Conclusion
Conclusion
The R9 290 has been on the books since AMD’s Hawaii event but, from our standpoint, it has the distinction of having one of the most confusing launches in recent memory. There have been launch date revisions, multiple driver updates and an eleventh hour change to the card’s fan speeds which positively impacted achievable in-game framerates. With that being said, what AMD has created here extremely enticing and meshes well with the expectations of today’s gamers.
When we first completed benchmarking the R9 290 about a week ago, it seemed to be an excellent card. It was also quiet, matching the R9 290X’s Silent Mode. That changed as AMD made some last-minute driver changes in reaction to NVIDIA’s aggressive price cuts. These upped the fan’s rotational speed to 47% which unsurprisingly leveled out frequencies and boosted the card’s performance metrics in several TDP-limited games. Ironically, such a move could also spell trouble for anyone who bought an R9 290X so if you have one, you may want to turn away right about now.
While the R9 290X surprised many with its ability to consistently outperform NVIDIA’s ultra-expensive TITAN, AMD’s positioning of the R9 290 is nothing short of stunning. The performance on tap is beyond impressive and in many ways it is reminiscent of NVIDIA’s 8800GT; a card that nearly matched the 8800GTX but cost significantly less. This is critical for AMD since, if they can maintain availability, the 290 has nearly every other card beat clean in most respects.
The main comparison most gamers will focus on is the 290X versus 290 battle and what a tight race it is! In most games, the 290X in Silent Mode remains just out of reach for its younger sibling but in any application where the 290X hits a power or temperature roadblock, the less expensive 290 is able to surge ahead. Naturally, the Uber Mode option (which the 290 lacks) is untouchable but PowerTune’s algorithms still have a way of making things interesting. This whole situation goes to show how much of the 290X’s potential is left untapped, ready for custom heatsinks and waterblocks.
Before its well-timed driver update, AMD had the R9 290 4GB primed as a strong GTX 770 competitor. It now demolishes that card, pulls ahead of the GTX 780 and flirts with the once-mighty TITAN. This impressive showing isn’t in a few outlier instances either as the R9 290 consistently thrashes similarly-priced GeForce cards in every instance.
The R9 290 not only performs well but it simply has no competition in the dollar per FPS realm. It easily beats all comers, be they from NVIDIA or AMD. Even the new value-oriented R9 290X looks overpriced by comparison considering the R9 290 remains very close to its performance metrics while costing some $150 less. AMD may have a hard time justifying the 290X’s price in the face of these numbers.
While NVIDIA’s
free game bundles and SHIELD discount additions to the GTX 770 and GTX 780 are certainly enticing, from a raw value perspective, they just can’t compete against the R9 290. At just $399, it’s simply untouchable.
Unfortunately, much of this performance hinges on the fan operating at 47% and at that speed the reference R9 290 makes a bloody racket. The 290X had every reason to be boisterous in its search for class-leading performance but the R9 290’s high thermals, low efficiency and extreme noise output are disappointing. AMD would like you to believe these aspects are completely modifiable on their newest architecture and they are, but in order to achieve the strong results we’ve seen here, you’ll need to sacrifice at least part of your sanity.
At this point in time we would normally recommend waiting for the custom cooled versions from ASUS, Gigabyte and others. But you know what? We shouldn’t have to. NVIDIA has proven that high performance and maximizing frequencies can be achieved without massive thermal buildup or a high acoustical profile. Look no further than the TITAN or upcoming GTX 780 Ti for proof of that. AMD meanwhile seems to have a penchant for equipping their cards with barely adequate cooling solutions and the 290-series continues this tradition. Simply put, the heatsink’s ability to cool off the core while operating within reasonable acoustic boundaries should never, ever play such a large role in limiting performance as it does with these products.
From a features perspective the Radeon versus GeForce argument can swing either way since many of the new items AMD and NVIDIA have been discussing are either in their infancy or unreleased. That goes for G-Sync, ShadowPlay, Mantle, TrueAudio and so on but with all of these emerging technologies, the next year should be very interesting and could mark a distinct change in the GPU landscape.
Sometimes, being an early adopter isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Proud owners of the R9 290X will probably know exactly what we’re talking about since their new purchase has nearly been matched by a card that is much more affordable and can overclock quite well. This is nonetheless great news for gamers who can now buy a $399 R9 290 that has no problem competing against NVIDIA cards that cost upwards of $649
just a few weeks ago. The amount of value on tap here is simply astounding provided you’re willing to put up with higher noise, heat and power consumption.
