First Official AMD Radeon R9 290X Benchmarks

News
By
published

We're in the process of benchmarking AMD's upcoming Radeon R9 290X flagship. But before the embargo expires, the company gave us the go-ahead to publish a couple of numbers from tests we've already run.

We’re cranking away in the lab, benchmarking AMD’s Radeon R9 290X graphics card. Typically, that means you wouldn’t hear a peep from me until launch day.

That's the R9 290X with Tomb Raider at 3840x2160

Presumably as a counter to Nvidia’s press event, which is currently happening in Montreal, however, the company is giving me the go-ahead to publish a couple of my results a bit early.

AMD was very specific that the only numbers it’s approving come from BioShock Infinite and Tomb Raider. We’re only able to show you R9 290X compared to GeForce GTX 780, and only at 3840x2160. But despite those limitations, these numbers were run in our lab, on our own equipment.

We could have dialed this one back a bit, but because Tomb Raider moves a little slower, and because this benchmark sequence is both very demanding and highly repeatable, I wasn’t bothered by the R9 290X’s performance, but was impressed by what I was seeing at Ultra HD.

I backed off a bit in BioShock Infinite, although the Very High detail preset still looks great. As you can see, Radeon R9 290X has little trouble posting higher average frame rates yet again. It’s worth noting that these are Fraps-based numbers—in single-GPU configurations, the results from Fraps and FCAT track closely anyway.

There’s not much more I can say at this point, except that I have several cards tested at 3840x2160, and R9 290X doesn’t just do well against the GeForce GTX 780…

With that, I should probably get back to the lab before I get myself into trouble.

See more GPUs News
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
209 Comments Comment from the forums
  • PepitoTV
    Wow, if Nvidia don't do something, they'll get obliterated in every price range...
    Reply
  • shikamaru31789
    Looks like AMD has a winner when it comes to performance. Now let's just hope that the 290x tops the Titan, that the 290 tops the 780, and that each is priced better than Nvida's competing card. Throw in the Never Settle Forever Gold bundle and AMD is going to have some serious gaming value with the 290 and 290x.
    Reply
  • Jaxem
    very nice, I'd eager to see what it can do in hardware accelerated applications as well :)
    Reply
  • dgingeri
    "There’s not much more I can say at this point, except that I have several cards tested at 3840x2160, and R9 290X doesn’t just do well against the GeForce GTX 780…"

    huh? It seems from the numbers you just put up that the R9 290X does very well against the GTX780. I'm confused. the words and the graphs seems to be contradicting each other.
    Reply
  • ubercake
    I know it's a new card, but are you seeing any microstutter or judder or is it smooth?

    Will you be testing with BF3?

    Will you be checking the crossfire capabilities (and microstutter)?

    Reply
  • PepitoTV
    11739979 said:
    "There’s not much more I can say at this point, except that I have several cards tested at 3840x2160, and R9 290X doesn’t just do well against the GeForce GTX 780…"

    huh? It seems from the numbers you just put up that the R9 290X does very well against the GTX780. I'm confused. the words and the graphs seems to be contradicting each other.

    He's suggesting that it beats the Titan as well.
    Reply
  • ubercake
    11739979 said:
    "There’s not much more I can say at this point, except that I have several cards tested at 3840x2160, and R9 290X doesn’t just do well against the GeForce GTX 780…"

    huh? It seems from the numbers you just put up that the R9 290X does very well against the GTX780. I'm confused. the words and the graphs seems to be contradicting each other.

    It probably also does well compared to the Titan. I think that's what he's gettin' at.
    Reply
  • RussK1
    For all that are saying AMD has a winner and nVidia better do something - isn't it AMD that needs to do something? And isn't it too little too late? Hate to say it, but nVidia is sitting pretty.
    Reply
  • shandy706
    @dgingeri

    Is English not your first language? I would understand if that's why you dont' get what he's saying.

    He's saying. "It doesn't just do well against the GTX 780, but it also does well against (insert card here)". He may be hinting that it doesn't JUST beat the 780, but it also beats or equals the Titan.

    Get it now? It's your reading comprehension in this case...he doesn't contradict himself at all.
    Reply
  • s3anister
    Finally. Was really starting to wonder what the heck was going on when the 15th came and went with not a word about the 290X.
    Reply