Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC 4 GB

[adulaamin]

Thanks for another awesome review. Lucky for me the prices are normal here in the Philippines. I hope your review of the MSI Gaming OC card would come out soon as I've got some cash waiting to be spent.

 

[Cheeseball]

The prices here are normal because no one wants to run mining rigs due to Meralco (our local power company) currently screwing us over. LOL.

 

[Ravenas]

Great review. Can anyone tell me if this card supports 4K resolution through the HDMI port? There are several 290x cards that do.

 

[Casecutter]

It interesting how this "value proposition" is now skewed. It used to be guys said they’d pay Nvidia’s self-infected "premium" on top-tier because of drivers, Physx, better multiple card performance etc. Now that AMD has gotten such advantages minimized, while have even moving technology with Mantle it's okay sidestep and fall-back to the "value proposition".

This is not AMD’s fault, they probably aren’t placing any price change to AIB’s as most of those have written delivery contracts. As a gamer sure I see this stupid Litecoin frenzy unfortunate..., but I’d beat for every perturbed AMD consumer there’s 3-5 Litecoin consumer licking their chops to plunk down this price to grab 3 or more.

One place I find interesting is the whole 512-bit and 4Gb memory that AMD provides garners no accolades to the construction and cost, while if it was Nvidia and it cost more it would be the icing on the cake for attractive increase in price. (something not mentioned in W1zzard's Value and Conclusion)

But yes with a MSI GTX 780Ti Gaming at Newegg with today an “In-Cart” pricing of $670 it's good, but Nvidia must stay aggressive. Nvidia can’t maintain their "premium" or all gamers take a look at the stagnation in the market and just say pass!

 

[N3M3515]

yup, so why would anyone buy a brand-new card at that time? revenue's gonna crash for manufacturers

I for one wouldn't buy a card that has been used 24/7

 

[W1zzard]

I for one wouldn't buy a card that has been used 24/7

you would never know

 

[Casecutter]

I'll ask again...

Hey want to ask does this use a vapor chamber, or just a standard copper base?

I for one wouldn't buy a card that has been used 24/7.

That bodes well for buying a Nvidia now, as a gamer can use it till the high-end Maxwell shows and sell it to someone and that buyer can trust the story, which should mean good residual value. AMD not so much.

 

[W1zzard]

Couldn't find a higher res version, but it looks like normal heatpipes. Also Sapphire's website doesn't mention vapor chamber, whereas on other product pages it does.

 

[Brusfantomet]

The prices here are normal because no one wants to run mining rigs due to Meralco (our local power company) currently screwing us over. LOL.

its a bit weird that it has not taken off here, considering power is one of the few things thats not expensive here. Also most houses use electricity for heating in 2/3 of the year.

also, some OTish; looks like the card uses a reference PCB, is there any Hawaii cards that does use custom PCB?

 

[Bender]

Great review W1zzard.

Any news, when we can expect a review of MSI R9 290X Ligtning?

 

[buildzoid]

its a bit weird that it has not taken off here, considering power is one of the few things thats not expensive here. Also most houses use electricity for heating in 2/3 of the year.

also, some OTish; looks like the card uses a reference PCB, is there any Hawaii cards that does use custom PCB?

The DCUII has a custom PCB but since the product numbers are removed you can't say that it is better than the reference PCB(it's really good)

 

[the54thvoid]

Whats going to happen when Mantle is final as far as reviews go. Mantle changes things and makes the 290X faster than 780Ti in some games. I'm still going with a 290X, its a good time to be on an AMD card. Now that AMD has fixed frame pacing issues , and with mantle, I think a lot of people are ready to go back to AMD.

While I like the 290X for what it brings, the Mantle argument isn't yet valid. Mantle isn't on every game. So as soon as there is no Mantle support, that advantage is gone. Also crossfire is currently not working with Mantle. While i'm quite sure this will be addressed, I must be alone in thinking if XDMA(?) works for DX11 with the 290 cards, why does it not work in Mantle, AMD's own implementation? As good as Mantle is at being low level, the fact it was announced in October and it's 4 months on with only a beta driver should be a wee bit alarming. Announcing a new tech with a new product and releasing the new product (albeit it in Dec?) without the new tech is a bit of an 'oopsy' in PR.

Until Mantle is mature, it can't be considered a value proposition. In much the same way I'd scoff at someone saying Physx is a value proposition for Nvidia.

As for pricing, I'd rather spend a few bucks more for a 780Ti that will run faster in almost all DX11 games and even in Mantle, a 780Ti on a good cpu will probably still end up faster with decent clocks. AMD seem to take too long to deliver things. In the meantime Nvidia are rolling on as always, churning stuff out and asking a premium for it 'just because'.

After the 780 quickly followed Titan at a fraction of the price I was left a bit 'meh' with Nvidia. Unfortunately, the one card I'd like to play with, the 290x Lightning seems to be vaporware for now.

I went from AMD to Nvidia (7970's to Titan). Mantle isn't enough to make me want to go back and at the same time, I resent Nvidia for their pricing.

Aside from the 290X, I'm very keen to see what the games for this year bring to system requirements. Maybe then at my res (1440p) the 780Ti with 3GB will look a bit rubbish and that 4Gb 290X will look a whole lot more useful?

 

[Casecutter]

Announcing a new tech with a new product and releasing the new product (albeit it in Dec?) without the new tech is a bit of an 'oopsy' in PR.

Nvidia has G-Sync, fixing a hardware problem that has existed since almost the beginning, and their fix is for you to buy more proprietary hardware? Do I get the feeling Mantle was pushed-up (sure somewhat), was BF4 and its' problems with DICE release beneficial to implementing Mantle (nope). I’m sure PR (for both AMD/DICE) wanted something to talk about at the Hawaii release and probably moved it up, but you/we don’t know who’s caused more of the delays. While this is something that's is never really ready and perfected out of the gate. It would be hard enough to coordinate this in one company let alone two, at some point they both have to be willing to cut the umbilical cord.

Until Mantle is mature, it can't be considered a value proposition. In much the same way I'd scoff at someone saying Physx is a value proposition for Nvidia.

Mantle isn't any much a value for High-end enthusiasts (at this point) it meant for those who have older, mediocre CPU’s that bottle neck the GPU. As for those High-end CPU’s the gains are there and free, but nothing to be called value add, or at least until more titles adopt it.
Do we know if new consoles/game will incorporate a Mantle like API… well the PS4? If game developers can or will include Mantle for PS4, then many PC releases are sure to follow.

AMD seem to take too long to deliver things. In the meantime Nvidia are rolling on as always, churning stuff out and asking a premium for it 'just because'. .

You forget that GK100 was killed off, and GK110 was late and even later to gaming. I think we can pick and choose from either side.

Aside from the 290X, I'm very keen to see what the games for this year bring to system requirements. Maybe then at my res (1440p) the 780Ti with 3GB will look a bit rubbish and that 4Gb 290X will look a whole lot more useful?

There's the real issue, such a card(s) where to be the first 4k useable offering judging them at 2560x isn't giving the whole story.

 

[the54thvoid]

Nvidia has G-Sync, fixing a hardware problem that has existed since almost the beginning, and their fix is for you to buy more proprietary hardware? Do I get the feeling Mantle was pushed-up (sure somewhat), was BF4 and its' problems with DICE release beneficial to implementing Mantle (nope). I’m sure PR (for both AMD/DICE) wanted something to talk about at the Hawaii release and probably moved it up, but you/we don’t know who’s caused more of the delays. While this is something that's is never really ready and perfected out of the gate. It would be hard enough to coordinate this in one company let alone two, at some point they both have to be willing to cut the umbilical cord.

Let me help you there. DICE. It's DICE. If getting in a tank crashes my game, I wouldn't trust DICE with any other software.

Mantle isn't any much a value for High-end enthusiasts (at this point) it meant for those who have older, mediocre CPU’s that bottle neck the GPU. As for those High-end CPU’s the gains are there and free, but nothing to be called value add, or at least until more titles adopt it.
Do we know if new consoles/game will incorporate a Mantle like API… well the PS4? If game developers can or will include Mantle for PS4, then many PC releases are sure to follow.

I'm sure Ruskisniper(?) on the Mantle/oxide thread says it's not put on consoles - it's only a PC thing. Consoles don't need it.

You forget that GK100 was killed off, and GK110 was late and even later to gaming. I think we can pick and choose from either side.

Yup, GK100 was unmanageable but look at it now in all it's GK110 glory. The GK110 fully unlocked and with it's good clocks is the fastest gaming card out there. GK110 is over a year old and it doesn't matter - it's very fast and very good with power in consideration.

There's the real issue, such a card(s) where to be the first 4k useable offering judging them at 2560x isn't giving the whole story.

Did you know CoD Ghosts uses all the VRam on my Titan!!!! Logs in at over 6000 Mb. Silly really. Next gen should give us cards tha can do single card 4K. I think by then Nvidia will offer more than 3GB memory standard on the high end.

 

[EarthDog]

I'm curious how a reference card with a different cooler that costs $150 over MSRP (not even considering its $750) gets such high scores...

What would you rather have for $750, a MSI Lightning or this reference model? Or for $100 less, the ASUS DC2OC....

EDIT: I see at the time this was published (damn I need to pay attention to dates. I have not frequented this joint since the forum changed since it sucks for how I navigate) reference cards were $650. Now you can find 290x with a different cooler for $580... $30 over MSRP for reference. So this card still holding at $750 is a joke. WTF Sapphire and Newegg????

 

[Casecutter]

Now at what's... 4 months having past this Tri X at Egg is under $500 (with code) although No Rebate! So the price has moved almost 30%! Today the MSI 780Ti Gaming is $640 after a $30 rebate, so that price has moved but 4.5%
nough-said.