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
Crysis 3
Still one of our most punishing benchmarks, Crysis 3 needs no introduction. With Crysis 3, Crytek has gone back to trying to kill computers and still holds “most punishing shooter” title in our benchmark suite. Only in a handful of setups can we even run Crysis 3 at its highest (Very High) settings, and that’s still without AA. Crysis 1 was an excellent template for the kind of performance required to drive games for the next few years, and Crysis 3 looks to be much the same for 2013.
Crysis 3 happens to be another game that the 290X sees significant throttling at, and as such this is another game where the 290X and 290 are neck and neck. With all of a .4fps difference between the two, the two cards are essentially tied, once more showcasing how the 290X is held back in order to get reasonable acoustics, and how fast the 290 can go when it does the opposite and lets loose.
This also ends up being a very close matchup between the 290 and the GTX 780, with the 290 losing to the GTX 780 by just 1%, making for another practical tie. Which coincidentally will make our power and noise tests all the more meaningful, since this is the game we use for those tests.
Meanwhile compared to the GTX 770 and 280X, this is actually the narrowest victory for the 290. Despite the solid performance of the 290 and 290X, it beats the GTX 770 by just 11%. The margin of victory over the 280X however is closer to normal at 29%.
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Pierreso - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Amazing indeed! $400 for a card up there with Titan often and leaving behind the 780. This is really great!Jimminycricket - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Was waiting patiently for 290 reviews all night and read several. What a read this is.This here is THE card to get. The value and performance is off the charts. AMD 290 performs better than nvidia Gtx780 in almost every case and you can overclock it for even more coming up towards 290X numbers. The new review AMD drivers made performance through the roof. AMD 290 also is right there with $1000 wallet-buster Titan.
And $400! Finally we get amazing value and beastly performance at a good pricepoint.I was considering the Gtx780 but with this beast from AMD nvidia needs another $150 pricecut on GTX780 down to $350 otherwise it is $400 AMD 290 in my rig allday. $400 Beast!
jerkchickens - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
no doubt, nvidia, time for another price cut GTX780=$350 value now. R9 290 $400 and kicks its buttSamus - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
I'm surprised AMD isn't selling a first-party solution for this if the cooling benefit is so substantial with GCN 1.1Water cooling kit = volume solved.
holdingitdown - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Custom cards will be here in no time. Per reviewers comments elsewhere AMD is waiting for 780ti to release then they drop the custom 290x and 290 cards and crush that card too.So much for nvidia trying to charge $699 fir 780ti. Propaply that card will be $599 oi instead.
crispyitchy - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
290 is the best card to release on 28nm.Wicked fast and priced right $400.
With these new AMD cards and their aggressive pricing and top tier performance, nvidia's entire lineup is irrelevant until they do some serious price drops.
290 is indeed a beast!
crispyitchy - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Take a look at this reviewIt really paints how amazing the card is.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/11/04/amd_rade...
Notmyusualid - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
440W.designerfx - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
It's definitely refreshing to know AMD is definitely going for direct competition with Nvidia with the 290.Sabresiberian - Friday, November 8, 2013 - link
And, water cooling bumps the price up at least $75 for the block, assuming you have an existing pump and radiator that will take the added load.It is the only card to get IF you don't care about noise or are willing to spend a significant amount of money to get rid of the noise, don't care about G-sync, don't care about PhysX, and don't care about Shield compatibility. Me, I'd rather spend $500 on a card that doesn't give up those things and doesn't force me to change the cooling solution.