AMD reveals mid-range Radeon R9 285, yours for $249 starting September 2

[Shawn Knight]

AMD over the weekend held a live webcast in which they celebrated 30 years of graphics and gaming innovation. The chip maker used the opportunity to announce a new mid-range graphics card expected to hit retail early next month.

As the name suggests, the Radeon R9 285 is the successor to the Radeon R9 280 and is being positioned between the R9 270 / 270X and R9 280X with an MSRP of $249. The card will feature 1,792 stream processors, 112 texture units, 32 ROPs and 2GB of GDDR4 RAM with a memory clock of 5.5GHz / memory bus width of 256-bit.

If that's not enough memory, we are hearing that some third-party manufacturers will release variants of the card with 4GB of memory. Connectivity options, meanwhile, include a full-size DisplayPort, two DVI ports and an HDMI port.

The R9 285 should be a bit more efficient than the R9 280 with a power rating of just 190 watts versus the 250 watts of its predecessor although it'll still require two 6-pin power cables. We also understand that it'll use the Tonga Pro GPU system.

At a clock speed of 918MHz, AMD claims the R9 285 is capable of up to 3.29 TFLOPS.

AMD is launching the Radeon R9 285 on September 2 at the aforementioned MSRP of $249. Now that graphics cards have become impractical for virtual coin mining, inventory shouldn't be an issue like it was late last year. 

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/57834-amd-reveals-mid-range-radeon-r9-285-yours-for-249-starting-september-2.html

 

[Cueto_99]

Its an AMD HD 7950 BOOST with a new name...

 

[Guest]

AMD is getting their eyes on their old by encouraging Mantle which was not a absolute innovation, but a lie that claims to be 50-60% faster at providing more graphics power than Direct 3D. You cannot improve graphics by adding new API technologies, you can by boosting the speed and reliability functions of a GPU without adding Mantle.

Our graphics is much powerful than before without mantle.

We do not need mantle, we need Intel Core i7 with faster and powerful GPU?

AMD, why did you came out with Mantle which is not boosting performance according to Nvidia?

AMD, stop coming out with innovations that do not make sense, we need a sensible approach to innovation, not new API's which causes slower graphics performance on game or lightning fast and vibrant applications if they are being used for more than 10 minutes.

Mantle must be gone by AMD, it is dead and they are given a F at innovation and powerhouse graphics.

People, if you want a faster processor, look for Intel core i7 and Nvidia GeForce GTX850M

Thank you for not coming up with a 12 core CPU, you need to understand that we can improve on processor power and cores that we have instead of having or adding more processor cores for no reason.

AMD, come up with a reason for your Mantle API which is not needed according to Nvidia.

We need Intel core i7's and Nvidia, not AMD at all because they caused more motherboard failures caused by latest Windows Service Packs.

We turned on our computers quickly without facing any head on slow downs when about to turn on our machine.

Our lightning fast Intel Core i7 laptop turns on in about 3 seconds without any issues compared to AMD systems which takes forever and makes more noise.

I hate AMD's decision to focus more on improving Mantle we do not need to implement or design at all. Mantle is not necessary and it is not supported by us.

AMD, you are absolutely done with me, I will never ever buy AMD at all, you came out with Mantle, I don't like your stupid mantle API, it is a junk which cannot be considered innovation.

AMD is loosing money and will receive a downgrade on innovation to F, they are stupid and they need to immediately fire AMD CEO in seconds.

Rory Read, time to resign because you were not talking like Steve Jobs, we need another Steve Jobs as soon as possible, not AMD expert at all.

Find innovate human who can stop the rise of stupid mantle API which is not needed in building faster and powerful GPU runtime at all.

AMD Mantle is garbage, stop making a not innovative announcements now.

Buy Intel core i7 at intel.com/corei7

 

[GhostRyder]

Its an AMD HD 7950 BOOST with a new name...

Not really? Its a different GPU in general all together as they are also poised to release the R9 285X GPU sometime later...On top of that it uses less power than the 7950 so a boost variant would in actuality use more.

What is odd to me here is that based on what ive read and seen this GPU is supposed to fight the GTX 760, however based on its specs its above the R9 280 in performance (Which already bests the GTX 760) while having 1gb less VRAM standard on top of the smaller bus.

Interesting choice in all honesty for releasing the first taste of the next gen cards and power efficiency...

 

[Cueto_99]

True @GhostRider, The GPU Architecture is different since HD7950 is Tahiti and R9 285 is Tonga... that probably is the reason of its low power profile and several features the 7950 lacks of... but in other numbers like Stream Processors (1792), Texture Units (112), ROPs (32) they're rather the same... I may be tempted to say that in overall Graphics Power they might be similar, eventhough the two year difference...

 

[Adhmuz]

Remember when AMD went from the RV770 to the RV870 and doubled core count, rasters and textures? Well that won't ever happen again and you'll have to live with these 20-25% increases in performance every 9-15 months, even straight up card renaming, that's the new norm apparently. As long as people are buying them, things will persist, however the market as a whole depends on GPUs and will just continue to be there for them.

 

[misor]

GDDR4

I thought most if not all 'gaming' video cards use gddr5?

 

[GhostRyder]

AMD is getting their eyes on their old by encouraging Mantle which was not a absolute innovation, but a lie that claims to be 50-60% faster at providing more graphics power than Direct 3D. You cannot improve graphics by adding new API technologies, you can by boosting the speed and reliability functions of a GPU without adding Mantle.

Our graphics is much powerful than before without mantle.

We do not need mantle, we need Intel Core i7 with faster and powerful GPU?

AMD, why did you came out with Mantle which is not boosting performance according to Nvidia?

AMD, stop coming out with innovations that do not make sense, we need a sensible approach to innovation, not new API's which causes slower graphics performance on game or lightning fast and vibrant applications if they are being used for more than 10 minutes.

Mantle must be gone by AMD, it is dead and they are given a F at innovation and powerhouse graphics.

People, if you want a faster processor, look for Intel core i7 and Nvidia GeForce GTX850M

Thank you for not coming up with a 12 core CPU, you need to understand that we can improve on processor power and cores that we have instead of having or adding more processor cores for no reason.

AMD, come up with a reason for your Mantle API which is not needed according to Nvidia.

We need Intel core i7's and Nvidia, not AMD at all because they caused more motherboard failures caused by latest Windows Service Packs.

We turned on our computers quickly without facing any head on slow downs when about to turn on our machine.

Our lightning fast Intel Core i7 laptop turns on in about 3 seconds without any issues compared to AMD systems which takes forever and makes more noise.

I hate AMD's decision to focus more on improving Mantle we do not need to implement or design at all. Mantle is not necessary and it is not supported by us.

AMD, you are absolutely done with me, I will never ever buy AMD at all, you came out with Mantle, I don't like your stupid mantle API, it is a junk which cannot be considered innovation.

AMD is loosing money and will receive a downgrade on innovation to F, they are stupid and they need to immediately fire AMD CEO in seconds.

Rory Read, time to resign because you were not talking like Steve Jobs, we need another Steve Jobs as soon as possible, not AMD expert at all.

Find innovate human who can stop the rise of stupid mantle API which is not needed in building faster and powerful GPU runtime at all.

AMD Mantle is garbage, stop making a not innovative announcements now.

Buy Intel core i7 at intel.com/corei7

That was the biggest load I have read in a long time...None of that is even close to true...

 

[Arizonian]

Do I smell a 295X version for $600 10%-15% better than 290X performance next.

 

[Stupido]

Do I smell a 295X version for $600 10%-15% better than 290X performance next.

never mind... (that's why I'm stupido...)

 

[dividebyzero]

Do I smell a 295X version for $600 10%-15% better than 290X performance next.

No. A full Tonga die (still looks strange seeing AMD recycle an Intel IC name) has 2048 cores and a 256-bit bus so it won't be a threat to a 2816 core, 512-bit Hawaii.
It will probably be as most succeeding GPUs tend to be- replacing the processor placed one rung above it (price/hierarchy) from the previous generation. Tonga will be a cheaper (smaller die), more efficient replacement for Tahiti.

GDDR4

I thought most if not all 'gaming' video cards use gddr5?

Correct. Something got lost in translation

 

[oldikes]

AMD is getting their eyes on their old by encouraging Mantle which was not a absolute innovation, but a lie that claims to be 50-60% faster at providing more graphics power than Direct 3D. You cannot improve graphics by adding new API technologies, you can by boosting the speed and reliability functions of a GPU without adding Mantle.

Our graphics is much powerful than before without mantle.

We do not need mantle, we need Intel Core i7 with faster and powerful GPU?

AMD, why did you came out with Mantle which is not boosting performance according to Nvidia?

AMD, stop coming out with innovations that do not make sense, we need a sensible approach to innovation, not new API's which causes slower graphics performance on game or lightning fast and vibrant applications if they are being used for more than 10 minutes.

Mantle must be gone by AMD, it is dead and they are given a F at innovation and powerhouse graphics.

People, if you want a faster processor, look for Intel core i7 and Nvidia GeForce GTX850M

Thank you for not coming up with a 12 core CPU, you need to understand that we can improve on processor power and cores that we have instead of having or adding more processor cores for no reason.

AMD, come up with a reason for your Mantle API which is not needed according to Nvidia.

We need Intel core i7's and Nvidia, not AMD at all because they caused more motherboard failures caused by latest Windows Service Packs.

We turned on our computers quickly without facing any head on slow downs when about to turn on our machine.

Our lightning fast Intel Core i7 laptop turns on in about 3 seconds without any issues compared to AMD systems which takes forever and makes more noise.

I hate AMD's decision to focus more on improving Mantle we do not need to implement or design at all. Mantle is not necessary and it is not supported by us.

AMD, you are absolutely done with me, I will never ever buy AMD at all, you came out with Mantle, I don't like your stupid mantle API, it is a junk which cannot be considered innovation.

AMD is loosing money and will receive a downgrade on innovation to F, they are stupid and they need to immediately fire AMD CEO in seconds.

Rory Read, time to resign because you were not talking like Steve Jobs, we need another Steve Jobs as soon as possible, not AMD expert at all.

Find innovate human who can stop the rise of stupid mantle API which is not needed in building faster and powerful GPU runtime at all.

AMD Mantle is garbage, stop making a not innovative announcements now.

Buy Intel core i7 at intel.com/corei7

cant tell if serious

 

[Guest]

Stop with the cheap Intel propaganda here, you can't wash brains here with that cheapshot. Thank you!

 

[Sir Alex Ice]

The MSRP is a complete lie, dealers in EU will have to pay 275$ so they would have to lose 25$ just to sell to retailers at 249$. Nevermind retailers making a profit.

 

[Puiu]

AMD is getting their eyes on their old by encouraging Mantle which was not a absolute innovation, but a lie that claims to be 50-60% faster at providing more graphics power than Direct 3D. You cannot improve graphics by adding new API technologies, you can by boosting the speed and reliability functions of a GPU without adding Mantle.
...

are you getting paid to write this much? if not then you sir need to slow down look around and start noticing that your life is not just your PC.