PCPerspective 290 4GB Review *Includes SLI/Crossfire* Available at Newegg Now!

[EChondo]

Available Now! 

Canada

ASUS: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121807

MSI: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127758

Sapphire: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202043

 

U.S.

ASUS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121807

MSI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127758

Sapphire: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202043

 

Enjoy guys! MSI and ASUS come with 3 year warranties, Sapphire comes with two year.

 

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/AMD-Radeon-R9-290-4GB-Review-Trip-Hawaii-399

 

 

AMD has definitely gone on the warpath with the Radeon R9 290 4GB graphics card.  Seemingly going straight for the juggular of NVIDIA, the R9 290 is able to perform better than a GeForce GTX 780 for $100 less (which seems like deja vu from last month) while at the same time willing to undercut its own flagship to nearly make it irrelevant to anyone other than those that have the temerity to demand ONLY the best at any cost.

It's not a perfect card as there are still the issues we saw with the R9 290X present here including fan noise, uncomfortably high temperature GPUs and even variable clock rates that can make estimating performance more difficult. In fact, the R9 290 is louder than the R9 290X is by default, thanks to the move AMD made to increase fan speed to insure a performance victory over the GTX 780.

We are also seeing availability issues with Hawaii - finding any in stock has been a struggle for gamers even before the release of the R9 290. And I think the R9 290 will be significantly more desired than the 290X thanks to the pricing adjustment.

How will NVIDIA respond at this point? I think a price drop on the GTX 780 (again) is out of the question and the GTX 780 Ti is going after the ultra enthusiast at $699. NVIDIA does have the advantage of the three game bundle (Splinter Cell, Batman Arkham Origins and Assassin's Creed IV) along with the discount on SHIELD. Software like GeForce Experience with ShadowPlay is also a nice bundle, but will it be enough for gamers to justify the $100 price increase (and performance delta)? It's hard to see that happening.

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 SLI/Crossfire

Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite SLI/Crossfire

Crysis 3

Crysis 3 SLI/Crossfire

Metro Last Light

Metro Last Light SLI/Crossfire

Skyrim

Skyrim SLI/Crossfire


 
We all know Ryan and his graphs, there are simply too many graphs to post here so I'll only be doing the Frame Variances at 4k.

[Chatzev]

Interesting... There is no longer much reason to go for the 290x, as opposed to the 290

[Razarza]

So the 290 is just a cheaper 290x? The benchmarks seem to say so.

[beebskadoo]

290 comes close to performance because of the fan speed max. 40% vs 47% is what's making the 290 creep even closer to the 290X.

The coolers are the bottlenecks here, we will see more of a difference when the aftermarket coolers launch.

Great card though!

[EChondo]

Interesting... There is no longer much reason to go for the 290x, as opposed to the 290

It appears to be a 780 is a better buy compared to a Titan again. Very interesting, especially since they are about $150 off(and $100 off from the 780).

 

I might pick one of these up, it appears at 4k AMD is still having problems with frame pacing though, and it becomes more apparent with crossfire.

 

Still, none the less, I'm going to wait for an aftermarket cooler.

[TheMissxu]

290 comes close to performance because of the fan speed max. 40% vs 47% is what's making the 290 creep even closer to the 290X.

The coolers are the bottlenecks here, we will see more of a difference when the aftermarket coolers launch.

Great card though!

Very observant. I didn't notice that.

edit: I just watched the video

[onionring]

290 comes close to performance because of the fan speed max. 40% vs 47% is what's making the 290 creep even closer to the 290X.

The coolers are the bottlenecks here, we will see more of a difference when the aftermarket coolers launch.

Great card though!

 

so this is even louder than the 290x! it must be ear shattering.

[EChondo]

so this is even louder than the 290x! it must be ear shattering.

About 5 dBa louder, but that is when the 290x is in quiet mode.

[lhikari]

frame time....does that mean its some sort of input lag?

[theroflcopta]

coo

[theroflcopta]

frame time....does that mean its some sort of input lag?

Frame timings are what is being displayed by your monitor. Fraps records what your graphics card says it's displaying but frame times record what the monitor is actually displaying. And for some time AMD had terrible frame timings which led to Screen tearing latency issues and worse performance. But it's been fixed a bit and is continuing to be fixed.