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

CrossFire: Arma III At 7680x1440

When I first started generating CrossFire data (at the request of /u/Schmakk in /r/buildapc), my reaction was, "...the heck? How can a card that offers so much memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate fall behind the card it was faster than in single-GPU testing?" And then I started my clock rate log and everything made more sense. Beyond the possibility of performance being shader-bound, we know for a fact that two R9 290Xes in CrossFire throttle back their clock rate sooner and more severely than one board due to heat.

With that said, two $550 cards are still keeping pace with two $1000 boards in Arma III.

Even with two high-end cards, the Ultra detail preset is a bit much at 7680x1440. You'd probably want to scale back a bit if you own three 2560x1440 screens (incidentally, those 11 million pixels can be had for $1200 or so, which is almost one-third of an Ultra HD screen).

We record higher frame time variance from AMD's cards. The fact that its single- and multi-card solutions are on fairly event ground keeps us from suspecting an issue with CrossFire, though.

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.
  • 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