Thread: AMD R9 290 Inbound!

Update:

ASUS R9 280x installed and running.

Freaking BEAST for $300. BF4 on Ultra settings @1080p holds ~70fps pretty steady. When the storm kicked up on the island map ( name escapes me), I dropped down to 53 fps, but all seemed smooth. She cuts through BF4 like butta.

Also, the Asus Du cooler isn't any louder than the Saphire 6950 it replaced. Not silent, but not loud by any means. It works, anywhoo....it never went above 70 C in the hour or so that I played.

GTX 770 w/ 3 Free Games for $299.99 after rebates. You may want to consider returning that R9 280x, Dex...

Both are great cards, but the 770 is at quite an attractive price, and comes with free copies of Batman Arkham Origins, Assasins Creed Black Flag, and Splinter Cell Blacklist. These are all AAA titles and sweeten up this card a great deal.

ASUS GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 GeForce GTX 770 2GB GDDR5 PCI-e 3.0 SLI Video Card - Newegg.com

I have a friend that just bought this exact one.

I'm pretty happy with the 280. I'm likely ordering another one as soon as they come back in stock.

It's running BF4 as smooth as cat shit on a linoleum floor at ~60 fps (average) on all Ultra settings. It's quiet, and hasn't passed 70C temp wise, so I'm happy as a clam.

Originally Posted by dex71

Not sure yet. I'm going to keep it around for the next month or so (if I decide not to put it in my other machine) just in case it's needed, but from there I haven't decided.

I'll also likely be getting another 280x (same card) in a month or so and crossfire them. If one can hold a steady 60-70 frames (especially when Mantle is patched in to BF4), two should easily keep me at 80-100 without strain and without turning the rest of my machine into a space heater/ wind tunnel. At $300 each, you get quite a bit of bang for the buck, and I didn't feel like waiting for the ASUS Du coolers to come out for the 290's (which will make them MUCH quieter).

You probably won't need a second. My 7870 pushes 90 frames when I turn the frame limiter off at mostly high settings, but it makes my 4670k uncomfortably hot. Once Mantle comes around, the definitive bottleneck will be CPU power.

Originally Posted by Allane

You probably won't need a second. My 7870 pushes 90 frames when I turn the frame limiter off at mostly high settings, but it makes my 4670k uncomfortably hot. Once Mantle comes around, the definitive bottleneck will be CPU power.

I don't NEED one, but do want. Even better frames, and it won't tax either one of them nearly as much as a single card. Both should run nice and cool. At 3 bills a pop, it's pretty affordable, and should make long BF4 sessions easier to take for the entire rig (less heat being created).

As for CPU bottleneck.....not likely. BF4 hardly uses half of my cpu as it is. I have yet to see it go to 60% usage.

Except for one thing... The perceived frame rate of a Crossfire rig is much lower than the actual frames that programs like FRAPS report. Sure you'll report 120+ fps, but it won't seem nearly as smooth as when you are fluctuating between 60 & 90 fps. It's gotten better, but it's a software fix to a hardware issue. I wouldn't recommend anyone going multi-GPU with AMD until they actually fix their frame pacing issue in hardware, because waiting on them to fix it in software (drivers) is futile.

Originally Posted by HeavyG

GTX 770 w/ 3 Free Games for $299.99 after rebates. You may want to consider returning that R9 280x, Dex...

Both are great cards, but the 770 is at quite an attractive price, and comes with free copies of Batman Arkham Origins, Assasins Creed Black Flag, and Splinter Cell Blacklist. These are all AAA titles and sweeten up this card a great deal.

ASUS GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 GeForce GTX 770 2GB GDDR5 PCI-e 3.0 SLI Video Card - Newegg.com

I have a friend that just bought this exact one.

I think I like my crow deep fried. Side salad (French) with hash browns please. And a Tanqueray/ Tonic to wash it down (keep 'em coming every 15 minutes till I drop, please).

280x will be out-bound this week. Artifacting like mad in BF4. I've tried new drivers, old drivers, and driving Miss Daisy to no avail. Enough is enough.
Soon, there will be an ASUS 770 (or two) inbound to the dex compound.

Aaaaaaaaaand Update:

Crow dined upon, 280x out, and 770GTX in, and holyshitballs what a difference.

Picked up an ASUS 770GTX this morning at Microcenter. I used the ATI driver deal to uninstall, and installed the Nvidia drivers after a reboot. No problem.

The graphics with the 770 look better. Darks are darker, and the bright areas are not only brighter, but more detailed. It's a noticeable difference.

As for the build....horse a piece. The plastic cover on the 280x gives it a little cleaner and more streamlined look. The heat pipes are more exposed on the 770 giving it a more industrial look. I like seeing the pipes on the 770.

Heat wise, after a couple hours of BF4, the 770 runs ~10C cooler without any extra fan noise. Noticably cooler.

FPS wise....according to FRAPS (I know), the 770 is good for ~15-20FPS over the 280. Noticably smoother (though both played extremely well), the 770 tears BF4 up. I'm a happy camper once again.

Now to return the 280x. The refund will likely just get rolled into another 770.

Originally Posted by dex71

Aaaaaaaaaand Update:

Crow dined upon, 280x out, and 770GTX in, and holyshitballs what a difference.

Picked up an ASUS 770GTX this morning at Microcenter. I used the ATI driver deal to uninstall, and installed the Nvidia drivers after a reboot. No problem.

The graphics with the 770 look better. Darks are darker, and the bright areas are not only brighter, but more detailed. It's a noticeable difference.

As for the build....horse a piece. The plastic cover on the 280x gives it a little cleaner and more streamlined look. The heat pipes are more exposed on the 770 giving it a more industrial look. I like seeing the pipes on the 770.

Heat wise, after a couple hours of BF4, the 770 runs ~10C cooler without any extra fan noise. Noticably cooler.

FPS wise....according to FRAPS (I know), the 770 is good for ~15-20FPS over the 280. Noticably smoother (though both played extremely well), the 770 tears BF4 up. I'm a happy camper once again.

Now to return the 280x. The refund will likely just get rolled into another 770.

Sucks about the 280x, but the 770 is a fine product. I have a 760 in a box now and it crushes most of what I toss at it for 1080p. A second 770 will be incredible.

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I just noticed that the ASUS card has a backing plate on it to hide the circuit board. Well played, ASUS.