Old Is New Again: Radeon R9 270X and R7 260X Review

[Julio Franco]

Read the full article at:
[newwindow=https://www.techspot.com/review/722-radeon-r9-270x-r7-260x/]https://www.techspot.com/review/722-radeon-r9-270x-r7-260x/[/newwindow]

Please leave your feedback here.

 

[Adhmuz]

Just lol

Fantastic Work AMD, just fantastic

 

[psycros]

The ATI acquisition continues to bear overripe, mushy fruit. Sure, its gotten AMD into every home console but its done nothing for them on the PC side. However, they still have a chance to prove that it really IS all in the drivers via Mantle. However, if they can't make their case I'd say their finished with serious PC gamers. It been three years and they still haven't delivered price-to-performance at the high end. (AMD will still own the budget market, particularly due to their superior video playback - I'd never build an HTPC with Nvidia).

 

[dividebyzero]

The ATI acquisition continues to bear overripe, mushy fruit. Sure, its gotten AMD into every home console but its done nothing for them on the PC side. However, they still have a chance to prove that it really IS all in the drivers via Mantle. However, if they can't make their case I'd say their finished with serious PC gamers. It been three years and they still haven't delivered price-to-performance at the high end. (AMD will still own the budget market, particularly due to their superior video playback - I'd never build an HTPC with Nvidia).

Just think of it as a nice reduction in existing prices, or maybe that suspicious shrimp cocktail in the dodgy thousand island dressing before the prime rib main course (290X).
Rebrands were always on the cards with AMD and Nvidia's product release cycle out of step with TSMC's fabrication process cadence. From AMD's point of view there is little to be gained from churning out a full range of new 28nm GPUs with a likely life cycle of 6-9 months, when existing (and mature/proven) GPUs can continue to fill the existing niches.

The only real sour taste is that the 280X is a downclocked 7970GE. Even rebrands usually acquire a mild speed bump.

 

[Guest]

Sorry but at the last paragraph you got a little mistake there "Then we have the GeForce R7 260X which is said to cost $140" -- Editor: Thank you, fixed. --

 

[Guest]

GeForce R7? Seems to be a mistake.

Great review, and great product from AMD! My HD 6950 will be changed!

 

[mosu]

I would not forget about DirectX 11.2 compatibility and TrueAudio engine, not to forget about a lot of minor improvements in frequency and thermal envelope.Why the Radeon HD 7970 benchmark appears only in the power consumption list?

 

[mosu]

Sorry, mistaken 7790 for 7970

 

[emmzo]

Yeah, truly embarrassing. Not that I haven`t seen this coming, but wait, there`s more: "the Titan killer"! Can`t wait for that!

 

[AnilD]

mosu, sorry but I must disagree. DirectX 11.2 compatibility is not really a feature today or tomorrow, and if the GPUs are the same, then the difference is in the drivers and thus AMD could enable future DX support in previous products, too. As for audio, it looks good on paper but it's not a real feature right now either, and it's weird how only 290 and 260 cards get that, but not the rest of the upper-end products.

 

[Guest]

Man, even for a rebadging this is depressing. Only good thing to come out of this whole mess is price cuts for older cards on both sides.

 

[ghasmanjr]

This makes me very sad as this adds absolutely no competition for Nvidia. As AMD has already discovered: no competition = no innovation (looking at you, Intel)

 

[MrBlkfx1]

The title of this article told me everything I needed to know about this new series. It's sad. But, hopefully AMD will be able to redeem themselves with the 290X.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

The title of this article told me everything I needed to know about this new series. It's sad. But, hopefully AMD will be able to redeem themselves with the 290X.

I wouldn't hold my breath. I think we can safely ignore this generation completely and hope the next will be a lot better.

 

[Guest]

It's a little disappointing to note that only one GPU from the range is going to actually be a new part, and not a re-badged part but even that said, incremental performance improvements at a similar price level are nothing to be sniffed at even if the units aren't technically new.

 

[Jad Chaar]

mosu, sorry but I must disagree. DirectX 11.2 compatibility is not really a feature today or tomorrow, and if the GPUs are the same, then the difference is in the drivers and thus AMD could enable future DX support in previous products, too. As for audio, it looks good on paper but it's not a real feature right now either, and it's weird how only 290 and 260 cards get that, but not the rest of the upper-end products.

It may be due to the fact that the audio is rendered via the GPU and only the 260 and above can afford to put aside resources to render the audio. I am pretty sure the 270 and 280 get it to.

Also, if I am not mistaken, I dont think the driver can update to provide full DX11.2 support. Not fully sure though.

 

[MrBlkfx1]

Also, if I am not mistaken, I dont think the driver can update to provide full DX11.2 support. Not fully sure though.

I'm pretty sure it's full Dx11.2 support. I assume it's the same for the new cards.

 

[VitalyT]

Average-to-Mediocre Devices is what AMD stands for these days, same as in the CPU segment.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Average-to-Mediocre Devices is what AMD stands for these days, same as in the CPU segment.

Not even the cooler was improved much other than the aesthetics.

 

[Guest]

I remember when NVidia did the same exact thing. So I went and bought AMD. Now look.
Its a vicious circle.

Hell Im just going to get a second 7870. 7870's in CF are just a killer price\performance option.
They are as fast or faster than Titan and my total investment will be $430.

 

[dividebyzero]

It may be due to the fact that the audio is rendered via the GPU and only the 260 and above can afford to put aside resources to render the audio. I am pretty sure the 270 and 280 get it to.
Also, if I am not mistaken, I dont think the driver can update to provide full DX11.2 support. Not fully sure though.

You're batting 500.
An upcoming driver will provide full DX11.2 support for all GCN cards.
True Audio is only available for GCN 1.1/2.0 GPUs (Bonaire and Hawaii), so R7-260X, R9-290/-290X. You'll note that the HD 7790 also sports a Bonaire GPU, and is True Audio capable, but AMD it seems aren't enabling it for the card.

The 240/250/270X/280X are straight up rebrands of earlier cards using GCN 1.0, so aren't True Audio enabled.

 

[GhostRyder]

You guys do realise the GTX 770 is just a rebranded GTX 680 right? AMD is not the only one that rebranded their cards, the 760 is a new card though.

These cards are the lower segment, they are not meant to be the cream of the crop, its all about the 290X and 290. I think what we got from the review is very simple:

Unless your upgrading post 2 gens back, dont upgrade your current 7XXX series card as most are just overclocked variants.

 

[dividebyzero]

You guys do realise the GTX 770 is just a rebranded GTX 680 right? AMD is not the only one that rebranded their cards, the 760 is a new card though.

Not quite.
The GTX 760 is a GTX 660 OEM with a clock bump. The latter is available as 192-bit or 256-bit. As a 256-bit it features the same 32 ROP (24 for the 192-bit)/96 TMU/1152 Core count as the 760.

 

[GhostRyder]

Not quite.
The GTX 760 is a GTX 660 OEM with a clock bump. The latter is available as 192-bit or 256-bit. As a 256-bit it features the same 32 ROP (24 for the 192-bit)/96 TMU/1152 Core count as the 760.

Well thats a bit peculiar, I forgot about those OEM versions, good catch.

However, that does then add to this argument doesnt it? Because everyone here is ranting about AMD doing that, isnt then that just what NVidia did?

 

[dividebyzero]

However, that does then add to this argument doesnt it?

That both sides rebrand? I guess, but then, it is pretty self evident. 3D graphics cards have been rebranded since their inception. There was only a clock bump between the 3D Rage and Rage II and even less between the Rage Pro and Rage Pro Turbo in the 1995-98 timeframe, and Nvidia's GeForce2 and GeForce4 MX a little later.

Because everyone here is ranting about AMD doing that, isnt then that just what NVidia did?

Probably because this thread concerns AMD hardware. If you want to see people thrashing down Nvidia rebrands than the forum threads attached to the Nvidia reviews are a better (and more apropos) bet.