AMD Radeon R9 Nano 4 GB

[W1zzard]

The Radeon R9 Nano is AMD's solution for all small-form-factor system builders that want to create a 4K-capable gaming PC in a tiny volume. Thanks to a new approach to power management, the card stays below 200 W at all times, while still delivering excellent framerates.

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[ShurikN]

A great card, definitely, but the price man... the price.
$550 max.
Then again it's a niche product. Probably the "nichest" of them all

 

[KarymidoN]

Awesome review W1zz.

I believe that after this card AMD is destined for bankruptcy, sorry AMD users (I am one), but it is the sad reality, in terms of competitiveness AMD managed to lose both Intel and for Nvidia.
Long ago that AMD has not released a product that offers competition, this of course is bad for customers, who can choose to use an AMD product with low performance and a cheaper price (eg processors) or pay more if you want performance and technology (intel processors).

 

[happita]

A great card, definitely, but the price man... the price.
$550 max.
Then again it's a niche product. Probably the "nichest" of them all

This is true. It's pretty much a miniaturized Fury non-X. The price is somewhat warranted because of the way it was designed. But at the same time I can't help but think they saved a little bit of money from the PCB's rather small real estate. I can't wait for HBM2 cards from both camps to come out next year, that's when we'll see some real marvels of tech!

 

[Sasqui]

So you did get a sample after all?

Given the size and power consumption, it's pretty amazing. For a desktop (non SFF), can't see the price tag drawing me in...

 

[Random Murderer]

Wow. I expected more for the price, but on the flip side, I expected less from the form factor and TDP. Kudos AMD, you've made an excellent SFF card. Now if only it didn't cost the same as the Fury X...

 

[xkche]

Awful card that i like have in my PC

 

[newbsandwich]

Wow, surprised to see this review on here, didn't think you were getting this card. Anyway, agree with the general consensus, great card for the SFF, but as with all the latest AMD cards, overpriced. I just imagine if they cut the price of all their cards, they'd sale a whole lot more.

 

[MakeDeluxe]

Dat coil whine

 

[GhostRyder]

Glad to see yall got one.

Its actually a lot better than I thought it would be. For the form factor and the fact you can get rid of the TDP limit the card performs a little beyond expectations. Considering the performance at 1440p and the OC results, I would not mind one if I was making something in the SFF form factor. I wish the price was a little lower though, I could almost understand $600 dollar price tag what with the limited OC ability (Unless that changes somehow) and the lack of an AIO while still giving the full powered chip in the form factor. But at the same price of the Fury X...Its a lot harder of a sell.

 

[Luka KLLP]

Glad to see yall got one.

Its actually a lot better than I thought it would be. For the form factor and the fact you can get rid of the TDP limit the card performs a little beyond expectations. Considering the performance at 1440p and the OC results, I would not mind one if I was making something in the SFF form factor. I wish the price was a little lower though, I could almost understand $600 dollar price tag what with the limited OC ability (Unless that changes somehow) and the lack of an AIO while still giving the full powered chip in the form factor. But at the same price of the Fury X...Its a lot harder of a sell.

Yeah I agree. It isn't the complete disaster I expected it to be (in fact, it's pretty damn good!) Then again, after the price was announced we already knew this card wouldn't be the game changer for AMD, no matter how great it was gonna be...

 

[Thunderclap]

Idk where I saw this info, but apparently AMD is gaining back market share.
With Fury Nano getting overclocked and going toe-to-toe with Titan X on 1440p, I am pleasantly surprised by it.

And with good DX12 performance... huh, we might see nVidia beating a dead horse soon.

 

[HumanSmoke]

Thanks for the time and effort on putting such a comprehensive review together. If the cards weren't sent out until Monday, someone was burning the midnight oil.
As for the results, they seem in line with popular opinion and other reviews. Very capable but overpriced and a glaring oversight on QA testing.

So you did get a sample after all?

TPU just had to wait for AMD's NDA* to expire

*Needlessly Delayed Article

 

[qubit]

Glad to see AMD didn't actually intend to permanently deprive TPU of a review sample.

I'm not surprised that this card has a stupid price. It's the only card in its market segment ie no competition, so AMD are gonna charge top dollar for it and I can't say I blame them.

Looks like a good product, but what's with that bloody coil whine?! For that price, AMD can afford to fit the very best chokes on the market. Heck, they can probably afford to fit custom made super quiet ones! Dunno what's with this company, they tend to put out great products sometimes, but then bork them with the most idiotic flaws that are so easy to fix. It's almost like they want to sabotage themselves for some reason. Same thing with the missing HDMI 2.0 limiting framerate to 30Hz.

Finally, it's great to see this card given the usual fair and informative TPU review treatment, although delayed and having two cards was a bonus. @W1zzard Ya gonna give us a crossfire review of these?

 

[Rais]

I see some questionable statements at beginning.
First of all, Lan PC doen't really need an high performance GPU, because majority of competitive title are somewhat light: LoL, CSGO, ScII, HotS, just to mention some. Anyway, there is something else to consider: many SFF chassis has enough space to house 300mm cards, so what is really the point of this solution at this price?
It can competes with a 980 both in performance and thermal\power, but is priced 100$ higher or more depending on shortages. And this coil whine?

The best idea i've ever seen from AMD, years ahead of NVIDIA, somewhat ruined.

 

[HumanSmoke]

Idk where I saw this info, but apparently AMD is gaining back market share.

What you saw was a very strange article that had some large proviso's attached. Barron's published an opinion based article on how AMD was clawing back market share for Q3 ( FWIW, Q3 doesn't end until 30 September, and the shipped for revenue figures won't be available until some time after that). The hosted piece also specifically referenced the $200 and $400 price points. AMD has the 290X/390X in the latter market segment, while Nvidia doesn't field a model at that MSRP ( strictly AIB custom only). The $200 market segment is the GTX 960 against the R9 380, R9 285, and R9 280X all of which are better performing cards, so no real surprise there. The pseudo-advertising article was clickbait for those who have never understood the phrase " no shit, Sherlock" and think that their Magic Eight Ball really is a mystical scrying orb.

 

[NC37]

9.0 is far too kind for all the faults. But I do appreciate that you guys tested it in sub 1080 resolutions.

 

[Musaab]

HBM has a success with R9 Nano much moor than any Fury. maybe AMD messed up with price but this is the cost of 8.9 Billion transistor it does not come cheap but at the same time it is disappointing to see up to date 8,9 Billion transistor chip with fastest memory compared to 1.5 years old 5,2 Billion transistor with the same amount of older and slower type memory. What have the PC Tech companies done in the last tow years. In CPU business it's worst. since Core i7 2600K lunch before 4 years we haven't seen any (real) change in performance. And by the way you should put GTX 970/980/980Ti STRIX or something like from ASUS, MSI, GIGABYTE, EVGA, ...,ect because no one buy nVidia's or AMD's reference cards (except when there is no other choice like GTX TITAN and FURY X) so if you want to make this article useful for readers when we go to buy our next VGA Card put real cards because reference cards are not for your readers who followed you through the past 37 paged. And W1zzard thanks for this great review.

 

[Dieinafire]

Still no HDMI 2.0? AMD is such a joke

 

[anubis44]

Awesome review W1zz.

I believe that after this card AMD is destined for bankruptcy, sorry AMD users (I am one), but it is the sad reality, in terms of competitiveness AMD managed to lose both Intel and for Nvidia.
Long ago that AMD has not released a product that offers competition, this of course is bad for customers, who can choose to use an AMD product with low performance and a cheaper price (eg processors) or pay more if you want performance and technology (intel processors).

AMD's not going to go bankrupt. Several companies would like their technology, and one of their most prized pieces of intellectual property is their x86 license, along with the rights to the AMD x86-64 cross license AMD allows Intel to use. In the event of bankruptcy, AMD's x86 license vanishes into a puff of smoke, so none of the companies that would like to have it (eg. Microsoft, possibly Apple, Samsung, Sony, Qualcomm, etc. etc.) will let them just go bankrupt. One of them will pounce and buy or merge with AMD first. Maybe nVidia will finally smell the coffee and merge with AMD, too. I think Jen Hsun Huang wanted to merge with AMD back in 2005, but he wanted to be AMD's chairman. Maybe he'll finally get his wish?

 

[Rowsol]

That performance per dollar is pathetic.

 

[GhostRyder]

Still no HDMI 2.0? AMD is such a joke

No more a joke than you or your comments...

Yeah I agree. It isn't the complete disaster I expected it to be (in fact, it's pretty damn good!) Then again, after the price was announced we already knew this card wouldn't be the game changer for AMD, no matter how great it was gonna be...

Indeed, but its just trying to be a premium product in a niche market.

Glad to see AMD didn't actually intend to permanently deprive TPU of a review sample.

I'm not surprised that this card has a stupid price. It's the only card in its market segment ie no competition, so AMD are gonna charge top dollar for it and I can't say I blame them.

Looks like a good product, but what's with that bloody coil whine?! For that price, AMD can afford to fit the very best chokes on the market. Heck, they can probably afford to fit custom made super quiet ones! Dunno what's with this company, they tend to put out great products sometimes, but then bork them with the most idiotic flaws that are so easy to fix. It's almost like they want to sabotage themselves for some reason. Same thing with the missing HDMI 2.0 limiting framerate to 30Hz.

Finally, it's great to see this card given the usual fair and informative TPU review treatment, although delayed and having two cards was a bonus. @W1zzard Ya gonna give us a crossfire review of these?

Ill read the end of the CFX review, right below the R9 Fury X in terms of performance .

 

[dwade]

9.0 huh. Overrated and overpriced.

 

[SammyHayabuza]

Before I read the review, I just came to say that I'm glad you got a sample..now on to the review!!!Awesome...

 

[SNM]

9.0 huh. Overrated and overpriced.

^^ This...apart from that...why people were shouting that R9 nano is better than 980Ti....Even 980Ti is still better in terms of Per/$....