VisionTek Radeon R9 290 Introduced As Best Value In High Performance Graphics Cards

New $409MSRP ultra-performance card outperforms NVIDIA GTX 780 while offering savings of $90,

intelligent performance management, 4K resolution, and professional grade audio

VisionTek Products LLC, (VisionTek^®) http://www.visiontekproducts.com, a leading manufacturer of award-winning, high-performance upgrades and accessories for PC and Apple Macintosh^® computers, announced today the VisionTek Radeon™ R9 290 graphics card. Featuring similar specifications to the VisionTek R9 290X, the world’s fastest graphics card introduced two weeks ago, the new R9 290 offers up to 947MHz clock speed, 4GB 512bit GDDR5 RAM, over 300GB/s memory bandwidth to support 4K gaming with over 100 layers of effects, and compute performance that nearly exceeds 5.0 TFLOPs. With a $90 lower cost and performance that exceeds the leading competitive brand’s comparable card, the estimated $409MSRP VisionTek R9 290 is the best value in high performance graphics cards and is expected to begin shipping later this month.

 

Outperforms GTX780 While Costing $90 Less

To compare the Radeon R9 290 to the competition, AMD utilized two widely accepted performance testing methods: dedicated benchmarking and in-game frames per second performance. In both instances, the Radeon R9 290 outperformed the $499MSRP NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780.

 

3D Mark Fire Strike, the world’s most popular gaming benchmarking tool, was used to determine each card’s overall score in two demanding settings, Performance and Extreme:

 

3DMark Fire Strike Performance Setting Overall Score:

• ·         R9 290: 9039
• ·         GeForce GTX 780: 8692

 

3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Setting Overall Score:

• ·         R9 290: 4513
• ·         GeForce GTX 780: 4370

 

When running popular games such as Battlefield 4™, Crysis 3, and Tomb Raider with a 4K (3840 x 2160) display mode setting, the R9 290 delivered superior frames per second performance to the GTX 780:

Battlefield 4:

• ·         R9 290: 35.59 FPS
• ·         GeForce GTX 780: 31.45 FPS

 

Crysis 3:

• ·         R9 290: 31.02 FPS
• ·         GeForce GTX 780: 27.45 FPS

 

Tomb Raider:

• ·         R9 290: 36.8 FPS
• ·         GeForce GTX 780: 34.5 FPS

 

Overclocking Via Easy to Use GUI

The VisionTek R9 290 can be set to automatically run higher than the base core speed if it is operating below power, current, and temperature specification limits via the Boost State control within the easy-to-use card management GUI.

 

Intelligent Active Performance Management

To keep gamers playing, the VisionTek R9 290 features two automatic performance management features. AMD PowerPlay™ Technology adjusts clock speeds in response to GPU load for energy use efficiency. Newly enhanced for the R9 290 series of graphics cards, AMD’s PowerTune Technology intelligently manages power, voltage, temperature, and clock speeds for optimum performance and safe operation.

 

See What You’ve Been Missing with 4K Resolution

The VisionTek R9 290 supports Ultra HD 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution, which is 4x the resolution of 1080p. Typically, configuring a graphics card for use with a high resolution monitor must be done manually. However, AMD’s Catalyst™ Graphics Drivers will perform automatic configuration on select popular 4K monitors, including models from Sharp and Asus. Further simplifying the ability to use 4K displays is the card’s use of AMD Eyefinity™ technology which can span multiple monitors into one large panoramic display.

 

Hear What You’ve Been Missing with TrueAudio

With an onboard audio processing chip powering AMD’s TrueAudio technology, the VisionTek R9 290 can deliver accurate 3D surround sound within games and special audio effects like reverbs and room simulations while reducing CPU load. Now you can hear more real-time voices and situational sounds in-game with any and all audio hardware already owned.

VisionTek Radeon R9 290 Specifications & Pricing

• Memory: 4GB 512bit GDDR5
• Memory Speed: up to 5.0Gb/s
• Base Clock Speed: up to 947MHz
• Stream Processors: 2560
• Compute Performance: 4.9 TFLOPS
• CrossFire Support: Up to four GPUs with no interconnect bridge required
• Outputs: 2 x Dual Link DVI, 1 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI
• Cooling: Single fan 2 slot
• Bus Type: PCIe 3.0
• 3DMark Fire Strike: greater than 8000
• OS Support: Windows^® 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Linux
• Estimated MSRP: $409.00

A History of Performance Innovation

Outperforming other GPU powered brand graphics cards is nothing new to VisionTek. By choosing AMD as its exclusive GPU partner, VisionTek has enjoyed a history of establishing new standards of performance capabilities from its graphics cards:

• In 2008, the AMD powered VisionTek Radeon 4000 series was the first to exceed one TFLOPS.
• In 2009, the AMD powered VisionTek Radeon 5000 series was the first to exceed two TFLOPS.
• In 2011, the AMD powered VisionTek Radeon 7000 series was the first to exceed three TFLOPS.
• In 2012, the AMD powered VisionTek Radeon 7970 GHz Edition card was the first to exceed four TFLOPS.
• October 2013, the AMD powered VisionTek Radeon R9 290X was the first to exceed five TFLOPS.

“There’s nothing on the market that can touch the Radeon R9 290’s price/performance value proposition,” said Mark Bilson, Executive Vice President of VisionTek. “It will even challenge the GeForce TITAN which costs $550 more. Then add in all the automatic performance management and user configurable operation options and you have an instant hit that will surely resonate with gamers of all levels.”

For more information on the new VisionTek Radeon R9 290 graphics card, or the existing VisionTek graphics card line, which includes the six recently announced VisionTek R7 and R9 series cards, visit: www.visiontekproducts.com.