R9 270x vs gtx 760: Radeon R9 270X vs GeForce GTX 760 [in 3 benchmarks]

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Tags:compare, GeForce GTX 760 X2, Radeon R9 270X

MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING GECID.com review and test. Page 1

::>Video cards
>2013
> MSI N760 TF 2GD5/OC

25-06-2013

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What is our life? — The game!
A.S. Pushkin «The Queen of Spades»

With the advent of computers in our everyday life, the famous phrase of Alexander Sergeevich has acquired a new meaning for many. In real life, we can play quite a lot of roles at the same time (son or father, pupil or student, doctor or teacher, etc.), but they are all permanent and do not change often. Whether business in computer games! At one moment we can be a virtual racer who confidently leads his car to victory at the next Grand Prix, at another we try on the image of a sports team manager who makes his way to the top of fame. In the game, we can cross the boundaries of good and evil, go beyond the established moral norms and principles, change the course of history, and even act as the creator of a new world. The modern industry of computer games has acquired a truly gigantic scale, allowing you to partially or completely satisfy the needs of millions of people, making them more significant, primarily in their eyes, and providing a number of sharp emotions.

Despite the decline in sales of traditional computers and their components, according to analysts, the computer games market will show stable growth in the coming years. In other words, the demand for new games will increase, and this promises profit not only for developers, but also for manufacturers of hardware components. First of all, this concerns the video card market.

After all, it is the desire to fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere of your favorite game, bring the view of the virtual world closer to reality, enjoy new technologies and special effects that make the picture more picturesque, and the actions of the game character more truthful — all this stimulates many people to spend money to purchase new discrete graphics adapters. Thus, the computer games industry and video card manufacturers operate in a harmonious rhythm: new hardware technologies push the boundaries of what is possible in the virtual world, which in turn ensures the influx of the necessary material resources for further progress.

For those who want to upgrade their systems with modern graphics adapters or for those who buy a new computer, NVIDIA introduced the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700 graphics card line. in the NVIDIA GeForce 600 line. The first solutions in this series — NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 — are already presented and available to everyone. The third and last, this year, representative of this line — NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 — Debuting today. It is intended for those buyers who are willing to spend several hundred dollars to ensure a high level of performance of their computers.

GPU NVIDIA GK104

So, it is based on a modification of the NVIDIA GK104 GPU, which is also used in the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770, GeForce GTX 680, GeForce GTX 670 and GeForce GTX 660 Ti models.

Comparing the block diagrams of the modifications used, you can clearly see their differences. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 and GeForce GTX 680 versions have four full-featured GPC (Graphics Processing Cluster) clusters, each containing two SMX blocks. This provides support for the maximum number of structural components available: 1536 CUDA cores, 128 texture units and 32 ROP units.

By disabling one of the SMX blocks, NVIDIA has at its disposal a new version of the NVIDIA GK104 core, on the basis of which the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti video cards are built.

Disabling another SMX unit led to the creation of the NVIDIA GK104-225 modification, which is used in the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 video card. It is characterized by support for 1152 CUDA cores, 96 texture units and 32 ROP units. For even greater clarity, here is a summary table of the technical characteristics of these video cards:

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 will replace the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti in the market. As you can see, the new product loses to its predecessor in the number of available CUDA cores and texture units, while being ahead of it in the number of ROP units, GPU clock speed and memory bus width. How this will affect the performance level of these adapters — we will see further.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti

one turbine-type fan, which significantly increases the overall length of the adapter, as well as an identical set of external interfaces (two DVI, one HDMI and one DisplayPort).

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti

On the reverse side of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 printed circuit board, pay attention to the memory chips that are placed. According to the marking (Hynix H5GQ2h34AFR), these are 2 GB GDDR5 chips from Hynix. There are only four of them, which gives a total of 8 GB or 1 GB. Therefore, a similar structure must be used on the front side of the PCB as the minimum amount of video memory on the adapters is 2 GB.

Between the installed microcircuits there are contact pads for the same amount of these chips. Thus, the total amount of video memory depends on the specific manufacturer: 2 GB or 4 GB.

It’s nice to note that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 graphics card, like other representatives of the NVIDIA GeForce 700 series, uses a new controller that provides a more stable fan speed without sharp fluctuations. This improves cooling efficiency and reduces noise levels.

As for the performance of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 graphics adapter, the most significant increase will be experienced by the «former» owners of outdated models of the NVIDIA GeForce 200, GeForce 400 and GeForce 500 series, who will be able to fully appreciate all the advantages of the NVIDIA Kepler microarchitecture and GPU Boost 2.0 technology. And the excellent performance of the novelty in a number of modern games will make you think about the advisability of buying a competitive analogue in the form of AMD Radeon HD 7950 with Boost.

And now let’s move on to a direct review of the MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING:

The MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING video card is quite different from the «reference» model, because the solution from MSI is made on a textolite of its own design, equipped with a proprietary TWIN FROZR IV cooling system, and also has a factory overclocked graphics core that runs on a frequency of 1020 MHz (an increase of 4% relative to the recommended value), which, taking into account the work of GPU Boost 2.0 technology, gives us an average value of 1085 MHz, instead of 1033 MHz. At the same time, the video memory operates at the recommended frequency of 6008 MHz.

Separately, we note that since the video card belongs to the GAMING line, it has three modes of operation, which in this case are: «GAMING», «OC», and «Silent», and since the «GAMING» mode is selected by default, then all of the above is typical only for it, while in the other two modes («OC» and «Silent») the frequencies of the GPU are different, but we will return to them a little later, but for now we suggest moving on to studying the packaging and delivery of the video card.

Packaging and bundle

The packaging of the novelty is almost completely identical to that of the MSI GeForce GTX 770 TWIN FROZR GAMING we recently reviewed, which is not surprising, since both video cards are part of the same series, in the style of which the box is designed.

The manufacturer saved all the most interesting for those who pay attention to the back of the box, because it is on it that the list of key features and advantages of the video card is located, namely:

• GAMING APP — The graphics adapter comes with MSI proprietary software that can quickly switch between three different modes of the video card. Each of them will be relevant depending on the current tasks of the user.
• MILITARY CLASS 4 — all elements used in the production of the video card are of high quality and high level of reliability. So, the standard chokes have been replaced with SFC versions (Super Ferrite Core) with a ferrite core, which are more energy efficient and more efficient. Hi-c CAP and SOLID CAP capacitors are also used, which have a claimed ten-year life.
• TWIN FROZR IV is a proprietary cooling system that combines SuperPipe and Airflow Control technologies. Thanks to the first, heat pipes are able to remove heat twice as fast as standard ones. The principle of Airflow Control is the presence of special baffles that direct more air directly to the heat pipes, thereby allowing heat to dissipate much faster.
• PREDATOR — using the built-in utility, you can record gameplay in full screen mode, which is actually a kind of analog NVIDIA ShadowPlay , which, however, records and stores the last 20 minutes of the game in memory automatically, and not at the request of the user. MSI itself positions PREDATOR as a free alternative to the very popular Fraps program, for the licensed version of which you will have to pay about $37.

The list of system requirements for the computer in which you plan to install the MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING is also located on the back of the package. Based on these recommendations, the power supply must be at least 500W, provide at least 30A on the +12V supply line, and support one 8-pin and one 6-pin PCI-Express power cable.

The MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING package is standard and more than enough for everyday use. In the box, in addition to the video card itself, there is:

• instructions;
• CD with software;
• two adapters for powering the video card;
• DVI to D-Sub adapter.

To display an image on the MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING graphics adapter, a standard, for the latest NVIDIA video cards, and, perhaps, the most optimal set of video outputs is used:

• 1 x DVI-I;
• 1 x DVI-D;
• 1 x HDMI;
• 1 x DisplayPort.

The following resolutions are supported:

• Digital — up to 4096×2160;
• Analog — up to 2048×1536.

Appearance and element base

Since we don’t have a «reference» NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 video card for testing, we can’t talk about similarities or differences in the element base. Only one thing can be noted, namely the textolite, which is used by MSI’s own design on the MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING video card. The length of the textolite is 252 mm, which is slightly longer than that of the reference video card.

The video card is powered by a seven-phase scheme (five phases for the GPU and two for the memory chips). All power circuits use exclusively high-quality elements, namely ferrite core chokes and Hi-c CAP and SOLID CAP field-effect transistors.

The core power system is implemented on the RT8802A controller manufactured by Richtek, which, according to the documentation, supports phase switching to optimize the power consumption of the video card, and also has protection against excessive voltage and, according to the manufacturer, very precise regulation of the voltage supply to the graphics core video cards.

In addition to the PCI-Express slot, the video card is powered by two additional connectors located on the side of the video card. In the case of the MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING, one connector is 6-pin and the other 8-pin, while the reference model is content with two 6-pin ones.

Video cards based on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 support NVIDIA SLI technology, for the implementation of which there are two connectors for the corresponding bridges on the PCB, with which you can combine from two to four video cards for joint calculation of graphic effects. In the future, we will definitely try to test the performance of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 in 2-Way SLI and 3-Way SLI modes as the most common ones.

The reverse side of the video card, by analogy with the «reference» model, is notable for four of the eight memory chips located on it, and the PWM controller mentioned above. Unfortunately, unlike the chips located on the front side, the remaining four are not cooled in any way, which can adversely affect the overclocking potential.

The MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING is based on the NVIDIA GK104 (Kepler) graphics chip in the GK104-225-A2 modification, manufactured using a 28 nm process technology, which consists of 6 active SMX blocks, 1152 CUDA cores and 32 rasterization blocks. As we have already said, even in the standard operating mode, the frequency of the graphics core has been increased relative to NVIDIA’s recommendations and is 1020 MHz. Thanks to the support of the GPU Boost 2.0 technology, in turbo mode, the average frequency of the graphics core is 1085 MHz.

Due to the fact that the video card belongs to the GAMING series, it supports three operating modes, which in the case of the MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING are called «GAMING», «OC» and «Silent». Since the default mode is GAMING, which we tested in, you are already familiar with its frequencies. Let’s move on to the «OC» mode, in which the GPU frequency increases to 1085 MHz, and taking into account the work of GPU Boost 2.0, it averages 1150 MHz. In fact, this mode is the simplest and most problem-free way to overclock a video card, because the increase in frequency, compared to the value recommended by NVIDIA, was 10%, which is not so bad, given that simple switching between profiles is enough for overclocking.

In «Silent» mode, the GPU frequency is reduced to 981 MHz. Although, of course, we should not forget about the specifics of GPU Boost 2.0, which freely varies the operating frequency of the graphics core depending on the load. The main purpose of the «Silent» mode is to minimize the noise level emitted by the cooling fans.

The memory of the MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING video card, with a total capacity of 2 GB, is assembled using 8 chips with a capacity of 256 MB each, manufactured by Hynix. Chips are marked H5GQ2h34AFR and according to the documentation their nominal frequency is 6 GHz. Data exchange between the graphics core and memory is carried out through a 256-bit bus, which is capable of passing 192.3 GB of information per second.

Cooling system

The cooling system of MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING is almost identical to that of MSI GeForce GTX 770 TWIN FROZR GAMING. The video card with installed CO occupies two expansion slots and has a total length of 264 mm.

The cooler itself consists of a fairly large heatsink made of 53 nickel-plated aluminum plates and two fans with blades 100 mm in diameter, which are mounted on a plastic casing that covers the entire structure from above.

The only difference between the MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING CO and the MSI GeForce GTX 770 TWIN FROZR GAMING CO is the smaller number of heat pipes. If the older model uses five heat pipes, one 8 mm and four 6 mm, to increase the efficiency of heat transfer, in the new product, the manufacturer used one 6 mm tube less, which is quite expected, since the heat dissipation of this NVIDIA GK 104 modification is less than in the most overclocked older version.

It is already customary for MSI’s «top» video cards, a separate low-profile heatsink in the form of a metal plate is responsible for cooling power elements and video memory chips, heat exchange with which occurs with the help of thermal pads.

The heat sink is equipped with special baffles that direct the airflow generated by the fans directly onto the heat pipes, which increases the rate of heat dissipation.

Let’s start testing the cooling system of MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING.

With automatic fan speed control, in the maximum load mode, the graphics core heated up to 79 degrees, and the cooler, judging by the monitoring readings, worked at 46% of its maximum power. The cooling system in this mode operates almost silently and absolutely does not stand out from other PC components.

In the maximum fan speed mode, the GPU temperature dropped to 61 degrees, which is an excellent result. At the same time, the emitted noise can be described as “average and quite comfortable”.

When there is no load, the graphics core and memory frequencies are automatically lowered, resulting in lower power consumption and heat generation. The cooler in this mode works almost silently, and the temperature of the graphics core does not exceed 31 degrees.

As a result, the cooling system of the MSI GeForce GTX 760 TWIN FROZR GAMING video card, like its older sister installed on the MSI GeForce GTX 770 TWIN FROZR GAMING, made an exceptionally positive impression on us. CO TWIN FROZR IV boasts not only excellent temperature performance and a pleasant design, but also will not disturb you with a high level of noise even at maximum fan speed. If you consider even the “average” noise level to be unacceptable, then you always have the opportunity to switch the video card to the “Silent” mode, in which, albeit at the cost of a slightly increased temperature, you will get a very quiet and still the same productive video card.

Testing

ASUS R9270X-DC2T-2GD5 express review. When they ask for $5 for improvements

Over the past years, NVIDIA marketers have been actively engaged in misleading users or in a new way «marketing techniques». These technologies consisted in the fact that the video cards of the previous generation were actively renamed under new signs and sold as a completely new product. As a bonus, the user received a couple of additional megahertz of operating frequency with a slight overestimation of the cost of the product. AMD has followed the same path and introduced the R9 line of graphics cards.270 and R9 270X.
If the new video cards Radeon R9 290X and Radeon R9 290 were really «new», then the solutions R9 270 and R9 270X cannot be called as such. Even the name of the core of these video cards sounds familiar — Pitcairn. The video cards AMD Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 7870 were based on this core. The first had a slightly truncated core, the second was a full-fledged one. Fortunately, the novelties were not cut and both presented solutions are based on the full-fledged Pitcairn core with 1280 shader units, on which the AMD Radeon HD 7870 product was based. , and this competition could be called successful only in certain periods of time — price wars made it more profitable to purchase the product of one or the other camp. AMD R9 Solution270 should completely reverse the current situation.

With the potential of the AMD Radeon HD 7870, the new AMD R9 270 video card has a faster video memory on board, which operates at a frequency of 1400 MHz. At the same time, the price positioning of the new AMD R9 270 is at the level of AMD Radeon HD 7850, i.e. lower than the GeForce GTX 660, but higher than the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost. Naturally, such a price reduction leads to one thing — a significant increase in the efficiency of the money invested by the user for graphical calculations in his computer.

AMD’s press release above shows that it is operating on this fact. She compares the new AMD R9 270 product not with the same core Radeon HD 7870, but with the similarly priced Radeon HD 7850 solution. The manufacturer, while maintaining the heat dissipation of the product at the same level, promises an increase in performance by almost 35 percent, which is quite significant and indicates a reduction in the cost of video cards by more than a third.

As a replacement for the Radeon HD 7870, the company offers a new product AMD R9270X, which is unlikely to be of interest to an experienced user. When comparing this solution with AMD R9 270, the user gets the same core, the same data bus, the same video memory, the same operating frequency of the video memory. For an additional $15 to the AMD R9 270 price, the manufacturer gives 125 MHz to the core operating frequency. Thus, AMD R9 270X is simply an overclocked version of AMD R9 270. And given the fact that most modern programs even automatically overclock video cards by 125 MHz in the core and completely free of charge, there are hardly many who want to pay extra, albeit a modest $ 15 for the letter X in the name and factory overclocking of the core is about 13%.

In today’s review, we bring to your attention the product ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC, which is interesting because the manufacturer asks to pay a modest 5 dollars for a modified cooling system and factory overclocking of the core by 50 MHz. Naturally, if this pricing policy continues even after crossing the borders of our Motherland, this product is a must-buy when considering this series of video cards.

Package contents

ASUS R9 graphics card270 Direct CU II OC comes in a black box, the design of which is familiar to fans of ASUS products. It seems that the company’s marketers did not bother themselves and simply renamed the boxes of ASUS Radeon HD 7870 video cards.

In the form of icons, the user’s attention is drawn to the presence of factory overclocking and a modified cooling system.

On the back of the box, special attention is paid to the features of the cooling system, a modified power system, as well as the overclocking capabilities of the GPU Tweak software product, which, by the way, will easily turn your ASUS R9 video card270 Direct CU II OC in ASUS R9 270X Direct CU II OC.

Package includes video card, CrossFire bridge, DVI-to-VGA adapter, CD with drivers and software, instructions.

Visual inspection of the video card

When examining the video card, it immediately catches the eye that the cooling system is not optimized for this product. On the one hand, the casing does not reach the image output ports, on the reverse side it completely goes beyond the printed circuit board. This lawlessness could not be forgiven if it were not for the Direct CU II cooling system with direct contact between heat pipes and chips and equipped with fairly quiet efficient fans.

Similar «bulging» of the casing of the cooling system leads to one thing — all the heated air enters the system unit again and worsens the microclimate in it. Therefore, when using this video card, the presence of one blowing fan in the system unit becomes a mandatory necessity.

As we noted earlier in the reviews, the Radeon R9 290X and Radeon R9 290 video cards have abandoned CrossFire connectors and bridges. Since the AMD R9 270 solution is new only on paper, we had to keep the CrossFire connector and include a corresponding bridge in the package. The presence of one connector indicates the possibility of combining two video cards.

On the side wall of the video card there is one 6-pin PCI-Express connector for additional power supply.

The voltage regulator used is the ASP1215AH renamed by ASUS and presented as its own Hybrid Digi + VRM chip. There is nothing wrong with this, it only confirms once again that the manufacturer carefully selects suppliers of components.

Some surprise was caused by the emergence of video memory chips from Elpida, which has been going through bankruptcy for a long time. Apparently, it was decided to keep the trademark and we see new chips with an operating frequency of 1500 MHz and marked W2032BBBG-6A-F.

AMD R9 270 graphics card specifications

1. Core operating frequency: 925MHz

2. Universal processors: 1280

3. Memory type: GDDR5

4. Memory capacity: 2 GB

5. Video memory operating frequency: 1400 MHz

6. Bus 256 bit

7. PCI Express 3.0 bus

8. Heat dissipation: up to 150 W

9. Recommended price: $180

As noted, our reviewer ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC is factory overclocked to 975 MHz and the recommended price is $5 higher than the reference price.

Test configuration

Testing of the ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC video card was carried out on a configuration that is far from fresh, but sufficient to unlock the potential of many video cards:

1. Intel Core i7 920 processor.

2. ASUS P6T motherboard.

3.2×3 Gb Samsung Original DDR3-1600

4.WD 1TB WD1001FALS Caviar Black SATAII

5. Hiper M1000 power supply.

6. Thermaltake Mambo case.

7. ASRock USB 3.0 PCI-Exp x1 dual port board.

1. Operating temperature of the video card

ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC — 34/65 — idle/load in degrees

AMD R9 270 — 36/70 C — idle / load in degrees

AMD Radeon R9 290X — 49/95 C — idle / load in degrees

AMD Radeon R9 290 — 46/93 C — idle/load in degrees

GeForce GTX 780 Ti — 33/82 C — idle / load in degrees

Video card was tested under the following conditions:

— 27 degrees in the room,

— the video card is installed in a closed case,

— there are no additional cooling fans in the case,

— the load is applied until the temperatures are fully stabilized for 15 minutes.

ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC cooling system is quieter and more efficient than competitors.

2. Video card overclocking

The overclocking potential of the ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC video card turned out to be somewhat lower than we are used to seeing in solutions from the AMD Radeon HD 7870 series — we managed to reach 1114 MHz for the core, and 1544 MHz for the video memory. This is still higher than the operating frequencies of the AMD R9 270X.

3. Battlefield 3 game

Test conditions: FullHD resolution, 4xAA anti-aliasing.

ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC — 62 FPS

AMD R9 270 — 60 FPS

AMD Radeon HD 7870 — 58 FPS

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 — 57 FPS

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost — 50 FPS

4. Crysis 3

Test conditions: resolution 1980×1200 pixels, anti-aliasing 4xAA.

ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC — 23 FPS

AMD R9 270 — 21 FPS

AMD Radeon HD 7870 — 22 FPS

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 — 22 FPS

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost — 20 FPS

5. Metro: Last Light

Test conditions: resolution 1980×1200 pixels, anti-aliasing 4xAA.

ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC — 41 FPS

AMD R9 270 — 39 FPS

AMD Radeon HD 7870 — 37 FPS

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 — 35 FPS

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost — 31 FPS

Conclusion

The results of the gaming tests clearly show that the AMD R9 270 solution is more than competitive with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 graphics card, which has a similar recommended price.

As long as prices for the ASUS R9 270 Direct CU II OC video card remain at the recommended levels, this product will be a great purchase in the price range up to $200. For a modest surcharge, you get more efficient and quieter cooling coupled with factory overclocking.

Review AMD Radeon R9 270X

At the end of September, AMD introduced new graphics solutions for desktop systems. The changes affected virtually all segments — from discrete entry-level PC models to top gaming accelerators. Announcing devices, the company offers a new system for designating video cards with their own GPUs. Today we will look at the possibilities of bright representatives of middle class adapters — Radeon R9 270X . In the basic version, the recommended price of this model is $199 . Companies ASUS , GIGABYTE and MSI offer alternative adapter options, let’s see what upgraded video cards from well-known manufacturers are capable of.

ZMIST

• 1 AMD Radeon R9 270x
• 2 ASUS R9270X-DC2T5
• 3 GIGABYTE GV-R927XOC-2GD
• 4 MSI R9 270X HAWK
• 51325
• 6 Performance
• 7 Summary

AMD Radeon R9 270X

The Radeon R9 270X uses a GPU called Curacao XT. After reviewing the technical characteristics of the GPU, it is easy to see that this solution is based on the well-known Pitcairn XT chip, which is used for the Radeon HD 7870. 0004

REGISTER!

The processor includes 1280 computing units, 80 texture units and 32 ROP units. In the case of the R9 270X, the operating clock frequency of the GPU has been increased from 1000 to 1050 MHz, i.e. by 5%. A 256-bit bus is still used to access the memory, but the operating frequency of the chips has been noticeably increased — from 4800 to 5600 MHz. Considering the constant width of the highway, the bandwidth of the memory subsystem in this case increased by 16.7% — from 153.6 to 179.2 GB/s. As befits a mid-range solution, the base version of the Radeon R9 270X is equipped with 2 GB of RAM, while modifications with double the amount of memory will also be offered.

Increasing the clock frequencies slightly increased the power consumption of the video card. TDP has risen to 180 W instead of 175 W typical for the Radeon HD 7870. In this situation, no changes to the power subsystem are needed. To connect additional power, the adapter has two 6-pin connectors, and in the requirements for the PSU, the manufacturer indicates a model with a power of 500 W or more.

The reference adapter uses a dual-slot centrifugal-type fan cooling system. This design is likely to be used by some manufacturers for basic solutions, but the key players in the discrete graphics market should expect original models of video cards. We offer express testing of some of them in this material. But, before moving on to the practical part, a few words about the cost of the Radeon R9 270X. For graphics cards based on the reference design, the suggested price is $199 for the base version with 2 GB of memory and $229 for the modification with 4 GB. Recall that the Radeon HD 7870 graphics adapter introduced in March 2012 was priced at $349 by the manufacturer. Over the past time, in the heat of competition, its cost has certainly decreased, but the starting positions of the Radeon R9 270X and its «ancestor» a year and a half ago are very symbolic.

ASUS R9270X-DC2T-2GD5

After the announcement of the new AMD graphics line, ASUS offered two Radeon R9 models270X. Both devices are based on the original PCB design and also use an alternative cooling system. The basic variant (R9270X-DC2-2GD5) has the recommended frequency formula (1050/5600 MHz), while the TOP modification, which came to us for testing, received an accelerated GPU in the base. The frequency of the GPU is increased to 1120 MHz (+6.7%), while 2 GB of memory operate at the same 5600 MHz.

The adapter is based on the ASUS HD7870-DC2-2GD5-V2 model. The same circuit board and cooling system design. The only visual difference is the shape of the plastic shroud covering the cooler. R9270X it has a more aggressive design.

The used modification of the DirectCu II cooler includes an overall radiator block, as well as three 8mm heat pipes that accelerate heat dissipation from the GPU. Here, as expected, the technology of direct contact of the tubes with the crystal is used. All memory chips are located on the front side of the printed circuit board, but only three chips have contact with the heatsink. The elements of the GPU power system are not equipped with an additional cooler, but in this case they are located exactly under the active CO airflow. Two 80 mm axial fans are used to blow the radiator.

Note that the length of the PCB barely exceeds 240 mm, but the dimensions of the adapter are increased by the cooling system protruding beyond the edge of the printed circuit board. As a result, we have 272 mm, which will not be a problem for most cases. A metal bracket is fixed on the top edge, which also connects the board to the mounting plate. A pair of 6-pin connectors is provided for connecting additional power. Despite the fact that one of the heat pipes runs close to the connectors, the potential problem of convenient connection of cables is solved — the connectors are rotated 180 degrees (latches outward). The power supply is signaled by LEDs located nearby.

The adapter has a standard set of video outputs: two DVI, as well as full-format HDMI and DisplayPort. The delivery package of the video card includes a small manual, a disk with drivers, an adapter from a pair of Molex connectors to one 6-pin connector, and a bridge for connecting two video cards in CrossFireX mode.

So, let’s see what the used DirectCu II modification is capable of in an open bench. At rest, the GPU temperature did not rise above 29 degrees, while the fan speed was at the level of 1200 rpm.

Under load, the chip warmed up to 70 C, and the fan speed increased to 2450 rpm.

CO is very balanced. Despite the increased speed, due to the shape of the impeller, the noise in this mode remains at a fairly comfortable level. The expected retail price of the boosted video card from ASUS is $240.

GIGABYTE GV-R927XOC-2GD

GIGABYTE launches one Radeon R9 model at launch270X — GIGABYTE GV-R927XOC-2GD. Analyzing the intricacies of marking the device, it is easy to understand that in this case we are also talking about a forced model. The GPU frequency is increased to 1100 MHz, while the memory runs at the recommended 5600 MHz.

The video card uses the original printed circuit board, but the cooling system is very similar to the one used with the Radeon HD 7870 adapters. The only difference is that the Radeon R9 270X has a different shape of the protective casing, which has chopped corners and resembles such for higher-speed devices of the manufacturer, however, in this case it is plastic, not metal.

WindForce 3X proprietary cooler design includes three aluminum fin cassettes that are held together by two 8mm heatpipes. Soldering is used to improve contact between tubes and plates. At the base of the largest central unit there is a metal plate that covers the memory chips (through thermal pads). The six-phase GPU VRM elements also have an additional cooler. The whole structure is blown by three fans with a diameter of 80 mm.

The top edge of the adapter also has a decorative trim for added strength. A pair of 6-pin connectors is provided for power connection. The mounting panel has a familiar set of interfaces: two DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI. At the same time, the latter has a golden coating (Gold Plated HDMI), which, according to the manufacturer, should provide more reliable contact.

Video card length — 295 mm. For a mid-range device, this is a very immodest size. At the same time, the length of the printed circuit board is 236 mm, while the overall length of the adapter is significantly increased by the elements of the cooling system and the protective casing protruding beyond the edge of the PCB. A large CO should potentially have a high efficiency, which we will try to verify in practice.

In idle mode, the cooler lowered the GPU temperature to 29 degrees, while the fan speed was approaching 1600 rpm. Under load, the speed increased up to 2400 rpm, while the chip temperature rose only to 56 C.

Obviously, in such a situation there is no need for such an aggressive fan operation algorithm. An engineering sample of the adapter came to us for testing, it is likely that retail versions of video cards will have a different firmware. We decided to experiment by lowering the fan speed and fixing it at 1300 rpm.

As a result, the temperature of the GPU under load increased to quite comfortable 65 C, while the CO noise level was significantly lower than in normal mode.

The expected cost of GIGABYTE GV-R927XOC-2GD is $220.

MSI R9 270X HAWK

With the announcement of the Radeon R9 270, MSI offers two original models. The gaming series now includes the R9 270X GAMING 2G adapter, and the hawk family has added another bright representative — MSI R9270X HAWK. It was the last adapter that came to us for testing.

The frequency of the graphics processor of the video card has been increased by 100 MHz by the manufacturer — up to 1150 MHz, the memory operates at the recommended 5600 MHz.

Externally, the adapter is very similar to MSI N760 HAWK, which we recently reviewed. The visual similarity is primarily determined by the identical Twin Frozr IV Advanced cooling system. The cooler includes an overall radiator cassette, in which aluminum plates are connected by five heat pipes (four 6 mm and one 8 mm). The heatsink is powered by a pair of 100mm Propeller Blade fans with Dust Removal technology. Special deflectors on the plates allow you to increase the volume of air pumped through the sectors of the heat pipes.

A new PCB has been developed for the R9 270X HAWK, only vaguely resembling that of the Radeon R7870 HAWK. The card received an eight-phase power subsystem and the ability to adjust the voltage on the CPU / memory / bus. VRM elements and memory chips (with the exception of one) are covered with a massive aluminum plate used for additional cooling. There is also a plate on the back of the PCB that protects the surface mount components. Illumination enthusiasts will appreciate the array of LEDs on the back of the PCB that reflect the status of the GPU’s power phases.

MSI R9 270X HAWK allows you to measure the supply voltage on the chip, memory chips and bus using a multimeter. Appropriate connectors for connecting adapters are located at the edge of the PCB. The video card supports TwinBIOS technology. The adapter is equipped with two chips with firmware, which can be used at your discretion. Initially, one contains the BIOS version for the normal mode, the second (LN2) removes some restrictions for extreme overclocking of the video card using liquid nitrogen.

Dual-slot video card, adapter length 265 mm. On the top panel, like the reference model, as well as the previously reviewed R9 270X, there are two 6-pin connectors for connecting additional power. The interface bar has a familiar set of video outputs: two DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort.

Adapter package includes manual, quick installation brochure, driver and software CD, two Molex to 6-pin 12V adapters, a DVI to VGA adapter, and three adapters for connecting multimeter probes to V-Check Points.

Keeping in mind the very convincing results shown by TwinFrozr IV Advanced during the N760 HAWK test, it was interesting to see how this cooler will cope with the novelty on a chip from AMD. In rest mode, the temperature of the GPU rose to 29 degrees. To keep this value, the fans rotated at 850 rpm.

After passing through all the test stages, the peak value of the GPU heating was fixed at around 73 C. At the same time, the maximum rotation speed did not exceed 1050 rpm.

Subjectively, the fan operation mode did not actually change, at least the speed changes in this range are not perceptible by ear.

The MSI R9 270X HAWK is expected to retail for $260 at launch.

Overclocking

The frequency potential of the graphics chip used for the Radeon R9 270X is about 1200-1250 MHz. The final value will depend on the particular GPU instance. The base clock frequency of the memory at 5600 MHz suggests that video cards will often use chips that can operate at 6000 MHz according to the specification. However, specific chips will also determine a lot here. For the three considered video cards, Elpida W2032BBBG-6A-F chips are used, which do not work very well at frequencies above 6300-6400 MHz.

In this case, if we talk about initially boosted video cards, we shouldn’t expect a serious additional performance boost after overclocking. 5-8% to the available number of frames / s, but no more. However, for versions with a basic frequency formula (1050/5600 MHz), the relative increase in performance will be more significant.

Performance

Given the technical equipment of the Radeon R9 270X, its performance was not initially a mystery. To evaluate the performance, we compared the new product with the Radeon HD 7870, which is a kind of starting point. To set the top bar for Radeon R9270X, we also used the classic Radeon HD 7970 (925/5500 MHz) for testing. Unfortunately, at the time of preparation of the material, we did not have the GeForce GTX 660 at our disposal, which is nominally opposed to the Radeon R9 270X. The competing camp is represented by the somewhat more expensive GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which replaces the GeForce GTX 760, as well as the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost, which, at a price of $ 150-170, is at the junction of entry-level and mid-range graphics adapters.

Increased GPU and memory frequencies allowed the Radeon HD 7870 to achieve 5-8% improvement in results. Rivalry with competitor devices traditionally depends on the set of tests used. However, if we try to average the results, we can say that although the Radeon R9 270X did not manage to get close to the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, a confident step in this direction was made. As for the comparison with the GeForce GTX 760, even the forced Radeon R9 models often fail to get close to it.270X. However, there is nothing surprising in this, this solution from NVIDIA still costs more.

Video cards from vendors are expectedly placed on ladder diagrams, in accordance with the base values ​​of GPU clock frequencies. With the memory operating mode unchanged, the scatter of results is very small, so this factor is unlikely to become the main one when choosing a particular model.

Results

AMD Radeon R9 270X is a proven adapter that has already been successful in its category, acting in the graphics ring in the guise of the Radeon HD 7870. processor and memory. AMD announced $19 price tag9 looks very life-affirming, but with its increase, interest in the new product will decrease proportionally. It is an attractive price that should become the main argument of persuasion in the absence of significant technological differences.

The appearance of this solution in AMD’s assortment will probably force NVIDIA to respond. Moreover, they have already begun. The reaction to the Radeon R9 270X can be called a reduction in the cost of the GeForce GTX 660 to $179. However, the matter here will probably not be limited to the price maneuver alone. Still available for sale GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which is very convincing against the backdrop of the Radeon R9270X are already being discontinued. At the same time, the GeForce GTX 760, nominally replacing the GTX 660 Ti, is offered at a price of $250, that is, it costs much more than the Radeon R9 270X.