Thursday, December 19th 2013
ASUS Radeon R9 290X DirectCU II OC Launched
ASUS announced its Radeon R9 290X DirectCU II series graphics cards, which include a model that sticks to AMD-reference clocks (up to 1000 MHz core, 5.00 GHz memory), and one that offers factory-overclocked speeds of up to 1050 MHz core, and 5.40 GHz memory, the DirectCU II OC. The card features a completely non-reference design, with a PCB designed in-house by ASUS, which features a 10-phase VRM, which draws power from a combination of 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The features Samsung-made GDDR5 memory chips. There's 4 GB of memory on board, across a 512-bit wide memory interface.
The DirectCU II cooling solution is nearly identical to the one deployed on the recently launched GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II OC. It features a large aluminium fin-stack heatsink to which heat is fed by 8 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes. The heatsink is ventilated by a pair of 92 mm fans, one of which features ASUS's unique lateral+axial hybrid impeller, called CoolTech. Niceties include a back-plate, and an all-black cooler shroud, with sheets of red and gold stickers, so you could style the card the way you want to. The card is expected to be priced as low as 499€.
The DirectCU II cooling solution is nearly identical to the one deployed on the recently launched GeForce GTX 780 Ti DirectCU II OC. It features a large aluminium fin-stack heatsink to which heat is fed by 8 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes. The heatsink is ventilated by a pair of 92 mm fans, one of which features ASUS's unique lateral+axial hybrid impeller, called CoolTech. Niceties include a back-plate, and an all-black cooler shroud, with sheets of red and gold stickers, so you could style the card the way you want to. The card is expected to be priced as low as 499€.
32 Comments on ASUS Radeon R9 290X DirectCU II OC Launched
A better indicator might be vendor OC'ed special vs vendor OC'ed special. Personally, at $630 a pop, I'd judge the a $500 AIB 780(non-Ti) a better deal unless you're into mining
I'll just have to keep reminding myself of the coil whine nightmare of the 7970's I went thru before jumping the fence.
:s
:s
(EDIT: Going to back peddle a tiny bit, after looking at more reviews, I feel like the premium is a little more justified than my first reaction conveyed. Its not just slightly faster, but a lil cooler and quieter also - still impressive results from asus on this fella, bringing the term bang for buck appropriately to flagship cards is commendable
And poor TITAN, may not be a tailored gamer card, but sitting so low on graphs in the same year its launched - something you'd more expect from a graph displaying the next die shrink gen of gpu)
Remember that all Titan's are 'stock' cards and it's only through customising that people could let them fly. So regardless of pricing, there's no need to feel sorry for Titan - it still performs very well indeed. I feel sorry for people that bought Titans and didn't flash the BIOS. It's remarkable how fast hey are when you bypass Nvidia's ridiculously low ball limits.
But back OT, it really shows how much lack of thought AMD put into their final 'stock' cards when the partner custom cards do so much better. Shame on you AMD for not trying harder at launch. And kudos to Asus for making such a terrific card. Maybe a few more of these custom coolers with this greatly improved performance might tempt the greedy greens to reduce their stratospheric pricing?
This part is not for you, Im sure you completely got the point I was making. To the rare, rare soul that purchased this as a gaming card coz it was king-of-the-hill "way back" this year, who perhaps dont have a water-cooled rig and dont tinker to a high degree with their hardware. Just those, no one else, I was extended a kind of "ouch" sentiment.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll be looking at graphs way into the future (I mean not that way into the future, we're not talking flying cars and terraforming Mars, but like 8/9 months way into the future) and my gpu will be looking tired and ... okay, I'll shut up!
Merry Xmas
But again, to mention the Asus card, The problem i'm seeing here is that it ties with the stock 780Ti (game dependent as always) but in the UK it's been listed at just £15 cheaper than some of the basic 780Ti's. We tend to see some retailers putting excessive premiums on custom cards. I'd rather have a 4GB card like this though than a 3GB vanilla 780Ti.
I think what we all want to see is a Nvidia and AMD have a 780TI versus 290X Lightning fight!! :clap:
As for a $500 deal, sneak a peak at the custom 290 non-x from sapphire. This card smokes the 780 non-ti at EVERY measure.
Also it's hard to find a pair of socks to match that h/w.
How are we supposed to live in this world?
Nvidia isn't likely to be selling much of GK110 into professional markets by this point, most of the big numbers came early in its' release to known corporate clients. I see Nvidia being very prodigious with their production "starts" in the future. They probably are just using chips that are no longer being moved in great volume to the professional side.
Then there's AMD a new chip and I don’t believe is destined for any professional brand usage... AMD surely have/had a good idea of what the gaming market would absorb, but now with crypto currency sucking up what "feels like" a lot of that volume... how does AMD react? Does AMD believe that crypto currency isn’t going to go "bust" and schedule more starts? I think with of volatility of mining and its' currency values AMD can’t run head long into believing they’ll up "starts" to furnish that demand also. That means tight supply especially if currency values hold/increase, while then if it does go "bust", figure plenty of these speculators will drop their GPU like hotcakes. They'll recoup as much of their cost before the cards become devalued. Those miners can’t/won’t hold onto such cards to rely-on for next boon, even if it happens soon. If and when it does will a 20Nm do it better and more efficiently, probably so. That floods Ebay with cards and stores and E-tailers are stuck.
AMD can’t increase production without it coming back to bite them, by the point the pipe is full crypto currency could be "kaput" and they have tons of inventory 4-5month ahead of 20Nm? While hold steady and crypto currency might continue to eat a large amount of sales at inflated prices. AMD isn’t making any of that inflated profit, in most cases not even the AIB’s (except not yielding to rebates and incentives that normally are granted if product sits), the stores and E-tailers almost exclusively garner those windfalls. While when mining goes away will AIB’s provide assistance... just to then see some spike, and retail receiving another windfall?
So I see prices for all this "Enthusiast" stuff holding as long a "mining" pulls AMD volume and not moving much once it does. Nvidia could if they were astute keep their pricing "in check" and hope that it draws gamers from the AMD side. But there again Nvidia more needs stretch the GK110's they have (or maintain). They don't intend to flood their base with such cards, and end up having those purchases forgo sales when 20Nm part come.
I see this hinging on when will 20Nm arrives, and do they believe mining is just "blip" or does its effects play into Q2 2014?
What areIBM and Nvidiaplanning on using in their newly announced partnership (bearing in mind that theiDataPlex systemsare already qualified for *and using* Keplers) ? Or the supers upgrading from 2050/2070/2090 Fermi's? Not to mention the raft of systems going live supposedly using Kepler Tesla's (TACC's Maverick, Tsubuka's CCS, and the likely Cray XC30 upgrade at Stuttgart University come to mind)Firstly, you don't know that prices will stabilize. If LTC etc remain a viable commodity then mining cards are stuck in the supply/demand loop. If crypto currencies remain viable long term, then I'd suggest that AIB's would look to offer a stripped down, reduced BoM series of cards to maximize their profit line. Likewise, you also don't know that Nvidia won't drop prices if their margins are threatened. At the moment there is no incentive for the company to do so, since AMD sales are funnelling into mining- where Nvidia aren't competitive regardless of price thanks to a less than optimized integer performance architecture.Except the most important measure - availability.