ASUS Radeon R9 280X MATRIX Graphics Card Pictured

[Casecutter]

There really isn't any speculation about it.

I think we've all been lulled into that, even me... but when you look at the logic of a big inefficient chip especially when clocked higher? While rumors swirl saying it's the Tahiti LE... for the R9 270X, that's not going to fly!

The specs match exactly outside of clock speeds.

Who's spec's?

I'm not meaning to get all up into this, but logically (I use that loosely) while AMD has been selling Tahiti for less than $200, I don't believe such a mainstream cost structure could endure for next 8-10 months that way.

 

[DeOdView]

Everything outside of the the 290x/290 is a rebrand. There really isn't any speculation about it. The specs match exactly outside of clock speeds.

You know this for sure... How??? Those are just the SPEC. NUMBERS! What's really counted will be the architecture on the silicon! We'll see...

 

[EarthDog]

Sorry.. let me temper my 'guesses'. The 280x is a rebrand of 7970. I am not as certain about the others. Sorry for my false confidence. The 290x/290 are new. Not sure about the lower end, but they could be cut down 7950's etc. Time will tell for sure.

 

[Casecutter]

Something tells me AMD has what they term as "Bonaire XTX". I think it's something more than first "Bonaire", a "new" chip with say 3 blocks of 6 computes (1152SU/24Rop) and 256-Bit, in a die not much more than the orginal "Bonaire" package perhaps as R9 270X.
We don't have long to wait... now!

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

The one I see on the uk site scan is 1050/6600. So, not really sure what if anything will be different with a 1100/6000.

nothing ,like i said mine arrived monday, a 7970 matrix platinum 250uk notes(<im in) swapped two 5 series xfired(5870-5850) and the clocks at stock on mine Are 1100 6000. ps It is feckin massive almost as big as my ol 4 gpu's cool light logo tho

I got it for the vram because it was starting to grate and all in im 10-20% up in performance but its not all even because my loop is now suuuper,,, for cpu and motherboard cooling

Ill obviously be trying that bios as soon as its posted

 

[Ja.KooLit]

i'll do three-fire or quad-fire with this card...does anyone know where to get XXL-ATX motherboard and XXX-E-ATX chassis ?

you could get PCIE x16 riser instead

PCI-Express PCI-E 16X Riser Card Flex Flexible Rib...

 

[HumanSmoke]

Sorry.. let me temper my 'guesses'. The 280x is a rebrand of 7970. I am not as certain about the others. Sorry for my false confidence. The 290x/290 are new. Not sure about the lower end, but they could be cut down 7950's etc. Time will tell for sure.

I wouldn't worry unduly. Simple case of some people unwilling to see what is before their eyes, because its incomprehensible that AMD would rebrand. Like the old saying: "If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck..."
In this case simply substitute the PCI Device ID (which is 6798 for both the 7970 and 280X) for the looking/quacking/walking part.
I don't think that Gibbo over at OcUK is prone to lying to his customer base either:

R280X is the HD 7970 GHz re-boxed

You know this for sure... How??? Those are just the SPEC. NUMBERS! What's really counted will be the architecture on the silicon! We'll see...

Two architectures won't have the same PCI Device ID.

I'm not meaning to get all up into this, but logically (I use that loosely) while AMD has been selling Tahiti for less than $200, I don't believe such a mainstream cost structure could endure for next 8-10 months that way.

Actually it does make sense excepting the silicon size. Tahiti obviously yields well considering the lack of 7870XT parts available and Tahiti's general ability to overclock.
AMD likely aren't making a great deal on the silicon, but whats the alternative? Rush out a stopgap 28nm design with a ~6-9 month lifecycle ? Spend more money on retooling, mask sets etc? AMD have an opportunity just as Nvidia did of allowing "new" GPU's into the market with virtually no extra overhead attached. AIB's can use existing coolers and packaging for the same lack of expense.

 

[Casecutter]

Is there any definite confirmation to point that AMD is saying they're absolutely re-branding Tahiti parts?

Gibbo over at OcUK.

OH! why didn't you say "Gibbo says"... that's good enough.

I've seen the suppose the Expreview.com and the GPU-Z shots, but that still not solid validation. Which device ID's do you speak of?

I'm not saying rebranding isn't possible, but "Tahiti" for mainstream is just un-inspiring especially after waiting.

Rush out a stopgap 28nm design with a ~6-9 month lifecycle ? Spend more money on retooling, mask sets etc?

Yea, not like the 5870~6970 (VLIW5-VLIW4) change. Perhap 20Nm is like mid-summer 14.


While there's the other side... there have been incomprehensible events, but they still occured.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." Joseph Goebbels

 

[HumanSmoke]

OH! why didn't you say "Gibbo says"... that's good enough.

I find him more knowledgeable than a great many other sources, and 99.99% of forum posters in general.

I've seen the suppose the Expreview.com and the GPU-Z shots, but that still not solid validation. Which device ID's do you speak of?

This one

 

[cadaveca]

I find him more knowledgeable than a great many other sources, and 99.99% of forum posters in general.

+1.


m'kay?

 

[HumanSmoke]

+1.
m'kay?

Don't get alarmed! For every TPU there's a lot more than one dodgy site that allows drive-by's from guests and deliberate flaming/baiting not just from posters but by staff. I'm sure you can think of a few, but I wont resort to naming the culprits.

 

[AphexDreamer]

I've owned one Matrix Card my current 5870 and while its lasting me a long time (after two RMA's) the Asus software that was designed to overclock and flash the card was absolutely terrible. I don't know if they've improved on it but I essentially could not overclock the card to "Matrix Potential" because the software would not flash correct values and would cause BSOD's (Believe me I tried everything to fix it).

I only say this because in retrospect I could have bought a reference HD5870 and had better luck than the Matrix version. Buyers beware....

Reviews didn't even mention the fact that if you don't use their Asus Drivers the software wouldn't work correctly, but this absurd because Asus drivers take like a year if ever to release modern ATI Drivers which by then are already outdated.

I don't think I'd ever buy another Matrix card from Asus, unless it were dirt cheap.

 

[buggalugs]

That was for the 290 series. The others are free to be fiddled with as they're technically not new, just sooped up rebranding of the 7 series.

Ahh I see. For some reason I thought this was the highend card. I don't remember Asus making Matrix cards for anything but the highend.

I've owned one Matrix Card my current 5870 and while its lasting me a long time (after two RMA's) the Asus software that was designed to overclock and flash the card was absolutely terrible. I don't know if they've improved on it but I essentially could not overclock the card to "Matrix Potential" because the software would not flash correct values and would cause BSOD's (Believe me I tried everything to fix it).

I only say this because in retrospect I could have bought a reference HD5870 and had better luck than the Matrix version. Buyers beware....

Reviews didn't even mention the fact that if you don't use their Asus Drivers the software wouldn't work correctly, but this absurd because Asus drivers take like a year if ever to release modern ATI Drivers which by then are already outdated.

I don't think I'd ever buy another Matrix card from Asus, unless it were dirt cheap.

Yeap, it used to be like that but Asus has changed since then and the software is much better.

 

[Serpent of Darkness]

Re:

I suspect the selling points of the new 7970 rebrand aka RX9-280, is the following:

1. Possible OC room is around 10% to 30%; stock core frequencies is at 1265 MHZ Turbo, so we are looking at a OC frequencies band of around 1430 MHZ to 1644.5 MHZ Core speeds, +/- 75 MHz, with a water block cooling solution. This will jump to 5.857 GFLOPs to 6.73 GFLOPs. Turbo speed already surpasses the 5.0GFLOP mark.
2. Speculation: AFR and Frame Pacing will be handle by Hardware components on the PCB like the GTX Titan and 780...

SP doesn't change. More than likely, they are using Tahiti GPU cores with even smaller leakage and better binning like the Premium 7970 variants, in the previous generation, with additional tweaks and razzle dazzle.

If I am not mistaken, Matrix is ROG or near it in quality. It has the potential to OC high for about the same or less internal energy. DCII or Direct Cooling V.2.0 is like a downgrade from Matrix.

If people are wondering why rebrand the 7970. It's quite simple. Half-baked Maxewell and Tenefire 2.0 will be out in mid 2014. RX9-280 is just a filler card for a certain key market. RX9-290, is the experiement that AMD is pulling this year until Tenefire 2.0. The experiement is Mantle, TrueAudio, and Crossfire through the PCIe Lanes...

 

[Shou Miko]

Their Direct CU II is close enough. Trust me, unless you are using extreme cooling, that is plenty.

i already got a GTX 670 4gb DC II but it's like no love for Nvidia when it comes to build a card like this only do a custom 2x580 chips on one card making it a none GTX 590 ref...

 

[1d10t]

>3-slot cooler
reeeeeaaaaly now? ¬_____¬

unless You are thinking of ditching it for water cooling or something....

you could get PCIE x16 riser instead

PCI-Express PCI-E 16X Riser Card Flex Flexible Rib...

Nah...it would be a complete retard to justify i could do even crossfire with this
Personally i don't like this 3 slot cooler.It will restrict you to crossfiring them,not to mention your motherboard had to carry its weight.While ditching the cooler seem feasible,choosing another card is more logical.

 

[NeoXF]

Well, here's the thing, they're rebrands, but none of the are straight-up rebrands, so we've got at least that.
I mean ffs, people didn't make this much idle chatter when R7970GHz came out, which was more or less the same thing... only within the same generation.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Well, here's the thing, they're rebrands, but none of the are straight-up rebrands, so we've got at least that.
I mean ffs, people didn't make this much idle chatter when R7970GHz came out, which was more or less the same thing... only within the same generation.

A bios and a box isn't much to change and little difference , im not one jot bothered about the repackaging but people should know what they are buying as in I got mine for 250 from oc UK but ill bet the r9 280x is dearer and if both are on the same shelf then people should have the info to choose wisely.

I waited to see what they were releasing then got a good buy....... the end and like I said no beef at all just knowledge.

 

[NeoXF]

A bios and a box isn't much to change and little difference , im not one jot bothered about the repackaging but people should know what they are buying as in I got mine for 250 from oc UK but ill bet the r9 280x is dearer and if both are on the same shelf then people should have the info to choose wisely.

I waited to see what they were releasing then got a good buy....... the end and like I said no beef at all just knowledge.

So, if say, R9 280X was Hawaii LE, and offered less performance than a Tahiti XT2 or whatever and cost $399... what exactly would that accomplish?

Truth is, 90% of the people don't give the slightest f*** of what they're buying, as long as it's their favorite brand (...sigh) and performs well. And guess what, R9 280X does just that, for that money (at least in my country).

There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for anyone wanting to buy ANYTHING and not be self-informed about it, and this isn't like some conspiracy where there's a ton of lying and cover-up, nope, the information is and will be available everywhere, so it's all on them, if they get duped into something. Everyone has the power to say no, mostly through their wallet (...sight, again), you guys do know that, right...

 

[haswrong]

Well, here's the thing, they're rebrands, but none of the are straight-up rebrands, so we've got at least that.
I mean ffs, people didn't make this much idle chatter when R7970GHz came out, which was more or less the same thing... only within the same generation.

hey, im staying aside, despite the matrix deja-vu. you are the one chatting here..

 

[eidairaman1]

im still not a fan of the cooler that Asus Uses, its too bulky for most builds

 

[treeroy]

Ah. I see. Thanks for the info. 1100Boost/6600 seems pretty impressive, would be hard to top that I guess.

I'm not sure what to expect from the 280x. Nvidia's re-brand of the 680-770 was able to eek out a bit of extra performance with slightly lighter power consumption, overall having what I might describe as "more finesse" in the 770. Ofc it comes down to price, and the 280x will benefit from all the 2013 coolers from board manufacturers, who mostly outdid themselves, but other than that, it's not likely anybody is going to top 1100mhz?

Speaking of price, as previously mentioned, Matrix is down to £260 in the uk, and other models creeping as low as £230 and some deals at £210. I'm dubious as to whether AMD's 300 dollar pricing might be a bit of a damp squib in the uk (considering the usual markup).

Anyway...rambling...roll on the 8th.

Where are you getting those prices from? I can't really find any UK sites selling the R9 280X. If they are as low as £230 then that's fantastic.