AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB Review Comment Thread

[Arinoth]

That's why AMD went with the cost-cutting measure of doing away with the crossfire ribbon cable and connectors. Saves money in the long run with XDMA working.

 

[sswilson]

Technology enthusiasts do not drive anything. It's the "markets" not enthusiast consumers that dictate where the developmental resources that the major corporations like Intel and AMD, Samsung, etc will be allocated. The money is in consoles and 1080P which means that as far as gaming goes it will be another 10 year cycle before 4K becomes a mainstream gaming standard . 4K is a long long way away before becoming a main stay and replacing 1080P as the new standard adopted by the overwhelming majority of game developers. Also resolution is not the be all and end all of quality. There are many more factors to IQ than resolution. Even Apple with the iphone 5s actually backed off on the megapixle count to instead focus on enhancing color reproduction, contrast, and overall accuracy of each pixle instead of just adding more. Sometimes less is more and quality is better than quantity. People do not understand that more resolution means nothing if the quality is not there. Not to mention that 4k will look absolutely awkward in a small way on any monitor under probably 40" which renders it kind of moot for most PC gamers.

Sorry but I disagree. Markets may determine what's on the shelf for mainstream consumers, but enthusiasts still drive R&D as well as the direction hardware goes in.

The markets for AIO WC kits, beefier air coolers, and computer cases with both cooling and cable management are perfect examples of mainstream consumer products that have been driven by the enthusiast market.

 

[Soultribunal]

nvidia are to stubborn. I mean have you even seen Tom Peterson talk ?


You do understand that less than 1% of gamers on Steam use a resolution greater than 1080P right. Everyone talks about extreme resoultion gaming when everyone is still on 1080P.

True, however multi-monitor is becoming just as important in this day and age. So you sill need a high end card or good Multi-card profiles to run 3 monitors at 1080p. And given the low cost (panel wise) of doing so it is a viable thing for many mid to high end gamers to accomplish.

As, well Steam's demograph does not take multi into consideration, nor are they the be all end all for market and what is available. The best place to go to see how many 27" + 1440p monitors are being sold is in the retail channel. It is fast becoming a bigger market for that.

I do agree with quality over quantity for some things , better colour accuracy and better mass-producibility is key right now. Costs need to go down some to tap into a bigger market.

-ST

 

[Sushi Warrior]

That's why AMD went with the cost-cutting measure of doing away with the crossfire ribbon cable and connectors. Saves money in the long run with XDMA working.

Saves money and fixes the eyefinity/high res Crossfire problems with software compositing. Best of both worlds?

 

[ontariotl]

Well I did it. I bought two for my surround.....oh wait now back to Eyefinity setup along with EK waterblocks for both. :thumb:

Lord have mercy on my credit card!!!!!!!!:shok:

 

[Gordon freemen]

True, however multi-monitor is becoming just as important in this day and age. So you sill need a high end card or good Multi-card profiles to run 3 monitors at 1080p.

No you dont need to run three monitors for gaming and it's actually not great as the support sucks. Also 5750x1080 is used by less than 2% of gamers on Steam and really most games do not properly support that resolution and it's a pain to hack to even get half way working in many cases.

As, well Steam's demograph does not take multi into consideration

,

Yes they do and it's less than 5% of the market.

nor are they the be all end all for market and what is available. The best place to go to see how many 27" + 1440p monitors are being sold is in the retail channel. It is fast becoming a bigger market for that.

I do agree with quality over quantity for some things , better colour accuracy and better mass-producibility is key right now. Costs need to go down some to tap into a bigger market.

-ST

Over 95% of the PC gaming market are using 1920x1200 and under single screen. You guy's make it look like ultra high Rez muti monitors are actually being used when the fact is the market for them is so small as to be a non issue. What you are talking about is a niche market that is not even properly supported and more of a headache as a gamer than it's worth. Steam Hardware & Software Survey

 

[AkG]

You are using the exact same flawed argument MS did when they released Window 8. Here is the key to the survey and understanding why it is flawed "Participation in the survey is optional, and anonymous". Most tech savvy people NEVER do surveys. The most you can get out of that data is that most older, non-tech savvy people use low res. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't believe me? Dig into the data. Top FIVE video cards.....three are intel HD graphics and the other two are cheaper, older GPUs - NV 550 and 560.

 

[Soultribunal]

No you dont need to run three monitors for gaming and it's actually not great as the support sucks. Also 5750x1080 is used by less than 2% of gamers on Steam and really most games do not properly support that resolution and it's a pain to hack to even get half way working in many cases.

Yes they do and it's less than 5% of the market.



Over 95% of the PC gaming market are using 1920x1200 and under single screen. You guy's make it look like ultra high Rez muti monitors are actually being used when the fact is the market for them is so small as to be a non issue. What you are talking about is a niche market that is not even properly supported and more of a headache as a gamer than it's worth. Steam Hardware & Software Survey

No one 'needs' to run anything for gaming, but that doesn't stop people from doing it and buying what they want. Even if its not just for gaming but other applications. I don't 'need' my 24" but I like it. So what does that have to do with anything?
Support is at times sketchy but it is out there, and its growing , not shrinking. More and more multi monitor support has been cropping into games that historically did not have it. So game companies (Wargamming as a good example) have added support because enough of their population base supports it. Enthusiasts driving the R&D , not the other way around.
And WoT and WoWP are not on steam, so that 2%, is not valid for the market...it is only valid for Steam.

I did not realize that they took into account Mulit, my apologies on that.

However AkG also brings up a valid point too, I don't fill out a single survey on what I run with any game company and most of us with High end hardware feel the same so the numbers they have are very inaccurate to the actual market out there.

I get to see a lot of Distribution channels for monitors, plus having people in the channel to talk to. It is not as Niche as you'd like to think.
And 27" 1440p is not ultra high end (Dell's 30" monster takes that spot) its actually an affordable segment for a higher than 1080p monitor.

-ST

 

[Levesque]

Why buy the upcoming 780ti when you can get 2X R9 290 for around the same price. Seriously.

 

[Mayjaplaya]

Why buy the upcoming 780ti when you can get 2X R9 290 for around the same price. Seriously.

They're not "around the same price". Nobody's going to get 2 290s and use them without waterblocks. So it's $800 + at least $175 for the blocks. $975+ vs. $700.