AMD takes aim at Nvidia's GTX 970 and cuts R9 290X price

[HEXUS]

With the R9 290(X) graphics cards 4GB means 4GB, says AMD.

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[bae85]

haha, 4gb means 4gb... cheeky!

[CustardInc]

It's disappointing to see so many people trading in their 970 for a 980. Nvidia screwed with consumers and consumers are giving them more money.

[shaithis]

If you were, or are, planning, a GPU upgrade which option would you go for in light of recent events - an AMD Radeon R9 290X or and Nvidia GeForce GTX 970?

If I had to choose between them, I'd spend the extra £20 on the 970, even in light of recent events.

Cooler, quieter, same performance, Physx, 3d film playback, I've got along fine with 3GB VRAM so far, got all the AMD bundle games and there are driver optimisations to come....and why buy a card at the end of it's lifecycle? If you don't want the 970, save your pennies and wait and see what the 3xx cards are like soon.

[Dooms]

I still kind of want to add a 2nd 290 (non-x) to my machine. Maybe if these price reductions make it over here I may take the plunge

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It's disappointing to see so many people trading in their 970 for a 980. Nvidia screwed with consumers and consumers are giving them more money.

Cough,Apple.

[Bagpuss]

Not sure i'd want to swap to a 290x right now with AMD's brand new cards about to drop in a few months, which while obviously being faster, they will also hopefully use less power and run cooler.

If you really must return your 970's and get a refund, I'd try and get by on a basic discrete GPU or if you have it, use the onboard graphics solution in your CPU until you see what AMD's new cards have to offer.

[ww1]

So it's ok for Nvidia to market their card as 4GB but it's questionable for AMD to say their 4GB means 4GB?
Ok then. Do you get backhanders for this or something?

[Bagpuss]

So it's ok for Nvidia to market their card as 4GB but it's questionable for AMD to say their 4GB means 4GB?
Ok then. Do you get backhanders for this or something?

..do grow up.

[krazy_olie]

I'd give the 290x a look in if buying now with the price drop but I don't really see the point in selling my 970 because of this memory quirk.
I guess it's more relevant above HD.

[RyanM]

So it's ok for Nvidia to market their card as 4GB but it's questionable for AMD to say their 4GB means 4GB?
Ok then. Do you get backhanders for this or something?

Technically Nvidia's GTX 970 card is 4GB. My opinion is that this is a dubious marketing strategy from AMD to attack its rival, i get nothing for having that opinion. I prefer it when companies let the products do the talking, rather than marketing and PR, but that's just me.

[crossy]

So it's ok for Nvidia to market their card as 4GB but it's questionable for AMD to say their 4GB means 4GB?Ok then. Do you get backhanders for this or something?

I think "questionable" was in italics because the 970 still does have 4GB, only that it's not all equally accessible/performant. So you might argue that it's a bit of a low blow by the Red Team.

If you were, or are, planning, a GPU upgrade which option would you go for in light of recent events - an AMD Radeon R9 290X or and Nvidia GeForce GTX 970?

Unfortunately a ferociously expensive family holiday means no shiny new PC toys for me. However, if I was to get a windfall then it'd be a difficult decision. At this precise moment, I think I'd plump for the known quantity of the 290X - mainly because if there's this memory issue then I've got to wonder (in my naivety) what other little "gotchas" might be lurking in the 970's. Plus AMD's buyer bundle beats NVidia's for me.

[The_Brown_Light]

I do love the hearty competition and slight gig at the competition. Keeps the market fresh and gives the customers some good deals.

[Jowsey]

and why buy a card at the end of it's lifecycle? If you don't want the 970, save your pennies and wait and see what the 3xx cards are like soon.

Because it's cheap!!!

I make it ~£60 cheaper than a 970 for about 95% of the performance. And I will give it to you, if you wait till the 3xx cards come out you will know where you stand and the 2xx cards aren't going to get more expensive! However, if my GPU brakes today, right now I would plump my money up for a 290x of the 970.

(I however, wouldn't actually buy either, sicne I game at 1080p those power house cards are wasted on me ! Dare I say I would just pick up another second hand 760.

[Tunnah]

What in the hell is going on. Tha split partitioning dynamic was well explained and covered, in fact their explanations answered some questions asked about performance quirks that couldn't be addressed until this info came out.

At the end of the day it still trounces all over the competition, it still has 4GB RAM, and it's still nVidia, which I'll be sticking to. AMD just don't appeal to me at all, their CPUs and their GPUs both play second fiddle to a better company.

Myabe focus on producing a GPU that performs well at a decent TDP and a reasonable temperature too.

[Jimbo75]

What in the hell is going on. Tha split partitioning dynamic was well explained and covered, in fact their explanations answered some questions asked about performance quirks that couldn't be addressed until this info came out.

At the end of the day it still trounces all over the competition, it still has 4GB RAM, and it's still nVidia, which I'll be sticking to. AMD just don't appeal to me at all, their CPUs and their GPUs both play second fiddle to a better company.

Myabe focus on producing a GPU that performs well at a decent TDP and a reasonable temperature too.

I'd love to know what your GPU history was, I really would.