# Radeon R9 290X Priced at $729.99 on Newegg.com



## btarunr (Oct 3, 2013)

US retailer Newegg.com leaked pricing of its reference design Radeon R9 290X graphics cards. An MSI-branded reference-design card got its own store page with its pricing redacted, but Newegg did a sloppy job at that. On close inspection of the HTML code of the page, we discovered the pricing value intended for that page to be US $729.99 (excl. taxes). Given that Newegg.com tends to add $10 to $30 on MSRP, pricing of the R9 290X is likely to have been set at $699 (excl. taxes).





*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## btarunr (Oct 3, 2013)

FAQ #1: But it says "Battlefield 4 included," so this must be the costlier BF4 Edition?
Ans: No. BF4 Edition is a different SKU, which includes BF4 Premium key. BF4 (standard edition) is set to be already part of a Never Settle bundle that R9 290 series owners will be eligible for.


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## Phobia9651 (Oct 3, 2013)

> BF4 (standard edition) is set to be already part of a Never Settle bundle that R9 290 series owners will be eligible for.



I reckon all new R9 (or maybe even R7) cards will have BF4 available through Never Settle? Seeing all the marketing from AMD about how they optimized BF4 for AMD, etc. 
I for one would be pissed if it wasn't the case.


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## arterius2 (Oct 3, 2013)

BAHAHA, I chuckled at all the AMD fanboys who thought these cards would be selling at $599 and 'utterly destroy Nvidia'.


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## Prima.Vera (Oct 3, 2013)

arterius2 said:


> BAHAHA, I chuckled at all the AMD fanboys who thought these cards would be selling at $599 and 'utterly destroy Nvidia'.



Calling another a fanboy, it just makes you the opposite fanboy.


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## douglatins (Oct 3, 2013)

Oh well, dreams destroyed, then again i just bought a 500usd wheel, so i dont really want to need this lol


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## Frick (Oct 3, 2013)

arterius2 said:


> BAHAHA, I chuckled at all the AMD fanboys who thought these cards would be selling at $599 and 'utterly destroy Nvidia'.



If it's priced similar to the GTX 780 and is faster it's a win. And it's the way of things.


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## dj-electric (Oct 3, 2013)

arterius2 said:


> BAHAHA, I chuckled at all the AMD fanboys who thought these cards would be selling at $599 and 'utterly destroy Nvidia'.



Honey, this will not sell at 729$ street price but a much lower one.


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## sunweb (Oct 3, 2013)

Maybe its first day prices and they will go down in a week or two as usual.


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## HisDivineOrder (Oct 3, 2013)

Not surprised.  I wonder how much truth there was to that report I read that the BF4 Edition is part of a very limited sales run.  If so, you don't have much time to wait for prices to drop...


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## Ja.KooLit (Oct 3, 2013)

as usual of course.. launch price.... sooner price will fall... but how soon?


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## Footman (Oct 3, 2013)

Disappointed if this is actual list price on day one. I would have purchased at $599. Right now I have 15% off a new EVGA Classified GTX 780 HydroCopper, brings the price to $705 inc tax and shipping. Somehow seeing leaked specs and comparisons to the Titan I imagine that the performance will be about the same as an overclocked GTX 780. It would have been nice to have the R9 at $599 with a copy of BF4 thrown in. Well a guy can dream can't he?


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## Footman (Oct 3, 2013)

I was unable to find any reference to price in the code just now!


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## buildzoid (Oct 3, 2013)

Uh guys these are pre orders not day one prices because the NDA doesn't even lift until the 15th and so newegg is obviously trying to cash in all the people who want to get the card asap also this might be the BF4 edition and as such definitely doesn't the same price as the card on day one.
BTW new egg just tore down all the prices and you can't buy the card


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## AsRock (Oct 3, 2013)

Footman said:


> Disappointed if this is actual list price on day one. I would have purchased at $599. Right now I have 15% off a new EVGA Classified GTX 780 HydroCopper, brings the price to $705 inc tax and shipping. Somehow seeing leaked specs and comparisons to the Titan I imagine that the performance will be about the same as an overclocked GTX 780. It would have been nice to have the R9 at $599 with a copy of BF4 thrown in. Well a guy can dream can't he?



BF4 thrown in, o please you make it sound like it's a free game haha..


I'll wait till prices drop even to the point the coupons expire as BF4 is not my kinda game.

Anyways too expensive even with no added tax from egg so i will just play the waiting game. How ever i tell ya what it bee a XFX with a lifetime warranty  and no very sad MSI with 1 year and Sapphire with it''s low 2.


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## Assimilator (Oct 3, 2013)

Prima.Vera said:


> Calling another a fanboy, it just makes you the opposite fanboy.



By that "logic", calling you a Republican makes me a Democrat.


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## Footman (Oct 3, 2013)

AsRock said:


> BF4 thrown in, o please you make it sound like it's a free game haha..
> 
> 
> I'll wait till prices drop even to the point the coupons expire as BF4 is not my kinda game.
> ...



Guess I can wait a little longer, sold my SLI setup so that I could buy a single card this time round. I have until the 10 Oct to use my 15% discount with EVGA, so perhaps some more information on the R9 will surface.

Warranty sucks...


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## RCoon (Oct 3, 2013)

Assimilator said:


> By that "logic", calling you a Republican makes me a Democrat.



By some kind of logic, implying somebody is anything, with a derrogatory implication, then you yourself are considered to be of opposite standing.


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## lemonadesoda (Oct 3, 2013)

Too expensive. Doesnt change the landscape.


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## haswrong (Oct 3, 2013)

lemonadesoda said:


> Too expensive. Doesnt change the landscape.



a mood changer maybe


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## badtaylorx (Oct 3, 2013)

wow....


that cheap huh???


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## Crap Daddy (Oct 3, 2013)

Frick said:


> If it's priced similar to the GTX 780 and is faster it's a win. And it's the way of things.



I don't think so. It's five months since the 780 is out, overclocked versions which are faste r than Titan can be had for 670$ and they also bundle a $50 game. The price bar for best in line has been raised to ridiculous levels and AMD is just happy to play along. So now everytime a card is faster than the previous generation you add 150$ on top? Maxwell will follow next year and what? Another hundred on top? Wait, maybe a fully enabled GK110 will hit the market sooner bundled with a game for a hundred more.


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## fullinfusion (Oct 3, 2013)

A little to much for this cat


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## erocker (Oct 3, 2013)

AMD. You kinda suck.

Time to work on other projects for me. Console + GTA V, here I come. Heh heh.


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## sweet (Oct 3, 2013)

erocker said:


> AMD. You kinda suck.
> 
> Time to work on other projects for me.



A post like this from a senior mod???
Tech Power Up, it's meant to be played??
j/k


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## NeoXF (Oct 3, 2013)

I think I'm gonna start calling you people (well, most of you'z), "speculation lurkers" or crawlers... Since most of you just seem to go batshit reaction crazy from rumors, speculation, non-official, leaked (and so on) stuff all the time...


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## Prima.Vera (Oct 3, 2013)

Frick said:


> If it's priced similar to the GTX 780 and is faster it's a win. And it's the way of things.



No man. The buying power of people is dropping every year. This also means that everything is going up, except for the salaries which are staying on the same level or even dropping.


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## NeoXF (Oct 3, 2013)

Prima.Vera said:


> No man. The buying power of people is dropping every year. This also means that everything is going up, except for the salaries which are staying on the same level or even dropping.



Well, the rest of the Rxs are priced pretty fair, if not very. But when we're talking about top-end... I think the more you go higher, the more the buyer's IQ drops (a way I call it)... These days it hit an all-time low, with the launch of GTX Titan and it's ridiculous price... after all those years when I thought we'd have learned something from the 8800Ultra fiasco...

But, as for this, let's just wait for some actual prices that we ca SEE and can be confirmed. For the time being, that fact the rumors on price cuts from nVidia's behalf are already good news, for everyone, price-wise. Just how much CAN AMD off-shot prices. As much as I'd like for them to strike gold and even up the playing field a little, I don't like for people to get ripped off...


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## Casecutter (Oct 3, 2013)

buildzoid said:


> Uh guys these are pre orders not day one prices because the NDA doesn't even lift until the 15th.


Most Pre-Order prices like this are higher just from the point the Newegg does not yet know MSRP and will price it higher just to be safe.

That said, if we say that’s the Special Edition with a game, it might put a $50 premium.   Factoring that it would make a reference R9 290X like $680, and that is not a "target" I believe AMD "enthusiasts"  should be bamboozled into the agreeing is now some "enthusiast market" price point.

I even deem $600 is not justifiable, and hope AMD resists the idea of following Nvidia.  When the 7970 arrived we had a  jump of 50% from the 6970 at $370!  AMD cannot pilfer 20-25% again.  Reflect that in just 2 years-10 months AMD pricing for "enthusiasts" might increased some 75% and that’s just not "traditional" it's more collusion. 

Matt Skynner said, "I can't reveal a pricepoint but we're looking at more traditional enthusiast GPU pricepoints. … So this next-generation line is targeting more of the enthusiast market versus the ultra-enthusiast one."


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## Patriot (Oct 3, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> Well, the rest of the Rxs are priced pretty fair, if not very. But when we're talking about top-end... I think the more you go higher, the more the buyer's IQ drops (a way I call it)... These days it hit an all-time low, with the launch of GTX Titan and it's ridiculous price... after all those years when I thought we'd have learned something from the 8800Ultra fiasco...
> 
> But, as for this, let's just wait for some actual prices that we ca SEE and can be confirmed. For the time being, that fact the rumors on price cuts from nVidia's behalf are already good news, for everyone, price-wise. Just how much CAN AMD off-shot prices. As much as I'd like for them to strike gold and even up the playing field a little, I don't like for people to get ripped off...



I somehow think the limited edition w/ a $60-70 game... will be priced more than the regular edition.
The question is... does this substitute for the normal game bundle?

I would rather them undercut nvidia because I don't want to spend that much for a card.
But... if its performance "warrants" the price point... there is nothing morally wrong with them charging as much as nvidia.

The bleeding edge will always cost more... its called the bleeding edge for a reason.  As for attacking the IQ of those willing to pay the premium... some fit the bill, many do not.  The titan can be used in place of Quadro cards which have a much higher premium.  So its cheap for professionals... and too expensive for consumers.  The value proposition always goes down as the performance peaks out... but jealously of those able to afford it is unbecoming.


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## xvi (Oct 3, 2013)

There was talk about the cards from back in the day being so competitive and slashing prices so much that they were barely profitable, back when top of the line would set you back $300. I suspect both AMD and nVidia have realized the other won't heavily undercut the other anymore (both would be desperate for profit once the bank got low enough) and they're enjoying it.


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## Slomo4shO (Oct 3, 2013)

xvi said:


> they're enjoying it.



Have you seen AMDs balance sheets lately? Profitability of the GPU division has been shrinking. They barely broke even in their GPU division in Q2 2013...


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## springs113 (Oct 3, 2013)

xvi said:


> There was talk about the cards from back in the day being so competitive and slashing prices so much that they were barely profitable, back when top of the line would set you back $300. I suspect both AMD and nVidia have realized the other won't heavily undercut the other anymore (both would be desperate for profit once the bank got low enough) and they're enjoying it.



Sounds like price fixing.


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## sweet (Oct 3, 2013)

Slomo4shO said:


> Have you seen AMDs balance sheets lately? Profitability of the GPU division has been shrinking. They barely broke even in their GPU division in Q2 2013...



The profit is shrinking, but their market share is expanding. The R&D and advertisement cost of the newest cards also contributes to that number.


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## tacosRcool (Oct 3, 2013)

Here is a link for the R9 290Xs on Newegg:
 r9 290X

When you look at the pictures for the XFX Edition you see that its the R9 290X Battlefield 4 Limited Edition. The other cards have the same generic box art. I wonder which are they talking about?


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## SIGSEGV (Oct 3, 2013)

Slomo4shO said:


> Have you seen AMDs balance sheets lately? Profitability of the GPU division has been shrinking. They barely broke even in their GPU division in Q2 2013...



i don't care..

"AMD has broken, collapsed, stumbled down or even ripped off from this planet.." Meh.. it's kinda boooringgg~~

i'm happy as long as they remain competitive and shut the monopoly off


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## sweet (Oct 3, 2013)

tacosRcool said:


> Here is a link for the R9 290Xs on Newegg:
> r9 290X
> 
> When you look at the pictures for the XFX Edition you see that its the R9 290X Battlefield 4 Limited Edition. The other cards have the same generic box art. I wonder which are they talking about?



The box with BF4 pictures are certainly BF4 Limited edition, which was presented in GPU'14.
If the BF4 version costs $ 729.99, it could be reasonable that the standard version stays at $599, sweet pot.


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## Hilux SSRG (Oct 3, 2013)

AMD is going to milk a high price-point just like they did at the release of the last generation 7970 because it's new and in limited supply.  Would be nice if they undercut Nvidia more but it doesn't look that way.


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## AsRock (Oct 3, 2013)

Funny as Newegg do do discounts even on new stuff  like on Netgears new router.

Here's a funny part found in the HTML



> </li>
> <li class="price-map"></li>
> <li class="price-current " itemprop="price" content="9999.99" id="singleFinalPrice">



Although there is another file that says 0 now too .

Yes i am just messing lol.


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## Tatty_One (Oct 3, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> I think I'm gonna start calling you people (well, most of you'z), "speculation lurkers" or crawlers... Since most of you just seem to go batshit reaction crazy from rumors, speculation, non-official, leaked (and so on) stuff all the time...



It's a historic & traditional TPU thing, every new series of card that comes out gets the bull and the hype from green or red, then most get disappointed, then many of the disappointed make out they are not, and those that live in the other camp are happy until the next series release when the tales may be turned, it's a joy to behold and has helped keep me here for so many years.


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## Intel God (Oct 3, 2013)

Anyone else catch that the Asus 290X is a DIRECTCU II TOP card?

ASUS X9290X-DC2T-4GD5 Radeon R9 290X 4GB GDDR5 Vid...

X9290X-*DC2T*-4GD5


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## the54thvoid (Oct 3, 2013)

I like that occasional arguments are being made that it's that price because BF4 is bundled with it. 

Umm... the point of bundling a game is at a massive discount, not to add it to the MSRP.  The other AMD bundles have been without much extra cost 'if any' to the card.  i.e. the Radeon Gold bundle, choose 3 free games - no extra cost to card.

I don't think any of the retailers know what to charge to be honest.  A lot will be hedging their bets I think and they will adjust accordingly, up or down as required.



Intel God said:


> Anyone else catch that the Asus 290X is a DIRECTCU II TOP card?
> 
> ASUS X9290X-DC2T-4GD5 Radeon R9 290X 4GB GDDR5 Vid...
> 
> X9290X-*DC2T*-4GD5



That's weird - DC = Direct Copper?  That's a cooler design is it not?  Weird as the rumours all say NO custom cards - only reference at launch....


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## Intel God (Oct 3, 2013)

the54thvoid said:


> That's weird - DC = Direct Copper?  That's a cooler design is it not?  Weird as the rumours all say NO custom cards - only reference at launch....



If the model number is correct its a custom PCB 290X with the 3 slot DirectCUII Cooler. Guess we'll have to wait and see


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## sweet (Oct 3, 2013)

the54thvoid said:


> I like that occasional arguments are being made that it's that price because BF4 is bundled with it.
> 
> Umm... the point of bundling a game is at a massive discount, not to add it to the MSRP.  The other AMD bundles have been without much extra cost 'if any' to the card.  i.e. the Radeon Gold bundle, choose 3 free games - no extra cost to card.
> 
> I don't think any of the retailers know what to charge to be honest.  A lot will be hedging their bets I think and they will adjust accordingly, up or down as required.



You forgot the fact that the buyers of that card are also eligible for the Neversettle Forever promo.



Intel God said:


> If the model number is correct its a custom PCB 290X with the 3 slot DirectCUII Cooler. Guess we'll have to wait and see


No custom design for 290X as AMD confirmed. The pictures only show the ref PCB. You will have to wait for R9 290 nonX, just like Titan and 780.


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## N3M3515 (Oct 3, 2013)

Crap Daddy said:


> I don't think so. It's five months since the 780 is out, overclocked versions which are faste r than Titan can be had for 670$ and they also bundle a $50 game. The price bar for best in line has been raised to ridiculous levels and AMD is just happy to play along. So now everytime a card is faster than the previous generation you add 150$ on top? Maxwell will follow next year and what? Another hundred on top? Wait, maybe a fully enabled GK110 will hit the market sooner bundled with a game for a hundred more.



Couldn't agree more. Gone are the days where you got last gen highend perf for midrange prices (199 - 249), and the new highend at the same price the previous highend started.


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## the54thvoid (Oct 3, 2013)

sweet said:


> You forgot the fact that the buyers of that card are also eligible for the Neversettle Forever promo.



And?

http://sites.amd.com/us/promo/never-settle/Pages/nsreloadedforever.aspx

"Choose your free games".  You don't add it to the MSRP.


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## Slomo4shO (Oct 3, 2013)

sweet said:


> The profit is shrinking, but their market share is expanding. The R&D and advertisement cost of the newest cards also contributes to that number.



The market share is expanding when observing quarterly figures but is still lower than last year if you use the YTD comparison. R&D and advertising are a part of the operating costs which are then passed down to the consumer so I am unsure what relevance this has to my original comment.


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## EarthDog (Oct 3, 2013)

Tatty_One said:


> It's a historic & traditional *FORUM* thing, every new series of card that comes out gets the bull and the hype from green or red, then most get disappointed, then many of the disappointed make out they are not, and those that live in the other camp are happy until the next series release when the tales may be turned, it's a joy to behold and has helped keep me here for so many years.


Fixed.


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## sweet (Oct 3, 2013)

the54thvoid said:


> And?
> 
> http://sites.amd.com/us/promo/never-settle/Pages/nsreloadedforever.aspx
> 
> "Choose your free games".  You don't add it to the MSRP.



My point is, excluding BF4, the card is already bundled with a sheer amount of games.

AMD confirmed that there are only 8000 BF4 bundled R9 290X, and that MSRP is for those 8000 samples only. You have to pay the premium to be one of the first owner. And BF4 is just the bonus for those lucky guys.


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## Wshlist (Oct 3, 2013)

arterius2 said:


> BAHAHA, I chuckled at all the AMD fanboys who thought these cards would be selling at $599 and 'utterly destroy Nvidia'.



Seeing this is the price before it's even officially out it seems actually possible it'll end up being $599 before too long once it's available everywhere officially.


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## GSquadron (Oct 3, 2013)

Those prices just tell how hungry for a gpu gamers are
They won't be lowering prices unless people stop buying gpus == impossible

I personally wouldn't buy a 200$+ gpu even if I was the richest guy in the world


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## Ravenas (Oct 3, 2013)

This will be a day one purchase for me.


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## 1d10t (Oct 3, 2013)

well i guess i'm not crossfiring this anytime soon


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## Casecutter (Oct 3, 2013)

the54thvoid said:


> it's that price because BF4 is bundled with it.


It's not  "Bundled" it considered "Special Edition".  Like in a Special Edition Lexus comes with neat stuff though at a higher price, while later many of those options are just bundled as part of regular package level. 

"Special Edition" would mean the key and in most instances it a new title that is soon releasing and has an retail holder and disc all packaged in Special Graphics box. In the packaging comes other things like a BF4 sticker, caffine drink holder, and custom doorstop. 

Bundle is just a normal packaged card from any AIB that then when the Etailer boxes it to ship they include a card with a code for a game download that alread been released.


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## sweet (Oct 3, 2013)

Casecutter said:


> It's not  "Bundled" it considered "Special Edition".  Like in a Special Edition Lexus comes with neat stuff though at a higher price, while later many of those options are just bundled as part of regular package level.
> 
> "Special Edition" would mean the key and in most instances it a new title that is soon releasing and has an retail holder and disc all packaged in Special Graphics box. In the packaging comes other things like a BF4 sticker, caffine drink holder, and custom doorstop.
> 
> Bundle is just a normal packaged card from any AIB that then when the Etailer boxes it to ship they include a card with a code for a game download that alread been released.



Now that you mentioned it...

But how can we figure out what in that box before buying


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Oct 3, 2013)

arterius2 said:


> BAHAHA, I chuckled at all the AMD fanboys who thought these cards would be selling at $599 and 'utterly destroy Nvidia'.



So your a fanboy then too just the green version , , well done you and great comment btw


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## Intel God (Oct 3, 2013)

As someone who was planning on going with quad 290X's for benching i think i'm just going to wait and see what the 770 Ti brings


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## EarthDog (Oct 3, 2013)

Intel God said:


> As someone who was planning on going with quad 290X's for benching i think i'm just going to wait and see what the 770 Ti brings


  

Wow, if there was ever a definition of opposites... Quad $600+ cards to one midrange...


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## Pedro Lisboa (Oct 3, 2013)

If it beat TITAN and costs 700,00 US ... I think it's a reasnoble price .
I'll wait for GTX 780 TI,because it will be cheaper and probably beats R9-290X .


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## Intel God (Oct 3, 2013)

EarthDog said:


> Wow, if there was ever a definition of opposites... Quad $600+ cards to one midrange...





What i meant earth is see how the 770 Ti performs then grab 3 of them 

Having 0 balance on my newegg preferred account is burning a hole in my pocket


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## PopcornMachine (Oct 3, 2013)

So commented out html means that is the price.

Maybe, maybe just a temporary cut and paste.

But let me not halt the over-reaction-fest.


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## Intel God (Oct 3, 2013)

PopcornMachine said:


> So commented out html means that is the price.
> 
> Maybe, maybe just a temporary cut and paste.
> 
> But let me not halt the over-reaction-fest.


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## HammerON (Oct 3, 2013)

Tatty_One said:


> It's a historic & traditional TPU thing, every new series of card that comes out gets the bull and the hype from green or red, then most get disappointed, then many of the disappointed make out they are not, and those that live in the other camp are happy until the next series release when the tales may be turned, it's a joy to behold and has helped keep me here for so many years.



Well said


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## Cool Vibrations (Oct 3, 2013)

arterius2 said:


> BAHAHA, I chuckled at all the AMD fanboys who thought these cards would be selling at $599 and 'utterly destroy Nvidia'.



Didn't Nvidia release the GTX780 at the same price? Let's not forget how they burned the GTX Titan buyers. Enjoy your overpriced cards.


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## the54thvoid (Oct 3, 2013)

Casecutter said:


> "Special Edition" would mean the key and in most instances it a new title that is soon releasing and has an retail holder and disc all packaged in Special Graphics box. In the packaging comes other things like a BF4 sticker, caffine drink holder, and custom doorstop.



Okay, let's go with that.  What's in this pre-order special edition? Nobody is saying.  And FWIW, a sticker, mug, doorstop and glow in the dark BF4 condom don't cost much at all.  Point still stands - it doesn't excuse the price premium.
Look at EVGA signature editions - they're mildly special - tee-shirts, other pish and a ridiculously mild overclock.  What's this got?  Nobody knows.  It's all rather silly.



sweet said:


> Now that you mentioned it...
> But how can we figure out what in that box before buying



Exactly.

If AMD PR had half a brain they'd have said at their PR release in Hawaii that the preorder comes with a signed shoe, a bottle of sherry and a pez dispenser in the shape of Lionel Hutz.  But they didn't.

As far as things look from all information available to prospective buyers you get nothing limited at all.  And if we want to go down the path of limited availability of the card well hell, it's a wood screw event.

*And I'm not saying the card is bad* - I actually like it and am very keen to see it's parlour tricks.  I'm just absolutely unimpressed by the pre-launch, pre-sales, pre-order hoopla.  Frankly, it's weak, really weak.
Hell if you read the live blogs from techies attending the event, they were all commenting on how 'meh' it was.


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## HumanSmoke (Oct 3, 2013)

Cool Vibrations said:


> Didn't Nvidia release the GTX780 at the same price?


$650. 

(Cheapest currently on Newegg $625)


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## Xzibit (Oct 3, 2013)

btarunr said:


> US retailer Newegg.com leaked pricing of its reference design Radeon R9 290X graphics cards. An MSI-branded reference-design card got its own store page with its pricing redacted, but Newegg did a sloppy job at that. On close inspection of the HTML code of the page, we discovered the pricing value intended for that page to be US $729.99 (excl. taxes). Given that Newegg.com tends to add $10 to $30 on MSRP, pricing of the R9 290X is likely to have been set at $699 (excl. taxes).
> 
> [url]http://www.techpowerup.com/img/13-10-03/36b_thm.jpg[/URL]



BTW this is the BF4 Limited edition 



> *AMDs statement on e-tailers pricing*
> In celebration of the upcoming launches of two of the most important announcements in PC gaming this year, we’ve worked with EA to create the AMD Radeon R9 290X Battlefield 4 Limited Edition available, online for reservation starting today with select resellers and partners. There were only 8,000 of these made so make sure to add your name to the list before they’re all gone! Recommended AMD Radeon R9 290X pricing, specs and performance will be unveiled in the coming weeks. We haven’t released pricing and won’t comment on pricing seen on some e-tail outlets.



Let the drama and speculation continue.


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## erocker (Oct 3, 2013)

Selling a card without a price. Good job AMD?


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## Zen_ (Oct 3, 2013)

Hmmm...well if the benchmarks are at all accurate this looks pretty good for the crowd that spends $700+ for a video card. 

I was kinda hoping for the 270x or whatever to be a nice step up from Tahiti LE and come with BF4 in the regular game bundle...fat chance I know!


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## Fx (Oct 3, 2013)

erocker said:


> Time to work on other projects for me. Console + GTA V, here I come. Heh heh.



Projects... LOL. Ever since I upgraded my SSD from 128 to 256 and installed 16 "projects", I am way behind.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 3, 2013)

Will the regular 290X (non "pre-release") ship with a voucher for BF4? I really don't care about the premium ed. (my multiplayer days are long gone by) and want to play that game just for the SP campaign (I know, probably not worth the full price).

Thing is I haven't had an Ati card since my X800GTO died so many years ago but am really wanting to build an AMD rig and see what all this Mantle and True audio talk is about, however, I don't want to pay over $700 if I can get the full BF4 SP experience by waiting a couple weeks for the regular priced "non limited ed." version of this card.

Can anyone confirm vanilla BF4 is part of the never settle bundle? If it is I'll wait till December for the mantle patch to be released to get the 290X


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## NeoXF (Oct 4, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> Will the regular 290X (non "pre-release") ship with a voucher for BF4? I really don't care about the premium ed. (my multiplayer days are long gone by) and want to play that game just for the SP campaign (I know, probably not worth the full price).
> 
> Thing is I haven't had an Ati card since my X800GTO died so many years ago but am really wanting to build an AMD rig and see what all this Mantle and True audio talk is about, however, I don't want to pay over $700 if I can get the full BF4 SP experience by waiting a couple weeks for the regular priced "non limited ed." version of this card.
> 
> Can anyone confirm vanilla BF4 is part of the never settle bundle? If it is I'll wait till December for the mantle patch to be released to get the 290X



Yes, they will ship with "stock" BF4.


Speaking of stock... looks like the claims that AMD is holding to reference boards only for R9 290X is BS...

http://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-r9-290x-listed-newegg-72999-asus-r9-290x-directcu-ii-top-spotted/

DirectCU II Top version on the way... hope it's double-slot only... The R9 280X MATRIX isn't...


----------



## EpicShweetness (Oct 4, 2013)

As a firm supporter of AMD I reject this statement as malarkey, and subjugate my own belief in AMD is still out there for the person without a bottomless wallet.
At least please, you really don't need to follow NVIDIA's rediculous pricing


----------



## Intel God (Oct 4, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> Yes, they will ship with "stock" BF4.
> 
> 
> Speaking of stock... looks like the claims that AMD is holding to reference boards only for R9 290X is BS...
> ...



I posted about that a few hours ago. The DC2T is 729.99 on newegg


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## HalfAHertz (Oct 4, 2013)

Titan was never just a gamer card. It's the only "gaming card" with unlocked fp2 calculations not capped to 1/24th. 
The 290X should be compared to the 780 and priced accordingly. I think that anything over 650$ for the retail card is just greed on AMD's side unless the 290x really stands out vs the 780.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 4, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> Yes, they will ship with "stock" BF4.
> 
> 
> Speaking of stock... looks like the claims that AMD is holding to reference boards only for R9 290X is BS...
> ...



Thanks! I'll wait for the vanilla version then, I'm pretty sure this card is gonna be a killer performer and am psyched about all the new tech introduced by it, it could represent a paradigm shift in PC gaming if AMDs ambitions come to fruition.


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## FX-GMC (Oct 4, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> Yes, they will ship with "stock" BF4.
> 
> 
> Speaking of stock... looks like the claims that AMD is holding to reference boards only for R9 290X is BS...
> ...



This may be stupid but could it not be a reference board with Asus's cooler?


----------



## ensabrenoir (Oct 4, 2013)

*Like a Child  before Christmas.....*

And thus begins the slow downward spiral from hype to reality.....my expectations are on the bearish side so i'll be pleased no matter what but oh the waiting,,,,


----------



## semitope (Oct 4, 2013)

Casecutter said:


> Most Pre-Order prices like this are higher just from the point the Newegg does not yet know MSRP and will price it higher just to be safe.
> 
> That said, if we say that’s the Special Edition with a game, it might put a $50 premium.   Factoring that it would make a reference R9 290X like $680, and that is not a "target" I believe AMD "enthusiasts"  should be bamboozled into the agreeing is now some "enthusiast market" price point.
> 
> ...



They are bound to follow nvidia. The price wars are over. I wouldn't be surprised if the two of them are price-fixing at this point. 

The problem is people who are so willing to spend $700 on a new GPU. Even $599 is pushing it IMO but this is where we are now. The lower end cards are the only appealing thing here and they are just refreshes. At least you can get 7970 performance for around 300 now, even though its 2 years old. This is messed up



Pedro Lisboa said:


> If it beat TITAN and costs 700,00 US ... I think it's a reasnoble price .
> I'll wait for GTX 780 TI,because it will be cheaper and probably beats R9-290X .





sigh. The titan is not a card that was priced sensibly. It is overpriced to milk the crazy people who would buy it. Comparing amd pricing to that is foolish. Man... I am seriously considering a ps4. Screw these two companies. We need a third.


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## Xzibit (Oct 4, 2013)

AMD manage to turn a lot of you in to this

*NSFW*


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## fullinfusion (Oct 4, 2013)

Xzibit said:


> AMD manage to turn a lot of you in to this
> 
> *NSFW*


Good one darling but..... 

Lets wait and see mmmkay


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## HumanSmoke (Oct 4, 2013)

FX-GMC said:


> This may be stupid but could it not be a reference board with Asus's cooler?


Why not? More than a few of Nvidia's partners did exactly the same thing for the initial spate of vendor boards, although not Asus to my recollection.

Begs the question: When was the last time AMD allowed a top-tier card to be sold as a non-reference board at or close to launch ?

Not totally out of the question of course, and if AMD are now following the Nvidia model ( Pricing, their own GeForce Experience app, coding (Mantle / CUDA).... :shadedshu Roy Taylor) maybe the WF3, Vapor-X's, and IceQ's are just around the corner.


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## fullinfusion (Oct 4, 2013)

HumanSmoke said:


> Why not? More than a few of Nvidia's partners did exactly the same thing for the initial spate of vendor boards, although not Asus to my recollection.
> 
> Begs the question: When was the last time AMD allowed a top-tier card to be sold as a non-reference board at or close to launch ?
> 
> Not totally out of the question of course, and if AMD are now following the Nvidia model ( Pricing, their own GeForce Experience app, coding (Mantle / CUDA).... :shadedshu Roy Taylor) maybe the WF3, Vapor-X's, and IceQ's are just around the corner.


Yeah true that man!


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## shinkueagle (Oct 4, 2013)

*Fanboyism*



Prima.Vera said:


> Calling another a fanboy, it just makes you the opposite fanboy.



LOL!! Fanboyism at it's finest!!


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## sweet (Oct 4, 2013)

FX-GMC said:


> This may be stupid but could it not be a reference board with Asus's cooler?



Sure, just like Gigabyte bundle a Windforce 3 cooler in a Titan box.


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## Ghost (Oct 4, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> Yes, they will ship with "stock" BF4.
> 
> 
> Speaking of stock... looks like the claims that AMD is holding to reference boards only for R9 290X is BS...
> ...



That photo is of GTX 780 DC II.


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## fullinfusion (Oct 4, 2013)

shinkueagle said:


> LOL!! Fanboyism at it's finest!!


You signed up just to troll? You should read the first post and every post after that before making a comment like that 

Sure it seems like fanism but really the Nvidia guys will buy these new cards if they perform better then Titian! I know I will


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Oct 4, 2013)

Doesn't bother me that much, I was never going to get the highest end card. It does still disappoint me, because if AMD priced the new cards aggressively, it would force Nvidia to lower their prices, giving overall cheaper cards and making us consumers happy.


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## dwade (Oct 4, 2013)

I rather wait for real next-gen cards and not some rebrand or the 7970 on steroid.


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## btarunr (Oct 4, 2013)

dwade said:


> I rather wait for real next-gen cards and not some rebrand or the 7970 on steroid.



Except that the R9 290X is neither.


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## the54thvoid (Oct 4, 2013)

Xzibit said:


> AMD manage to turn a lot of you in to this
> 
> *NSFW*



lol, not at all.  It's only fair to ask, what is in the special limited edition package you want us to buy?

Let's raise the bar?  Maybe the limited 8000 cards don't just have awful BF4 stickers and faux camouflage print.  Maybe the limited run are binned chips...oooh - now that would be special.

And so we don't fight too much, let's be clear, i'm not angry or frustrated about the lack of detail about the special edition - more perplexed as to AMD's approach.  It's not marketing as we know it Jim.



semitope said:


> The titan...is overpriced to milk the crazy people who would buy it.





No, crazy was AMD not addressing frame pacing for so long.  They lost a lot of 7970 crossfire owners to Titan.  If AMD had instigated their frame pacing fix early in the year - I'd still be on 7970's (which FTR cost close to a Titan - strictly speaking as both went under water - they cost more).


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## Relayer (Oct 4, 2013)

erocker said:


> AMD. You kinda suck.
> 
> Time to work on other projects for me. Console + GTA V, here I come. Heh heh.



AMD hasn't even released the pricing yet. This is purely on the retailer.


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## H82LUZ73 (Oct 4, 2013)

Okay look here you over speculating nerds. The AMD R9 290X BF4 Edition Will be 2 of them Just like this one from Sapphire Unboxing: Sapphire AMD HD 6970 - Battlefield Bad C... and yes they were $100-$150 more then the plain Jane 6970s at the time. So you have to read the SKU`S like Some mod said at the beginning of the thread.Here is the links on Sapphires sit click the 2 editions ,Maybe these BF4 ones will be the same.I should know i own the one in this link here http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1041&pid=1019&psn=&lid=1&leg=0


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## shinkueagle (Oct 4, 2013)

fullinfusion said:


> You signed up just to troll? You should read the first post and every post after that before making a comment like that
> 
> Sure it seems like fanism but really the Nvidia guys will buy these new cards if they perform better then Titian! I know I will



 - Cool story... Whatever floats your boat.... :shadedshu


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## LemmingOverlord (Oct 4, 2013)

*Flawed Logic*

Funny. Peeps were under the impression it would cost $599, not $729.

Still, if they do sell it at that price point, it's a big mistake. The first "preview" benchmarks have been very positive and AMD is offering Titan-level performance at $270 less...

Of course this is flawed logic. The only people who can afford $729 are the ones who can dish out $999 for the Titan... and are you realllyyyy gonna buy a 290X if you already have a Titan? It's a small market as it is.

I'm not picturing people getting all excited about forking out more money for the same performance levels.

Of course they could be BF4 fanbois like me...


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## kalstrand (Oct 4, 2013)

I see a repeat of bulldozer in all this.  Everyone is getting all worked up about how great this thing is going to be.  Then when the reviews are in and its not a super titan killer at half the price they are all going to be really upset.


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## Initialised (Oct 4, 2013)

Anyone got a working driver for these cards?


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## ensabrenoir (Oct 4, 2013)

*Knew somebody was gonna say it*



kalstrand said:


> I see a repeat of *bulldozer *in all this.  Everyone is getting all worked up about how great this thing is going to be.  Then when the reviews are in and its not a super titan killer at half the price they are all going to be really upset.



.......that.....that word.........NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amd will never live down that ruckus


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## Prima.Vera (Oct 4, 2013)

kalstrand said:


> I see a repeat of bulldozer in all this.  Everyone is getting all worked up about how great this thing is going to be.  Then when the reviews are in and its not a super titan killer at half the price they are all going to be really upset.



hmmmmmmmmmmm


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## newconroer (Oct 4, 2013)

For anyone looking at one of the new AMD lineup as an upgrade, I'm really surprised they don't already own SLI GTX 670 or a single 780. 

There's just so many good things about the Kepler cards, new and used.


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## EarthDog (Oct 4, 2013)

> There's just so many good things about the Kepler cards, new and used.


Outside of the price to performance ratio, I agree.


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## Casecutter (Oct 4, 2013)

HalfAHertz said:


> I think that anything over 650$ for the retail card is just greed on AMD's side unless the 290x really stands out vs the 780.


IT's greed on either side and "Greed is Good" for the share holders.  Get too greedy and folks can just not purchase, bad for share holders. That's how it works, not saying it right it's the mentality of companies beholden to sharholders. Run the price up as high as your marketing feels it will bare for the volume you have to sell.


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## BiggieShady (Oct 4, 2013)

LemmingOverlord said:


> Funny. Peeps were under the impression it would cost $599, not $729.



So they are actually releasing Hawaii GPU for $599, just not Hawaii Pro  R9 290X will probably come with a premium at $699


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## andresgriego (Oct 4, 2013)

Casecutter said:


> IT's greed on either side and "Greed is Good" for the share holders.  Get too greedy and folks can just not purchase, bad for share holders. That's how it works, not saying it right it's the mentality of companies beholden to sharholders. Run the price up as high as your marketing feels it will bare for the volume you have to sell.



At this price point, 1 sell = 3 sells with a healthly profit. You could argue that there are more 'parts' that make up a higher end card but those are cheap, so is 'better' silicon. Add on some $20 bling and you're sustainable.


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## HumanSmoke (Oct 4, 2013)

andresgriego said:


> At this price point, 1 sell = 3 sells with a healthly profit. You could argue that there are more 'parts' that make up a higher end card but those are cheap, so is 'better' silicon. Add on some $20 bling and you're sustainable.


True enough to an extent. The mark up on higher priced cards is proportionally higher  than 2-3 lower tier cards.
2-3 lower tier cards might sell for substantially less than one high priced card, but their component fit-out - 2-3 x PCB's, I/O, GDDR5 chips, power delivery and logic components, cooling, packaging and shipping will still be proportionally higher- and if the larger die yields well you also have a likely minimal overall fabrication cost penalty- if any.


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## Nirutbs (Oct 5, 2013)

too expensive at all


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## NeoXF (Oct 5, 2013)

To AMD: Make Mantle UE3.5, UE4, Unity3D, Source(1&"2") and maybe whatever Ubisoft's using and you've got the performance lock-down.

Frostbyte 3 & whatever Eidos is using are a great start.


And here's a little joke: If I've got a quad @ 4GHz, 8GB of RAM & a R7 260X GPU... will I be able to run any XBO-era game up to it's EOL @ 900p or such?


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## GSquadron (Oct 5, 2013)

This is fake news
It says 9999.99 now and everyone can modify that price

What I found out though is that if you type in R9 290X on amazon, you will get a wonderful Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB DDR5


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## EpicShweetness (Oct 5, 2013)

HalfAHertz said:


> I think that anything over 650$ for the retail card is just greed on AMD's side unless the 290x really stands out vs the 780.



Especially when you think about the fact that the R9 280X (7970) can be had for $300. 2 of those cards would surely and handily beat the R9 290X/780/TITAN. At $500 then the solution makes sense, and $600 your just getting it for the simplicity of 1 card, at $700 .


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## AsRock (Oct 5, 2013)

Aleksander said:


> This is fake news
> It says 9999.99 now and everyone can modify that price
> 
> What I found out though is that if you type in R9 290X on amazon, you will get a wonderful Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB DDR5



LOL, of course it is i just found it funny finding it in the content of their website at the time.


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## eidairaman1 (Oct 6, 2013)

Youch, thats too hefty for my tastes, 2x280s or 270s will suffice


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## iKhan (Oct 6, 2013)

I think I'll stick with my 7870 XT for a while. I'll probably pick up 280X or two at some point, but not any time soon. 

Any word of GTX 770 price cut?


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## MetalRacer (Oct 6, 2013)

Saw this posted @XS.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...ands-details&p=5209737&viewfull=1#post5209737

2600K@5 GHz


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## NeoXF (Oct 6, 2013)

^ Looks like about the same grapics score a Titan gets... Not that I`m fully convinced of the validity of it or anything.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 6, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> ^ Looks like about the same grapics score a Titan gets... Not that I`m fully convinced of the validity of it or anything.



Not quite, short by about 700 points on the graphic department, but you have to consider that this are probably beta drivers they're using for that run, you can even see the discrepancies in frame pacing compared to Titan, the lines are much flatter when you compare both. Chances are the driver used for that run is not optimized for the 290X, that is, like you said, if this is a real benchmark.

This is what a single Titan scores:


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## jihadjoe (Oct 6, 2013)

Not at all surprised at the pricing.
AMD isn't here to run a charity.


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## Ja.KooLit (Oct 6, 2013)

hope AMD would reduce price soon. alot of people must be disappointed at the launch price


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## NeoXF (Oct 6, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> Not quite, short by about 700 points on the graphic department, but you have to consider that this are probably beta drivers they're using for that run, you can even see the discrepancies in frame pacing compared to Titan, the lines are much flatter when you compare both. Chances are the driver used for that run is not optimized for the 290X, that is, like you said, if this is a real benchmark.
> 
> This is what a single Titan scores:
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/131006/Singletitan.jpg



Um, no. Well, maybe your WC/OC`d ones. 
But we`re talking about stock here... well, w/ each brand`s implementation of turbo/self-OC I guess...










Either way, I expect AT LEAST a little improvement w/ newer drivers, maybe not how R7000s did since early 2012 `till now, but still...


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## the54thvoid (Oct 6, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> Um, no. Well, maybe your WC/OC`d ones.
> But we`re talking about stock here... well, w/ each brand`s implementation of turbo/self-OC I guess...
> 
> Either way, I expect AT LEAST a little improvement w/ newer drivers, maybe not how R7000s did since early 2012 `till now, but still...



GTX Titan, at 993 core, memory at stock, 1.15 volts.  (custom bios with boost eliminated, this is about the standard stock boost speed with fan on higher settings to keep thermals down.)  Almost every Titan goes to 993 as a default top boost and stays there.  Reviewers that don't touch fan profiles will eventually get lower scores.

Titan at stock (boost) is only 9% faster than the reported 290X run. 

Note gpu-z reported 1006Mhz but AB reported 993Mhz.






And this is overclocked... 

25% faster than stock. 






I should point out that in the initial leaks of the 290X performance it was noted the AMD card lost in every benchmark, even though it won in most of the games.  This might not be very well optimised for benchmarks at this stage so I wouldn't be concerned with them at all.  After, all, benchmarks are just for fun and you don't buy a gfx card for that (well, most folk don't).  It's the games performance that counts and i think the 290X will work out very well.


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## Xzibit (Oct 7, 2013)

I see two different Titans, base clock difference.

NeoXF lines up with a Stock Titan and the54thvoid with a OC TITAN

GeForce TITAN Series Family 

Carry on..


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## HumanSmoke (Oct 7, 2013)

Xzibit said:


> I see two different Titans, base clock difference.


I see comprehension fail...of the heavily overclocked variety.

the54thvoid has already explained that his Titan is running at 993MHz (AB reported). 

A stock Titan, while nominally 834MHz and 876Mhz boost, will actually in stock trim and with adequate cooling run at pretty much it's highest speed bin in 3DMark Firestrike. 

The highest speed bin for a stock titan without voltage modification is in fact 992MHz.




As you can plainly see from the reported clockspeeds on this page, the stock Titan will indeed peg the maximum boost state in games, let alone an intensive graphics benchmark. Since Firestrike will peg GPU usage close to 100% it soon becomes apparent that the Titan will sit at the highest freq. it can unless thermally limited.


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 7, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> Um, no. Well, maybe your WC/OC`d ones.
> But we`re talking about stock here... well, w/ each brand`s implementation of turbo/self-OC I guess...
> 
> http://hwbot.org/image/931600.jpg
> ...



Yes, I must admit that this is the SC model that runs a little faster out of the box than the base model  I didn't OC the card for that run per se, but my WC will provide a higher thermal headroom for more turbo boost, however the CPU was running at 4.3Ghz compared to that 2600 at 5Ghz, the physics score was actually lower than that supposed 290X run, its probably not a perfect comparison, but it should give you a ballpark figure for reference 

But like you said, chances are that run, if real, was probably made using early drivers, just check the frame pacing graphic, it's all over the place compared to more recent AMD drivers.

Thing is, if AMD has its way that probably won't even matter, as developers will most likely choose to support mantle if the architecture is shared by all next gen consoles and AMD PC cards, like I said, it could represent a paradigm shift in PC video performance, so people should look at this card as a future proof investment, in my personal case I already have a rig waiting for these cards once they are released, but at $729 a pop for this limited edition, I prefer to wait for the vanilla version, I don't really care about BF4 premium, if AMD releases the not limited edition of this card at $599, it'll have a winner in its hands


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## HumanSmoke (Oct 7, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> Thing is, if AMD has its way that probably won't even matter, as developers will most likely choose to support mantle if the architecture is shared by all next gen consoles and AMD PC cards..


Game developers won't "choose" Mantle, they will code for it if AMD throw money their way in the same way that game developers have always added features.
Not so sure about the common API reasoning either. Sony have their own console API's (2 + a wrapper I believe- neither of which is Mantle), and I don't see Microsoft ditching D3D any time soon. Mantle is pretty much PC and architecture (and game engine at this stage) specific, and once the hyperbole is stripped away it looks like a welcome addition to PC gaming but not the second coming of Christ. The fact Steam looks linked to Nvidia and Intel wont help propagate Mantle in its current guise.


> AMD claims that they can do 9x the draw calls with Mantle...........Before everyone gets too excited, we will not see a 9x improvement in overall performance with every application. A single HD 7790 running in Mantle is not going to power 3 x 1080P monitors in Eyefinity faster than a HD 7970 or GTX 780 (in Surround) running in DirectX. Mantle shifts the bottleneck elsewhere.
> 
> What kind of improvements can we expect? Performance will increase when things are not shader bound. We probably could see an improvement in geometry handling (higher polygon scenes). Other than that though, do not expect miracles. In applications that require multiple shading passes, complex lighting, tessellation and deformation, we might see improvements in the single digit percentages, perhaps as high as the low teens.


[Source]


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## 15th Warlock (Oct 7, 2013)

HumanSmoke said:


> Game developers won't "choose" Mantle, they will code for it if AMD throw money their way in the same way that game developers have always added features.
> Not so sure about the common API reasoning either. Sony have their own console API's (2 + a wrapper I believe- neither of which is Mantle), and I don't see Microsoft ditching D3D any time soon. Mantle is pretty much PC and architecture (and game engine at this stage) specific, and once the hyperbole is stripped away it looks like a welcome addition to PC gaming but not the second coming of Christ. The fact Steam looks linked to Nvidia and Intel wont help propagate Mantle in its current guise.
> 
> [Source]



I don't think anyone in their right mind is expecting a 9X performance leap (particularly on older software and cards) out of this mantle initiative, however, I think it's reasonable to expect a few developers to jump ship to AMD if they play their cards just the right way.

There's a precedent, remember back in 2004 when some HL2 benchmarks leaked running much faster on Ati hardware than on Nvidia's cards? When the game was finally released the Source engine made full use of the R300 potential, and even mid level cards like the Radeon 9500 would out perform the green team's flagship at the time (the FX5800) by quite a measurable margin.

Sure, the particulars of that debacle were very different from what we have today, but truth is, AMD is in an enviable position before the release of these new cards, as sole providers for both major next gen consoles they'll use that leverage to help developers make a rendering engine get much "closer to the metal" on most gaming platforms that share this architecture and reduce costs by making it much easier to port games between Xbone, PS4 and PC without loss of performance in the process.

Sure, Mantle is a PC initiative, and it may be in the interest of MS and Sony not to provide the necessary tools to make this porting so easy, but developers working on GCN based GPUs will find it much easier to program to these particular hardware targets and make such optimizations available when releasing a particular game on multiple platforms.

Look, I might be playing devil's advocate here, but the potential is there, and AMD has made everyone fully aware that they intend to take advantage of their position on multiple occasions, so it's not a stretch to think that we may see history repeat itself like the glory days of the 9700Pro.


----------



## HumanSmoke (Oct 7, 2013)

15th Warlock said:


> Look, I might be playing devil's advocate here, but the potential is there, and AMD has made everyone fully aware that they intend to take advantage of their position on multiple occasions, so it's not a stretch to think that we may see history repeat itself like the glory days of the 9700Pro.


Well, ideally you'd hope that the Mantle initiative gives MS some cause for thought on overhauling DirectX, but knowing how agile MS are, I wouldn't hold my breath.
A lot will depend on how committed (cash) AMD are to making it work. Activision would seem to a natural bandwagon jumper so I could see them adopting it- but I can't really see much benefit in easing workload on  an engine that produced stratospheric framerates in any case. 
Ideally the API needs to raise the game i.q. levels substantially over DX/OGL to make the software anything other than a bullet point...if it doesn't then it becomes just another feature like TressFX or PhysX, and of course if it does then we end up full circle from the advent of the gaming GPU, because dollars to donuts the other two vendors will follow suit....the good old, bad old days of Glide, Matrox Simple Interface, RRedline, SGL etc...


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## BiggieShady (Oct 7, 2013)

HumanSmoke said:


> Well, ideally you'd hope that the Mantle initiative gives MS some cause for thought on overhauling DirectX, but knowing how agile MS are, I wouldn't hold my breath.



It was good for them that lowly xbox had some kind of advantage ... and now, potentially, the very cheapest steambox with AMD APU will be able to run all games done with mantle enabled engines, as good as xbone.



> A lot will depend on how committed (cash) AMD are to making it work. Activision would seem to a natural bandwagon jumper so I could see them adopting it- but I can't really see much benefit in easing workload on  an engine that produced stratospheric framerates in any case.



Not so much Activision, they traditionally don't make games that need massive number of draw calls each frame ... DICE on the other hand, with their huge visibility distance, already hit 7k draw calls in bf3 while developing frostbite 2. CryEngine is often used for games with huge draw distances, so CryTek could profit from implementing mantle renderer.



> Ideally the API needs to raise the game i.q. levels substantially over DX/OGL to make the software anything other than a bullet point...if it doesn't then it becomes just another feature like TressFX or PhysX,



The thing is, with increased max number of draw calls each frame, you should get much more dynamic (interactive) objects on screen, so it's about scene/game complexity, not directly image quality.



> and of course if it does then we end up full circle from the advent of the gaming GPU, because dollars to donuts the other two vendors will follow suit....the good old, bad old days of Glide, Matrox Simple Interface, RRedline, SGL etc...



Of course, unless history repeats itself ... and we all know that never happened before


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## btarunr (Oct 7, 2013)

erocker said:


> AMD. You kinda suck.
> 
> Time to work on other projects for me. Console + GTA V, here I come. Heh heh.



Et tu. :shadedshu


----------

