PowerColor's Radeon R9 290X is built on AMD's reference design.Using a 30 MHz overclock on the GPU and coming at reference design pricing, the decision whether this card is worth the money is really a no-brainer.
The HIS R7 260X iPower IceQ X² comes with a greatly improved dual fan heatsink that is just so much better than the AMD reference design cooler. Unfortunately, HIS did not overclock their card out of the box, which would have been easy given the numbers we've been seeing during manual overclocking.
AMD's new Radeon R9 290X launches today. Based on a new Hawaii GPU, the card promises record-breaking performance. Not only performance is impressive: With a price of $549, it's also the most affordable high-performance option, which will certainly put massive pressure on NVIDIA.
In this review, we put two AMD Radeon R9 290X cards into a CrossFire configuration, delivering massively improved framerates that will easily handle the latest and greatest titles. With the pair of cards retailing at just $100 more than a single GTX Titan, this is also quite an affordable combination.
Gigabyte's R9 280X OC comes at no price premium, yet features an overclock out of the box and uses the company's famous triple-fan WindForce 3X cooling solution. With a 100 MHz GPU overclock, it manages to beat the much more expensive GTX 770 in real-life performance.
MSI uses the same cooler as on their R9 280X cards on the R9 270X HAWK, which leaves the HAWK with a cooler that has lots of power to spare, resulting in amazing noise levels at reasonable temperatures. The card is also overclocked out of the box for a nice performance boost.
ASUS is using a completely revamped PCB design and the cooler from their GeForce GTX 780 DC II on their latest R9 280X card. The card also comes overclocked out of the box with an overclock on both memory and GPU, which provides a serious performance advantage over the reference design.
The new Radeon R9 280X is based on the AMD HD 7970 GHz Edition design. MSI has taken their highly successful dual-fan cooler from the GAMING Series and put it on the new card. They also included software voltage control and an overclock out-of-the-box.
AMD's new Radeon R9 270X matches last generation's HD 7950 in performance while still coming at an attractive $200 price point. We were a bit disappointed by the reference-design cooler, but board partners will soon release their own designs with custom heatsinks that will perform better.
Based on the Bonaire GPU, just like the HD 7790, and priced at $140, AMD's R7 260X is a new offering that falls into the low midrange segment. The card faces tough competitors from not only NVIDIA but also AMD's own product stack in this popular price category.
MSI's new GTX 660 GAMING seeks to introduce the popular MSI GAMING brand to the GTX 600 Series. The card, which comes overclocked out of the box, was very quiet in our testing and is available online at an affordable $210.
The ASUS GTX 760 DirectCU Mini is an ultra-compact GTX 760, which enables you to play all the latest games with a mini-ITX system. ASUS even managed to squeeze an overclock into this tiny package, and pricing of the card is quite reasonable, with just a $20 premium over the GTX 760 reference design.
Palit's GTX 780 Super JetStream is one of the highest-clocked GTX 780s on the market. In our testing, its performance beats NVIDIA's GTX Titan, yet its price doesn't break the bank. With a retail price of around $670, it is cheaper than any other custom-design, overclocked GTX 780 card.
MSI's new GTX 780 Lightning is built to provide a ton of overclocking features for enthusiasts and record breakers. Its large overclock out of the box makes this card faster than the GTX Titan, yet it still has more headroom inside, as our manual overclock yielded another hefty 14% performance increase.
MSI's new GeForce GTX 760 HAWK comes with several features for overclockers, like LN2 Dual-BIOS and voltage measurement points. For normal users, the card has been heavily overclocked out of the box, making it the fastest GTX 760 we tested so far.
The PowerColor HD 7870 Devil is a highly overclocked custom design that comes with a triple fan cooler and software voltage control. Priced at $240, it sits right in the sweet-spot segment of cards that provide a decent gaming performance without breaking the bank.
MSI's GeForce GTX 780 GAMING is a factory overclocked custom design of the GTX 780. It is the quietest GTX 780 we tested so far, making it a great choice for gamers who want low noise levels. With a price of $650, it is just $10 more expensive than the reference design, a reasonable price increase.
The ZOTAC GTX 770 introduces a new dual-fan cooler that looks quite sleek. Even though the card isn't overclocked, it delivers improved performance thanks to ZOTAC's smart thermal design.
MSI's GTX 760 TwinFrozr GAMING comes with the same powerful cooler as their GTX 770. This means that the card is extremely quiet in both idle and load, yet doesn't run hot at all. The card is also overclocked out of the box.
EVGA's GTX 760 SC comes overclocked out of the box and uses the company's new SCX cooler that promises good performance and low noise levels.
Gigabyte is launching the new GTX 760 with their WindForce 3X triple-fan cooler. The card is also overclocked out of the box, which provides a nice performance boost over the reference design.
The ASUS GTX 760 DirectCU OC uses the same compact PCB as the DC II Mini, which makes it the smallest GTX 760 reviewed today. Its new DirectCU II cooler keeps temperatures low and noise levels in check. An overclock out of the box is also provides an extra performance boost.
Palit's GeForce GTX 760 JetStream comes with a large overclock out of the box, on both GPU and memory. This makes it one of the fastest GTX 760s reviewed today. The card also uses a dual-fan, triple-slot cooler, and Palit is only asking a $5 price premium over the reference design.
Today, NVIDIA launches their new GTX 760 that sets out to provide affordable gaming to the mass market. With a competitive price of $249, it easily beats everything AMD has to offer.
MSI's new GeForce GTX 770 Gaming is optimized for the demands of gamers. It comes overclocked out of the box, but what's more important is that it runs extremely quiet in both idle and load. With no premium over the reference design, it is also one of the most affordable GTX 770s out there.
