AMD launches the Radeon R7 265 for $149

[Scorpus]

AMD has today launched a brand new mid-range GPU, known as the Radeon R7 265, that fits into the company's line-up between the R7 260X and R9 270. Once again, this card is largely based on a HD 7000 series card, specifically the Radeon HD 7850 that launched towards the start of 2012.

Unlike the Radeon R7 260 and R7 260X, which use a 28nm 'Bonaire' die, the R7 265 uses a cut-down 'Curacao' GPU which we've seen used for the R9 270 and R9 270X. Curacao is a GCN 1.0 part, so it will support AMD's Mantle API, CrossFire technology and Eyefinity, however it won't support TrueAudio despite how support is included in both cheaper Bonaire parts.

Specifications-wise we're looking at 1,024 stream processors, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, plus a core clock speed of up to 925 MHz (up from 860 MHz in the HD 7850). The card will come with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, clocked at 1400 MHz (5.6 GHz effective). AMD quotes the card's compute performance at 1.89 TFLOPS, and the card requires a single 6-pin PCIe power port to accommodate its TDP of 150W.

The R7 265 will be available in late February for $149, which will push the price of the R7 260X down to $119. We have received an R7 265 sample card today, and will publish some performance results comparing the card to Nvidia's upcoming GeForce GPUs in the coming weeks.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/55645-amd-launches-the-radeon-r7-265-for-149.html

 

[Adhmuz]

Another entry level card from AMD that is essentially a re-branding of the previous generation, nothing special here. Good solution for a small form factor perhaps, or an entry level gaming PC.

 

[Jad Chaar]

I really hate how AMD is releasing a bunch of rebranded cards. It is diluting the GPU sector and it is making it harder for less-informed people to make decisions on which GPUs to purchase. Look at nVidia, they have only 4-5 700 series cards. This makes the decision easier for the consumer since they dont have to do as much research. If I were AMD, I would just sit back and work on the next generation of cards and not rebrands.

 

[Kibaruk]

Another entry level card from AMD that is essentially a re-branding of the previous generation, nothing special here. Good solution for a small form factor perhaps, or an entry level gaming PC.

At this point in time, it will be hard for completely new non-rebranded cards come into play as entry level. They do sport new technology with increased clocks, which in the end is what matters.

If you talk high-end cards, that's quite different if they rebranded.

 

[theBest11778]

I'm glad they finally rebranded the 7850. Not that I'm a fan of rebrands, but I had a 7850, and was surprised by how good the card actually was. I got mine Holiday season 2012 for around $150 (for the 1GB model,) I was hoping prices would be a bit lower. This card would be great for a cheaper build or as someone mentioned above a SFF build/Steambox/HTPC.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I really hate how AMD is releasing a bunch of rebranded cards. It is diluting the GPU sector and it is making it harder for less-informed people to make decisions on which GPUs to purchase. Look at nVidia, they have only 4-5 700 series cards. This makes the decision easier for the consumer since they dont have to do as much research. If I were AMD, I would just sit back and work on the next generation of cards and not rebrands.

But remember those 4-5 parts are still Kepler based and nVidia will be releasing further 700 series cards that will be Maxwell based so no matter which camp you're in you're gonna have to pay your money and pick your poison. Both AMD & nVidia are tarred with the same brush as far as I'm concerned.

 

[GhostRyder]

I really hate how AMD is releasing a bunch of rebranded cards. It is diluting the GPU sector and it is making it harder for less-informed people to make decisions on which GPUs to purchase. Look at nVidia, they have only 4-5 700 series cards. This makes the decision easier for the consumer since they dont have to do as much research. If I were AMD, I would just sit back and work on the next generation of cards and not rebrands.

Just count

But in truth yea it can be a little daunting what with all these recent card releases that are essentially just halfway points between each card. Its actually quite annoying in many respects but I don't see the re-branding as being to bad because it drives the prices to be in better positions. Although personally im at the point where I just go "Oh look another card...Cool?" so its just going to mean that at any price theres a card for you.

Since its also harder to get some of these old cards, the good news is that these re-brands generally can CFX with their last gen brothers which is very nice, though im curious if that will work with the 265 being that its a different chip even though the specs are the same.

 

[Nima304]

I have no idea which card is what anymore.

 

[Kibaruk]

I have no idea which card is what anymore.

It's as simple as checking on specs, clocks, memory, platfom codename and most importantly, benchmarks, loads and loads of benchmarks.

 

[mosu]

The good news here is that R7 260X will be cheaper(no premium for novelty or extra sound capability)

 

[dividebyzero]

It's as simple as checking on specs, clocks, memory, platfom codename and most importantly, benchmarks, loads and loads of benchmarks.

The casual user is still likely to be confused. This card uses the Curacao GPU. Can you tell me the difference between Curacao and Pitcairn Pro?

Curacao.......1024 SP's (of 1280 total on die)...32 ROP...64 TMU...212mm²...2.8bn transistors
Pitcairn Pro..1024 SP's (of 1280 total on die)...32 ROP...64 TMU...212mm²...2.8bn transistors

The only real difference between the 265X and the HD 7850 is likely to be availability, as the latter is phased out. Excepting the memory frequency (most vendor 7850's don't touch the memory speed- Sapphire being one of the exceptions), there is precious little to distinguish the two - further muddied by the fact that there are a fair number of 7850's sporting much faster core clocks ( PowerColor, HIS, VTX3D, Asus all have 1000MHz variants, Gigabyte and MSI offer 975 and 950)

 

[Kibaruk]

At the $150 AMD is promising, its Radeon R7 265 offers impressive value. You would have had to pay $250 for these frame rates when the Radeon HD 7850 surfaced, and that was a good deal back in the day. What's not to like, right?

Better clocks and bandwidth (Maybe better OC capabilities? didn't see it on the tests). On tomshardware benchmarks it shows a global improvement of 8% to a 7850, and 3% slower than a GTX 660. 8% improvement is very good for the price.

Maybe the same way as you had higher clocks on different manufacturers we'll see the same on this one

You can check the benchmarks here.

 

[dividebyzero]

Better clocks and bandwidth (Maybe better OC capabilities? didn't see it on the tests). On tomshardware benchmarks it shows a global improvement of 8% to a 7850, and 3% slower than a GTX 660. 8% improvement is very good for the price.

Same silicon usually equates to the same performance parameters. The 265X has a 7.6% in core clock and 16.7% memory clock hike over the HD 7850 (stock v stock) so it should show some improvement. As for OC'ing, both cards achieve similar results. TPU got 1140 MHz out of the Sapphire, while Hexus and G3D got 1120 MHz and ~1175 MHz (AB maxed) out of the same card respectively.
The same three sites achieved comparable results with the 7850: TPU got 1190 out of a Club3D card, Hexus hit 1200 with a PowerColor card (and 1175 with an XFX), and G3D also managed 1200 with an MSI card

Maybe the same way as you had higher clocks on different manufacturers we'll see the same on this one

Undoubtedly, although AMD don't tend to allow vendors too much flexibility at launch so it might take a few weeks for them to show up.

 

[Kibaruk]

Well if everything is the same, the price point of both cards are way off, even now you can't find a 7850 for $150 unless it's a used card. That alone is great enough.