Now thats some good news! I have been waiting since Feb for to finish off my upgrade.
I just want to play Dying Light with all the bells and whistles turned up to the max
that and Witcher3, GTA5 and Arkham -
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GPU Value Comparisons
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I just want to play Dying Light with all the bells and whistles turned up to the max
that and Witcher3, GTA5 and Arkham 
I read something the other day where someone hacked the new drivers so the 200 series got a performace jump similar to that of the 300. Think it was related to tesselation but I can't remember but it looks like amd is deliberately crippling the 200 series driver support.
Need to go look for that article...
I read something the other day where someone hacked the new drivers so the 200 series got a performace jump similar to that of the 300. Think it was related to tesselation but I can't remember but it looks like amd is deliberately crippling the 200 series driver support as the 300 series performance jump is not due to hardware.
Need to go look for that article...
EDIT:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/3aetyn/390x_tessellation_is_not_improved_performance/
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/AMD-Radeon-Grafikkarte-255597/Specials/Radeon-R9-390X-Test-1162303/#a5
https://translate.google.com/transl...n-R9-390X-Test-1162303/#a5&edit-text=&act=url
So clock for clock the performance is the same.
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I get that companies would prefer that you buy their new and shiny bling, but surely there is a legal border that something like this would cross? It seems like purposeful gimping of the R9200 cards, in order to promote the R9300's?
I'm not saying this is anything new, or limited to AMD, but that's a rather harsh/shady move.
Dunno, maybe the changes will be reflected in future drivers for the 2x0 series. Bit suspect though.
CataclysmZA
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Yeah, tesselation gets quite a boost and vaults the R9 390X to almost the same levels as Tonga, but not quite. I'll run some Tessmark 32x numbers myself for comparison to the ones Scott Wasson obtained in his tests.
So far very few sites are actually testing tesselation improvements, so I want to examine it for myself. I don't have a R9 290 or 290X on hand to compare to (almost all stock in the country is selling out or EOL) so I'll have to reference Tech Report's findings to figure things out.
My guess is that they're streamlining how GCN works with tesselation. I'm almost certain they were brute-forcing it before and have only now figured out better ways of running tesselation across their product stack. HD7970 might get even MORE improvements still, which is mind-boggling.
The GPUs themselves are new ASICs, but they are the same design with a few efficiency tweaks on a more mature 28nm process. There may be small changes under the hood that require driver forking, but I think we'll see the two come back together with a later Catalyst version that also includes WHQL support for Windows 10.
Fark ATi and their rebranding! Now I'm not even interested in the R9 300 series and solely waiting for the Fury range and local availability. No use buying a 390 when it's no better than previous gen 290.
I get there's tweaks to the architecture etc but their cards are still built on 28nm tech. Surely they could have built the rebranded cards on 20nm tech and lower the TDP of these cards. Same performance but at a lower energy cost.
I just feel these new 300 series cards offer no value for money over the cards they replacing.
I get there's tweaks to the architecture etc but their cards are still built on 28nm tech. Surely they could have built the rebranded cards on 20nm tech and lower the TDP of these cards. Same performance but at a lower energy cost.
I just feel these new 300 series cards offer no value for money over the cards they replacing.
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CataclysmZA
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It depends on which card you're looking at. With MSI, they seemed to have gone full rebrand and overclocked the components they already had on hand, like the memory, which increases power draw dramatically (R9 390X Gaming as an example). But, I've seen results from other R9 390 cards that have better and quieter coolers than the R9 290, along with the same power draw (within 10W difference in one case, Sapphire Nitro), and almost all R9 390 samples I've seen have been just as fast as the R9 290X.
TPU review
So like I said before, these aren't straight rebrands. There are definitely changes in the chip and performance is up, but AMD's obviously using what existing hardware they have to fill in the gaps.
At least its only one generational rebrand with Hawaii, Bonaire and Tonga. Pitcairn has been re-used three times to arrive at the R7 370, which is the same record as the G80 architecture. Fermi at the low end has been rebranded by Nvidia four times.
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Thanks dude, I hope you don't mind explaining and detailing the differences for me. I really haven't been keeping up to date with GPU tech and I appreciate the free schooling you dishing out.It depends on which card you're looking at. With MSI, they seemed to have gone full rebrand and overclocked the components they already had on hand, like the memory, which increases power draw dramatically (R9 390X Gaming as an example). But, I've seen results from other R9 390 cards that have better and quieter coolers than the R9 290, along with the same power draw (within 10W difference in one case, Sapphire Nitro), and almost all R9 390 samples I've seen have been just as fast as the R9 290X.
So like I said before, these aren't straight rebrands. There are definitely changes in the chip and performance is up, but AMD's obviously using what existing hardware they have to fill in the gaps.
At least its only one generational rebrand with Hawaii, Bonaire and Tonga. Pitcairn has been re-used three times to arrive at the R7 370, which is the same record as the G80 architecture. Fermi at the low end has been rebranded by Nvidia four times.
If the 390 performance is on par with the 290x then the 390 isn't a bad card and the 390x is going to a great value card.
Do you expect the performance difference between the 390x and the Fury Nano to be big? The Fury Nano only 4gb of vram albeit HBM whereas the 390x has 8gb of vram. Basically will the extra vram of the 390x help bridge the performance gap between it and the Nano?
Unfortunately I'd say until they are released, most answers to the Nano are speculative. You can take AMD's stance, that the Nano will be far more powerful that the R9290, but again it's them marketing their own product.
In all honesty, I actually believe them... I'm just reigning my hopes in of what "far more powerful" means, upon the cards being tested.
Edit: A little bit of what was covered by AMD regarding their R9 and Fury cards
http://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-r9-f...ered-649-priced-small-form-factor-powerhouse/
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AthenianOwl
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+1
I've lost interests in the 300 series already. Now I'm busy saving up money to get either an Asus GTX 970 or a high end 1000 series card which will be released next year. I've not made any decisions yet
Fulcrum29
Honorary Master
I see that AMD has released up to date drivers, including all cards (HD 7000 and newer graphics products). The R9 280/X is getting all the goodies as with the newer cards.
I have an Asus R9270X and am looking to get a GTX 970 (R6-8k) or 980 or even a 980Ti. The question is, is it worth spending 2k extra for the 980 (R8 -11k) or even 4k more for the 980Ti (R12k+)? Yes I know you will all say the 980Ti but what I really want to know is ....... will I really notice the difference. As far as I can see the 970 can handle all the games in high settings and decent framerates.
The 980Ti or any other card is never future-proof because of the rate that things change and they are always working on things in the background that are making the current cards obsolete.
My setup currently is
Win 8.1 64 bit, Core i5, R9 270X 2Gb, 8Gb RAM, 128Gb SSD, 1Tb Seagate, 24 Inch Samsung monitor.
The 980Ti or any other card is never future-proof because of the rate that things change and they are always working on things in the background that are making the current cards obsolete.
My setup currently is
Win 8.1 64 bit, Core i5, R9 270X 2Gb, 8Gb RAM, 128Gb SSD, 1Tb Seagate, 24 Inch Samsung monitor.
You can get a 970 for R5k, 980 for R7.7k & 980ti for R10k.
970 is a good upper midrange card but you won't be able to max out all games at 60fps 1080p
980 is not something I would buy as it does not seem that great at the price.
980ti performance is just about on par with a titan x and you will be able to max everything out at 60fps 1080&1440p
It's a great GPU, the only thing that concerns me with amd/ati is their drivers. With nvidia you get new drivers regularly, amd seem to fiddle their thumbs.
Hi
I am currently in the market for a new GPU. I think/hope this is the right spot to post. My budget is roughly R5k. What is good value at that price point? Currently I see the options as:
GTX 970/ R9 390/R9 290
They seem to have similar performance at the same price range, but I want to know from guys who actually own them, or had experience with both. I only included the 9 290 because it's close to R4k.
I am flexible in price, but not more than 1k.
Also of note, I am upgrading from a Geforce 660 Superclocked EVGA. A part of me wants to wait till next year for newer GPUs, but my 660 likes to have its drivers crash and it felt slow in some games. I currently have 1080p screens. (planned upgrade sometime to one of those 34" ultrawide 1440p screens)
Edit: If anyone had to venture a guess, would the new Fury Nano card from AMD fall into a similar price category? (or is that wishful thinking?)
I am currently in the market for a new GPU. I think/hope this is the right spot to post. My budget is roughly R5k. What is good value at that price point? Currently I see the options as:
GTX 970/ R9 390/R9 290
They seem to have similar performance at the same price range, but I want to know from guys who actually own them, or had experience with both. I only included the 9 290 because it's close to R4k.
I am flexible in price, but not more than 1k.
Also of note, I am upgrading from a Geforce 660 Superclocked EVGA. A part of me wants to wait till next year for newer GPUs, but my 660 likes to have its drivers crash and it felt slow in some games. I currently have 1080p screens. (planned upgrade sometime to one of those 34" ultrawide 1440p screens)
Edit: If anyone had to venture a guess, would the new Fury Nano card from AMD fall into a similar price category? (or is that wishful thinking?)