
We've almost completely eliminated mechanical storage in the lab, and instead lean on solid-state drives to alleviate I/O-related bottlenecks. Samsung sent all of our offices 256 GB 840 Pros, so we standardize on these exceptional SSDs.

Naturally, discrete graphics cards require a substantial amount of stable power, so XFX sent along its PRO850W 80 PLUS Bronze-certified power supply. This modular PSU employs a single +12 V rail rated for 70 A. XFX claims that this unit provides 850 W of continuous power (not peak) at 50 degrees Celsius (notably higher than the inside of most enclosures).
The Radeon R9 270 is being tested against three other Pitcairn/Curacao boards: the Radeon HD 7850, Radeon HD 7870, and Radeon R9 270X. We're also including a Bonaire-based Radeon R7 260X to gauge the spread betwen the 270 and the next model down (once the 7850 disappears, that is). Nvidia's portfolio is represented by the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost and GeForce GTX 660.
| Test System | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-2550K (Sandy Bridge), Overclocked to 4.2 GHz @ 1.3 V | ||||
| Motherboard | Asus P8Z77-V LX LGA 1155, Chipset: Intel Z77M | ||||
| Networking | On-Board Gigabit LAN controller | ||||
| Memory | Corsair Performance Memory, 4 x 4 GB, 1866 MT/s, CL 9-9-9-24-1T | ||||
| Graphics | Reference Radeon HD 7850 1GB 860 MHz GPU, 1 GB GDDR5 at 1200 MHz (4800 MT/s) Reference Radeon HD 7870 1000 MHz GPU, 2 GB GDDR5 at 1200 MHz (4800 MT/s) Sapphire Dual-X R9 270 945 MHz GPU, 2 GB GDDR5 at 1400 MHz (5300 MT/s) *GPU downclocked to reference 925 MHz specification for benchmarking* Reference Radeon R9 270X 1050 MHz GPU, 2 GB GDDR5 at 1400 MHz (5300 MT/s) Reference Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 980/1033 MHz GPU, 2 GB GDDR5 at 1502 MHz (6008 MT/s) Reference Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 980/1033 MHz GPU, 2 GB GDDR5 at 1502 MHz (6008 MT/s) | ||||
| Hard Drive | Samsung 840 Pro, 256 GB SSD, SATA 6Gb/s | ||||
| Power | XFX PRO850W, ATX12V, EPS12V | ||||
| Software and Drivers | |||||
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | ||||
| DirectX | DirectX 11 | ||||
| Graphics Drivers | AMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta 9.2, Nvidia GeForce 331.65 WHQL | ||||
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Metro: Last Light | Version 1.0.0.0, DirectX 10, Built-in Benchmark |
| Call Of Duty: Ghosts | Version 1.6.89.06, Version 1.5.26.05, 25-Sec. Fraps |
| Tomb Raider | Version 1.04, Custom THG Benchmark, 60-Sec. Fraps |
| Battlefield 4 | Version 1.2, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark, 60-Sec. Fraps |
| BioShock Infinite | Version 1.0.1441711, Built-in Benchmark, Fraps |
| Company Of Heroes 2 | Version 3.0.0.9804, Built-in Benchmark, Fraps |
- The Radeon R9 270: New, Or Renewed?
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Results: Call Of Duty: Ghosts
- Results: Battlefield 4
- Results: Metro: Last Light
- Results: BioShock Infinite
- Results: Tomb Raider
- Results: Company Of Heroes 2
- Power And Temperature Benchmarks
- AMD Radeon R9 270: A Worthy Radeon HD 7870 Replacement
I doubt this card has too much headroom in that department. The 6-pin is a gift and a curse.
Frig... we've been stuck at 28nm for so long it's just "understood". You could get-away with leaving that whole column out.
the previous version, 7870 GHz edition and 7870 XT is now so cheap
I wonder if it will Crossfire with a HD7870 though.
I'm still looking forward to a review of the R7s...
name and tweaked performance that's slower or little better than the original,
and pretty much the same price point. Can someone explain where one can
find Moore's Law in all this? IMO it all looks like a waste of time. I mean, after
20 months, this is all we get? Not impressed at all. I'd hoped AMD wouldn't
go down the road of rebranding (it was bad enough with the 8800GT fiasco),
but I guess they figure enough people will fall for the PR. I foresee yet more
cards on eBay from disgruntled gamers who upgraded only to observe little
or no speed gain.
The 290/290X at least offer something tangible, whether it's solid performance,
good prices, or both, sans noise issues, but these reissued older GPUs really
irritate me. Reminds me of the lacklustre improvements we've had in CPU power,
the halting of price drops for SSDs, the shooting back up of RAM prices since
Feb, and so on. If the PC market is shrinking, I don't think one can blame it
entirely on the rise of tablets & suchlike, or the dislike many have of Win8;
instead, IMO these days there are simply fewer items that are worth buying
as upgrades. All this stalls demand, people stop buying, or buy less often
as they wait for something better, which makes it look like the market is
shrinking when infact users are just waiting for products that are worthy
of their cash.
Sometimes I think it's a pity that all the various 3rd-party GPU makers can't
combine their own talents and come up with a completely separate GPU
development path to NVIDIA and AMD. Surely there's enough skill & knowledge
by now at ASUS, Sapphire, Gigabyte, EVGA, HIS, etc., to do this. Oh if only...
Ian.