beat it, the 290 and 780 where tied basically.

Yes but doesn't the Gigabyte 970 g1 overclock like crazy? At least that's what I've seen people on here say, like @AlwaysFSX

[deathjester]

Get that 290x down below $350 and you might get me to buy one this christmas.

 

Where does the 290x stand against an overclockable 970 like the gigabyte G1?

 

290's/x's are very brand dependant. You have some 290's that are better than x's. Hawaii ran hot and it really all depends on the aftermarket cooler. Some like the Sapphire's are awesome. Others can suck. 

 

If you have the PSU for this? This card at 289 bucks just owns. Vapor X is their top one but this is no slouch at all.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202080&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/6

 

A good brand consider it. Read reviews and temps first though. If there are no deals on a brand with good temps? I would go with the 970.

[EmmaLong]

Get that 290x down below $350 and you might get me to buy one this christmas.

 

Where does the 290x stand against an overclockable 970 like the gigabyte G1?

Overclocked 290 vs Overclocked 970. The 290 actually holds a small lead. 290X would be even faster.

 

http://www.bit-tech....x-970-review/12

http://www.bit-tech....r-x-oc-review/9

[dizmo]

Makes sense, considering the GTX 970 beats the R9 290. I'd still pick the 970 over it, even if it does save me $50.

[deathjester]

In related news IGN is on suicide watch, because 4k gaming just plummeted down in price. Gon be awfully hard to sell that "2000 dollar" gaming computer myth now. 

[TechFan@ic]

Yay for competition ! love seeing this !

[Excon]

Yes but doesn't the Gigabyte 970 g1 overclock like crazy? At least that's what I've seen people on here say, like @AlwaysFSX

They do, but honestly GPU overclocking for gaming makes a 1-3 fps difference so I dont get the point really

[Trik'Stari]

Overclocked 290 vs Overclocked 970. The 290 actually holds a small lead. 290X would be even faster.

-dear god, snip

 

 

 

http://www.bit-tech....x-970-review/12

http://www.bit-tech....r-x-oc-review/9

290's/x's are very brand dependant. You have some 290's that are better than x's. Hawaii ran hot and it really all depends on the aftermarket cooler. Some like the Sapphire's are awesome. Others can suck. 

 

If you have the PSU for this? This card at 289 bucks just owns. Vapor X is their top one but this is no slouch at all.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202080&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/6

 

A good brand consider it. Read reviews and temps first though. If there are no deals on a brand with good temps? I would go with the 970.

I've got a 750w 80+gold seasonic so I think I'm fine for 1 card. I was asking specifically about the gigabyte g1 970 because it's supposedly binned at the factory to be a great overclocker, or at least that's gigabyte's claim.

[Sakkura]

290x would beat it, the 290 and 780 where tied basically.

 

The 290 and 780 were tied, but the 970 was well ahead of both. Approximately equal to the 290X. The 780 Ti being faster still, and then the 980 as the current single-GPU top dog.

[TechFan@ic]

I've got a 750w 80+gold seasonic so I think I'm fine for 1 card. I was asking specifically about the gigabyte g1 970 because it's supposedly binned at the factory to be a great overclocker, or at least that's gigabyte's claim.

The MSI Gaming overclocks just as well as the Gigabyte G1 gaming from the reviews of read so far. Often hitting 1550mhz+ but even with that clock speed the overclocked Sapphire 290 was still faster.

 

Remember most reviews pin the factory overclocked 970s against reference 290s and 290X and then they overclock the 970s even more on top of that and bench again.

Apples for apples comparison, overclocking both custom cooled 290s and 970s I would bet they're tied in 1080p, 290s would edge out at higher resolutions because of the massive memory bus.

You just can't go around the fact that GM204 physically has half the memory bus width of Hawaii. Also remember that overclocking the memory on the 512bit bus of the 290 and 290X would result double the bandwidth increase vs overclocking the memory on a 256bit bus of the 970/980.

 

Memory bandwidth is calculated via this formula. Total Bandwidth = Memory speed in Gigabyte per second X Memory interface width.

Because memory speed is usually listed in gigabit per second make sure to divide it by 8 to get the gigabyte per second bandwidth.

So for the 980/970 it's 7Gbps which is 0.875 Gigabyte per second X 256 bit bus

0.875 X 256 = 224 Gigabyte per second of total bandwidth.

For the 290X/290 It's 5Gbps which is 0.625 Gigabyte per second X 512 bit bus

0.625 X 512 = 320 Gigabyte per second of total bandwidth.

Now if you overclock the memory on both the the 980/970 and 290X/290 by 1Gbps look at how much bandwidth the 290/290X gain.

GTX 980/970 8Gbps/8 X 256 =256 Gigabyte per second. Bandwidth gained = 32 GB/S

R9 290X/290 6Gbps/8 X 512 = 384 Gigabyte per second. Bandwidth gained = 64 GB/S

[Trik'Stari]

The MSI Gaming overclocks just as well as the Gigabyte G1 gaming from the reviews of read so far. Often hitting 1550mhz+ but even with that clock speed the overclocked Sapphire 290 was still faster.

Interesting. I was also leaning towards the gigabyte gpu since I have a gigabyte motherboard, I know it doesn't make a difference but it's always nice to have things match lol

[deathjester]

I've got a 750w 80+gold seasonic so I think I'm fine for 1 card. I was asking specifically about the gigabyte g1 970 because it's supposedly binned at the factory to be a great overclocker, or at least that's gigabyte's claim.

 

The Gigabyte 970 is one hell of a card.  That Sapphire I linked is close. It is damn near a push. Yeah you are set on PSU.

 

Sapphires make very good R9 290's. One is 370 and not in stock anywhere and the other is 289. All comes down to cost/features/budget. They are both going to perform great and have good temps. One thing to consider is if you plan to add a second one? That might put it in favor of the GTX 970. 2 r9 290's MIGHT run well on that PSU depending on CPU voltage and everything else. 2 970's would with ease. 

 

If you have the lanes to add another card and are considering it later? Yeah I would prob grab the 970. Good luck finding one in stock though. I haven't had any luck yet finding the Gigabyte in stock. Hell now I am considering this Sapphire. I am just running one card and I don't plan on going 2.

 

I am just a little worried if my CX600M will run the Sapphire and my 4770k OC. If I knew for sure it would run with no problem I would prob grab this thing. CX is the budget series PSU so I am a little leery of it.

[The_Strict_Nein]

Still, I only ever hear of catalyst versions being out-right broken, like completely. As far as I know, 14.9 is un-usable. Haven't had a bad Nvidia patch since I used my GT 650M, around the 314 days.

 

I still like Nvidia's eco-system more. I'll pay more for that than I will outright performance. Much in the same way I buy Dominator Platinums and i7s.

[Dietrichw]

290's/x's are very brand dependant. You have some 290's that are better than x's. Hawaii ran hot and it really all depends on the aftermarket cooler. Some like the Sapphire's are awesome. Others can suck. 

 

I have a reference 290 from XFX that overclocks to 1180MHz compared the stock 947MHz. I have the fan curve modified to be a little bit more aggressive so it stays around 80 C

[Dietrichw]

Still, I only ever hear of catalyst versions being out-right broken, like completely. As far as I know, 14.9 is un-usable. Haven't had a bad Nvidia patch since I used my GT 650M, around the 314 days.

 

I still like Nvidia's eco-system more. I'll pay more for that than I will outright performance. Much in the same way I buy Dominator Platinums and i7s.

odd, 14.9 is more stable for me. Before 14.9 overclocks above 1140 Mhz were unstable in BF3, now it is stable all the way up to 1180 MHz

[The_Strict_Nein]

odd, 14.9 is more stable for me. Before 14.9 overclocks above 1140 Mhz were unstable in BF3, now it is stable all the way up to 1180 MHz

 

Eh, I've heard reports of unplayable screen flicker

[Dietrichw]

I've got a 750w 80+gold seasonic so I think I'm fine for 1 card. I was asking specifically about the gigabyte g1 970 because it's supposedly binned at the factory to be a great overclocker, or at least that's gigabyte's claim.

you are fine unless you have a something outrageous like a 9590. I am running an overclocked reference XFX  290 with a 7850K APU on a 600W PSU 

[GPUXPert]

Still, I only ever hear of catalyst versions being out-right broken, like completely. As far as I know, 14.9 is un-usable. Haven't had a bad Nvidia patch since I used my GT 650M, around the 314 days.

 

I still like Nvidia's eco-system more. I'll pay more for that than I will outright performance. Much in the same way I buy Dominator Platinums and i7s.

Well at least AMD doesn't release drivers that actually KILL cards.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/544882/geforce-drivers/official-nvidia-320-18-whql-display-driver-feedback-thread-released-5-23-13-/62

http://modcrash.com/nvidia-display-driver-damaging-gpus/

http://community.futuremark.com/forum/showthread.php?175532-DO-Not-install-Nvidia-320-18-killing-gpu-s

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/nvidia-320-18-drivers-killing-gpus.185046/page-2

[Dietrichw]

Eh, I've heard reports of unplayable screen flicker

might be dependent on certain games