Thursday, January 29th 2015

AMD Cashes in On GTX 970 Drama, Cuts R9 290X Price

Jan 29th, 2015 10:40 Discuss (181 Comments)

AMD decided to cash-in on the GeForce GTX 970 memory controversy, with a bold move and a cheap (albeit accurate) shot. The company is making its add-in board (AIB) partners lower pricing of its Radeon R9 290X graphics card, which offers comparable levels of performance to the GTX 970, down to as low as US $299.

And then there's a gentle reminder from AMD to graphics card buyers with $300-ish in their pockets. With AMD, "4 GB means 4 GB." AMD also emphasizes that the R9 290 and R9 290X can fill their 4 GB video memory to the last bit, and feature a 512-bit wide memory interface, which churns up 320 GB/s of memory bandwidth at reference clocks, something the GTX 970 can't achieve, even with its fancy texture compression mojo.

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181 Comments on AMD Cashes in On GTX 970 Drama, Cuts R9 290X Price

#26

NightOfChrist

night.foxthe price cuts are only in US. I dont know about europe. But same as you, here in korea it cost same as launch price.

There is no price cut here in Japan either. My girlfriend wants to buy one for The Sims 4 and Final Fantasy. Perhaps after a few days?

#27

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Good, hopefully nVidia follows and drops the 970 price so I can grab a second.

#28

RejZoR

Hate it when price drops never reach Europe. Still selling them for 400+ EUR...

#29

ShurikN

Gigabyte's is the only one with 300$ price tag, the rest are 340-360
That's basically the same price it had for like couple of months now.
Fail to see that major price drop...

#30

Maban

@btarunr What's the source of that AMD propaganda image? Is it actually from AMD?

#31

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

NVIDIA dropped the ball so hard on that 970.

#32

ironwolf

ShurikNGigabyte's is the only one with 300$ price tag, the rest are 340-360
That's basically the same price it had for like couple of months now.
Fail to see that major price drop...

Newegg US:

(Diamond brand $279.99 after MIR)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103246&ignorebbr=1

(Gigabyte brand $279.99 after MIR)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125499&ignorebbr=1

#33

15th Warlock

ironwolfNewegg US:

(Diamond brand $279.99 after MIR)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103246&ignorebbr=1

(Gigabyte brand $279.99 after MIR)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125499&ignorebbr=1

Thanks for the link, wonder how these puppies work in 3 way crossfire, for 280 the gigabyte card seems super tempting, I could add more muscle to my radeon avenger :)

#34

hyp36rmax

ParnFurther lowing the price will only hurt the profit margin for AMD and their partners. Hawaii XT dies and 290X cards are not cheap to manufacture.

You totally missed the point, this move will broaden AMD's market share as well as solidify possible AMD customers to the brand. It's also a great way to move product which would happen anyways with the R9 300 series on the horizon. ;)

#35

Sony Xperia S

Cybrnook2002Excited for the 380X already.....

You will have to wait a little bit.... well, a few months. :)

THE_EGG:( yet here in Australia they still run for roughly $500-$650+ depending on the model. Oh well...

Not much of a pain to die from. You can always ask a friend to import you one from elsewhere. :)

newtekie1Good, hopefully nVidia follows and drops the 970 price so I can grab a second.

I would recommend to get rid of the nvidia and buy two 290Xs instead. I will insure and guarantee you a better user experience. :)

#36

IINexusII

Maban@btarunr What's the source of that AMD propaganda image? Is it actually from AMD?

twitter.com/Thracks/status/560511204951855104

#37

ShurikN

ironwolfNewegg US:

(Diamond brand $279.99 after MIR)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103246&ignorebbr=1

(Gigabyte brand $279.99 after MIR)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125499&ignorebbr=1

Ugh wouldn't touch that Diamond with a 10 ft pole

#38

15th Warlock

Sony Xperia SI would recommend to get rid of the nvidia and buy two 290Xs instead. I will insure and guarantee you a better user experience. :)

Why would you recommend that? The 970 performs exactly the same now as it did before this whole wrong specs ordeal came to light.

Why would he dump a perfectly working card? As a user of both Nvidia and AMD cards, I can tell from personal experience they both have their pros and con's, but to be honest, if nvidia drops the price of the 970, getting a second card for cheap remains a perfectly viable option to current 970 owners, one I'm sure no one would regret

#39

rruff

ParnFurther lowing the price will only hurt the profit margin for AMD and their partners. Hawaii XT dies and 290X cards are not cheap to manufacture.

The beauty of mass production is that the marginal cost is quite small to spit out an extra widget after the design has been done and the manufacturing has been set up. AMD will not lose money by selling the 290x cheaper than the 970 at this point in time, and they will hopefully claw back some market share. AMD lost a lot of market share in 3&4th Q 2014. Any company that intends to stay in business cannot afford to let that happen.

#40

cristi_io

Sasquimy XFX 290x DC doesn't get over 78c, my 290x reference under H20 doesn't break 40c.

Reference cooler? Yea, that's another story, lol

How many people buy reference cards anyway?

#41

rruff

ironwolfNewegg US:

(Diamond brand $279.99 after MIR)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103246&ignorebbr=1

(Gigabyte brand $279.99 after MIR)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125499&ignorebbr=1

Much better price on a Powercolor at NCIX. Only $233: www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=103515&vpn=AXR9%20290X%204GBD5-TDHE&manufacture=PowerColor&promoid=1452&ir_clickid=Wf51I9yQYyNqzXaUZTW5GXnhUkV12US3NTtDzY0&ir_cid=3092&ir_affid=10451

#42

ShurikN

rruffMuch better price on a Powercolor at NCIX. Only $233: www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=103515&vpn=AXR9 290X 4GBD5-TDHE&manufacture=PowerColor&promoid=1452&ir_clickid=Wf51I9yQYyNqzXaUZTW5GXnhUkV12US3NTtDzY0&ir_cid=3092&ir_affid=10451

Wow, now that's a steal. You could buy 2 and destroy everything in your wake. For less than a single 980.

#43

64K

rruffMuch better price on a Powercolor at NCIX. Only $233: www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=103515&vpn=AXR9 290X 4GBD5-TDHE&manufacture=PowerColor&promoid=1452&ir_clickid=Wf51I9yQYyNqzXaUZTW5GXnhUkV12US3NTtDzY0&ir_cid=3092&ir_affid=10451

That's a steal but I don't know anything about Powercolor. Are they a good quality brand that backs up their warranty well?

#44

KarymidoN

64KThat's a steal but I don't know anything about Powercolor. Are they a good quality brand that backs up their warranty well?

PowerColor = Good Quality, good RMA...
Only issue: The turboduo cards in 100% fan = LOUDEST DUAL FAN CARDS... just use automatic fan control and play quiet...

#45

15th Warlock

64KThat's a steal but I don't know anything about Powercolor. Are they a good quality brand that backs up their warranty well?

Was gonna ask the same question, anyone here care to share their thoughts on this particular card?

#46

rruff

64KThat's a steal but I don't know anything about Powercolor. Are they a good quality brand that backs up their warranty well?

They've been around awhile. They are a low-end video card company, but are legit. Here are Newegg reviews on this specific card: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131569

Don't see any tests of this model, but lots of the 3 fan 290x.

#47

REAYTH

KarymidoNSo many Nvidia Fanboys...
U$ 280 After Rebate... R9 290X (non-Reference cooler)... 4GB VRAM - 512bits...
U$ 350 -> GTX 970 (msi or Asus) = 3,5GB VRAM - 256 bits....

You can pay JUST U$ 70 for 4,7 frames (the graph use an reference R9 290X)....
Temperature... Noise... etc... etc...

mine GTX 970 MSI gaming 4GB is coming home, but i'm not happy cause i'm going to use it on 3 FHD displays, and yes, need some extra video memory...

And? I have two 670's that devour that for less money.

#48

ThE_MaD_ShOt

Damn you Amd. Just when I was thinking of selling my 290x you have to drop prices and drive the used price even lower.

#49

64K

rruffThey've been around awhile. They are a low-end video card company, but are legit. Here are Newegg reviews on this specific card: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131569

Don't see any tests of this model, but lots of the 3 fan 290x.

Yeah, I had a quick look around for info and reviews on the 2 fan 290x and didn't find much. It seems the 290x PCS 3 fan is much more popular. I did find this on the 2 fan 290x

www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/2s50zf/gpupowercolor_radeon_r9_290x_975mhz_4gb_26999/

#50

Fluffmeister

All this controversy and they still feel the need to lower their prices, doh!

AMD know that cheap[er] GTX 970's hitting the market ain't going to do them any favours, in fact it's the last thing they need.

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AMD Cashes in On GTX 970 Drama, Cuts R9 290X Price

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