Radeon R9 290X Review: AMD's Back In Ultra-High-End Gaming

Results: Metro: Last Light At 1920x1080 And 2560x1440

Metro’s Very High detail preset is demanding, so it’s telling that all of these cards serve up such playable performance at 1920x1080. The step up to 2560x1440 knocks the R9 280X under 40 FPS on average. Meanwhile, R9 290X averages more than 50 FPS at both of its BIOS settings.

This game’s built-in benchmarking utility applies a highly variable load. We can see, however, at both resolutions, that the most taxing sequences have AMD’s R9 290X well ahead. Whereas GeForce GTX Titan and 780 dip down to 30 FPS or so at 2560x1440, the R9 290X maintains around 40 FPS at its worst.

Dual-GPU cards again demonstrate the highest frame time variance. But a worst-case result under 2 ms is still plenty smooth, practically.

  • beta212
    That's incredible. Especially at high res, I wonder how they do it. But the low price alone is enough to blow the competition away. Seriously think about it, it's around half the price for higher performance!
    - AMD: We're not aiming for the ultra high end.
    I think Nvidia just got trolled.
    Reply
  • slomo4sho
    Great price point. This card has already broken world records just a few hours after release!

    Reply
  • esrever
    2 of these for 4k looks amazing but Im a little disappointed by the power consumption when you crank up performance.
    Reply
  • aznguy0028
    I was thinking about hopping on the 7970ghz when it's on sale, but after seeing this, it's time to break apart the piggy bank for the 290x, what value!
    Reply
  • Benthon
    Like the conclusion said, you just can't argue about aesthetics and thermals at this price point/performance. Well done AMD, lets see team green's response! Go consumer!
    Reply
  • tuklap
    This is awesome for us ^_^
    Reply
  • Shankovich
    Wow, and it's pegged at 73% too. Even if nVidia's "780ti" beats the 290X, it probably won't beat a 290X running at full power. And if mantle does make some big performance boosts, nVidia is going to be in a really tight spot. Looking forward to what they'll do. In the mean time, loving this competition! We all win in the end.
    Reply
  • julianbautista87
    daaaaayyyyyuuuummmm
    Reply
  • anxiousinfusion
    Wait the 290 X... X? is going to be $550?! Forgive me, padre for I have sinned.
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    Good job, AMD!
    Reply