So what's the verdict on R9 290X ?

[f1sherman]

No amount of aftermarket cooling will turn 280W card into an OC beast.
AMD used all the TDP it had (and then some!) to defeat Titan.

I think you guys are missing fishermans point. It's like 7970 vs 680 all over again, but in reverse.

I thought about this parallel, but you said it!

 

[MeldarthX]

No amount of aftermarket cooling will turn 280W card into an OC beast.
AMD used all the TDP it had (and then some!) to defeat Titan.




I thought about this parallel, but you said it!

you keep saying this; but just because you say it enough times doesn't make it so......people with 290X have squashed a lot of the bs flying around.

good thread to look at is OCN's 290x thread.....you will be surprised.

 

[f1sherman]

you keep saying this; but just because you say it enough times doesn't make it so......people with 290X have squashed a lot of the bs flying around.

good thread to look at is OCN's 290x thread.....you will be surprised.

Oh I'm sure I would be surprised, and I'm sure that 290x OC's... great.
Again, pretty much the same as GK104(with KGB mod), but slightly less, amirite?

When AMD testers need to borrow each others OC results to hype the card, well...

 

[MeldarthX]

Oh I'm sure I would be surprised, and I'm sure that 290x OC's... great.
Again, pretty much the same as GK104(with KGB mod), but slightly less, amirite?

When AMD testers need to borrow each others OC results to hype the card, well...

Seriously....you don't own the card; you don't know what it can do; yet you keep saying things as fact. When you get called on it; you throw out another arguement that has nothing to do with your original *disproven statement*

As I said; go look at the sub; read it - find out what owners are saying I'm holding off pulling the trigger until 290s come out to see where the prices settle at.....

So instead of spreading false rumors; try going and learning about the actual card.......

 

[f1sherman]

What false rumors?

There is so many R9 290X overclocking going on that ppl can recognize a particular OC result and identify its owner...jeez

Card dispating 250W on average is just that.
I don't need a tester to tell me that what 250W does to a case, or that TDP skyrockets if card is OC-ed,
or that you need a much better cooler even for everyday's use, let alone OC.

The card went through the channel in no time, yet no one is upset that he can't buy one. OK?

 

[MeldarthX]

What false rumors?

There is so many R9 290X overclocking going on that ppl can recognize a particular OC result and identify its owner...jeez

there is no tdp room; that there is very little room to OC etc; among other things you've said.

Quoting the card 280w can't go any farther etc......seriously

while I do like AMD *which I've said* I've also said; this is a hell of a chip held back by crappy ref cooler; but from the people that own the card say the cooler isn't as bad as its made out to be and this chip has a lot more room that people think.

What you are posting is false...which has been proven by others....so let it drop

 

[f1sherman]

Yup... very little (if any) TDP room, and certainly not enough for "GE edition"
Im not making it up. Here, from 246 to 307W through 5 different reviews.

279W on average.

 

[sze5003]

The reference cooler may suck but apparently there are people that bought the card and reviewed it and say it's pretty loud but temperature wise besides getting hot, it's made to sustain that temp too.

The more interesting reviews will come from non reference models.

 

[f1sherman]

The reference cooler may suck but apparently there are people that bought the card and reviewed it and say it's pretty loud but temperature wise besides getting hot, it's made to sustain that temp too.

The more interesting reviews will come from non reference models.

User reviews are always welcomed and should be weighed in in the overall picture.

Judging the product mostly on users and especially... khmmm... "users" reviews - no thanks.

 

[wand3r3r]

So posters can make claims (without owning the card, nor having any knowledge) that the card simply doesn't have any "room" for overclocking and is beyond some mythical 250w "wall" and is at the TDP limit, yet users who own cards and bench it should immediately be ignored. Despite the fact aftermarket / OC cards haven't hit the scene, it's already been deemed a lost cause.

Sounds logical.

Some of you guys should just hold the bashing for a while until we see what the end result is. The Nostradamus skills are severely skewed for some odd reason.

 

[MeldarthX]

Yup... very little (if any) TDP room, and certainly not enough for "GE edition"
Im not making it up. Here, from 246 to 307W through 5 different reviews.

279W on average.

On Uber mode; nice cherry picks there.....


Second I'd take a lot of power user reviews over a lot of reviews as they will use the card a lot longer than just a few minutes of running benches....

 

[MeldarthX]

So posters can make claims (without owning the card, nor having any knowledge) that the card simply doesn't have any "room" for overclocking and is beyond some mythical 250w "wall" and is at the TDP limit, yet users who own cards and bench it should immediately be ignored. Despite the fact aftermarket / OC cards haven't hit the scene, it's already been deemed a lost cause.

Sounds logical.

Some of you guys should just hold the bashing for a while until we see what the end result is. The Nostradamus skills are severely skewed for some odd reason.

thank you..... exactly what I've been saying

 

[amenx]

AMDs fermi.. but without the vitriol fermi got when released.

 

[wand3r3r]

The fermi comparison is pretty weak. Sure it's a higher power card, but it's not like the 580 vs. 5870 era. Since you clearly can't see the difference here's the difference, I'll repost what I said earlier. The situation isn't even close to the disparity that there was then. Yes, it uses a lot of power, but so does the titan/780. There is no mild power sipping competition to which the comparison can be made.


It's presumably about context. Let's compare some stats.

Titan 208w vs. 290x 246w = difference 18% more power and 290x has ~5% more performance

480 223w vs. 5870 122w = difference 83% more power and 7% more performance.

So the 480 is in the same ballpark with power usage as both the titan and 290x, however there is no competition like the 5870, much less the ever so slightly less power hungry titan(ic) is double the price.

Sources:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_290X/27.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_480_Fermi/32.html

So yes, it is using more power 38w in TPU's example with the worst case scenario (the other uber vs. quite mode uses a few watts less). I can see the point about using more than 200w being ironic, however NV doesn't have anything with significantly less power use.

For the record I could care less about power usage when it's close and am not complaining until it's a large disparity relative to performance.

 

[f1sherman]

OK lets see who's cherry picking.

The one who gives aggregate through 5 different reviews:

203 watts vs 279 watts, ie. 37% bigger power consumption
Or the one who picks the most favorable case (TPU).
If I wanted to cherry pick I could have easily taken HT4U review, where 290X consumes a whooping 55% more watts
than Titan (1/3 DP enabled) not a real graphic card(AMDs rep own words)

Again for those who still don't get it. TDP discussion is not important only because you might care about your electricity bill. That's the least of it.
We are talking about what might come next, and when your opponent's BRAND NEW 1/8 DP castrated chip has 37% higher power consumption vs your ancient one,
you dont have to be a sorcerer(!) to come up with a right medicine.

 

[amenx]

The fermi comparison is pretty weak. Sure it's a higher power card, but it's not like the 580 vs. 5870 era. Since you clearly can't see the difference here's the difference, I'll repost what I said earlier. The situation isn't even close to the disparity that there was then. Yes, it uses a lot of power, but so does the titan/780. There is no mild power sipping competition to which the comparison can be made.


It's presumably about context. Let's compare some stats.

Titan 208w vs. 290x 246w = difference 18% more power and 290x has ~5% more performance

480 223w vs. 5870 122w = difference 83% more power and 7% more performance.

So the 480 is in the same ballpark with power usage as both the titan and 290x, however there is no competition like the 5870, much less the ever so slightly less power hungry titan(ic) is double the price.

Sources:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_290X/27.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_480_Fermi/32.html

So yes, it is using more power 38w in TPU's example with the worst case scenario (the other uber vs. quite mode uses a few watts less). I can see the point about using more than 200w being ironic, however NV doesn't have anything with significantly less power use.

For the record I could care less about power usage when it's close and am not complaining until it's a large disparity relative to performance.

Got nothing to do with power. I dont think power is much of an issue for enthusiasts who consider cards in this tier/class anyway. The vitriol poured on fermi was not really about power either.. it was about HEAT and NOISE.. the main things you completely left out of your reply.

From the very TPU review you were looking at:

Idle noise levels are decent, almost quiet. You can barely hear the card when it is installed in a case.

The picture changes completely once you fire up a gaming session. AMD's fan will ramp up very quickly to cope with skyrocketing temperatures. Enable "Quiet" BIOS, which limits fan speed to a maximum of 2000 RPM, and the card will run into its 94°C temperature limit after only a few minutes, which results in lower clocks and performance (to stay below 94°C). The "Quiet" BIOS will not deaden down the card, but its noise levels can be tolerated.

Using the "Uber" BIOS results in RPM limitations falling away and the fan spinning up as fast as it has to in order for the card to stay below its temperature target (94°C by default). You will hear nothing but the card's fan noise, which makes hearing enemy footsteps or similar sound effects impossible unless you play with headphones.

Overall, I am disappointed by the acoustic experience the R9 290X provides. AMD should have invested some time into developing a good cooler, like NVIDIA did with the GTX Titan.

How about a little OC'ing, maybe a little voltage tweaking?

AMD's stock cooler is completely overwhelmed with the heat output of the card during voltage tweaking, though. Even at 100%, it could barely keep the card from overheating and was noisier than any cooler I've ever experienced. My neighbors actually complained, asking why I used power tools that late at night.

Power draw also increases immensely, going from just above 400 W for the whole system to around 650 W! To conclude, I expect extreme overlclockers with access to liquid nitrogen to love this card. Everyone else will probably find voltage tuning beyond +0.05 V to be too hot and too noisy.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_290X/31.html

 

[Rvenger]

OK lets see who's cherry picking.

The one who gives aggregate through 5 different reviews:

203 watts vs 279 watts, ie. 37% bigger power consumption
Or the one who picks the most favorable case (TPU).
If I wanted to cherry pick I could have easily taken HT4U review, where 290X consumes a whooping 55% more watts
than Titan (1/3 DP enabled) not a real graphic card(AMDs rep own words)

Again for those who still don't get it. TDP discussion is not important only because you might care about your electricity bill. That's the least of it.
We are talking about what might come next, and when your opponent's BRAND NEW 1/8 DP castrated chip has 37% higher power consumption vs your ancient one,
you dont have to be a sorcerer(!) to come up with a right medicine.

Do you really think that people listen to what your saying? Who cares about the TDP if you are an enthusiast. Overclock a titan and watch the numbers climb just like a 290x. Do you have a Titan, or a 290X? If not, then look the other way.

I owned all 3 and they all can get hot too. 290x is a louder card but outside of that, it feels like my Titan performance wise. You are not even being objective and spewing the same crap post after post. It's really getting old.

 

[Face2Face]

^ What up Rvenger - What are your impressions thus far? Since you have owned pretty much every card this gen I would like to know how you think it stacks up.

 

[Stoneburner]

Both camps did impressive stuff despite being stuck at 28nm. HOpefully this means they'll both have a strong showing at 20nm.

 

[Elfear]

Got nothing to do with power. I dont think power is much of an issue for enthusiasts who consider cards in this tier/class anyway. The vitriol poured on fermi was not really about power either.. it was about HEAT and NOISE.. the main things you completely left out of your reply.

Well since heat is a direct result of power consumption, I think his point is a good one.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I care about power /\

I guess I'm not an enthusiast though, only running one 7950 @ 1100/1500 and a i5 at 4.8GHz.

With my HD4600 removing the tearing at 45 FPS I use 160-170w while gaming.

Why do people put enthusiasts in a box? Few months ago you weren't an enthusiast unless you had a $1k Intel x6 and a Titan, now you're not an enthusiast if you care about power?

What am I if not an PC hardware enthusiast?

 

[Face2Face]

I care about power /\

I guess I'm not an enthusiast though, only running one 7950 @ 1100/1500 and a i5 at 4.8GHz.

With my HD4600 removing the tearing at 45 FPS I use 160-170w while gaming.

Why do people put enthusiasts in a box? Few months ago you weren't an enthusiast unless you had a $1k Intel x6 and a Titan, now you're not an enthusiast if you care about power?

What am I if not an PC hardware enthusiast?

en·thu·si·ast noun \-ˌast, -əst\
: a person who feels enthusiasm for something : a person who enjoys something very much

I could be rocking a P4 with a Geforce 6200TC and still be a PC hardware enthusiast :$

 

[f1sherman]

Yes, lets hear some positive words from real beta users (all 5 of them)
To hell with established reviewers, and with science, framerates, FCAT, identical testbeds and whatnot.

Lets see some random users pulling some "real-world" overclock results in some random games.
Anyone has Power Color thread? I mean R9 290X Benchmarks...

 

[Rvenger]

^ What up Rvenger - What are your impressions thus far? Since you have owned pretty much every card this gen I would like to know how you think it stacks up.

It does idle at 43c which is a little higher than normal. Fan speed is only 20% though which is lower than normal on a blower type fan. I am quite disappointed of the design of the shroud. I think it looks like garbage when installed in the case too. I thought the red lines lit up according to some rumors too which would have looked pretty cool. It does not. I didn't get to performance testing because I am working some issues with Windows 8.1 and secure boot right now. It seems that my Z87 UD4H bios doesn't like this secure boot very much. I am getting ready to run a registry hack to remove the stupid watermark.


^^ To the poster above me, if you don't have any substance then don't say anything at all. You will just get yet another thread locked and no one in this thread cares that Nvidia's reference cooler is better or it's TDP is lower. It is a fact, we know that already. 290X is a such a great card it lowered Nvidia's prices, so why you so mad bro? Go buy a 780.

 

[Face2Face]

Yes, lets hear some positive words from real beta users (all 5 of them)
To hell with established reviewers, and with science, framerates, FCAT, identical testbeds and whatnot.

Lets see some random users pulling some "real-world" overclock results in some random games.
Anyone has Power Color thread? I mean R9 290X Benchmarks...

Why so angry?? Rvenger is not biased towards one brand.. I am curious on his impressions thus far. Here, I will help you out - check the thread title.