Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC Review: Our First Custom Cooled 290
by Ryan Smith on December 24, 2013 3:45 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- Radeon
- Sapphire
- Radeon 200
Gaming Performance
Diving into our performance benchmarks, we’ll be running light on the commentary here due to the fact that there’s really not much to say about the gaming performance of the 290 Tri-X OC. Sapphire’s 6% core overclock and 4% memory overclock translates into a real world performance difference of 3% on average. This makes the 290 Tri-X OC a bit faster than a reference 290, but it doesn’t otherwise change the relative rankings of various cards. At most this slightly extends the lead over the GTX 780 to 9% and wipes out the 290X quiet mode’s marginal lead over the 290.
In the end the difference is slight enough that the bulk of the interest in this card should rightfully be on the card’s cooler, and ultimately whether that cooler justifies the $50 premium.
On a quick note looking at Rome, as one of the games the 290X throttles in the most, this is also the game where the Sapphire 290 Tri-X OC takes the largest lead over the 290X. The 6% performance lead here reflects on the fact
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Khenglish - Thursday, December 26, 2013 - link
Yeah I simplified things some. I was just pointing out the main culprits for performance and power scaling with temperature. I think I was over most people's heads anyway so I figured more detail wasn't worth it.Also maybe you meant to say something else, but all caches and registers are is a 4 transistor flip-flop (2 inverters in a loop), with 2 more transistors for reading and writing to that exact cell. Power electronics are just bigger FETs. Saying everything in a processor is just FETs and interconnects is very accurate. There really is nothing else.
Arbie - Friday, December 27, 2013 - link
But they do probably learn that ICs aren't built on silicone.Godigy - Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - link
Great review, Ryan, but could you please update this review with VRM temps (stock idle/load, overclocked idle/load)? It'll show the temps in GPU-Z as VRM1 (the GPU/VRAM phases) and VRM2 (PLL-the trio of MOSFETS near the video connectors).Thanks!
TechFanatic - Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - link
This is Sapphire telling all AMD fans out there that your patience shall be rewarded.You have to remember that while Sapphire is asking for a $50 premium custom cards from other AMD partners will bring the prices down, namely the DirectCUII card from Asus which only adds $20 to the MSRP of a reference R9 290.
This card is faster, quieter, cooler, has more memory and is less expensive than the 780.
AMD have got a major winner on their hands.
GPU_obsessed - Tuesday, December 24, 2013 - link
Well you won't see MSRP for r9 290 for still some time. Even so, $550 is a price I'm willing to pay over the $500 780 based on performance. But VRM Temps first ofc.Mondozai - Wednesday, December 25, 2013 - link
The problems with MSRP prices getting distorted due to the mining craze is a mostly NA-centric phenomenom. The mining craze has reached Sweden, too, the forums at even mainstream, non-tech sites are filled with threads on mining yet we see no distortion on prices here. I think it is less an issue of supply and more about the shameless aspects of American capitalism. Nevertheless, for those of us who do pay MSRP it is a good card. Still waiting for review of the DirectCU II cooler from Asus on this card.blanarahul - Wednesday, December 25, 2013 - link
If Computebase.de's reviews are to be believed, the Tri-X cards are better than their respective DirectCU2 and Windforce 3X cards.Folterknecht - Wednesday, December 25, 2013 - link
Computerbase is testing INSIDE A CASE not on an open benchtable. Makes a huge difference.Azurael - Wednesday, December 25, 2013 - link
Last time I checked, my computer was INSIDE A CASE too. So it seems fairly relevant..,.bigboxes - Thursday, December 26, 2013 - link
Thank you.