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
Total 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.
Rome is another game that sees the 290X significantly throttle, and as such it’s another game the 290 has little trouble catching up in. At 2560 the two cards are essentially tied, each enjoying a 5% lead over the GTX 780. Elsewhere the 290 beats the 280X by 27% and the GTX 770 by 30%. Even the 7950B gets left behind to a significant extent, with the 290 beating it by 58%.
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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.