Msi 290x review: AMD Radeon R9 290X Review

Specification:

According to the table, the differences between the MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING and the reference graphics card are minimal. Only the increased frequency of the graphics chip stands out immediately from the reference 1000 to 1080 MHz (an increase of 8%). The rest of the characteristics are completely identical. At first glance, it may seem that we have only a slightly overclocked version of the AMD Radeon R9.290X with alternative cooling system. However, there are quite a few significant differences in the MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING model from the «reference» solution. We will talk about them in the following sections.

Packaging and contents

The video card is delivered in a rather large cardboard box with brightly designed printing, dominated by yellow and black colors. The front side shows a jet plane, which symbolizes the high speed of this graphics adapter. In the lower left corner there is an inscription that tells us the model of the video card (Radeon R9290X) and its belonging to the proprietary LIGHTNING series. The top corner contains the MSI logo. On the opposite side are the logos of the overclocker series, and below is the logo of the AMD Radeon series.

The back of the packaging is much more informative and tells us about some of the key features and technologies that were used in the production of the MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING. Let’s look at them in more detail. The novelty is based on the exclusive Triple Force architecture, which includes:

• Triple Level Signals LED — a set of green, blue and red indicator lights that tell us about the low, medium and high degree of load on the video card.
• TriFrozr Thermal Design is an innovative thermal design with independent control of each fan, which should ensure better heat dissipation from the GPU and power elements than the traditional version.
• PureDigital PWM — The digital power subsystem is more stable and reliable than analog. Its reaction time is significantly reduced, which helps to obtain greater stability at maximum load. There is the ability to control the indicators of the main voltages using the MSI Afterburner program. It also provides the ability to programmatically control the power phases.

There is room for other benefits on the back of the packaging. Among them it is worth highlighting:

• Support for Twin BIOS technology, which provides for the presence of two BIOS chips: original and for extreme overclocking. If everything is understood with the first one, then the second one removes all voltage and TDP restrictions, which will help to unlock the full frequency potential of the graphics accelerator when using modified liquid nitrogen-based cooling systems.
• Use of the Enhanced Power Design power subsystem with an increased number of phases, which will provide more stable operation during overclocking.
• Support for SuperPipes technology, which provides for the presence of two 8 mm heat pipes in the cooling system for more efficient heat dissipation. The presence of technology Dust Removal , which is used to clean the fans. The first 30 seconds after the start of the system, the propellers spin in the opposite direction, removing accumulated dust.
• Support for the improved Military Class 4 element base, the elements of which meet the strict requirements of the military standard MIL-STD-810G. It included: new power transistors CopperMOS , which guarantee the robot under the highest loads; black solid capacitors Dark Solid CAP with an aluminum core, corrosion protection, low ESR resistance and a guaranteed 10-year life; economical stabilizing capacitors Hi-C CAP with tantalum core; new efficient Super Ferrite Choke (SFC) ferrite coils with polished surface for better heat dissipation and corrosion protection.

On the bottom of the package, in addition to the accelerator specification in several languages ​​(including Russian), there was also a place for a list of system requirements. In particular, the minimum power of the power supply must be 500 watts. It must contain two 8-pin PCIe auxiliary power connectors.

Inside the package is a black cardboard box with a golden imprint «LIGHTNING», which has two compartments. As you can see, even the packaging looks very original.

Inside the box is an MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING graphics card wrapped in a transparent anti-static bag and securely fixed in polyethylene foam. By pulling the tape, we have access to the compartment with accessories.

In the box we found:

• CD with drivers and MSI Afterburner utility, which allows overclocking and monitoring of key components of the video card;
• quick user guide and a booklet describing proprietary technologies;
• Military Class 4 quality and stability certificate;
• two 6-pin to 8-pin power adapters and one of two 4-pin Molex (PATA) to 6-pin PCIe;
• three adapters for connecting measuring devices in order to monitor key parameters;
• additional radiator for power keys.

This package can be called optimal for a video card of this class. Note the presence of PCIe adapters, which will make it easy to connect a graphics adapter, even if the power supply is not equipped with the necessary connectors. We should not forget about the presence of an additional VRM heatsink, which will come in handy during extreme test sessions.

Appearance

The MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING is 315mm long and 131mm wide (measured in our test lab), which is larger than the reference card (290 x 112). The mass of new items is more than 1.5 kg. Not every case can accommodate such a video accelerator and provide it with the necessary air circulation, however, most gaming system units are specially designed for mounting such flagships.

The video card attracts attention with its solid design and considerable size. The entire front part of the accelerator is covered by a shroud with three fans, which harmoniously combines black with yellow accents. Owners of system cases with a side window will undoubtedly be pleased with this design solution.

On the reverse side of this novelty is a black-painted aluminum plate, which not only complements the overall style, but also protects the board elements from mechanical damage, prevents the textolite from bending under the weight of the massive design of the cooling system, and also takes part in partial heat dissipation. In addition, there is a row of 12 light indicators that are highlighted in blue and make it possible to monitor the operation of the main power phases.

A little to the left there are three more LEDs with multi-colored illumination. If red is on, there is insufficient power, blue is normal operation, and yellow is overclocking. Such illumination will help to quickly determine the operating mode of the accelerator and diagnose the cause of the malfunction.

There is a transparent MSI LIGHTNING series logo along the top edge of the graphics adapter, which has three lighting modes depending on the load. Green tells us about the general mode of operation, blue indicates the playback of demanding games, and red indicates the maximum load. The video card is designed in such a way that it occupies almost three expansion slots, but does not cover the last one completely.

Closer to the interface panel of the MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING is a switch between the BIOS: Original and LN2 chips. The first of them contains settings for normal operation, and the second allows you to unleash the full potential of new items when using extreme cooling systems. It should also be noted that there are no conventional AMD CrossFireX connectors, which are used to combine several accelerators for general calculations. Now this technology is implemented at the software level and a bunch of two to four video cards is supported.

The interface panel has wide slots for extra ventilation. But for displaying an image on the MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING graphics adapter, the following set of interfaces is provided:

• 2 x DVI-D;
• 1 x HDMI 1. 4a;
• 1 x DisplayPort 1.2.

Supports a maximum digital signal resolution of up to 4096 x 2160.

This configuration of external interfaces is quite successful, as it provides comfortable connection of various digital monitors and TVs, but does not support analog displays. In addition, the organization of multiscreen systems is facilitated.

Three connectors for measuring key supply voltages are located on the rear end of the novelty. V-Check Points connectors are connected here with sockets for probes of a multimeter or other measuring device, which makes it as easy as possible to control the voltage on the GPU, video memory and PLL during overclocking.

Printed circuit board and element base

Having dismantled the cooling system, you can examine the printed circuit board in more detail. Before us is a unique design using a multilayer textolite, a reinforced power subsystem and a high-quality and durable element base.

The tested model is powered by 10+3+2 phases (GPU/MEM/PLL). In this case, only high-quality Military Class 4 components are used: CopperMOS power transistors, which guarantee the robot at the highest loads; Dark Solid CAP black solid capacitors with an aluminum core, corrosion protection, low ESR resistance and a guaranteed 10-year life; economical tantalum-core Hi-C CAP capacitors, and new efficient Super Ferrite Choke (SFC) coils with a polished surface for better heat dissipation and corrosion protection. Recall that in the reference solution, the power supply system is built according to a modest scheme — 5 + 1 + 1 (GPU / MEM / PLL).

PWM controllers IOR 3567B and IOR 3570B manufactured by International Rectifier are controlled. They support the I2C protocol and a large number of energy-saving and protective technologies. Thanks to the first controller, the active phase switching function is implemented and the performance of AMD PowerTune technology is improved. In addition, on the board, next to the power phases, there is a soldered row of capacitors on both sides, which provide improved smoothing of the supply voltage ripples. This should have a positive impact on the overclocking potential of new items.

In addition to the PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, the MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING graphics card is powered by three additional PCIe connectors (two 8-pin and one 6-pin) located on the side of the graphics adapter. All of these connectors can deliver up to 450 watts of power, which should ensure the stability of all components. Recall that the reference solution was equipped with only one 6- and one 8-pin connector. Nothing prevents connecting and disconnecting additional power cables, despite the proximity of the cooling system.

The core component of the MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING is the AMD Radeon R9 290X (Hawaii XT) GPU, which is manufactured using the 28nm process. It is based on the AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) microarchitecture. AMD Hawaii XT includes 2816 universal shader pipelines (stream processors), 64 ROP units and 176 texture units. This crystal contains 6.2 billion transistors on an area of ​​438 mm ² . Note that it is devoid of a heat-distributing cover, but has a protective frame that protects it from damage. As we have already noted, the frequency of the graphics core is higher than recommended by AMD and is 1080 MHz. And thanks to the support of AMD PowerTune technology in idle, it drops to 300 MHz.

The GDDR5 memory of the MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING video card, with a total volume of 4 GB, is assembled using 16 FCBGA chips with a capacity of 256 MB each, manufactured by Samsung Semiconductor. Chips are marked K4G20325FD-FC03 and operate at an effective frequency of 5 GHz. The bandwidth of the 512-bit memory bus is 320 GB of information per second.

Cooling System

MSI engineers replaced the reference turbine-type cooling system with a brand new TriFrozr Thermal Design cooler, which is part of the exclusive Triple Force architecture. The cooling system is noticeably different from the usual Twin Frozr Advanced, which has become a privilege of the MSI GAMING gaming series. To remove the TriFrozr, simply unscrew the four spring-loaded screws around the perimeter of the graphics chip.

The cooler is based on five nickel-plated copper heat pipes: three 6 mm and two 8 mm (Superpipe technology), which have improved heat transfer performance compared to conventional ones.

The radiator consists of two massive sections. In one part there is a large nickel-plated base with flattened and tightly nested heat pipes. The other section is pierced through with heat pipes.

All plates are fixed neatly and very firmly. The copper heatpipes are securely soldered to the aluminum heatsink and to the copper base. At the same time, they did not spare the solder and everything was done with high quality.

The active part of the cooling system is formed by three fans mounted on the radiator plate. Two extreme (PLA09215B12H) sizes 92 mm (real 87 mm) and one central (PLA08010S12HH) with a diameter of 80 mm (real 74 mm). Fans manufactured by Power Logic with an operating voltage of 12 V and a current of 0.55 A. They have a 4-pin connection, so their rotation speed is controlled by PWM modulation. The blades themselves are made using the PropellerBlade design, which provides 20% more airflow. And for constant automatic cleaning of dust, proprietary Dust Removal technology is used.

Note that the innovative TriFrozr Thermal Design provides independent control of each fan, depending on the temperature of different components: GPU, PWM controller and power circuit elements.

Since the main cooling system does not come into contact with power switches and memory chips, a single black aluminum plate heatsink is provided for them. There are special slots in the locations of high elements.

Ten screws must be removed to remove the rear stiffening plate. As you can see, the front and back plates provide a secure fixation of the printed circuit board. This design protects it from mechanical damage and deflection under a massive cooling system. Contact with power elements is carried out through thermal pads.

Now let’s proceed directly to testing the cooling system of the MSI Radeon R9 290X LIGHTNING. According to the manufacturer, it is capable of dissipating up to 500 watts of thermal power.

With automatic fan speed control, at maximum load, the graphics core heated up to 74 degrees, and the fans, according to the monitoring readings, worked at 61% of their maximum power, which is approximately 2402 rpm. In this mode, the noise level, according to subjective sensations, is a little higher than average, but it is quite acceptable for continuous use.

After the forced increase in the speed of the blades to the maximum level, the temperature of the GPU dropped to 72 degrees, and the fans, according to the monitoring readings, spun up to 3649rpm At the same time, the generated noise level, according to subjective sensations, can be described as “high”. It is hard to call it comfortable for long-term work at the computer.

Thanks to energy-saving technologies, when there is no load, the frequencies of the graphics core and memory are automatically reduced. This made it possible to significantly reduce the power consumption and heat dissipation of the video card as a whole. In this mode, the GPU temperature did not exceed 41 degrees, and the noise level was very low.

Summing up all of the above, we would like to note that the branded TriFrozr cooler is a high-tech and high-quality cooling system with a moderate noise level with automatic control. Recall that the «reference» cooling system automatically provides the GPU robot at a temperature of 94 ° C, so the TriFrozr performance is extremely good. They give hope for a good overclocking potential.

Testing

AMD Radeon R9 290X video card overview

The reference version of the Radeon R9 290X is quite similar to the R9 270X. The model is based on Hawaii GPU. The chip has a useful die area of ​​438 mm2. The GPU has 6.2 billion transistors. Processor architecture — GCN (Graphics Core Next). The card was created using the 28 nm process technology. Due to the increase in the crystal, it was possible to place 44 CU-blocks. In this model of the graphics accelerator, a 512-bit bus is used, due to which the throughput is increased to 320 GB / s. Card length 275 mm. The cooling system occupies two slots.

Specifications

	AMD Radeon R9 270X	AMD Radeon R9 280X	AMD Radeon HD 7970	AMD Radeon R9 290X	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
Processor name	Curacao XT	Tahiti XTL	Tahiti XT	Hawaii	GK104	GK104	GK110
Process	28 nm	28 nm	28 nm	28 nm	28 nm	28 nm	28 nm
Processor frequency	1050 MHz	1000 MHz	925 MHz	800/1000 MHz	980 (1033) MHz	1046 (1085) MHz	863 (900) MHz
Number of stream processors	1280	2048	2048	2816	1152	1536	2304
Number of texture units	80	128	128	176	96	128	192
Number of ROPs	32	32	32	64	32	32	48
Memory	GDDR5 2/4 GB	GDDR5 3 GB	GDDR5 3 GB	GDDR5 4 GB	GDDR5 2 GB	GDDR5 2 GB	GDDR5 3 GB
Tire	256 bit	384 bit	384 bit	512 bit	256 bit	256 bit	384 bit
Memory frequency	1400 (5600) MHz	1500 (6000) MHz	1375 (5500) MHz	1250 (5000) MHz	1502 (6008) MHz	1753 (7012) MHz	1502 (6008) MHz
Maximum power consumption of the graphics card	180 W	250 W	250 W	N/A	170 W	230 W	250 W
Video outputs	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x Mini-DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Supported APIs	DirectX 11. 2 OpenGL 4.3 Mantle	DirectX 11.2 OpenGL 4.3 Mantle	DirectX 11.1 OpenGL 4.2	DirectX 11.2 OpenGL 4.3 Mantle	DirectX 11 OpenGL 4.3	DirectX 11 OpenGL 4.3	DirectX 11 OpenGL 4.3

The Radeon R9 290X is equipped with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory with an effective frequency of 5000 MHz. Unfortunately, the figure cannot be called a record. For example, the GeForce GTX 770, which can be called a direct competitor of this model, has a frequency of 7000 MHz.

Power consumption

Hawaii GPU maximum temperature limit is 95 degrees. In the Catalyst driver settings, in the OverDrive menu, there is a flat card that allows you to independently select the GPU frequency settings, taking into account the power limit of the graphics adapter. You can also set the turbine rotation speed, the maximum allowable core temperature. This menu is useful for users who want to independently overclock the video card. The

Radeon R9 290X supports two BIOS profiles: quiet and uber. In uber mode, the graphics card runs at maximum frequencies, that is, 1000 MHz, and in the first mode, the GPU frequency can be reduced depending on how well the cooler copes with cooling.

Synthetic tests

Benchmarks show a significant victory for the Radeon R9 290X over the GeForce GTX 780. The difference is about 13%. In terms of performance, AMD’s R9 290X outperforms its direct competitor in top solutions.

Game tests

The video card was tested in games with Full HD resolution at high, maximum settings. In this battle, the GeForce GTX 780 won. Good results were recorded only in Battlefield 3 and Company of Heroes 2. In all other tested video games, the Radeon R9The 290X is a bit behind in terms of fps.

Manufacturers of the

Radeon R9 290X are:

1. MSI
2. ASUS
3. GIGABYTE.

SAPPHIRE R9 290 4GB GDDR5

Despite the fact that many manufacturers of graphics accelerators equip their models with proprietary CO, this video card received a reference cooling system from AMD. The video card is based on AMD Hawaii PRO, which is manufactured using a 28nm process technology and includes 2560 universal shader processors, 160 texture units and 64 ROP units. Depending on the load and heating, the core clock frequency changes dynamically, reaching a maximum of 947 MHz. SAPPHIRE R9 290 4GB is made on black textolite. PCB height — 112 mm, length — 290 mm. Together with CO, the card occupies two slots. In the center is a graphic chip equipped with a protective metal frame for safe installation and removal of CO. Under the plastic casing is a massive radiator, a 78-mm turbine-type fan.

The set of new interface panel ports is as follows:

• 2 x Dual-link DVI-D;
• 1 x HDMI;
• 1 x DisplayPort.

HDMI and DisplayPort connectors capable of supporting 4K Ultra HD (4096 x 2160) resolution. It is possible to connect up to six displays simultaneously in AMD Eyefinity mode using the DisplayPort interface and special adapters, or up to four monitors or TVs when using all interface panel connectors directly.

The power subsystem of the video adapter was created according to the reference seven-phase scheme: five phases for the graphics core, one for the memory and one for the PLL. To power the card, in addition to the PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, there are two additional PCIe connectors: 6-pin and 8-pin.

MSI R9 290X Lightning

This model has impressive dimensions and is a copy of MSI N780 Lightning. The length of the video card is 30 cm. Together with the CO, the card occupies three slots. Instead of the standard configuration of six and eight pin power connectors, there are two connectors for eight pins and one for six. The model received a standard set of interfaces for image output: DisplayPort, HDMI, two DVI.

CO consists of three fans, four tubes of 6 mm and 8 mm. Side fans have a diameter of 92 mm, central — 80 mm. The impeller is made according to the Propeller Blade technology with a bend at the edges of the blades, which allows to increase the airflow area. The radiator consists of two sections on which frames with fans are screwed on top.

This video card has been overclocked from the recommended frequencies of 1000/5000 to 1080/5000 MHz. Taking into account the fact that 1100 MHz in the core was difficult even on the ASUS R9290X-DC2OC-4GD5, the factory frequency of 1080 MHz for such a hot processor is a rather high value.

Lightning received advanced temperature monitoring capabilities. In addition to data on core heating, you can monitor the temperature of the memory and VRM unit. Expanded voltage control functions.

As for gaming tests, compared to the reference model, this video card showed better results at maximum graphics settings by about 5-7%. The increase from overclocking was 11%. At the same time, the overclocked competitor GeForce GTX 780 and GeForce GTX 780 Ti turned out to be faster in such games as Assassin’s Creed, Crysis 3, Metro: Last Light, Blacklist.

ASUS R9290X-DC2OC-4GD5

The video card strictly repeats the previous version of ASUS R9290-DC2OC-4GD5. The difference is that there are no red decorative elements on the case. The graphics accelerator, together with the cooling system, occupies two slots. Card length — 290 mm.

The standard cooling of the reference version was replaced by a proprietary DirectC II system. The main feature is the use of two 100-mm fans of different design in the cooling system. The model learned a standard set of video interfaces: HDMI, DisplayPort and two DVI. Cooling is represented by a powerful radiator with five thermal copper pipes. Direct contact of the pipes with the surface of the graphics chip is implemented. The end tubes do not touch the chip. The most powerful central ones, two of which have a diameter of 8 mm, one 10 mm.

There are 10 power phases on the PCB, six of which are for GPU power. Each channel is implemented on DrMOS chips. The processor is surrounded by a protective metal frame. In the standard version, it operates at a clock frequency of 1000 MHz, the effective memory frequency is 5000 MHz.

ASUS Radeon R9 290X is equipped with a switch between two modes. The model also received contact pads (ASUS ROG Connect) to control supply voltages.

Gaming tests

Tested on the following system:

• Processor Intel Core i5-3570K 3400 MHz.
• ASRock Z77 Extreme11 s1155 E-ATX Motherboard.
• RAM Corsair DDR3 2x8GB PC-17066 2133 MHz.
• Hard drive Toshiba 500 GB 32 MB 7200 rpm 3.5″ SATA III
• Power Supply Chieftec Nitro II BPS-850C2 850W
• Operating system Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1;
• HP ZR30w Monitor.

The temperature of the video card during the passage of gaming tests and the «quiet» mode of operation of the CO was 93 degrees. The video adapter almost all the time worked at a frequency of 1050 MHz.

The graphics adapter has been tested in several games at the same time as other graphics cards. All graphics accelerators were tested at nominal frequencies. The AMD Radeon R9 290X/R9 290 and ASUS Radeon R9 290X DirectCU II graphics cards have been set to maximum cooling performance (Uber mode).

Conclusion

ASUS Radeon R9 290X DirectCU II performed well in benchmarks. Most modern video games go without lags, freezes at medium, maximum graphics settings. The proprietary cooling system does an excellent job. Under load, the noise is negligible. In general, this video card model has balanced technical characteristics. The Radeon R9 290X beats the GeForce GTX 780 in all respects, but at the same time it has a lower cost, which allows you to create a good gaming system without extra financial costs.

AMD Radeon R9 290X

Reach Hawaii! You will receive new vertices of speed and functionality

Content

• Part 1 — theory and architecture
• Part 2 — Practical acquaintance
  • Features of the video card
  • Stand configuration, list of test instruments
  • The results of synthetic tests

  07

  • — results 3 — results game tests (performance)

  Just imagine, you are: on the seashore, even the ocean… White sand, the sound of the surf, the foamy tide… Somewhere in the distance there are huge castles of cumulus clouds. And no one … The gaze involuntarily glides over the sand and notices the workers of crabs, who selflessly in a short time, while the waves recede at low tide, produce thousands of sand balls. Eyes stopped at two crabs, two meters apart from each other … One, greenish in color, makes big balls, but does not throw it into the mink, but leaves it. But having made one big one, he then quickly sculpts small balls and throws them into his mink one by one. And the second, reddish in color, makes large and small balls, while its large balls are smaller than those of a greenish relative. Already tired, he made a very large ball and, at the end of his strength, pushed him into a hole. At the same time, the greenish crab simply took the same large ball previously made and sent it to its hole with a slight movement of the claw.

  Looking at this unpretentious picture, I suddenly caught myself thinking that this is all — a complete analogy of the situation with 3D accelerators. One has only to imagine that minks are the market for those same video cards. Who is greenish and who is reddish crab — the reader can guess for himself. And that’s how it really is…

  Actually, today we will tell about one «very large» ball of «reddish crab». It is no coincidence that the code name of Hawaii and the analogy on the beach that came to mind are combined … And after all, the “reddish crab” did not work so hard in vain. A very powerful and solid product has been released, smashing its rival Geforce GTX 780 to smithereens. That’s what the material is about.

  Part 1: Theory and Architecture

  We have already released a detailed theoretical material about AMD’s new line of graphics solutions, consisting of the Radeon R7 and R9 families. But then only those video cards were officially announced that turned out to be renamed solutions of the previous generation. And although they differ in very attractive prices, technically these are the same well-known video cards of the Radeon HD 7000 series, and almost all video cards presented then have twins from the near past.

  And finally, AMD decided to announce the older solution of its line — Radeon R9 290X, which is interesting for the new graphics chip used in it, codenamed Hawaii. It was presented to the profile press on the island of Oahu — one of the Hawaiian Islands, which are distinguished by a wonderful climate and luxurious conditions for relaxing off the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

  But AMD’s employees could only rest after the announcement of new solutions, and before the release of a new top-end GPU, they had to seriously work on it. After all, the energy consumption of the previous top-end Tahiti chip (for some reason we were not taken to Tahiti, by the way), which formed the basis of the Radeon HD 79 video card70, and so already close to the limit, possible, provided that the usual set of additional power connectors is connected: 6- and 8-pin.

  The energy efficiency of Nvidia’s top video chips of the current generation is clearly higher than that of Tahiti, so AMD’s competitor released not only the Geforce GTX 780, but also the GTX Titan, which outperformed the Radeon HD 7970 GHz in terms of performance. AMD needed to respond with something, if not the Titan, which is overpriced and aimed at the rare enthusiast, but the GTX 780, which has become quite popular among non-poor PC gamers.

  Therefore, in Hawaii, AMD developers had to significantly increase the number of execution units, but there was almost nowhere to increase power consumption. More precisely, it had to be kept within certain limits, increased, but not as much as productivity increased. That is, the main task in the development of a new GPU was to increase the very energy efficiency on which everything now depends. Did they get the job done? Finding this out is the main goal of our material.

  Recall which video cards are included in the new families of AMD Radeon video cards. The company’s lineup now contains several series: the R9 and R7 series (in the future, the budget R5 series is also expected, but for the players it is not particularly interesting). The new line of the company contains the following models covering most of the market segments:

  So, video cards of the R7 250 and R7 260X models are intended for the price range of $90-$140 (prices in the US market), R9 270X is sold for $200, and R9 280X for $300. As for the flagship of the line — the R9 model290X — then its recommended price in the US market is only $549, and this is a fairly strong move by AMD, given that the same Geforce GTX 780 is more expensive.

  Let’s see what AMD itself thinks about the positioning of its new top-level solution. To do this, they traditionally take the Fire Strike benchmark from the latest version of Futuremark 3DMark, in two different versions: Performance and Extreme. Due to the fact that this benchmark is well suited for modern AMD graphics cards, the number of points scored by the Radeon R9 graphics card in it290X (we’ll talk about two modes of operation later) allows you to significantly outperform its main competitor — Geforce GTX 780.

  see detailed information about AMD’s early solutions:

  • [10/08/13] AMD Radeon R7 and R9 — an updated line of video cards: new families so far without their flagship
  • [19.04.13] AMD Radeon HD 7790: a senior representative of the middle class of accelerators
  • [12. 22.11] AMD Radeon HD 7970: a new single-processor 3D graphics leader based on a new GPU codenamed «Hawaii».

    Radeon R9 290X graphics accelerator

    • Chip code name: «Hawaii»
    • Manufacturing technology: 28 nm
    • 6.2 billion transistors (Tahiti in the Radeon HD 7970 has 4.3 billion)
    • Unified architecture with an array of common processors for streaming processing of multiple types of data: vertices, pixels, etc.
    • DirectX hardware support 11.2, including Shader Model 5.0
    • 4 geometry processors
    • 512-bit memory bus: eight 64-bit wide controllers, supporting GDDR5 memory
    • Core clock up to 1000 MHz (dynamic)
    • 44 GCN Compute Units, including 176 SIMD cores, consisting of a total of 2816 floating point ALUs (integer and float formats supported, with FP32 and FP64 precision)
    • 176 texture units, with support for trilinear and anisotropic filtering for all texture formats
    • 64 ROPs with support for full-screen anti-aliasing modes with the possibility of programmable sampling of more than 16 samples per pixel, including with FP16 or FP32 framebuffer format. Peak performance up to 64 samples per clock, and in colorless mode (Z only) — 256 samples per clock
    • Integrated support for up to six monitors connected via DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort

    Radeon R9 290X graphics card specifications

    • Core frequency: up to 1000 MHz
    • Number of universal processors: 2816
    • : 64
    • Effective memory frequency: 5000 MHz (4×1250 MHz)
    • Memory type: GDDR5
    • Memory capacity: 4 gigabytes
    • Memory bandwidth: 320 gigabytes per second.
    • Compute performance (FP32) 5.6 teraflops
    • Theoretical maximum fill rate: up to 64 gigapixels per second.
    • Theoretical texture sampling rate: up to 176 gigatexels per second.
    • PCI Express 3.0 bus
    • Two Dual Link DVI, one HDMI, one DisplayPort
    • Power consumption up to 275 W
    • One 8-pin and one 6-pin power connector;
    • Dual slot design
    • US MSRP $549(for Russia — 19990 rubles).

    From the name of the novelty it is clear that the naming system for AMD video cards has changed and it is not ideal, in our opinion. Its introduction is partially justified by the fact that such a system has long been used in APUs of its own production (A8 and A10 families, for example), and other manufacturers (for example, Intel Core i5 and i7 have a similar processor naming system), but for video cards, the previous system names was clearly more logical and understandable. I wonder what made AMD change it right now, although they had at least the Radeon HD 9 line in stock000, and the prefix «HD» could be changed to another.

    The division into the R7 and R9 families remains not entirely clear to us: why does the 260X still belong to the R7 family, while the 270X already belongs to the R9? However, with the Radeon R9 290X considered in the material, everything is somewhat more logical, it belongs to the top R9 family and has the maximum serial number in the series — 290. But why was it necessary to start leapfrog with “X” suffixes? Why was it impossible to get by with numbers, as it was in the previous family? If three digits are not enough, and numbers like 285 and 295 do not like, then you could leave four numbers in the name: R9 2950 and R9 2970. But then the system would not differ much from the previous one, and marketers need to somehow justify their jobs. Well, okay, the name of the video card is the tenth thing, as long as the product is good and justifies its price.

    And there are no problems with this, the recommended price for the Radeon R9 290X is lower than that of the corresponding top-end competitor’s solution from the same price segment. The release of the Radeon R9 290X is clearly aimed at fighting the Nvidia Geforce GTX 780 based on the GK110 chip, which is the competitor’s top motherboard (Geforce GTX Titan is not taken into account, since this model has always been a separate, purely fashion solution) and so far which has a slightly higher recommended price. However, there is a high probability that it will not last so long, an even more productive version of Geforce may come out, and prices for current top models from Nvidia may be reduced.

    The new AMD graphics card model we’re reviewing today has four gigabytes of GDDR5 memory. Since the Hawaii graphics chip has a 512-bit memory bus, it would theoretically be possible to put 2 GB on it, but this amount of GDDR5 memory is already too small for a top-end solution, especially since the Radeon HD 7970 featured 3 GB of memory, yes and modern titles like Battlefield 4 already recommend at least 3 GB of VRAM. And four gigabytes is definitely enough in any modern games at the highest settings and resolutions.

    As far as energy consumption is concerned, this is not an easy question. Although on paper the power consumption of the new model has not increased much compared to the Radeon HD 7970 GHz, there are nuances. Like some previous top solutions, the AMD Radeon R9 290X has a special switch on the card that allows you to select one of two BIOS firmwares. This switch is located on the end of the video card next to the mounting plate with video outputs. Naturally, after switching, you will need to restart the PC in order for the changes to take effect. Factory on all Radeon R9290X is flashed with two BIOS versions and these modes are noticeably different from each other in terms of power consumption.

    «Quiet Mode» — switch position «one», closest to the graphics card mounting plate. This mode is intended for players who are concerned about the noise of the gaming system. For example — playing with headphones in a room where you need to keep silence and having PCs with quiet cooling systems.

    «Uber Mode» (Super mode or normal mode) — switch position «two», farthest from the mounting plate with video outputs. This mode is designed for maximum performance in gaming, testing and CrossFire systems. By the name of the modes, it is clear that the quiet mode provides less noise from the cooling system at the cost of slightly reduced performance, and the super mode provides the maximum possible with higher power consumption and noise from the video card cooling system fan. It is good that the user has a choice and is free to use any of the modes according to his needs without restrictions.

    Architectural features

    The new Hawaii graphics chip at the heart of the AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics card is based on the already known Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, which has been slightly modified in terms of computing capabilities and to fully support all the features of DirectX 11.2, as was previously done in the Bonaire chip (Radeon HD 7790), which also became the basis for the Radeon R7 260X. The architectural changes in Bonaire and Hawaii relate to improvements in computing capabilities (support for more concurrently executing threads) and a new version of AMD PowerTune technology, which we will talk about more below.

    New DirectX 11.2 features include tile resources that use Hawaii’s GPU virtual memory hardware called partially-resident textures (PRT). Using virtual video memory, it is easy to obtain efficient hardware support for algorithms that allow applications to use huge amounts of textures and stream them into video memory. PRT allows for more efficient use of video memory in such tasks, and similar techniques are already being used in some game engines.

    We have already described PRT in the material devoted to the release of the Radeon HD 7970, but in Bonaire and Hawaii these possibilities have been expanded. These video chips support all additional features that were added in DirectX 11.2, mainly related to level of detail (LOD) and texture filtering algorithms.

    Even though the GCN capabilities have been expanded, AMD’s main focus in designing the new top-end GPU was to improve the chip’s energy efficiency, as Tahiti was already consuming too much power and Hawaii included more compute units. Let’s see what AMD engineers managed to do to put a competitive product on the market:

    The new graphics processor is logically divided into four parts (Shader Engine), each of which contains 11 enlarged computing units (Compute Unit), including texture units, one geometric processor and rasterizer, as well as several ROP units. In other words, the block diagram of the most modern AMD chip has become even more similar to the block diagram of Nvidia chips, which also have a similar organization.

    In total, the Hawaii graphics chip includes: 44 Compute Units containing 2816 stream processors, 64 ROPs and 176 TMUs. The GPU in question has a 512-bit memory bus consisting of eight 64-bit controllers, as well as 1 MB of L2 cache. It is produced on the same 28 nm process technology as Tahiti, but already contains 6.2 billion transistors (Tahiti has 4.3 billion).

    Consider the block diagram of the shader engine that makes up the Hawaii GPU. This is a large-block part of the chip that contains four such engines:

    Each Shader Engine includes one geometry processor and one rasterizer, which are capable of processing one geometry primitive per clock. It looks like Hawaii’s geometric performance has not only improved, but should be well balanced compared to AMD’s previous GPUs.

    A GCN architecture shader engine can contain up to four enlarged Render Back-ends (RB) blocks, which include four ROP blocks each. The number of Compute Units in the shader engine can also be different, but in this case there are 11 of them, although the caches for instructions and constants are divided for every four Compute Units. That is, it would be more logical to include not 11, but 12 computing units in the Shader Engine, but it seems that such a number was no longer included in Hawaii’s power consumption limits.

    Computing unit of the GCN architecture includes various functional units: texture fetch modules (16 pieces), texture filtering modules (four pieces), branch prediction unit, scheduler, computational units (four vector and one scalar), first-level cache memory (16 KB per Compute Unit), memory for vector and scalar registers, and shared memory (64 KB per Compute Unit).

    Since there are four shader engines in the Hawaii GPU, it has four geometry processing units and rasterization engines in total. Accordingly, AMD’s new top-end GPU can process up to four geometric primitives per clock. In addition, geometry data buffering has been improved in Hawaii and caches for geometric primitive parameters have been increased. All together, this provides a significant increase in performance with large volumes of calculations in geometric shaders and the active use of tessellation.

    Also, some changes have been made to the computing capabilities of the new, albeit graphics, but still processor. The chip includes two DMA engines that provide full use of the PCI Express 3.0 bus capabilities, a bidirectional bandwidth of 16 GB / s is declared. The possibility of asynchronous computing, which is carried out using eight (in the case of the Hawaii chip) Asynchronous Compute Engines (ACE), can also be called relatively new.

    ACE blocks work in parallel with the GPU and each of them is capable of managing eight instruction streams. Such an organization provides independent scheduling and operation in a multitasking environment, access to data in global memory and L2 cache, as well as fast context switching. This is especially important in computing tasks, as well as in gaming applications when using the GPU for both graphics and general computing. Also, this innovation could theoretically be an advantage when using low-level access to GPU capabilities using APIs such as Mantle.

    Let’s go back to Hawaii’s features that apply to graphical computing. Due to the increase in resolution requirements with the expected spread of UltraHD monitors, it becomes necessary to increase the computing power of raster operations units — ROP. The Hawaii chip includes 16 Render Back End (RBE) blocks, which is twice as many as Tahiti. Sixteen RBEs contain 64 ROPs, which are capable of processing up to 64 pixels per clock, and this can be very useful in some cases.

    As for the memory subsystem, Hawaii has 1 megabyte of L2 cache, which is divided into 16 64 KB partitions. Claimed as a 33% increase in cache memory, and an increase in internal throughput by a third. The total throughput of L2 / L1 caches is declared equal to 1 TB / s.

    Memory is accessed via eight 64-bit controllers, which together make up a 512-bit bus. The memory chips in the Radeon R9 290X are clocked at 5.0 GHz for a total memory bandwidth of 320 GB/s, over 20% higher than the Radeon HD 7970 GHz. At the same time, the chip area occupied by the memory controller was reduced by 20% compared to the 384-bit controller in Tahiti.

    Low-level graphics API Mantle

    We already wrote about this API in the article on the new family of AMD video cards, and here we will only briefly repeat, supplementing the information with a few thoughts. The introduction of a new graphics API dubbed Mantle was quite unexpected. AMD entered the sphere of interest of Microsoft with their DirectX, and decided on some … let’s say, confrontation. Of course, the reason for the move was that for the next generation of game consoles, AMD is the supplier of all the GPUs for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, and AMD wanted to get a tangible advantage from this.

    AMD decided to release this API largely due to the influence of DICE and EA, which released the Frostbite game engine that underpins Battlefield and several others. Technicians at DICE, which runs the Frostbite engine, consider the PC to be a great gaming platform, a staple for DICE. They have been working with AMD for a long time to develop and implement new technologies in the Frostbite 3 engine, the company’s new engine, which is the basis for more than 15 games in the series: Battlefield, Need for Speed, Star Wars, Mass Effect, Command & Conquer, Dragon Age, Mirror’s Edge etc.

    No wonder AMD jumped at the opportunity to deep Frostbite optimization for their GPUs. This game engine is very modern and supports all the important features of DirectX 11 (even 11.1), but the developers wanted to take full advantage of the capabilities of PC systems, move away from the limitations of DirectX and OpenGL and use the CPU and GPU more efficiently, as some functionality exceeds the DirectX specifications and OpenGL remains unused by developers.

    The Mantle graphics API offers full hardware capabilities of AMD graphics cards, going beyond the current software limits and using a thinner software shell between the game engine and GPU hardware resources, similar to what is done on game consoles. And taking into account the fact that all future game consoles of the “desktop” format (Playstation 4 and Xbox One, first of all) are based on AMD graphics solutions based on the GCN architecture familiar from PCs, AMD and game developers have an interesting opportunity — a special graphics API that will allow you to program game engines on PC in the same style as on consoles, with minimal API impact on the game engine code.

    According to preliminary data, the use of Mantle provides a ninefold advantage in the execution time of draw calls (draw calls) compared to other graphics APIs, which reduces the load on the CPU. Such a multiple advantage is possible only in artificial conditions, but some superiority will be provided in typical conditions of 3D games.

    This low-level, high-performance graphics API was developed at AMD with significant input from leading game developers, especially DICE, and the near-released Battlefield 4 game is the first project to use Mantle, and other game developers will be able to use this API in the future — for now it is not known exactly when.

    The release version of Battlefield 4 will only support DirectX 11.1, and support for the Mantle API is scheduled for December with a free update that is further optimized for AMD Radeon graphics cards. On PC systems with GCN graphics cards, the Frostbite 3 engine will use Mantle, which will reduce the load on the CPU by parallelizing work on eight processing cores, and will introduce special low-level performance optimizations with full access to the GCN hardware capabilities.

    The public is left with more questions than answers about Mantle. For example, it is not very clear how the low-level Mantle driver with its direct access to GPU resources in a Windows operating system with DirectX, which usually manage GPU resources themselves, will work, and how these resources will be shared between the Mantle-based game application and the Windows system. . All questions are expected to be answered in mid-November at the AMD Developer Summit, which will reveal the technical details of the Mantle implementation, a list of partners, and even show demos.

    But we already know something. Now that some time has passed since AMD announced the initiative with their Mantle graphics API, something has already become clear. Although there were initial expectations among enthusiasts that future generation consoles would also support Mantle, this will not be a reality simply because it is not necessary and not beneficial for console developers.

    So, Microsoft has its own graphics API and this company has already confirmed that their Xbox One will use exclusively DirectX 11.x, close in capabilities to DirectX 11.2, also supported by modern AMD video chips. Other graphics APIs, such as OpenGL and Mantle, will simply not be available on Xbox One — and this is the official position of Microsoft. Probably the same applies to the Sony PlayStation 4, although representatives of this company have not yet officially announced anything about this.

    In addition, according to some reports, Mantle will not be available to game developers other than DICE for several more months. And if you add all the available information together, then the prospects for Mantle at the moment really look vague. AMD, in turn, claims that Mantle was not intended for use in consoles, that it is just a low-level API «similar» to console ones. How it is similar, if the APIs are still different, is not very clear. Well, perhaps only a “low” level and proximity to hardware, but this is clearly not necessary for all developers and will require additional development time.

    As a result, in the absence of Mantle support on consoles, this graphics API can only be used on the PC, which reduces interest in it. Many even remember such graphical APIs of the distant past as Glide. And although the difference with Mantle is great, there is a good chance that without support on consoles and on two-thirds of dedicated GPUs (approximately this share has been occupied by corresponding solutions from Nvidia for several years), this API will not become really popular. It is likely to be used by individual game developers who will show interest in low-level GPU programming and receive appropriate support from AMD.

    The main question is how close Mantle is to the low-level console APIs and whether it actually reduces the cost of development or porting. It also remains unclear how great the real advantage of moving to low-level GPU programming is, and how many features of graphics chips are not disclosed in the existing popular APIs that can be used with Mantle.

    TrueAudio sound processing technology

    We have already talked about this technology in as much detail as possible in the theoretical material dedicated to the release of the new line from AMD. With the release of the Radeon R7 and R9 seriesthe company introduced AMD TrueAudio technology to the world, a programmable audio engine that is only supported on the AMD Radeon R7 260X and R9 290(X). It is the Bonaire and Hawaii chips that are the latest in terms of technology, they have the GCN 1. 1 architecture and other innovations, including TrueAudio support.

    TrueAudio is an embedded programmable audio engine in AMD’s GPUs, the first being the Bonaire chip on which the Radeon R7 260X is based, and the second being Hawaii. TrueAudio provides guaranteed real-time processing of audio tasks on a system with a compatible GPU, regardless of the installed CPU. To do this, several Tensilica HiFi EP Audio DSP DSP cores are integrated into Hawaii and Bonaire chips, as well as other piping:

    TrueAudio capabilities are accessed using popular audio processing libraries, whose developers can use the resources of the built-in audio engine using the special AMD TrueAudio API. In the case of such new technologies, the most important issue is the issue of partnership with the developers of audio engines and libraries for working with sound. AMD works closely with many companies known for their developments in this area: game developers (Eidos Interactive, Creative Assembly, Xaviant, Airtight Games), audio middleware developers (FMOD, Audiokinetic), audio algorithm developers (GenAudio, McDSP), and etc.

    TrueAudio is interesting given the stagnant PC audio processing hardware. There remains the question of the relevance of the decision at the moment. We doubt that game developers will rush to integrate this technology into their projects, given the extremely limited compatibility (at the moment, TrueAudio is supported only on three video cards: Radeon HD 7790, R7 260X and R9 290X) without additional motivation from AMD. But we welcome all the innovations in the field of complex audio processing and hope that the technology will spread.

    Improved PowerTune power management and overclocking settings

    Some of the enhancements to AMD’s Radeon R9 290X graphics card are PowerTune power management technology. We already wrote about these improvements in the Radeon HD 7790 review, for more efficient power management, the latest AMD graphics chips have multiple states with different frequencies and voltages, which allows you to achieve higher clock speeds than before. At the same time, the GPU always works with the optimal voltage and frequency for the current GPU load and video chip power consumption, on which the switching between states is based.

    The Hawaii chip integrates a second-generation serial VID interface, SVI2. All recent GPUs and APUs, including Hawaii and Bonaire, as well as all APUs with Socket FM2, have this voltage regulator. The accuracy of the voltage regulator is 6.25 mV, 255 possible values ​​fit between voltages of 0.00 V and 1.55 V. The voltage regulator is capable of managing multiple power lines.

    In the new algorithm, known since the days of Bonaire, PowerTune technology does not have to abruptly drop the frequency when the consumption level is exceeded, plus the voltage also decreases with it. The transitions between states are very fast, in order not to exceed the set consumption limit even for a short time, the GPU switches PowerTune states 100 times per second. Therefore, Hawaii simply does not have any single operating frequency, there is only an average for a certain period of time. This approach helps to «squeeze all the juice» out of the available hardware solutions, improves energy efficiency and reduces the noise of cooling systems.

    Accordingly, new features have appeared in the Catalyst Control Center driver settings in the OverDrive tab — it has been completely redesigned in order to get the most out of the innovations in PowerTune for R9 290 series solutions.

    The first thing you can notice is the power limiter connection ( Power Limit) and GPU clock. These parameters are now linked together in the energy consumption and heat dissipation diagram. Because consumption and performance are directly related in Hawaii’s new PowerTune algorithm, this interface makes overclocking more intuitive and straightforward.

    It also reflects the fully dynamic GPU clock control introduced in the R9 290 series solutions. Overclocking is now indicated by increasing the corresponding value (GPU Clock) by a certain percentage, and the possibilities of previous solutions in the form of specifying a specific frequency are no longer available.

    The second major change in the new OverDrive interface is the fan speed control. This setting has also been completely redesigned. In previous generations, on the OverDrive tab, the user could only set a fixed fan speed, which was maintained constantly. In the new interface, this setting has changed and is called “Maximum Fan Speed”, which sets the upper speed limit for the fan, which will be maximum. But the fan speed will change based on the load of the GPU and its temperature, and will not remain fixed, as it was before.

    By default, the fan speed on the Radeon R9 290X depends on the current settings of the loaded BIOS firmware. Manual change of the maximum fan speed allows you to select any other value. And when overclocking, it is desirable to take into account not only the power and frequency settings, but also increase the fan speed limit, otherwise the maximum performance will be limited by the temperature of the GPU and its cooling.

    AMD CrossFire 9 Technology Changes1397

    One of the most interesting hardware innovations in the AMD Radeon R9 290 series video cards is support for AMD CrossFire technology without the need to connect video cards to each other using special bridges. Instead of dedicated communication lines, GPUs communicate with each other over the PCI Express bus using a hardware DMA engine. At the same time, the performance and image quality is provided exactly the same as with connecting bridges. This solution is much more convenient, and AMD claims that they have not encountered compatibility problems on different motherboards.

    It is important that for maximum performance in AMD CrossFire mode on all Radeon R9 290X video cards, it is desirable to set the BIOS switch to super mode «Uber Mode», and cooling for all cards must be provided well, otherwise the newfangled PowerTune technology will lower clock speeds GPU, which will lead to a drop in performance.

    CrossFire technology provides excellent scaling in multi-chip systems with the R9 290X, if we take into account the average frame rate (CrossFire still has issues with the smoothness of the video sequence, which we examined earlier). The following chart shows the comparative performance of a single AMD Radeon R9290X and two such cards working together on rendering using AMD CrossFire technology.

    All the games shown in the diagram provide an excellent increase in average frame rate, up to a twofold increase when a second video card is connected. In the worst case, these applications show 80% CrossFire efficiency, and the average is 87%.

    Adding a third AMD Radeon R9 290X board to a CrossFire system would reduce performance even further, but three of these cards still provide a 2.6x performance boost over a single board, which is also pretty good.

    AMD Eyefinity Technology and UltraHD Resolution Support

    AMD is one of the leaders in the field of output information to display devices, they were among the first to introduce DVI Dual Link support for monitors with a resolution of 2560 × 1600 pixels, DisplayPort support, made output to three or more monitors from one GPU (Eyefinity technology), HDMI output with 4K resolution, etc.

    4K resolution, also known as Ultra HD, corresponds to a value of 3840×2160 pixels, which is exactly four times higher than Full HD (1920×1080) and it is very important for the industry. The problem remains in the low prevalence of Ultra HD monitors and TVs at the present time. 4K TVs are only sold very large and expensive, and matching monitors are extremely rare and also super expensive. But the situation is about to change according to analysts predicting a bright future for Ultra HD devices.

    AMD provides two options for connecting Ultra HD displays: TVs that support only 30 Hz and below at a resolution of 3840×2160 and connect via HDMI or DisplayPort, as well as monitors whose image is divided into two halves with a resolution of 1920×2160 at 60Hz. The second type of monitors is also supported with DisplayPort 1.2 MST hubs, which have recently gone on sale.

    To support split monitors, the new VESA Display ID 1.3 standard has been introduced, which describes additional display capabilities. The new VESA standard will automatically «glue» the image for such monitors, if supported by both the monitor and the driver. This is planned for the future, but for now, these 4K tiled monitors require manual configuration. AMD says that the latest versions of the Catalyst driver already have an auto-configuration option for the most popular monitor models.

    In addition, AMD Radeon graphics cards will also support a third type of Ultra HD display, which requires only one thread to run at ultra-high resolution at a refresh rate of 60 Hz. The Radeon R9 290X delivers enough 3D performance for multi-monitor configurations, which is essential at the highest gaming settings and highest rendering resolutions on such systems. Also, the AMD Radeon R9 290X has an advantage over the Nvidia Geforce GTX 780 in terms of more video memory, which is important at resolutions like 5760×1080 pixels and 4K.

    The AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics card supports UltraHD resolutions over both HDMI 1.4b (with a low refresh rate not exceeding 30 Hz) and DisplayPort 1.2. Moreover, the performance of the new solution makes it possible to play at maximum settings in this resolution, getting an acceptable frame rate in almost any game.

    The ability to use multiple monitors is also very important for gaming enthusiasts. Eyefinity technology in the Radeon R9 graphics card serieshas been updated and the new Radeon R9 290X graphics card supports up to six display configurations. The AMD Radeon R9 series supports up to three HDMI/DVI displays when running with AMD Eyefinity technology.

    This feature requires a set of three identical displays that support identical timings, output is configured at system startup, and does not support display hot-plugging for a third HDMI/DVI connection. To take advantage of the ability to connect more than three displays on the AMD Radeon R9290X requires either DisplayPort-enabled monitors or certified DisplayPort adapters.

    Theoretical Performance Evaluation

    First, let’s look at the theoretical performance. Let’s try to figure out how much faster the new Radeon R9 290X should be faster than the previous top-end Radeon HD 7970 GHz. So far, we do not take into account the possible improvement in efficiency associated with small architectural changes in GCN, but if you count all the blocks in R9290X and HD 7970 are identical, we get the following picture:

    With a not so big difference in area and theoretically almost the same level of power consumption (it is not in the table), the peak geometry processing speed has almost doubled, the computational and texture performance has increased by 30% , video memory bandwidth — by 20%, and fill rate (fillrate) — by as much as 90%! The latter value will be very important given the planned popularization of UltraHD resolution in the near future, because the number of pixels on the screen will increase markedly.

    All improvements made have improved the effective performance per millimeter of area. It would be interesting to know about the increase in power efficiency, but AMD does not like to specify the TDP level for their modern top-end solutions, and the official figure of 275 W for the new board is questionable. We can only hope that energy efficiency has not deteriorated. But the performance should definitely improve by at least 20-30% compared to the Radeon HD 7970, and in some cases even more.

    As if to testify to the increased capabilities, especially in terms of fill rate, AMD is citing the average frame rates achieved in the newest Battlefield 4 game, which is coming out the other day. Battlefield 4 is the sequel to the popular Battlefield series developed by DICE and this game is perhaps the most anticipated game of the year.

    It is important to us that Battlefield 4 and its developer DICE are part of the AMD Gaming Evolved Partner Program, and therefore there will definitely be no problems with optimizing Battlefield 4 for GCN architecture GPUs. What’s more, the new Frostbite 3 game engine on which Battlefield 4 is based takes advantage of many of AMD’s most advanced video chip capabilities, and a Mantle API-enabled version is expected in December. In the meantime, let’s look at the performance in the normal version of the game:

    As you can see, even in «quiet» mode, the Radeon R9 290X is clearly ahead of the competing Geforce GTX 780 in both modes with different resolutions. However, there is a theoretical possibility that the Nvidia graphics card at such high resolutions is hampered by the lack of video memory, which it has less than the R9 290X. Of course, a larger amount of video memory is also an advantage of AMD’s new product, but it would be interesting to see a comparison at a lower resolution, where this is not a determining factor.

    We will test the performance of the new solution in our game suite in the third part of the article. Summing up the results of the theoretical part, it can be noted that the presented model of the AMD Radeon R9 290X video card should become one of the most productive single-chip 3D accelerators in general, and a rather successful acquisition in the top price segment intended for enthusiasts. New from AMD provides some new features and excellent performance for its price.

    Conclusions on the theoretical part

    So, at the end of October 2013, AMD offered the market a model of the Radeon R9 290X video card with a very competitive price and features. Based on the above theoretical characteristics and the recommended price, even without testing in games, we can confidently say that the presented top model of the AMD video card has an excellent ratio of price, performance and functionality.

    The functionality of the novelty is additionally enhanced by very interesting initiatives from AMD: a sound DSP engine built into modern chips in the form of TrueAudio technology and a new low-level graphics API Mantle. Their development was made possible largely due to the fact that AMD is the supplier of graphics solutions for all next-generation game consoles. And although the prospects for these initiatives in PC games are still vague and they have not gained much popularity among game developers, but this is just the beginning, and with the proper approach from AMD to promote their technologies, they will succeed.

    In the previous article, we noted that AMD has not yet said the main word in the form of a top-end graphics card of the new line, known as the Radeon R9 290X, and today we are talking about how this solution, based on the latest Hawaii GPU, has become a powerful locomotive , which should drag along new technologies in the form of Mantle and TrueAudio, and the entire modern product line of the company. High end graphics cards are the products that help sell everyone else. And Radeon R9The 290X should do a good job in this role. The only controversial point seems to be the likely high power consumption of the novelty, but if its power and cooling systems cope with the task, then this is not too big a problem.

    After we got acquainted with the characteristics and capabilities of the Radeon R9 290X video card in the theoretical part of the material, it’s time to move on to practice. The next part of the material will be devoted to the study of the rendering speed of the new top-end video card from AMD in our set of familiar synthetic tests. It will be very interesting to compare the performance of the new product from the upper price segment with the top motherboards of the Radeon HD 7000 line, as well as with the speed of competing video cards from Nvidia.

    AMD Radeon R9 290X — Part 2: Video cards and synthetic benchmarks →

    MSI R9 290X LIGHTNING

    graphics card review

    sufficiency. The idea of ​​rational purchases is not removed from the agenda, but the manufacturer has something to offer even the most demanding enthusiasts. We have already looked at the capabilities of AMD’s flagship graphics line, the Radeon R9.290X. The performance of the device is pleasantly surprising, but the reference model definitely needs some work. Today we will look at more than just the original version of the adapter, the MSI R9 290X LIGHTNING claims to be the fastest and most equipped graphics card in its class.

    LIGHTNING devices appear much later than the reference models — it takes a lot of time to develop a fundamentally new circuit and layout. However, the results are justified. Branded «lightning bolts» of the manufacturer often become not just a ray of light against the background of one-sided reference devices, but demonstrative tiles that allow revealing the ultimate potential of devices of a certain line. Let’s see if MSI R9 succeeds290X LIGHTNING to meet such a high mission.

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    As expected, the video card received an improved frequency formula. The graphics processor instead of the standard 1000 MHz operates at 1080 MHz. The adapter has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on board, operating at the recommended 5000 MHz. At first glance, the frequency of local RAM is not high, but do not forget about the use of a 512-bit bus, which significantly increases the bandwidth of the «GPU-memory» channel.

    The external similarity of the novelty with the MSI N780 LIGHTNING, which we reviewed earlier, is obvious. However, there are also differences. First of all, we note that the Hawaii-based device is noticeably larger than the model with a chip from NVIDIA, a larger cooler is used for the GPU-based adapter from AMD.

    Given the rather hot temper of the Radeon R9 290X, it’s not surprising that the original TriFrozr cooler is used to cool the video card. This is a very dimensional system of non-trivial design.

    The large heatsink block consists of an array of small aluminum plates held together by five heat pipes. Two of them have a diameter of 8 mm, three more — 6 mm. At the junction of the tubes with the plates, soldering is used to improve the contact between the elements. The cooler is based on a massive copper heat sink, which, like heat pipes, has a nickel-plated finish. The tubes run along the entire radiator block, using the potential of the passive cooler.

    Three fans are used to blow the structure. Two of them have a diameter of 90 mm, one more — 80 mm. The blades of all fans are made using Propeller Blade technology. The manufacturer claims that due to the special shape of the impeller with beveled edges of the blades, it is possible to increase the air flow without increasing the rotation speed.

    Two independent channels are used to control the fans. The side ones are parallel, while the central one is regulated separately. According to MSI, the version of the TriFrozr cooler used can dissipate up to 500W of power.

    The manufacturer paid a lot of attention to the external design of the device. The top of the cooler is covered with a decorative anodized aluminum cover. Bright yellow center fan, shroud screw fastening, round metal plates with concentric notches on the side fans. Everything is done to make the device memorable even outwardly.

    MSI R9 290X LIGHTNING uses the original PCB, which is transformed beyond recognition. From above, the board is covered with a massive radiator plate, which is used for additional passive cooling of VRM elements and memory chips. Note that some of the chips that are not covered by the plate are in contact with the main heatsink through heat-conducting stickers.

    The power regulator is 15-phase, 10 of which are used for the GPU. The circuit uses elements that comply with the Military Class 4 specification.

    In particular, expensive and efficient Copper MOS power switches, SFC chokes, Dark Solid Caps and low profile tantalum core capacitors are involved here.

    Interestingly, MSI in this case abandoned the GPU Reactor, a miniature board with a set of capacitances to improve the stability of voltages in the GPU circuit. The three-slot format of the device obliges to look for alternative solutions. The developers proposed an alternative in the form of a whole bandolier of 24 tantalum core capacitors, 12 on each side of the PCB. This allowed to reduce the ripple under load.

    A shortened version of the radiator plate is also supplied with the video card. It is relevant for cases when a CBO will be used for the adapter or a session with liquid nitrogen is due. The standard cooler will interfere with the installation of the overall heat sink, while the compact version covers only the stabilizer elements.

    The Enhanced Power Design uses three separate controllers to control GPU, memory, and PLL/PCI-E power phases instead of the reference model’s one. To power the RAM chips, a separate channel is allocated, coming from an additional 12 V line. In this case, the circuit is designed in such a way as to reduce the impact on the electrical parameters of the motherboard during overclocking of the video card chip / memory.

    After a large part of SK Hynix’s production capacity in China was damaged by a fire in the fall of 2013, graphics card manufacturers have experienced a serious shortage of high-speed, high-capacity memory chips. In some cases, even top-end devices had to use Elpida chips, which work fine at stock frequencies, but, as a rule, have much more modest overclocking potential. What this means for enthusiasts, no need to explain. At one time, MSI also faced a similar problem — Elpida chips were used on LIGHTNING series devices for lack of alternatives. Later, chips with great potential were used for the same models, but for the owners of the devices of the first wave, this was little consolation. Now the situation with the availability of fast memory chips has improved, but MSI is approaching this issue with even greater scrupulousness.

    In the case of the MSI R9 290X LIGHTNING, the manufacturer selected the optimal set of chips by consulting directly with the GPU developers. As a result, preference was given to Samsung K4G20325FD-FC03, which should provide a good margin of safety. All 16 microcircuits are installed on the front side of the printed circuit board.

    Twin BIOS technology, involves the presence of two chips with firmware. In standard mode, we have the recommended clock speeds and the ability to increase the Power Limit by 20%. The second microcircuit is flashed by the BIOS, which removes some restrictions that could become a hindrance during extreme overclocking of the video card. A miniature toggle switch for switching between chips is located at the top edge of the PCB.

    An anodized aluminum plate is attached to the back of the PCB. It is not used for cooling, but it can protect against mechanical damage while working on an open bench. Considering that this is actually a natural habitat for the MSI R9 290X LIGHTNING, then rear cover will definitely not hurt. The plate is fastened with 10 screws, increasing the overall strength of the structure along the way. For a device weighing 1560 grams, such precautions do not seem redundant.

    On the back side of the PCB there is a line of LEDs that reflect the current loading of the power phases.

    There are 3 connectors for connecting additional power — two 8-pin and one additional 6-pin.

    The MSI R9 290X LIGHTNING has an interesting power supply indication system. If no additional power lines are connected to the adapter, or only one of them is connected, the red LED on the reverse side lights up. If two 8-pin cables are connected, the blue indicator lights up. In this mode, you can already use the video card. However, if serious overclocking of the adapter is expected, a third 6-pin connector must be connected. In this case, the orange LED lights up, indicating the readiness of the device for frequency experiments.

    Illumination lovers will love this new MSI product. In addition to the already mentioned light elements, on the upper edge there is an indicator of the load on the GPU, made in the form of the inscription «LIGHTNING». In rest mode, it glows green. It changes to blue at medium load, and red at maximum.

    If all three power lines are connected to the video card, the GPU load indicator is always red, regardless of the current state of the device.

    MSI keeps up good tradition with a gentleman’s 3×3 OC Kit for the LIGHTNING series. Under such a kit is meant the support of three useful functions. Triple Overvoltage implies the ability to change the voltage of the GPU, memory and bus. Triple Temperature Monitor allows you to monitor the temperature of the GPU, power regulator and memory chips. Triple Voltage Monitor provides contact groups that allow you to measure the voltage of the main components of the video card using a multimeter.

    MSI Afterburner app allows temperature monitoring and voltage control. To measure voltages with an external device, three connectors are located at the side edge of the adapter. In this case, separate adapters are provided for connecting the probes. There is a systematic approach to the issue. This method is much more convenient if it is necessary to measure voltages during the entire benchmark session.

    The video card is about 300 mm long. Not every case will be ready to accept such an adapter. The device is quite large, so you should first make sure that there is enough space from the mounting panel to the basket with drives. You should also consider the three-slot format if you plan to use multiple video cards in CrossFire mode.

    The video interface panel contains four video outputs: two DVI (DVI-I and DVI-D), as well as HDMI and DisplayPort. On the mounting plate there is a grill for the output of heated air.

    ZMIST

    • 1 Supply set
    • 2 in the work
    • 3 Acceleration
    • 4 performance
    • 5 video review MSI 290X LIGHTNING
    • 6 Entities
    • 6.1 The device for the account was provided by MSI.MSI.

  Package Contents

  Package Includes Manual, Software CD, Two 6-Pin to 8-Pin Power Adapters, and Molex Pair to One 6-Pin 12V Adapter its fasteners. The delivery also includes three adapters for connecting multimeter probes.

  In progress

  Considering any alternative version of the Radeon R9 290X, first of all, it is interesting to evaluate the capabilities of the original cooling system. The reference CO is not at all happy, because any improvement here is very valuable.

  At rest, the GPU temperature is kept at 37 C. The fans are running at just over 900 rpm. In this case, we are talking about side fans, the performance of which is reflected in all monitoring utilities. The central fan in idle mode rotates at 30% of the maximum value.

  Some of my colleagues in the shop during the first tests of the MSI R9 290X LIGHTNING noticed an increased noise level during idle operation. The nuance is that in the first versions of the firmware, the initial rotation speed of the central fan was 45%, not 30%. In this case, indeed, the noise is somewhat higher than expected. However, according to the manufacturer, the devices that went into retail sale have updated firmware, which has already corrected the nuance with the base fan speed.

  After the load tests, the temperature of the GPU on the open bench increased to only 71 degrees. Against the background of 95 C for the reference model, these results are impressive. The speed of rotation of the side fans increased to 2000 rpm. The central one also accelerated to 50-55%. Under load, the noise level is average. The video card is much quieter than the reference model, but the device is definitely not silent.

  Given the high efficiency of the cooling system, silence lovers may well try to find the optimal fan speed. You can control the side ones using the same MSI Afterburner, but to adjust the central one you will need a special application — MSI Fan Control. The utility allows you to use the automatic mode or explicitly set the required value. You can find the most comfortable combination experimentally.

  Overclocking

  During the experiments, the clock frequency of the graphics processor was increased to 1174 MHz. A very good indicator.

  I was also pleased with the potential of memory chips, whose frequency was raised to 6364 MHz without consequences. Given the 512-bit bus, the throughput in this case increases to 407 GB / s.

  The full potential of a video card can only be revealed during an extreme overclocking method using liquid nitrogen. MSI R9The 290X LIGHTNING has a large technical reserve and is ready to work in difficult conditions.

  Performance

  Factory overclocked graphics card initially allows it to outperform the reference model by 4-8% in games and synthetic applications.

  In general, the increase is relatively small. However, using the MSI R9 290X LIGHTNING in normal mode is like driving a lemon-colored Lamborghini on a country road. The device with all its essence provokes more active “driving”.

  After overclocking, the video card performance increases by 10-12%. The role of each additional percentage in this class is very significant. Fast and Furious in most cases allows you to approach or even outpace the GeForce GTX 780 Ti, which is currently the fastest single-chip video card, as well as the most expensive. As you can see, now there is a worthy alternative in the camp of the «Reds».

  Video Review MSI R9 290X LIGHTNING