AMD Radeon R9 290 reviews

[Darakian]

Is there any word on when/if we're going to see a cut down hawaii chip? Maybe a cape verde style smaller die.

[tajoh111]

^^^^^
Off course you're trolling, the only time you visit the AMDs threads is to condemn the product. I'm sure even you know that as everybody else knows.
Now people are not stupid they know about the cooling issue from many tech forums plus all they need to do is to read one review in the OP and they still buy the card. I guess that must bother you a lot, since from day one you claimed you would never buy the card in other words advizing others not to buy it.

What possibly can be your your problem about the non-reference card not on the market since you're not waiting to buy one? At the same time prizing Nvidia and the partners to have some.

Well I can only speculate about it, but it makes some sense. 1) The NV GK 110 is around at least from Feb. 2013, Hawaii is new arch. 2) It takes time to build up inventory before getting in the production of non-reference cards, still up to today not every partner has the cards at Newegg at the same time, but is getting much better. 3) If Gibbo is right about AMD having some time limit before allowing the non-reference cards. The reason might be to do all drivers update to correct any issues, ( off course this one is highly speculative by me). Additionally some off the non-reference cards are probably going to be OC editions, it takes time to have enough binned chips for that.

Anyway I believe AMD and some off the partners are trying to do the best to have such card on the market before Christmas. Lets wait and see if it will work out, but for you tajoh111 it will not make any difference, except you will need to figure out some new AMD bashing issue.

Its not trolling. I asked a valid question and that was when is AMD going to started getting non reference cards out. I mentioned Nvidia because they got their cards out way earlier and the cards came out later. If you take such a post as negative, then you really get too easily offended. I have been not been asked by a MOD or got a infraction for trolling whatever you guys think. Sometimes you guys are just a bit too positive of AMD so you take it as trolling. Also I am hardly praising Nvidia for having non-reference designs out. At this point I expect solutions to come out quickly from either company.

And most of the time, I say something critical of these cards, I only mean it to be a single comment. But you pro AMD guys attack me and I simply defend myself or explain my comments. Thus the amount of comments get inflated. When I say something negative in a Nvidia thread, it simply doesn't spiral out because Nvidia doesn't have defenders like you, spursindonesia or mars. Without people to criticize AMD on this board, this website could turn into semiaccurate forums. I really hope this never happens.

I don't think a card has ever needed a non-reference solution as much as Hawaii. Not simply because of its hot and noisy with the current solution, its because the GPU itself has so much potential. Usually bad GPU's can't be fixed regardless of the cooling and will stink even if the cooler is changed or not. Hawaii is fortunately not like that. Hawaii has the chance to be a good card and reasonably well balanced. As is, it brings value to the landscape because of its price/performance but people who buy one are forced to take a significant compromise or buy non-reference solution to install afterwards. Kyle Bennett has been one of the most pro 290x supporters there are and he himself has said he would wait for a Non-reference solution.

BTW, I never said I would never buy a hawaii based card. Maybe a a reference card, but I am not ruling out a Hawaii non-reference designs. I kind of expected Hawaii to have non-reference design out soon because the reference cooler on the 7970 and hawaii are the same from what I heard, so 7970 none reference designs should translate quickly and well to Hawaii.

Asking for non-reference designs should be the biggest question besides how mantle performs. Its the only reason I check these Hawaii forums nowadays. I think its a question worth asking and repeating.

[STEvil]

7970's have rotated Die.

[mars]

Nvidia doesn't have defenders like you, spursindonesia or mars. Without people to criticize AMD on this board, this website could turn into semiaccurate forums. I really hope this never happens.
snip
I think its a question worth asking and repeating.

really dude? the only reason we defended is really due to your relentless and DISHONEST smears on AMD despite not even having the product in question
its been less than 1 month since you were claiming AMD was cherry picking gpu dies despite having the experience and the knowledge to know that the variation was due to a rubbish fan
Surely you dont need me to link you to your ridiculous accusations of AMD cherry picking 20% faster samples THEN (as an example) typing another 300 word essay on why they would do such a thing based on their financial position

Now that is set straight you do 300+ word posts on a poor cooler and how we shouldnt give AMD a break, its one thing to criticize AMD its another thing to make stuff up and propagate it as truth

[kuroikenshi]

^^ I concur that tajoh111 seldom writes succinct comments.

In fact, he has a plethora of posts where 80% of the comment is filler, and the other 20% is just regurgitated information.

[spursindonesia]

This & most AMD GPU threads are getting tier because some people just doesn't know when to stop and cut their losses. It's just awful, like a broken record that kept played over and over again.

[Heinz68]

Looks like I need to find another Christmas present for myself, or move to China.

Gibbo at OCUK, 25th Nov 2013,

Hi there

So far the message is the same as I told you guys last month.

AMD have no plans to ship just parts yet until mid-end December. So that means the earliest we shall see custom design in stock shall be January, so same as what I said last month.

We might be able to get custom cards up for Pre-Order mid-end December with stock in January.

The only places which might get stock on the shelf end of December is China.

[Andrew LB]

its been less than 1 month since you were claiming AMD was cherry picking gpu dies despite having the experience and the knowledge to know that the variation was due to a rubbish fan

You do know that AMD didn't just learn of this phenomena with fans right? Their engineers were well aware of this and used one of many tricks that can help review scores.

[STEvil]

So, since you're dirtying up multiple threads with fire warnings and faster rumors, what did they do, exactly?

Here's my theory: The cards sent out (and the ones used in-house for building) were hand tested to be sure they worked and happened to have a better application of thermal compound. Better application = lower temps.

Alternatively some of the reviewers may have taken the cards apart before reviewing them (some do this first) and reapplied the thermal compound better than stock.


Given the differences seen I think this most likely and i'm getting quite tired of the fanboy drivel you guys keep spewing with no proof.

[kuroikenshi]

snip

man. that internet I gave has taken a few days to register on ur sig

[spursindonesia]

You do know that AMD didn't just learn of this phenomena with fans right? Their engineers were well aware of this and used one of many tricks that can help review scores.

Any hard proof or evidence of your exact accusation of the full awareness and trickery of AMD in this issue ??

Fact that with driver update that ENSURE all fans working exactly at the predetermined RPM, the variation gets much smaller (within acceptable better than average reviewing sample practice) and it has been acknowledged by most respectable sites, even ones that brought the issue in the first place.

....

waiting

....

Naah, what do you expect of a proven AMD hater ? BULL S AND LIES, no more no less.

[mars]

You do know that AMD didn't just learn of this phenomena with fans right? Their engineers were well aware of this and used one of many tricks that can help review scores.

phenomena.... wtf are you smoking, there are enough review sites out there now explaining what exactly is happening, please go educate yourself

regarding AMD engineers, I agree with you that they are well very aware of the product AMD has released, more so than probably all the reviewers of course..
no doubt in my mind that everything down to the poor cooler, bios physical switch and R290->R290x flash has been known to them before product release.

[Heinz68]

the R9 290 must be selling like hot cakes, right now all are sold out at Newegg same goes for Newegg Canada.
Also at Newegg first R9 290X on sale by Sapphire $499 'BattleField 4 game included, limited offer'

[Ace123]

Yesterday that sapphire was sold out to

[MaddMuppet]

They are selling very well in this neck of the woods as well.

[mars]

man I wasnt exaggerating when I said I would have bought this at its price point even if it came without a HSF.

just 1 week before 290x news came out, I was oh so close to spending more than double (1400AUD) on 2 x GTX770 because bf4 was already being played and I wanted to get in on it, and I had also upgraded to 1440p 120Hz gaming as well, the 290x launched at 650AUD with bf4 so the amount of savings isnt minor at all... literally the savings are almost brand new ceramic coated dump pipes for my car

[DefStar]

7970's have rotated Die.

Oh wow! I was going to ask you if the die is not rotated on the 290s but decided to find a picture for myself...Holy Damn the 290's Die is HUGE compared to the 7970's. I wish they would keep the same design until it is absolutely necessary to change so as to make waterblocks reusable.

[tajoh111]

man I wasnt exaggerating when I said I would have bought this at its price point even if it came without a HSF.

just 1 week before 290x news came out, I was oh so close to spending more than double (1400AUD) on 2 x GTX770 because bf4 was already being played and I wanted to get in on it, and I had also upgraded to 1440p 120Hz gaming as well, the 290x launched at 650AUD with bf4 so the amount of savings isnt minor at all... literally the savings are almost brand new ceramic coated dump pipes for my car

Are you should it was $1400 for 2xgtx 770?

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/...ce%20GTX%20780

The gtx 780 is still with the price drop, 100 more dollars than the gtx 770 was at release time. The gtx 770 only dropped its price by $70 after the 290 release, so I have hard time seeing them being $700 AUD each.

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/...wadres=1&pos=2

Currently the gtx 770 starts at 369 AUD. I don't think in the span of November, the price of the gtx 770 got chopped in half. Particularly considering the 780's are cheaper than 700 AUD(around $600 for Overclocked versions in Australia) which are still 100 dollars more expensive than what gtx 770's were selling at at the beginning of their life cycle.

[mars]

Are you should it was $1400 for 2xgtx 770?

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/...ce%20GTX%20780

The gtx 780 is still with the price drop, 100 more dollars than the gtx 770 was at release time. The gtx 770 only dropped its price by $70 after the 290 release, so I have hard time seeing them being $700 AUD each.

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/...wadres=1&pos=2

Currently the gtx 770 starts at 369 AUD. I don't think in the span of November, the price of the gtx 770 got chopped in half. Particularly considering the 780's are cheaper than 700 AUD(around $600 for Overclocked versions in Australia) which are still 100 dollars more expensive than what gtx 770's were selling at at the beginning of their life cycle.

I am 100% sure... my mate bought the setup and I was about to follow him 1 week before news of the 290x came out
and now that we compared systems he's selling both the gtx770s he bought

if you look at pccasegear.com, look at the price of the GTX780s, those were the prices of the 770s till about a week after 290x release

edit actually I may be mistaken, my mate doesnt use 1440p he runs 1080p 120Hz, so I may have priced myself 2 x 780s instead of 770s
but honestly point still stands heres a snapshot of 780 pricing pre-290x
http://web.archive.org/web/201308051...cPath=193_1483
so yea basically even if I bought 2 x 290x (i think i will actually) id still save enough for the dump pipe on 1 side of my motor at least

[STEvil]

Oh wow! I was going to ask you if the die is not rotated on the 290s but decided to find a picture for myself...Holy Damn the 290's Die is HUGE compared to the 7970's. I wish they would keep the same design until it is absolutely necessary to change so as to make waterblocks reusable.

Or just ship a flat shim and a rotated shim with the block for use depending on which die each card you have has.

[Heinz68]

Custom Design Radeon R9 290 to Launch Ahead of Custom Design R9 290X

TPU December 4th 2013
AMD missed its late-November window for giving its partners enough Radeon R9 290 series chips to roll out their custom-design boards in time for Christmas (the winter shopping season). It turns out that custom-design R9 290 and R9 290X cards could launch perilously close to Christmas, or miss it altogether, and launch next year. Custom design R9 290 series cards are highly anticipated as the press didn't receive the reference-design cooling solution of the two cards as well as it did the chips themselves. Reference design coolers, reviews revealed, are not only noisy, but also don't cool the GPUs well enough to prevent throttling under gaming loads.

Barring the recent reveal of MSI's Radeon R9 290X Lightning PCB, we've not come across a single custom-design R9 290 series card. Sources told ComputerBase.de that custom-design R9 290 (non-X) cards could launch first, in the mid/late-December thru January time-frame, and R9 290X could follow "later." One AIB partner which did not want to be named, attributed it to under-supply of the "Hawaii" silicon, and not any design defects that AMD is working to correct. The Radeon R9 290 (reference) is priced at $399.99, and the R9 290X for $549.99.

I think the main reason is supply and demand. The partners wont market custom design cards until they have enouch GPU's to start with. The reference cards are selling very fast making it hard to build up chips inventory.

[thatdude90210]

Part of it might be the rise of digital currencies, it's an unforeseen demand. The 290/290x are apparently killers at Litecoin mining. http://holynerdvana.blogspot.no/2013...d-r9-290x.html

[trans am]

..Lots of the tomfoolery in the tool shed in this thread.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjogMMnm8DM

[Heinz68]

MSI Teases Transparent TwinFrozr Cooling Solution

MSI just teased a new VGA cooling solution it's working on, which will likely feature on its upcoming Radeon R9 290 series graphics cards. It's expected to be a long and tall variant of TwinFrozr IV designed for high-end chips like GK110 and "Hawaii," and will feature a frosty see-through acrylic shroud covering the aluminium fin-stack heatsink. TwinFrozr IV is MSI's workhorse VGA cooler for its Gaming, Lightning, and HAWK series of factory-overclocked graphics cards.

Source

[Heinz68]

Part of it might be the rise of digital currencies, it's an unforeseen demand. The 290/290x are apparently killers at Litecoin mining. http://holynerdvana.blogspot.no/2013...d-r9-290x.html

Looks like you're right, I was hoping the reason for the shortage was , AMD shipping GPU's to the partners for custom build cards and underestimating the reference card inventory.

Right now the 290 series are sold out everywhere, same goes for the 7900 series, even R9 280X are hard to find. Some price gouging is already going on. Right now only one R9 290 available at Newegg for $460, "Free Battlefield 4 game w/ purchase, limited offer" LOL is more like full price for the game.

All the R9 290X are sold out and all "Auto-Notify" prices are higher than the MSRP.
The worst is ASUS R9290X asking $630, hope this wont last too long, otherwise the custom built cards will cost arm & leg.