AMD Radeon R9 Nano 4 GB

[bug]

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.

They can't make a whole lot more. They're binning Fury X to get the chips for the Nano. They need a halo product to keep people talking about AMD, but they don't actually have a lot of these chips readily available (you try cherry picking from a product that pushes 20nm to the limit AND comes with the new HBM technology). Hence the high price.

Looks pretty good. Not having HDMI 2.0 is a disaster for this card......what were they thinking.......Its still a good card though.

You don't actually need HDMI 2.0 just yet. HDMI 1.4 can do 4k@30Hz, which is all you need for movies. The card itself can't actually deliver 60FPS@4k in many titles.
Still at $650 it should come with everything and the kitchen sink.

 

[GhostRyder]

GhostRyder said: ↑
No more a joke than you or your comments...

Considering my comment was hilarious amd must be the biggest joke in town........... Oh wait they have been for years.

I guess you also do not know how the quotes work on this site either (Since you just put everything in a big quote).

Project Cars is as always hilarious. It should be renamed to Nvidia Cars.

Ryan at PCPerspective says that a retail Nano that he bought didn't had any coil whine. Of course I don't know if someone can trust PCPer. I mean in the past they where in bed with Nvidia BIG time. They might have changed beds lately.

Nice review as always. I can't find the Crossfire numbers. WE DEMAND CROSSFIRE

Well if you want CFX numbers just look at the Fury X CFX since that is going to be pretty much identical clock for clock (With Fury X winning in the OC territory).

Seriously. Checkout that Performance / $ chart. lol. Who in the right mind will buy this for a normal gaming desktop over the 980 TI for the same price??

Why would you??? The point is this is not for a normal gaming desktop, its for SFF and small cases were space is limited (Or that you want some extra room). I mean if you want a normal gaming desktop there is the GTX 980ti, Fury X, Fury Nano, or GTX 980 all waiting around for you.

I don't understand the point, it's a less powerful Fury that you can put in a HTPC, but it can't do 4K output to a TV, and it's just as overkill for 1080p as a GTX970 mini but 2x the price...

Well any card at this point in the 970/R9 380X or above range is not going to sweat much at 1080p in this day and age. Most (High end) cards now are shooting at the 1440p range as the main goal for a smooth experience instead of 1080p.

Thanks for the review, glad you got a sample.

I see this card more as an air cooled Fury X (obviously down clocked)

This launch could of benefited AMD so much more if they changed a few things for eg.

- $600 USD for Fury X would make it look more competitive to the GTX 980 Ti @ $650 USD
- Not even bother with the Nano labeling & just call it a Fury X air cooled version, extra 6pin power connector to avoid GPU throttling @ $550 USD
- Normal Fury priced @ $500 USD
- HDMI 2.0 (Seriously did AMD cheap out on this?)
- Devoid of coil whine ( How is this steal a thing, it's just as annoying as lag)

But I guess I have to factor in costs of the Fiji GPU itself, HBM, yields, supply, AMD are desperate for $ Dosh $ & the fact that Lisa Su wanted to change the perception of how ppl view AMD being the cheaper solution, can't blame her really.

1: Completely agree, at $600 it would be a better alternative including moving everything Fiji down a notch. Fury seems to be the best overall with its price and area currently.
2: The extra 6 pin would not help much if any. Its only throttled by software, raising the power limit removes any throttling from what I have seen and allows ever for some overclocking to right at (Little over) Fury X stock levels.
3: Yes
4: Do not see a point to it personally, its not a great standard and the only thing HDMI 2.0 does is allow 4K 60hz at a cost of visual quality. If its really needed, there are DP to HDMI 2.0 connectors out there that say they will do 60hz. I have never tried one but I have seen them. But this is just IMHO.
5: Yea...But all GPU's in this generation are suffering from it unfortunately which has been really annoying. I really wish they would just up the quality a slight bit all around instead of waiting for custom PCB's to fix it.

load & peak usage power consumption is quite competitive against the 980Ti but I wouldn't recommend this card for those who are building micro towers or those Steam Box as it's coil whine & poor thermal would be a problem. it's also expensive for something that has the same price as the Fury X & 980Ti. If I were to build another rig, I would opt for the R9 Fury X since it's a full-on watercooled card & performance is as good as the 980Ti across 1440p & 4K games, though the 980Ti is the more appropriate choice of card for high end single GPU system.

Well generally cases can alleviate some of the coil whine it would be the big problem. Though I would say with the temps it handles itself beyond well and so far Ihave not seen one throttle due to temps even in a tiny case.

Actually I dont thin the price is too high, seen in the light that its made for a small amount of buyers in mind with SSF cases, NOT for the masses, you have enough to choose from.

People have a tendency to want max preformance but wont pay the price, well in my mind..get used to it, prices is going one way and thats up with both Pascal and Artic Island using HBM2 on their highend cards. HBM2 will still be a fairly new tech when those cards come out next year and be in small numbers....so if you want the goodies, you have to pay the price.

You choose the product for what you is a fair price, just dont blame us thats willing to go above and pay more for the best tech thats out there, thats my 2 cents.

^ That is true and I agree with you, though I do think we have to be careful at times otherwise we encourage manufacturers to charge ridiculous prices for products.

 

[DeadSkull]

Came to read thread comments. Saw a bunch of broke college kids crying about HDMI 2.0, left satisfied.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Came to read thread comments. Saw a bunch of broke college kids crying about HDMI 2.0, left satisfied.

I think you'd be surprised to know the majority of our members are probably in their 30's and 40's, with a wide assortment of job and professions.

 

[DeadSkull]

I think you'd be surprised to know the majority of our members are probably in their 30's and 40's, with a wide assortment of job and professions.

Right....I doubt there is more then a dozen here who can thrown down a few grand to be an early HDMI 2.0 4K adopter.

 

[the54thvoid]

It's actually quite funny.

I like Fury X - let me just say it. I do. I didn't buy one but I like it. If Fiji does actually romp home in DX12 and DX12 hits far sooner than we thought (beating Maxwell soundly), I'll sell my 980ti and go custom water cooled Fury X (as long as it's not got coil whine). That's as long as Arctic and Pascal are delayed to late 2016 or early 2017...

However- all this crap about SFF? Does anyone even think about it before saying it? I've been checking some SFF cases online and the fact is many of then fit at least a 10.5" (stock 980ti length, <27cm). Some fit 12" cards. Point is, the cases have evolved to fit longer gfx cards. People are mindlessly repeating the Nano is the best for SFF gaming when that means sweet butt cheeks.

I'm not sure how the psychology works but if I wanted a SFF build, I'd scope out the cases and find my preferred option. From there I might work down from the expansion size variable. A lot of the main vendors supply decent space in very small cases for a full standard length gfx card. I may even think "I want a SFF case - my, that's a beauty - I must have it!" If i then find it only fits a Nano size card, well hey - Nano it is. But if it fits a bigger card? Why would I want to buy a Nano?

It's a philosophically circular proposal - Nano is your SFF choice but many SFF cases fit larger cards, so you want your case to only fit your Nano? So it's not about SFF but 'poorly designed' SFF? My personal pref is the BitFenix mini ITX but it even supports a 240mm rad (Fury X anyone?). Size = 25x40x35cm https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-114-BX&groupid=2362&catid=2279 Or I also like the Silverstone Sugo SG07, supports 12.2" gfx card. Size 22x19x35cm https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-222-SV&groupid=2362&catid=2279

Does anyone see what I'm saying? If you choose a SFF, you then make educated choices and those choices affect your build. Nano isn't the only SFF choice - that's a very blind thing to say. And for the Red team - I'd rather put a Fury X in a SFF than a 980ti.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Right....I doubt there is more then a dozen here who can thrown down a few grand to be an early HDMI 2.0 4K adopter.

You're right. Know why? Because most people in that age group have cars, credit cards, insurance, utilities, food, a mortgage to pay, kids to raise (VERY expensive), and college tuition to save for in the hope that the kids will go on to do that.

 

[nem]

something reminds me this pic

 

[the54thvoid]

Right....I doubt there is more then a dozen here who can thrown down a few grand to be an early HDMI 2.0 4K adopter.

But plenty who can afford a $650 graphics card? Right......

 

[Uplink10]

If they included HDMI they could have included HDMI 2.0. But to be fair DP is the best standard without royalties like HDMI and if the TV does not support DP then better buy the right TV with DP. Let's remember DP 1.2 has been future proofed since 2009 and HDMI 2.0 came out only in 2013 and even then a lot of cards did not include HDMI 2.0. Now be fair when choosing a TV and if there is no DP available it sure is not a good buy.

But plenty who can afford a $650 graphics card? Right......

A lot of Nvidia graphic cards were priced at $650 in the past and back then people did not bitch so much about a price (not talking about your post) as they do now, remember you can stick this card into a pocket and AMD can't survice by being the budget-oriented seller with top cards having unbelievable low price (290/290X).

 

[the54thvoid]

A lot of Nvidia graphic cards were priced at $650 in the past and back then people did not bitch so much about a price (not talking about your post) as they do now, remember you can stick this card into a pocket and AMD can't survice by being the budget-oriented seller with top cards having unbelievable low price (290/290X).

I thoroughly respect your post but the phrase

remember you can stick this card into a pocket

is utterly redundant. The size of Nano is lost on many SFF cases. AMD have missed the mark with the Nano. Fury X (as I keep saying) broke ALL the moulds. It's smaller and could easily have had air cooling with a marginally smaller TDP. Nano is a 'false product'. They created a trio of cards based on nothing other than cooler and tdp.

Fury X is great - I do like it. But they could have air cooled it.
Fury is meh. They didn't need to castrate it but then - what point would the Fury X be?
Nano is without purpose, other than the fact AMD put a bulky water unit on Fury X to make it NOT a SFF card.

Nano isn't magic. It's a Fury X with a power limiter. Fury X is the PCB for SFF. But AMD chose to handicap it's SFF merits by slapping an AIO on it and NOT ALLOWING any partner to modify it.

AMD have conspired to create a false market by denying the partners the ability to customise Fury X. It's so freaking transparent it hurts.

 

[pr0fessor]

I moved my computer down the hall to get rid of a little coil whine, and my new fans with an odd timbre to them. Its not noisy at all, but the sound mix during gaming is annoying, and the fans are just off pitch enough that I find it irritating if its right next to me.

50 foot HDMI cable is worth it.

Is this the proof that every card will have the coil whine? I thought all cards can have it or not, it's about a luck thing. Just think about the size of the Nano and its performance. Not everyone likes to drive a Jeep or a truck. Here in Switzerland we have a lot of Mini's driving around and the Nano is some kind of this direction. And about HDMI 2.0, I think this is like PCI-Express 3.0. It will be more important 1 or 2 generations later, what is this today good for? Of course it is nice to have, but not needed.

 

[cadaveca]

You don't actually need HDMI 2.0 just yet. HDMI 1.4 can do 4k@30Hz, which is all you need for movies. The card itself can't actually deliver 60FPS@4k in many titles.

One cannot, sure, but many of us that would buy this card will buy two or more just to get that 60 FPS @ 4K. That's the whole point in using multiple cards; to get performance that is otherwise not possible. So obviously there's no use in using any AMD Fury-based card in Crossfire for 4K gaming using HDMI.

I got money. I want to game on my new 55-inch 4K screen that cost me $1500. What videocard do I chose? There can be only one?

 

[DeadSkull]

But plenty who can afford a $650 graphics card? Right......

And add that sticker price to a 2G tv? I can see why most people wouldn't complain about this crap and why AMD didn't care to build in hdmi2 into Fiji architecture.

 

[moproblems99]

Not sure what all the fuss about Perf/$ is. Generally speaking, there is only 1 or two cards that will give you the level of performance you desire so Perf/$ is irrelevant.

 

[Whilhelm]

Right....I doubt there is more then a dozen here who can thrown down a few grand to be an early HDMI 2.0 4K adopter.

I use a 40" 4k TV as my primary monitor, I paid 500 bucks for it. There are compelling options in this price range that work awesome as monitors so HDMI 2.0 support is a requirement in any high end GPU.

When the Fury cards were announced I just assumed that HDMI 2.0 would be a given since the card is aimed at a 4k market. Not including it is a real issue. I have always been an AMD supporter but when it came time to upgrade I had to switch to Nvidia. I wanted to buy the Fury X but since it wouldn't work with my TV I had to cross it off my list.

As far as the Nano goes, it's a product without a market with a price point that makes you have to consider your options. Is it really necessary to build a PC as small as possible just because you can. I am sure it will start a trend towards smaller graphics cards as more models implement HBM but at this time it is a very big risk coming from AMD.

 

[the54thvoid]

And add that sticker price to a 2G tv? I can see why most people wouldn't complain about this crap and why AMD didn't care to build in hdmi2 into Fiji architecture.

In many ways I think you're right. Some of the reviewers referred to the whole Fiji development as less of a sales chance than a technology promo. Fiji production might never be high enough to make any profit for AMD so perhaps pricing is utterly irrelevant. It was AMD saying, "we did it first" (again). For investors or potential buyers, maybe that's a big enough lure to put capital into a forward thinking but struggling technology company.

 

[rezagtx]

amd must think people are crazy as hell! who will spend 650 $ for this ?when we can buy much better graphic cards?
or why they think people must be their lab rats for their small form factor creations and inovations ??!!i
this card is not good at all it is only worth 400 $ not more - an it is really ugly ! is look like sound card or modem!!

 

[Dieinafire]

HDMI 2.0 the way it is meant to be played!

 

[HisDivineOrder]

The words do not match that score or Recommended listing. That said, I always took "Recommended" to be short for "Recommended for the Majority." If you start giving products with such a niche angle a Recommended just because they're recommended for that tiny group of users, then I think you'll find a LOT of products start earning Recommended.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

@GhostRyder depends greatly on airflow I guess. If the card really didn't get any hotter & never throttle down, then the cooler is more than enough. A custom waterblock would be even better though...

 

[GhostRyder]

@GhostRyder depends greatly on airflow I guess. If the card really didn't get any hotter & never throttle down, then the cooler is more than enough. A custom waterblock would be even better though...

Exactly, and in this case though even in SFF form factor with limited airflow the cooler can handle the card even with some OC without sounding like its going to take off.

I thoroughly respect your post but the phrase



is utterly redundant. The size of Nano is lost on many SFF cases. AMD have missed the mark with the Nano. Fury X (as I keep saying) broke ALL the moulds. It's smaller and could easily have had air cooling with a marginally smaller TDP. Nano is a 'false product'. They created a trio of cards based on nothing other than cooler and tdp.

Fury X is great - I do like it. But they could have air cooled it.
Fury is meh. They didn't need to castrate it but then - what point would the Fury X be?
Nano is without purpose, other than the fact AMD put a bulky water unit on Fury X to make it NOT a SFF card.

Nano isn't magic. It's a Fury X with a power limiter. Fury X is the PCB for SFF. But AMD chose to handicap it's SFF merits by slapping an AIO on it and NOT ALLOWING any partner to modify it.

AMD have conspired to create a false market by denying the partners the ability to customise Fury X. It's so freaking transparent it hurts.

I agree, its a hard sell but I do see some promise in it. We (supposedly) will some custom cooler versions of this card and maybe if were lucky some custom PCB variations that give us the Fury X in a different light. I think if we got the Nano with no power limiter, the same cooler, and a similar VRM setup to the Fury X (Or better) it would have been a very interesting lineup of two cards (Fury X and Fury). I think that would have made the Fury lineup much more interesting even with its current PCB sizes being smaller than normal. AMD went with that AIO though on the Fury X to make it seem more premium, but locking down the vendors on it was a foolish decision for people who prefer air cooling or want a cheaper solution.

 

[Mussels]

good to read the TPU review.

thing is, give it a year for hte price to drop and supply to go up and it will still be a popular card simply because it fits in more systems.

If someone sets up their case airflow to cool the card (120mm fan blowing on the back for example) they could alleviate some of the throttling as well.

 

[Casecutter]

So the build BoM for Nano must be lower than Fury X?

I don't know about that. Nano's Vapor Chamber Heat-Pipe (VCHP) has a good amount of engineering in it, and was that AMD internal, or did AMD farm it out to someone to design and build? Sure while VCHP coolers have been done in the past, I don’t recall anything near this compact and on some ways multilayered seeing it cools the VRM’s. One that comes to mind is what EVGA had on their GTX 680 Classified (>200W) and EVGA charged accordingly. Given the volumes and limited scope of Nano such a cooler cost is probably near or as high as what they got in partnering with Cooler Master to achieve the FuryX AIO water cooler. I think if we stop and consider that petite VCHP apparatuses handles (175W) is an exploit in and of itself.

Taking advantage of people that use form factor cases is just wrong.

Isn't that the norm for most such in ITX and SFF stuff it is a premium market? the Silverstone Sugo SG02 W1zzard used is $75, and has half the material while offering Silverstone lower shipping, damage, warehousing etc; though cost as much as a fullsize case of similar quality. M-ITX mobo's have far less components and much less PCB real-estate than a full-ATX, though cost the same or more... are people complaining about those parts? Why should AMD not have the same ability?

Point is, the cases have evolved to fit longer gfx cards.

While that is true are there thermal limitations in using a 980Ti that might necessitate more fans/noise? If say that Silverstone Sugo SG02 can hold a Asus 980Ti Strix will you enjoy its' 0dB fans and be less noisy under gaming, without some extra special fan work above what a Nano can do with? Is there consideration for the PSU (550 vs. 600) or at least wire looms moving to such a 980Ti, somewhat.

Is Nano everyone's cup of tea... heck no. Are all builds in some way or another a compromise and trade-offs... always! This just permits new considerations over what we've had previously.

One thing is if I got a Nano and it had coil whine it would be back in its box and on the way back! No card… especially one described as for SFF should leave the manufacturing QA with the level of whine as found with the review sample from AMD, even the Sapphire (retail) with "less pronounced but still audible coil noise" would have it going back. At $650 SFF (well any card) such noise is just not tolerable, from either side.

 

[vega22]

One cannot, sure, but many of us that would buy this card will buy two or more just to get that 60 FPS @ 4K. That's the whole point in using multiple cards; to get performance that is otherwise not possible. So obviously there's no use in using any AMD Fury-based card in Crossfire for 4K gaming using HDMI.

I got money. I want to game on my new 55-inch 4K screen that cost me $1500. What videocard do I chose? There can be only one?

none, you still need 2 gpu to get good frames. which will still lag like fuck on your screen as for that price you're only going to get a cheap 55" 4k screen.

one of the best review i have read in a while that w1z but i can't help feeling you didn't want to do that in the end :s

i do find it funny you mention the vrm cooling being good. to my eyes it is the vrm doing all the damage in the thermal vid :s