News - AMD unveils Radeon R9 and R7 series graphics cards in Hawaii

[HEXUS]

Also details innovative Mantle and AMD TrueAudio technologies.

Read more.

[cheesemp]

Odd choice to stick the trueaudio in the high end card and the near budget model. Think they would stick it in all or just the high end models. Must be honest I'm still struggling with the new naming structure...

[hoggson]

I want one lol... The R9 290X seems like a good upgrade from my 7950. And I agree with cheeseamp, the TrueAudio being on the top and mid-low end cards is an odd choice. They should implement it on the whole series.

[hoggson]

*cheesemp, sorry.

[Scainer]

I fell asleep with all the audio B$.

R9 270x - $199 [£ 160?] (HD 7870)
R9 280x - $299 [£ 240?] (HD 7970 GHz)
R9 290 -
R9 290x - rumours suggest $ 599? [£ 480?]


Things that would have been interesting is performance in relation to the current market. Maybe an indication of when the NDA is lifted.
The 280X is against the 770 - Arguably team green is superior but cost £50 more.

There is little to be excited about, where is the game changer? Where is the consumer benefit?
At least the 770 was a marginal improvement on the 680, Is the 280x just the same product?

[Kovoet]

While I can see my 7970's going for sale soon. Cannot wait for the 290x. Then maybe go crossfire at a later stage. Last time I saw my bank manager he told me to take a seat, I said I felt comfortable on my knees. What am I going to say this time?

[big_hairy_rob]

finally! now, let's see some statistics and benchmark results....

[scaryjim]

Without the full machine spec it's hard to judge firestrike scores (CPU really does make a difference), but none of those look particularly stunning to me.

6800+ would put the 280X at about the same speed as a 7970, 5500+ puts the 270 at around stock 7950 performance, 3700+ puts the 260X just behind a stock 7850, and 2000+ makes the R7 250 around the same speed as a 7750 - all with MSRPs that translate to roughly the same as the existing etail prices. I guess they may be sandbagging slightly (i.e. the performance could be *a lot* higher than those figures) to throw the competition off, but so far I'm underwhelmed. It looks like everything's going to stay the same except for a new faster part at the top end...

[Yash047]

Are these firestrike results the graphics score or combined score?

[kalniel]

Without the full machine spec it's hard to judge firestrike scores (CPU really does make a difference), but none of those look particularly stunning to me.

6800+ would put the 280X at about the same speed as a 7970, 5500+ puts the 270 at around stock 7950 performance, 3700+ puts the 260X just behind a stock 7850, and 2000+ makes the R7 250 around the same speed as a 7750 - all with MSRPs that translate to roughly the same as the existing etail prices. I guess they may be sandbagging slightly (i.e. the performance could be *a lot* higher than those figures) to throw the competition off, but so far I'm underwhelmed. It looks like everything's going to stay the same except for a new faster part at the top end...

It looks like
280X = 6800+ = 7970 - taihiti
270X = 5500+ = 7870 - pitcarin. see the Hexus charts and you'll find existing pitcairn is capable of 5500+ when overclocked, so with a generation of refinements I think we'd quite easily see 5500 on a stock pitcairn.

260X = 3700+ = 7790 - bonnaire

[lumireleon]

AMD is always quick to give the transistor count and memory width but power consumption, Driver issues & benchmark are a thing that they have always lag behind. A 7970 is good but most gamers dont have such amount of cash, so they opt for Nvidia 760, will this year see an improvement in the low budget AMD cards?

[kalniel]

A 7970 is good but most gamers dont have such amount of cash, so they opt for Nvidia 760

Well according to the Steam hardware survey that's not the case at all - The nVidia 760 has a 0.42% share, while the 7970 has 1.12%, almost 3x more.

[scaryjim]

It looks like
280X = 6800+ = 7970 - taihiti
270X = 5500+ = 7870 - pitcarin.
260X = 3700+ = 7790 - bonnaire

That'd certainly match with the rumour thread that's kicking around here somewhere. OC pitcairn's always been a close match for stock 7950 due to the very conservative clock speeds the (non-boost) 7950 was released with.

So that gives us old silicon, at current prices and around current performance. Way to launch a new generation of cards, AMD...

[abychristy]

I want them ! I WANT THEM ALL CARDS !

[MustardCutter]

Hmmnnn.... I was hoping for an equivalent to the 7870 pricewise with the performance of the 7970, kinda like a 9870.

Well according to the Steam hardware survey that's not the case at all - The nVidia 760 has a 0.42% share, while the 7970 has 1.12%, almost 3x more.

Well, one has been available to buy a lot longer than the other, but the original statement was rather sweeping anyway and probably mainly opinion or plucked from a rectum.

[hahcore]

The new naming scheme confuses me. But this lineup of cards really gets me excited.