New AMD range of graphics cards

[Doc.Pock]

Last time i was looking the AMD cards where numbered 5800,7870 ect ect.. however i know see the R7 and R9 series of cards.
New naming scheme, like nvidia did 5 years ago

I have read up on these and being a smaller range they are alot easier to understand, i think i am going to go for a R9, the second from the top.
the R7 2xx cards are all just rebranded models (new names) and so are R9 2xx except R9 290(x) models.

Are the old series of cards now discontinued? Will a 7870 be worth buying instead of a high end R9? My thinking is get a R9 because it would probably be easier to find another R9 in the future to xfire than the dated 7870
Yes, depends on pricesm you will be able to crossfire the tahiti GPUs together still since its the same card but new name.

Also next year when the next cards come out, will they be R8 and R10's or just new suffixes.
R7 = low ends, R9 = high end. next gen cards are going to be R7/9 3xx(x) cards

Cheers guys.

Sent from my Blade using Tapatalk 2

7even char

[DesmoLocke]

The reviews are out for the 290x.

For me, it clearly wins the performance for dollar. However, I don't like that it runs at 95c and the noise on the stock cooler seems to be an issue. And the reference cooler is simply terrible looking but whatever. I'm just hoping AMD remains competitive in the high end so Nvidia doesn't get lazy in the future. NOw its a wait and see what the 780Ti has to offer.

[LITOralis.nMd]

That 95c test was BS, the fans were running at 20% the entire test, due to stupidity from the tester.

Also, the waterblocks are only US$120, so the ref designs can be under water, OC'ed, destroying GTX690/Titans, for substantially less.

[FatalWaffles]

That 95c test was BS, the fans were running at 20% the entire test, due to stupidity from the tester.

Also, the waterblocks are only US$120, so the ref designs can be under water, OC'ed, destroying GTX690/Titans, for substantially less.

According to AMD the cards are designed to be run at 95c and are perfectly safe to operate at that temperature.

[Doc.Pock]

Its a great card, and can easily be run at low temps and high freqs. You just have to turn the fan on...

And i suppose most people looking for this kind of performance will want to watercool anyway.

[DesmoLocke]

[quote=""'[R-COM"]LITOralis.nMd;1959372']That 95c test was BS, the fans were running at 20% the entire test, due to stupidity from the tester.[/quote]

You can't really run the fan at 100% though without hearing protection. 65-70 dB!!
AMD Radeon R9 290X - Fan speed test, 20/40/55/100% "The Leaf blower" - YouTube

[quote="FatalWaffles""]According to AMD the cards are designed to be run at 95c and are perfectly safe to operate at that temperature.[/quote]

But for how long? You can't seriously think the card will last for long with the core experiencing those kind of temps for sustained gaming sessions. My trusty old pair of 8800GTs served me well for 5 years. Will the 290x be expected to still be performing after 5 years of high temps? I mean water boils at 100?C! I can't wait for those videos where they use the card to cook something. Think of the old Nvidia GTX 480.

Its a great card, and can easily be run at low temps and high freqs. You just have to turn the fan on...

And i suppose most people looking for this kind of performance will want to watercool anyway.

Most of the testers haven't been able to get much of an overclock on this card though. Linus on YouTube runs all his benchmarks with overclocked cards and the 780 wins by 10% in tests at 1080p which, let's face it, most people are using these days. However, the story gets better for the 290x at 1440p and 1600p.

You're right. Most enthusiasts will use watercooling for these cards, but they're not the majority. Do you plan on watercooling your recently purchased 780s? Did you watercool your old GTS 250? I would love to do a custom watercooling loop one day, but I move a lot being in the military and I enjoy smaller builds for LANs. It's not feasible for most gamers and PC users.

The three big strikes against the 290x as I see it is 1. poor thermal performance, 2. high power usage, and 3. high fan noise. It's big saving grace is the ever important performance-per-dollar. But with the pending 780 Ti release, will Nvidia drop the 780 price to $550 to match the 290x? I think with nearly 6 months after the release of the 780 that Nvidia will have something good to offer consumers. Let's hope so and give AMD props for forcing Nvidia's hand eh?

[DesmoLocke]

AnandTech | NVIDIA Announces GeForce GTX 780/770 Price Cuts; GTX 780 Ti Launch Date & Price

Geforce GTX 780 dropping to $499 as of today and the release of the 780 Ti on November 7th.
Good time of the year to buy for anyone looking at high end graphics cards.

[Daniel]

AWESOME, that YouTube link up there... xD xD roflrofl (and the youtube top comment, "meanwhile @ NASA..." xD )