The PowerColor 270X PCS+ Review

Test Configuration – Hardware

• Intel Core i7 3770K (overclocked to 4.5GHz); Turbo is on. Supplied by Intel.
• EVGA Z77 FTW motherboard (Intel Z77 chipset, latest beta 03-12-13 BIOS, PCIe 3.0 specification; CrossFire/SLI 16x+16x using Plex chip), supplied by EVGA.
• 16GB Kingston DDR3 Kingston RAM (8x2GB, dual-channel at 2133MHz; supplied by Kingston)
• Noctua NH-DH14 CPU cooler plus 7 case fans, supplied by Noctua.
• PowerColor R9 270X PCS+ (at reference speeds 1050/1400MHz, PowerColor PCS+ 1100/1425MHz speeds and further user overclocked to 1215MHz/1500MHz)
• GTX 780 Ti 3GB at reference speeds, supplied by Nvidia
• EVGA GTX 780 3GB, reference speeds; on loan from EVGA
• GTX Titan 6GB at reference speeds, supplied by Nvidia
• GTX 690 4GB at reference speeds, supplied by Nvidia
• EVGA GTX 660 SC, at reference clocks, supplied by EVGA
• Nvidia GTX 760, reference clocks, supplied by Nvidia
• Nvidia GeForce 770, 2GB, reference clocks, supplied by Nvidia
• PowerColor R9 290X OC 4GB at stock Uber mode clocks (up to 1000MHz)
• VisionTek R9 280X 3GB, reference speeds; supplied by VisionTek
• VisionTek HD 7970 3GB at reference speeds; on loan from VisionTek
• PowerColor HD 7970 3GB at GHz Edition Boost speeds
• Onboard Realtek Audio
• Genius SP-D150 speakers
• Two identical 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 hard drives configured and set up identically from drive image; one partition for Nvidia GeForce drivers and one for ATI Catalyst drivers
• Two Kingston 240GB HyperX SSDs configured and set up identically from drive image; one partition for Nvidia GeForce drivers and one for ATI Catalyst drivers; supplied by Kingston
• Cooler Master Platinum Pro 1000W PSU, supplied by Cooler Master
• Thermaltake Overseer RX-I full tower case, supplied by Thermaltake
• Philips DVD SATA writer
• HP LP3065 2560×1600 thirty inch LCD
• Three 23″ ASUS VG236 3D Vision-ready 120Hz displays, supplied by Nvidia/ASUS.

Test Configuration – Software

• WHQL Catalyst 13.11 Beta9.5 and 9.4 (R9 270X PCS+); 13.11 Beta1 for HD 7970/GE; 13.11 Beta9.2 for R9 280X; 13.11 Beta2 for R9 290X; application controlled, Surface optimizations off, High Quality, Vsync off.  Catalyst Control Center used for overclocking – power at maximum, stock voltage and stock fan profile.
• Nvidia GeForce 331.93 for GTX 760/660 ; 331.58 for GTX 770 and GTX 780; 331.70 for all other GeForce cards; High Quality; Single-display Performance mode; Prefer Maximum Performance, Vsync off.   No overclocking; power and temperature targets set to maximum with stock voltage and fan profiles.
• Windows 7 64-bit; very latest updates
• Latest DirectX
• All games are patched to their latest versions.
• Vsync is forced off in the control panels.
• Varying AA enabled as noted in games; all in-game settings are specified with 16xAF always applied; 16xAF forced in control panel for Crysis.
• All results show average frame rates
• Highest quality sound (stereo) used in all games.
• Windows 7 64, all DX9 titles were run under DX9 render paths, DX10 titles were run under DX10 render paths and DX11 titles under DX11 render paths.

The Benchmarks

• Synthetic
  • 3DMark 11
  • Heaven 4.0
  • Valley 1.0
  • FireStrike/FireStrike Extreme

• DX9
  • Serious Sam 3 BFE
  • Alan Wake: Ameican Nightmare
  • The Witcher 2
  • Borderlands 2
  • Aliens: Colonial Marines
  DX10
  • Crysis
  DX11
  • Alien vs. Predator
  • STALKER, Call of Pripyat
  • Lost Planet 2
  • Civilization V
  • Total War: Shogun II
  • Crysis 2
  • DiRT 3
  • DiRT: ShowDown
  • Battlefield 3
  • Max Payne 3
  • the Secret World
  • Sleeping Dogs
  • Sniper Elite V2
  • Hitman: Absolution
  • Far Cry 3
  • Tomb Raider: 2013
  • Assassin’s Creed 3
  • Crysis 3
  • BioShock: Infinite
  • Metro: Last Light
  • GRID 2
  • Splinter Cell: Blacklist
  • Batman: Arkham Origins
  • Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
    

Above is our test bench. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is ABT’s latest benchmark and it has replaced Batman: Arkham City as game benchmark number thirty.

Before we get to the performance charts, let’s look at overclocking, noise, and temperatures.  We tested in cool Winter ambient temperatures of 72-74F.

Overclocking, Noise and Temperatures

Overclocking the R9 270X is no different than overclocking other Radeons except for Hawaii. Pitcarin runs cool and the fan is barely noticeable over other quiet case fans even at full load with the stock fan profile.   We were able to add an additional 115MHz on top of the PowerOverclock of 1100MHz, to reach 1215MHz.  We were at the edge of stability with the stock fan profile and voltage and had to lower the overclock by 5MHz to consistently complete two of the thirty benchmarks (DiRT 3 and Valley).

Our sample’s memory clocked +75MHz over PowerColor’s 1425MHz overclock to 1500MHz and would clock even higher without artifacting, although with diminishing performance.  We settled on 1215MHz core/1500MHz memory, up over PowerColor’s overclock of 1100MHz core/1425MHz memory and up over the reference 1050MHz core/1400MHz memory.

Noise and Temperatures

The PowerColor R9 270X PCS+ is a fairly quiet video card.  At maximum overclock we reached 68C with the fan barely noticeable at 47% peak using the stock fan profile.  Normally the fan runs below 40% and the temperatures stay much lower in the 50sC, even under full load.  The end user is free to make this card even quieter by creating a lower rpm fan profile.  The cooling is overkill for this cool-running GPU even at maximum overclock.

Let’s head to the performance charts to see how the overclocked $199 PowerColor R9 270X PCS+ compares with the $189 GTX 660 and the $249 GTX 760.