{"id":39677,"date":"2013-11-18T14:18:18","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T14:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=39677"},"modified":"2013-12-03T22:59:48","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T22:59:48","slug":"powercolor-r9-290x-oc-vs-gtx-780-ti-overclocking-gloves-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/powercolor-r9-290x-oc-vs-gtx-780-ti-overclocking-gloves-come\/","title":{"rendered":"PowerColor R9 290X OC vs GTX 780 Ti – the overclocking gloves come off!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is our third evaluation in a series pitting the PowerColor R9 290X OC against the GTX 780 Ti.\u00a0 This evaluation will feature the PowerColor card, and this time we shall overvolt, lock the fan speeds to 100%, and drop the ambient temperatures for each card to declare an overall performance winner.\"r9-290x0C\"<\/a>\u00a0 We are focusing particularly on the $579 PowerColor OC<\/a> (overclock) BF4 edition and will set AMD’s flagship card against Nvidia’s flagship in 30 game benchmarks.<\/p>\n

The GTX 780 Ti<\/a> is Nvidia\u2019s brand-new $649 single-GPU flagship video card based on GK110 just as the $1000 Titan and the GTX 780 are. The GTX 780 Ti replaces the now $499 GTX 780 as flagship, and both are offered with a 3-game Holiday Bundle including Assassin\u2019s Creed IV\u2013Black Flag<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist,<\/em> and Batman: Arkham Origins<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although we are going to focus on the PowerColor’s performance and especially on overclocking it beyond its base clocks as we set it against the GTX 780 Ti, we shall also give you the Big Picture as we compare with stock Uber and Quiet configurations, as well as with seven other top video cards.<\/p>\n

The PowerColor R9 290X OC vs. the GTX 780\/GTX 780 Ti<\/h2>\n

The reference version of the R9 290X is clocked up to 1000MHz while the PowerColor 290X OC Edition is clocked up to 1030MHz .\u00a0 Memory clocks are \"1x780-2\"<\/a>1250MHz at stock GDDR5 5000 speeds. The regular R9 290X is priced starting at $549 including a version of the PowerColor 290X OC that does not include BattleField 4<\/em>.\u00a0 Some vendors are including BF4 with their cards for $549 while others aren’t.<\/p>\n

The reference GTX 780 can be found for as little as $449 and it is currently sold with a three game Holiday bundle as well as with a $100 Shield discount. We have already found that the stock 290X is faster than the GTX 780, although the stock GTX 780 Ti at $649 slots above the mildly overclocked PowerColor 290X.<\/p>\n

What about overclocking?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

We already found that our evaluation sample of the reference GTX 780 Ti overclocks well on stock fan profile and stock voltage so that it performs significantly faster than the mildly overclocked PowerColor R9 290X.\u00a0 Now we want to crank up the voltage, turn up each card’s fans to 100% and see how far each card will overclock and how the performance compares.<\/p>\n

For this evaluation, you will see us pit the overvolted and overclocked-to-the-max PowerColor R9 290X against the GTX 780 Ti, also at max clocks. We are also going to compare with the reference GTX 780, as well as with 6 other top cards to see how well the overclocked PowerColor 290X OC does. For this evaluation, we are benching 30 modern games and 4 synthetic benchmarks at 1920×1080 and 2560×1600 resolutions.<\/p>\n

Since we do not want any chance of our CPU bottlenecking our graphics, we are testing all of our graphics cards by using our Ivy Bridge Intel Core i7-3770K<\/a> at 4.50GHz, 16 GB Kingston “Beast” HyperX<\/a> DDR3 at 2133MHz, and an EVGA Z77<\/a> FTW motherboard. The EVGA FTW motherboard features the 16x+16x PCIe 3.0 specification for CrossFire\/SLI. \"\" The Core i7-3770K at 4.5GHz is fast enough to differentiate even high-end video cards at high resolution and at high detail settings. \"\"<\/p>\n

Before we look at our test bed and run benchmarks, let’s unbox our PowerColor R9 290X OC video card and look at its specifications.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The PowerColor R9 290X OC BF4 Edition<\/h2>\n

All of the currently available R9 290X cards are reference versions.\u00a0 Vendor cooling solutions will probably not be available until the second week of December, about the same time that Nvidia’s partners will be releasing overclocked GTX 780 Tis.<\/p>\n

Currently, PowerColor’s main differentiation from other AMD partners is the company that stands behind it with a 2-year warranty, excellent customer service, and technical support should you need it. The PowerColor 290X itself is mildly overclocked and has excellent characteristics which may indicate that the GPU was binned.<\/p>\n

There is nothing fancy to see from the outside of the box. The card arrives in a PowerColor box that advertises the card without its specifications. It emphasizes overclocking, Battlefield 4<\/em>, 4GB of GDDR5 memory, support for Eyefinity and 4K resolutions, and it also mentions DX11.2 and PCIe 3.0.\"290x-box-front\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the back of the box, we see the card’s features as well as the power and system requirements.\"290x-box-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The PowerColor 290X OC video card comes well-protected by padding and also protected from static electricity.\"packing\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Inside the box, besides the new 290X OC, we find a driver CD, manual, Battlefield 4<\/em> coupon, and a Molex to 6-Pin to 8-pin PCI-E power adapter.\"Content\"<\/a>The PowerColor R9 290X OC has a good-looking design and it uses a single-cooling blower-style fan much like the reference HD 7970. Unfortunately, the Hawaii GPU used in the R9 290X runs much hotter than the Tahiti GPU used in the HD 7970 and the fan struggles to cool it under load with some rather loud fan noise as a result. \"290x-access\"<\/a>There are two dual-link DVI, one HDMI 1.4, and one DisplayPort 1.1a connector available to easily connect to 4 displays and to even to use them simultaneously.\"290x-connect\"<\/a> The R9 290X is setup for pairing with another 290X but a CrossFire bridge is not included as it is unnecessary with Hawaii GPUs. Just like with Nvidia cards, you can mix cards from different vendors with different clock speeds. In addition, unlike with Nvidia cards, there is much more flexibility to mix cards with different amounts of cores and different framebuffers.\"290x-obv\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As we turn the card over, we can see that there are no CrossFire connectors since the bandwidth is now shared over the PCIe bandwidth.\u00a0\u00a0 \"290x-1\"<\/a>We can also see the\u00a0 the 6-pin+8-pin connectors for the PCIe cables.\"290x-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let’s check out the PowerColor R9 290X specifications from their website<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Specifications <\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"specs\"<\/a> Here are some of the features<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

GCN Architecture<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new design for AMD\u2019s unified graphics processing and compute cores that allows them to achieve higher utilization for improved performance and efficiency.<\/p>\n

AMD Eyefinty Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

Run multiple displays from a single graphics board and expand your gaming field of view across all displays.<\/p>\n

AMD App Acceleration<\/strong><\/p>\n

AMD App Accelerator creates a \u201cco-processing\u201d environment in which the compute processing potential in your AMD Radeon\u2122 Graphics processor works together with the system central processor, to accelerate enabled applications.<\/p>\n

AMD HD3D Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

Supports the latest stereoscopic 3D content and display technologies. Play 3D games, watch Blu-ray 3D videos, and edit 3D photos on your 3D Monitors, TV, or projector.<\/p>\n

AMD CrossFire\u2122 Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

Multi-GPU support offers superior scalability. Increase your gaming performance up to 2x with AMD CrossFire\u2122 technology, 2.75x for TriFire configurations, or 3.75x with QuadFire configs.<\/p>\n

Microsoft DirextX\u00ae 11.2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get intense gaming performance and unrivalled image quality with stunning 3D visual effects, realistic lighting and lifelike imagery.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

AMD HD Media Accelerator<\/strong><\/p>\n

Assumes rendering responsibility for HD encode (VCE)\/decode (MPEG-4 ASP, H.264. MVC, MPEG2, etc.) and conclusively enable superior video playback quality with advanced hardware post-processing algorithms.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>
\nAMD PowerPlay\u2122 Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

AMD PowerPlay\u2122 Technology dynamically adjusts clockspeeds in response to GPU load, saving power for just when you need it.<\/p>\n

AMD PowerTune Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maximizes performance under load conditions by dynamically increasing the GPU engine clock to take advantage of unused TDP headroom. Also allows users to configure their own TDP limit, within a provided range, for even higher performance or more power efficiency.<\/p>\n

Advanced GDDR5 Memory Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

GDDR5 memory provides the highest available memory bandwidth of any memory technology today, enabling higher GPU performance.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Intelligent Overclocking Control<\/strong><\/p>\n

AMD latest Boost State technology automatically allows Radeon Graphic to run higher than the base core speed if it\u2019s operating below power, current, and temperature specification limits.<\/p>\n

Dolby\u00ae TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio\u2122<\/strong><\/p>\n

Support of content protected, high bandwidth, 7.1 channels of surround sound over HDMDI and DisplayPort.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We can’t wait to test maximum overclocking for the PowerColor 290X OC, but before we begin the testing, head over to our testing configuration. <\/p>\n

Test Configuration – Hardware<\/span> <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n