Anyone able to explain why AMD didn't reveal more about the R9-290X?

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OCGuy

Lifer
Jul 12, 2000
27,224
37
91
caswow said:
there are still 4 other amd topics where your hate is still missing:D
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My last two long term builds being 7970s and 5850s....raaaaaaagee!!! ;)

Glad to see the usual "new" posters that come around during GPU news cycles. It wouldn't be the same without RBMs and sock-puppets. :)
 
Phynaz

Phynaz

Lifer
Mar 13, 2006
10,140
819
126
Specs aren't finalized. Silicon probably isn't finished so they can't say more because they don't know how parts will bin out.

According to TechReport the demo cards don't even have Crossfire connectors on them.
 
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ShadowOfMyself

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2006
4,227
2
0
ShintaiDK said:
If it performed better. I am quite sure they would tell us. The preorder style sounds more like the FX release. Buy first, get dissapointed later.

They also said it was their fastest card, not the worlds fastest. Its simply below Titan and the GTX780.
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Yup I noticed that as well
Notice how many times Raja said "world first" when it came to the Teraflops, but nothing of the sort about actual performance

Oh well... Guess Ill wait until 20nm to upgrade
 
O

OCGuy

Lifer
Jul 12, 2000
27,224
37
91
ShadowOfMyself said:
Yup I noticed that as well
Notice how many times Raja said "world first" when it came to the Teraflops, but nothing of the sort about actual performance

Oh well... Guess Ill wait until 20nm to upgrade
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My 7970, even with bleeding-edge tax, has been one of the most cost-efficient high-end purchases I have ever made for a PC.

Now, that isn't necessarily a good thing as far as PC gaming is concerned, but there it is.

ARMA 3 is the first game where it struggles. Bring on the next node...
 
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uclaLabrat

Diamond Member
Aug 2, 2007
5,632
3,045
136
I think Mantle is a huge turn of events for the future, but their silence on performance is deafening.

Their phrase "fastest card we've built" was also very telling. If they were mopping the floor with Titan, we'd know it.
 
Vesku

Vesku

Diamond Member
Aug 25, 2005
3,743
28
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Phynaz said:
Specs aren't finalized. Silicon probably isn't finished so they can't say more because they don't know how parts will bin out.

According to TechReport the demo cards don't even have Crossfire connectors on them.
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To make sense as a BF4 tie-in, those special edition R9-290Xs would need to be shipped within 4 weeks.
 
exar333

exar333

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2004
8,518
8
91
OCGuy said:
My last two long term builds being 7970s and 5850s....raaaaaaagee!!! ;)

Glad to see the usual "new" posters that come around during GPU news cycles. It wouldn't be the same without RBMs and sock-puppets. :)
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No kidding!

I went from the 5870 (at launch) to the 670 (launch) and have been really pleased with both performance and 'staying power' of each. The 7950/7970 were not cheap when they launched, but have had amazing staying power considering when they launched and how they compare with both current and soon-to-be offerings.
 
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imaheadcase

Diamond Member
May 9, 2005
3,850
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yacoub

Golden Member
May 24, 2005
1,991
14
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Probably overpriced since they're shoving a 290 (without the X) in between it and the 280X. If they reveal specs that line up with it deserving to be $100 more than the 280X, but they want to charge $200+ more for it, that would be a good reason not to share its specs at the same time as the rest of the lineup.
 
C

Cloudfire777

Golden Member
Mar 24, 2013
1,787
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"
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Anyone able to explain why AMD didn't reveal more about the R9-290X?"

Its quite simple.
The only time when R9 290X can have chance to beat Nvidia`s 780/Titan is with the new Mantle. If they put the 290X on todays games and compared against 780/Titan, it would be a disaster for AMD.

Thats why they shared no benchmarks other than Firestrike (Which Titan crush 290X), and why they instead talked about BF4 and Mantle, and diluted the whole presentation with talks about various games.

Since 290 and 290X is the only new cards, and they couldnt build any new cards with the "enhanced GCN" it is because it had no clear improvements over GCN. If it had, they wouldn`t had just settled with 290X to replace 7970, but would have pushed out brand new cards to replace 7870 but instead now they just push out rebrands.

I don`t buy that Mantle is so much better than DX for a second. Coding down to metal doesn`t magically make the card so much better. There is a reason why no one even bothered to do that earlier, but rather use DX for games.

The Mantle promotion is nothing other than a way to delute people away from the fact that 290X is late to the party (which Nvidia have cashed in for a long time now with 780/Titan) and bring nothing new to the table other than small improvements
 
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el etro

el etro

Golden Member
Jul 21, 2013
1,584
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R9 290X: Faster(a bit) than Titan, uses less power, True audio compatible.
 
wand3r3r

wand3r3r

Diamond Member
May 16, 2008
3,180
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They are shipping it in a couple/few weeks (it was said yesterday), no need for massive conspiracy theories.

Maybe they want to create a buzz?
 
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Face2Face

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2001
4,100
215
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Phynaz said:
Specs aren't finalized. Silicon probably isn't finished so they can't say more because they don't know how parts will bin out.

According to TechReport the demo cards don't even have Crossfire connectors on them.
Click to expand...

I thought I read somewhere they decided to axe the crossfire connector and have the cards communicate through the PCI-E bus.
 
Vesku

Vesku

Diamond Member
Aug 25, 2005
3,743
28
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Your supposition, Cloudfire777, doesn't explain why there was no talk of number of GCN CUs and other tech specs. They did mention "over 300GB/sec bandwidth" and "over 5TFlops Compute" but the actual specs were non-existent.

Face2Face said:
I thought I read somewhere they decided to axe the crossfire connector and have the cards communicate through the PCI-E bus.
Click to expand...

Unless they did a very poor job with Crossfire, they'd be seeing a jump in latency if they went to PCI-E transfers. Perhaps on PCI-E 3.0 it's a minimal difference. That or they may be going to some sort of external output connector cable.
 
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Granseth

Senior member
May 6, 2009
258
0
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Vesku said:
Your supposition, Cloudfire777, doesn't explain why there was no talk of number of GCN CUs and other tech specs. They did mention "over 300GB/sec bandwidth" and "over 5TFlops Compute" but the actual specs were non-existent.
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My guess is that they new Mantel would steal the show and wanted to save something for later. And now people are hungry for more new, and they have to release (or they will be mad) more information before the presales of R9 290x on the 3rd of october.

And they will be releasing the card before Mantel is out in December (my guess is that it will be late as always) so the benches will be in normal mode :)
 
Fastx

Fastx

Senior member
Dec 18, 2008
780
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Face2Face said:
I thought I read somewhere they decided to axe the crossfire connector and have the cards communicate through the PCI-E bus.
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I been searching this myself but couldn't find any definite info but speculation on the PCI Express like you mention. But also looks like they have a HW fix/frame pacing coming so that is interesting/nice info.



Two possibilities: it is possible that this is a pre-production sample for which the PCB has not yet been finally developed; then again, AMD could also be planning to allow access to the card's memory via the PCI Express interface when using it in a Crossfire setup. Thus, the CrossFire bridge would be finally superfluous. PCI Express 3.0 delivers the bandwidth required for this purpose.
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http://www.hardwareluxx.com/index.p...14-tech-day-amd-shows-the-radeon-r9-290x.html
 
Subyman

Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
7,876
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I'm guessing they sent a few cards home with the NDA crowd such as Anand. We will probably see a few reviews on the day of preorder. I can't imagine a preorder going live without solid specs.
 
C

Cloudfire777

Golden Member
Mar 24, 2013
1,787
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Vesku said:
Your supposition, Cloudfire777, doesn't explain why there was no talk of number of GCN CUs and other tech specs. They did mention "over 300GB/sec bandwidth" and "over 5TFlops Compute" but the actual specs were non-existent.



Unless they did a very poor job with Crossfire, they'd be seeing a jump in latency if they went to PCI-E transfers. Perhaps on PCI-E 3.0 it's a minimal difference. That or they may be going to some sort of external output connector cable.
Click to expand...

Where have you been? The specs are out, it have 11CUs. :)

http://videocardz.com/46006/amd-radeon-r9-290x-specifications-confirmed-costs-600
 
A

Arkadrel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2010
3,681
2
0
Anyone able to explain why AMD didn't reveal more about the R9-290X?

My guess is that they new Mantel would steal the show and wanted to save something for later.
Click to expand...

^ this.
 
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