Radeon R9 290X Review: AMD's Back In Ultra-High-End Gaming
Features
By
Igor Wallossek, Chris Angelini
published
After eight months of watching Nvidia go uncontested in the ultra-high-end graphics market, AMD has a new GPU based on existing technology that promises to challenge the top position. It gets mighty loud at times, but you can't ignore the R9 290X's price.
Test System And Benchmarks
Test Hardware And Software
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| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processors | Intel Core i7-4960X (Ivy Bridge-E) 3.6 GHz Base Clock Rate, Overclocked to 4.3 GHz, LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled |
| Motherboard | ASRock X79 Extreme6 (LGA 2011) X79 Express Chipset, BIOS 2.50 |
| Memory | G.Skill 32 GB (8 x 4 GB) DDR3-2133, F3-17000CL9Q-16GBXM x2 @ 9-11-10-28 and 1.65 V |
| Hard Drive | Samsung 840 Pro SSD 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon R9 290X 4 GB |
| Row 5 - Cell 0 | AMD Radeon R9 280X 3 GB |
| Row 6 - Cell 0 | AMD Radeon HD 7990 6 GB |
| Row 7 - Cell 0 | Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 6 GB |
| Row 8 - Cell 0 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3 GB |
| Row 9 - Cell 0 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 4 GB |
| Power Supply | Corsair AX860i 860 W |
| System Software And Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 8 Professional 64-bit |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Graphics Driver | AMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta 5 (All AMD cards) |
| Row 15 - Cell 0 | Nvidia GeForce 331.40 Beta (All Nvidia cards) |
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| Benchmarks And Settings | |
|---|---|
| Battlefield 3 | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160, and 7680x1440: Ultra Quality Preset, v-sync off, 90-second Going Hunting playback. FCAT for 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 7680x1440; Fraps for 3840x2160 |
| Arma III | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 7680x1440: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x FSAA, Anisotropic Filtering: Ultra, v-sync off, Infantry Showcase, 30-second playback, FCAT3840x2160: High Quality Preset, 4x FSAA, Anisotropic Filtering: High, v-sync off, Infantry Showcase, 30-second playback, Fraps |
| Metro: Last Light | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 7680x1440: Very High Quality Preset, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, Low Motion Blur, v-sync off, Built-In Benchmark, FCAT3840x2160: High Quality Preset, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, Low Motion Blur, v-sync off, Built-In Benchmark, Fraps |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 7680x1440: Ultra Quality Preset, FXAA Disabled, 25-second Custom Run-Through, FCAT3840x2160: Ultra Quality Preset, FXAA Disabled, 25-second Custom Run-Through, Fraps |
| BioShock Infinite | 1920x1080 and 2560x1440: Very High Quality Preset, 75-second Opening Game Sequence, FCAT3840x2160: Very High Quality Preset, 75-second Opening Game Sequence, Fraps7680x1440: Ultra Quality Preset, 75-second Opening Game Sequence, FCAT |
| Crysis 3 | 1920x1080 and 2560x1440: High System Spec, High Texture Resolution, FXAA, 60-second Custom Run-Through, FCAT3840x2160: High System Spec, High Texture Resolution, FXAA, 60-second Custom Run-Through, Fraps7680x1440: Very High System Spec, Very High Texture Resolution, FXAA, 60-second Custom Run-Through, FCAT |
| Tomb Raider | 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 7680x1440: Ultimate Quality Preset, FXAA, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, TressFX Hair, 45-second Custom Run-Through, FCAT3840x2160: Ultimate Quality Preset, FXAA, 16x Anisotropic Filtering, TressFX Hair, 45-second Custom Run-Through, Fraps |
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Prev Page The Radeon R9 290X Next Page Results: Arma III At 1920x1080 And 2560x1440Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
