radeon r9 290 | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 19 May 2015 07:58:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png radeon r9 290 | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 AMD’s partners quietly bundle GTA V with Radeon R9 graphics cards https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amds-partners-quietly-bundle-gta-v-with-radeon-r9-graphics-cards/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amds-partners-quietly-bundle-gta-v-with-radeon-r9-graphics-cards/#comments Thu, 14 May 2015 00:08:49 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=249340 Partners of Advanced Micro Devices have quietly started to bundle Grand Theft Auto V video game with its Radeon R9 graphics cards. At present, it is unclear whether the campaign is a widespread and a long lasting one, but it is now possible to get a free GTA V with a Radeon R9 290-series. Newegg, …

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Partners of Advanced Micro Devices have quietly started to bundle Grand Theft Auto V video game with its Radeon R9 graphics cards. At present, it is unclear whether the campaign is a widespread and a long lasting one, but it is now possible to get a free GTA V with a Radeon R9 290-series.

Newegg, one of the leading online stores in the U.S., is currently offering a free digital copy of Grand Theft Auto 5 with select AMD Radeon R9-series graphics cards it sells. PCPer web-site reports that bundling GTA V with higher-end Radeon R9 graphics adapters is a campaign organized by Newegg and graphics cards manufacturers, which means that the game will not be a part of AMD’s Never Settle bundle, at least for now.

At present Newegg offers select Radeon R9 290-series graphics cards with GTA V from Asustek Computer, Gigabyte Technology, MicroStar International, PowerColor, Sapphire Technology, and XFX. All AMD Radeon R7 and R9 graphics adapters also come with a free copy of Dirt Rally game.

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Keeping in mind that AMD is about to introduce an all-new lineup of graphics cards, retailers and manufacturers are interested in selling off the current stock as soon as possible. Therefore, it is not surprising that an online store and makers of graphics cards decided to run a promotion. What is unclear whether the same add-in-board producers plan to run similar promotions in other countries with other stores.

AMD said that it is not directly involved with the promotion.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: If AMD truly has nothing to do with the offering, then it means that makers of graphics cards can negotiate deals with game publishers themselves. While this may not seem like a big thing in general, it indicates that going forward manufacturers of add-in-boards will be able to improve their competitive positions by adding games into their bundles, not by dropping prices or re-architecting cooling systems for three times in a couple of years.

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Price drops of AMD Radeon R9 290-series are over, price-tags freeze https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/price-drops-of-amd-radeon-r9-290-series-are-over-price-tags-freeze/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/price-drops-of-amd-radeon-r9-290-series-are-over-price-tags-freeze/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2015 12:04:51 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=244172 Prices of AMD Radeon R9 290-series graphics cards seem to have stabilized both in the U.S. and in Europe. Apparently, supply and demand of such graphics adapters are now balanced and there is no need to further cut the prices. At present the most affordable AMD Radeon R9 290X boards in the U.K. are priced …

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Prices of AMD Radeon R9 290-series graphics cards seem to have stabilized both in the U.S. and in Europe. Apparently, supply and demand of such graphics adapters are now balanced and there is no need to further cut the prices.

At present the most affordable AMD Radeon R9 290X boards in the U.K. are priced between £245 and £265 inc VAT. The cheapest AMD Radeon R9 290X  graphics cards cost $279 – $299 in the U.S. after mail-in-rebate. Prices in Eurozone vary greatly, but inexpensive Radeon R9 290X adapters cost between €330 and €350. The most affordable Radeon R9 290 graphics cards are currently priced at $240 (after mail-in-rebate) – $260, £220 – £230 and €285 – €300 in the U.S., the U.K. and Eurozone, respectively.

All of these prices have been stable for over a month now, which means that neither AMD nor its partners have reduced prices of the Radeon R9 290-series products any further. Moreover, some AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics cards even got more expensive recently. Stabilization of the prices indicates that either AMD and its partners can no longer reduce prices without facing massive losses, or the companies no longer need to maximize sales of such hardware in the channel.

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Back in early January, 2015, chief executive officer of AMD revealed that the channel still contained excessive amount of the current-generation Radeon inventory. The company vowed not to announce any new graphics adapters in the Q1 2015 and instead concentrate on selling through the existing add-in-boards.

“From Q1 to Q2, I think the largest improvement will be around the channel health,” said Lisa Su. “We have had this channel problem for a couple of quarters, and it is important for us to correct that. We definitely reduced some inventory in Q4, and we will take significant action to reduce that inventory in Q1, and that will give us an opportunity to return to a more normal desktop channel business.”

AMD and its partners among makers of add-in-cards and retailers started to cut-down prices of AMD Radeon R9 graphics adapters in September ’14 following launches of Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce GTX 970 and 980 graphics boards. AMD said that it needed to reposition some of its products in order to better compete against rivals and to lower inventory. Market sources revealed that demand for high-end AMD graphics cards was constrained because many of those who used advanced Radeon graphics adapters for crypto-currency mining started to sell their hardware off via Internet auctions in the third quarter of 2014.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: If you were planning to get a Radeon R9 290-series graphics card when the prices hit the bottom, then you probably have missed your chance already since many models actually got slightly more expensive in the recent couple of weeks. However, unless demand for the Radeon R9 290-series drops significantly in the coming months because the market expects arrival of the Radeon R9 390-series in June, the prices of the Radeon R9 290-series graphics adapters will remain on the current levels for a long time.

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MSI offers cashback with purchase of mainboards and graphics cards https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/msi-offers-cashback-with-purchase-of-selected-mainboards-and-graphics-cards/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/msi-offers-cashback-with-purchase-of-selected-mainboards-and-graphics-cards/#respond Tue, 17 Feb 2015 03:25:48 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=235951 In a bid to strengthen its positions on the market of mainboards and graphics cards, MicroStar International initiated a new cashback promo campaign. Those, who purchase a combination of MSI mainboards with graphics cards will be eligible to get part of their money back from the manufacturer. From now on and until the 13th of …

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In a bid to strengthen its positions on the market of mainboards and graphics cards, MicroStar International initiated a new cashback promo campaign. Those, who purchase a combination of MSI mainboards with graphics cards will be eligible to get part of their money back from the manufacturer.

From now on and until the 13th of March, 2015, MSI proposes cashback to end-users who buy a selected MSI mainboard combined with a MSI graphics card at official MSI resellers. Some of the eligible products are MSI’s mainboards based on the Intel X99 core-logic, the MSI Z97 Gaming family, the Z97S SLI Krait Edition and selected H97 models. Combined with a purchase of one of MSI’s GeForce GTX 960 or GTX 970 graphics cards, or MSI’s high performance Radeon R9 290 or R9 270X cards, end users can receive cashback adding up to more than €40.

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The promotion is effective in 20 countries in Europe, including France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, UK, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Austria, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey.

Numerous resellers in the U.K. are promoting MSI’s offer, including Box, CCL, Dabs, eBuyer, Novatech, OCUK, Scan & YOYOTech.

More details about the program are available at a special web-site.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It makes a great sense for MSI to sell bundles consisting of mainboards and graphics cards. Many people upgrade mainboards, CPUs and graphics cards at once, therefore, selling a bundle maximizes MSI’s revenue per customer, an important metric these days.

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AMD to offer special discounts to owners of GeForce GTX 970 https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-to-offer-special-discounts-to-owners-of-geforce-gtx-970/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-to-offer-special-discounts-to-owners-of-geforce-gtx-970/#comments Sat, 31 Jan 2015 03:32:39 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=233361 Advanced Micro Devices said this week that it would provide special discounts to owners of the GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards. It is not surprising that AMD is trying to capitalize on the scandal with incorrect specifications of the GTX 970. Unfortunately, AMD did not provide any exact details on the matter. “Anyone returning their …

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Advanced Micro Devices said this week that it would provide special discounts to owners of the GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards. It is not surprising that AMD is trying to capitalize on the scandal with incorrect specifications of the GTX 970. Unfortunately, AMD did not provide any exact details on the matter.

“Anyone returning their GTX970 and wanting a great deal on a Radeon with a full 4GB please let us know,” said Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of global channel sales at AMD, in a Twitter post.

Earlier this week it was confirmed by Nvidia that it had incorrectly stated specifications of its GeForce GTX 970 graphics card. Due to architectural limitations of the GM204-200 graphics processing unit used on the graphics adapter, the graphics solution cannot use more than 3.5GB of onboard memory at full speed. As a result, in certain cases performance of the GeForce GTX 970 drops.

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Many owners of Nvidia GeForce GTX 970-based graphics cards now want to return their adapters to stores because of incorrect specifications. Since Nvidia has not yet announced any plans to settle the dispute with angry GTX 970 owners, annoyed clients will naturally return their adapters to retailers and/or accept discounts on Radeon R9 290 or R9 290X graphics cards from AMD once it announces an appropriate campaign officially.

Nvidia did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It will be very interesting to learn what exactly AMD will offer to owners of Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards.

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AMD’s partners cut prices of Radeon R9 290 graphics cards again https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amds-partners-cut-prices-of-radeon-r9-290-graphics-cards-again/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amds-partners-cut-prices-of-radeon-r9-290-graphics-cards-again/#comments Fri, 30 Jan 2015 10:47:32 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=233269 Partners of Advanced Micro Devices this week started a new round of Radeon R9 290-series price-cuts. Traditionally, companies start to drop prices of graphics adapters in the U.S. and then do the same in other parts of the world. This week the U.S.-based Newegg store drop prices of Radeon R9 290X graphics cards (2816 stream …

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Partners of Advanced Micro Devices this week started a new round of Radeon R9 290-series price-cuts. Traditionally, companies start to drop prices of graphics adapters in the U.S. and then do the same in other parts of the world.

This week the U.S.-based Newegg store drop prices of Radeon R9 290X graphics cards (2816 stream processors, 176 texture units 64 raster operating pipelines, 512-bit memory bus, 4GB GDDR5 onboard) from Diamond Multimedia and Gigabyte Technology to $279 after $20 mail-in rebate (MiR), whereas Radeon R9 290X from MSI and PowerColor can be purchased for as low as $299 and $309, respectively, after $30 mail-in-rebate.

The same store offers Radeon R9 290 graphics adapters (2560 SPs, 160 TUs, 64 ROPs, 512-bit memory interface and 4GB of GDDR5 onboard) from XFX, Sapphire and HIS for as low as $229 (after $30 MiR), $239 (after $20 MiR) and $249 (after $29 MiR), respectively.

Previously, the lowest price of the Radeon R9 290X graphics cards at Newegg was $299 after $30 MiR, whereas the most affordable Radeon R9 290 was priced at $269. The new prices clearly indicate that the AMD Radeon R9-series family of graphics cards have become more affordable than around a month or two ago.

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Earlier this month AMD said that the channel still contains excessive amount of the current-generation Radeon inventory. The company promised not to introduce any new products during the quarter and concentrate on selling through the existing graphics adapters. Therefore, it is not surprising that stores have lowered their prices of the Radeon R9 hardware once again.

“From Q1 to Q2, I think the largest improvement will be around the channel health,” said Lisa Su. “We have had this channel problem for a couple of quarters, and it is important for us to correct that. We definitely reduced some inventory in Q4, and we will take significant action to reduce that inventory in Q1, and that will give us an opportunity to return to a more normal desktop channel business.”

The situation with the prices of the Radeon R9 290-series graphics cards in the U.K. remains stable, but it is highly likely that in the coming weeks retailers will cut prices of the high-end AMD graphics cards.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: AMD’s new generation high-end graphics cards are at least three months away. It will be very interesting to see the price of the Radeon R9 290-series offerings in March or April. It is possible that the R9 290 will cost less than $200, whereas the price of the R9 290X will drop to something like $229…

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AMD Radeon prices may stabilize soon as channel inventory depletes https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-radeon-prices-may-stabilize-soon-as-channel-inventory-depletes/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-radeon-prices-may-stabilize-soon-as-channel-inventory-depletes/#comments Wed, 17 Dec 2014 23:41:02 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=226924 Following months of excessive inventory of AMD Radeon graphics cards in the channel, the situation has finally gotten better for Advanced Micro Devices. As a result, rapid price drops on Radeon graphics cards may stop shortly. Early this year the value of cryptocurrency increased to new heights and mining enthusiasts started to massively acquire AMD …

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Following months of excessive inventory of AMD Radeon graphics cards in the channel, the situation has finally gotten better for Advanced Micro Devices. As a result, rapid price drops on Radeon graphics cards may stop shortly.

Early this year the value of cryptocurrency increased to new heights and mining enthusiasts started to massively acquire AMD Radeon graphics cards that are better suited for mining than Nvidia GeForce graphics adapters. After the price of cryptocurrency collapsed, miners started to sell Radeon boards on Internet auctions and even return them to stores in some cases. As a result, many gamers bought graphics cards from Ebay. Consequently, it became increasingly harder for AMD to sell its products to end-users, especially because of the massively successful Nvidia GeForce GTX 970/980. This led to price drops and withdrawal of refurbished graphics cards from the market in order to clear the road for new hardware. However, recently the refurbished boards started to re-emerge, which is a good sign, according to some analysts.

“In the past 3 weeks, we saw a return of the refurbish market for AMD mid- and high-tier cards at retail websites,” wrote Ian Ing, an analyst with MKM Partners, in a note to clients, reports Tech Trader Daily. “Recall in a recent note, the return of AIB refurbished cards likely signals abating excess inventory concerns (post cryptocurrency mining collapse).”

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If there is no or little excess inventory in the channel, it becomes unnecessary for AMD and its partners to keep prices low or run special promotions to sell graphics cards. It also means that AMD and its add-in-board allies can introduce new products.

“We believe AMD has several levers to discourage AIB makers from rapidly refurbishing and reselling returned cards, and further oversupply the market (given AIB price protections),” said Mr. Ing. “Our defined ‘refurb ratio’ (# refurbished cards/total cards [for a particular model]) has risen from 0 to 13.3 per cent at the high-end (Radeon R9 290X), and 6.7 to 15.5 per cent at the mid-end (Radeon R9 290). As a result, we think inventory digestion is progressing better than AMD’s ‘little bit in Q4’ commentary.”

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: If AMD and its partners have truly managed to get rid of excess inventory in the channel, expect prices on certain AMD Radeon graphics cards to go up. While price increases can be insignificant, the main thing to keep in mind is that they will not get more affordable if demand and supply is in order.

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AMD’s partners to sell Radeon R9 295X2 at £500 for a limited time https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amds-partners-to-sell-radeon-r9-295x2-at-500-for-a-limited-time/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amds-partners-to-sell-radeon-r9-295x2-at-500-for-a-limited-time/#comments Wed, 03 Dec 2014 08:45:30 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=224577 Advanced Micro Devices has announced that select retailers will sell its flagship dual-chip AMD Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card for £500 for a limited time. A number of leading stores in the U.K. already offered the dual-GPU graphics board for about £500 on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Apparently, the low price will be effective …

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Advanced Micro Devices has announced that select retailers will sell its flagship dual-chip AMD Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card for £500 for a limited time. A number of leading stores in the U.K. already offered the dual-GPU graphics board for about £500 on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Apparently, the low price will be effective for a longer period.

AMD Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card, which carries two AMD Hawaii graphics processing units and 8GB of GDDR5 memory onboard, boasts whopping 5632 stream processors, 352 texture units and 128 raster operating units in total. Performance of the Radeon R9 295X2 graphics adapters matches that of two Radeon R9 290X graphics boards and at present this is the world’s highest-performing graphics card. The adapter features a custom closed-loop liquid cooling solution and requires a PC case with a lot of space inside.

After sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday a number of stores increased prices on the Radeon R9 295X2 to £569.99 – £599.99 including VAT and higher. The announcement by AMD means that potential buyers should expect certain Radeon R9 295X2 graphics cards to sell at around £500.

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At about £500 the Radeon R9 295X2 graphics board no longer competes against ultra-high-end graphics adapters like GeForce GTX Titan Z or GeForce GTX Titan Black (which it outperforms). £500 is an average price of Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce GTX 980 single-chip graphics adapter, which is clearly behind AMD’s dual-GPU graphics solution in terms of performance (as well as in terms of power consumption, though).

Given that AMD does not slash its prices officially and claims that all price-cuts are a result of promotions by card vendors and retailers, at present there is no official prices for AMD Radeon-branded graphics adapters.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Traditionally dual-chip graphics solutions provide extreme performance only in games that are multi-GPU friendly. In all other cases scalability of both AMD CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI remains moderate at best. Since the majority of multi-GPU cards historically featured lowered frequencies, one single-chip GPU with increased clock-rates could offer better performance than dual-GPU solutions in case of negligible multi-GPU scaling. However, the Radeon R9 295X2 features default AMD Radeon R9 290X clocks, which means that even in the worst-case scenario (when multi-GPU simply does not work) it will not be that far behind its actual rival, the GeForce GTX 980. In all other cases it will be ahead of it. Which one would you choose?

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Black Friday downs Radeon R9 295X2 to £479 in U.K., $649 in U.S., €649 in Europe https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/black-friday-downs-radeon-r9-295x2-price-to-479-in-the-u-k-649-in-the-u-s-e649-in-europe/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/black-friday-downs-radeon-r9-295x2-price-to-479-in-the-u-k-649-in-the-u-s-e649-in-europe/#comments Thu, 27 Nov 2014 19:46:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=223893 Thanks to the fact that the new-generation graphics cards from Nvidia Corp. arrived to the market and next flagship graphics solutions from both AMD and Nvidia emerged on horizon, current top-of-the-range graphics solutions began to rapidly drop their price. The Radeon R9 295X2 graphics cards are now available at price-points well below recommended on both …

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Thanks to the fact that the new-generation graphics cards from Nvidia Corp. arrived to the market and next flagship graphics solutions from both AMD and Nvidia emerged on horizon, current top-of-the-range graphics solutions began to rapidly drop their price. The Radeon R9 295X2 graphics cards are now available at price-points well below recommended on both sides of the Atlantic. Moreover, Black Friday deals make them even more affordable!

Back in early September AMD officially dropped the price of its dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2 to $999 in the U.S. and to comparable figures in Europe and the U.K. (still, the high-end graphics solution is more expensive on this side of the pond). As it appears, numerous online stores in the U.S. now sell the Radeon R9 295X2 at price-points significantly below those recommended by AMD, which is logical considering the fact that AMD’s single-chip Radeon R9 290/290X graphics cards got significantly cheaper recently and continue to drop their price.

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Thanks to Black Friday deals, it is now possible to get a Radeon R9 295X2, the world’s most powerful graphics card, at a very good price that starts at £479.99 in the U.K. (at OcUK or Scan) and $649/$679 in the U.S. (at Amazon or Newegg).

But while Black Friday deals decrease the price of AMD’s dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2 graphics cards to new lows, their regular prices these days start at around $680 – $730 in the U.S., about £500 in the U.K. and €649 in Europe.

XFX AMD Radeon R9 295X2 (R9-295X-8QFA) for £479.99 inc VAT at Overclockers UK. Black Friday deal.
MSI Radeon R9 295X2 8GB (V803-856R) for £499.99 inc VAT at Overclockers UK. Black Friday deal.
XFX AMD Radeon R9 295X2 (R9-295X-8QFA) for £479.99 inc VAT at Scan. Sale price.
XFX AMD Radeon R9 295X2 (R9-295X-8QFA) for €649 at Alternate, Compuland and MindFactory. Regular price.
MSI Radeon R9 295X2 8GB (V803-856R) for €679.99 at CaseKing. Regular price.
XFX AMD Radeon R9 295X2 (R9-295X-8QFA) for $649 (after $30 rebate card, regular price is $679) at Newegg. Black Friday deal.
VisionTek Radeon R9 295X2 8GB (900703) for $729 at Newegg. Regular price.
Sapphire Radeon R9 295X2 8GB (100360SR) for $729 at Newegg. Regular price.
Diamond Radeon R9 295X2 8GB (R9295X2D58G) for $749 at Newegg. Regular price.
XFX AMD Radeon R9 295X2 (R9-295X-8QFA) for $679 at Amazon. Regular price.
Sapphire Radeon R9 295X2 8GB (21234-00-40G) for $729 at Amazon. Regular price.
XFX AMD Radeon R9 295X2 (R9-295X-8QFA) for $769 (after $30 rebate card, regular price is $799) at TigerDirect. Deal ends on the 30th of November, 2014.

As it transpires, AMD and its partners have quietly reduced the price of the Radeon R9 295X2 flagship graphics solutions in order to make them more competitive. Moreover, the price of the dual-chip graphics adapter just follows that of single-chip R9 290-series solutions, which is dropping.

AMD Radeon R9 295X2 graphics cards carry two code-named Hawaii graphics processors in maximum configuration and running at default clock-rate (2816 stream processors, 176 texture units, 64 raster operating units, 512-bit memory controller, 1GHz) as well as 8GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 5GHz. Performance of the Radeon R9 295X2 graphics adapters equals that of two Radeon R9 290X graphics boards. It should be kept in mind that not all PC cases and power supply units are compatible with the dual-chip Radeon R9 295X2.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Generally speaking, AMD’s Radeon R9 295X2 graphics cards still remain rather expensive pieces of hardware, so do not expect retailers to sell them like hot cakes. However, if you are building a high-end gaming PC right now and you are not afraid of multi-GPU configurations, then the dual-chip graphics solution from AMD might be a way to go. However, keep in mind that single-chip Radeon R9 290X graphics boards now start at $299 in the U.S. and £209.99 in the U.K., which means that by getting two of such graphics boards you can get the performance of the Radeon R9 295X2 at a lower-price.

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AMD: Our GCN architecture is ideal for virtual reality gaming https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-our-gcn-architecture-is-ideal-for-virtual-reality-gaming/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-our-gcn-architecture-is-ideal-for-virtual-reality-gaming/#respond Tue, 25 Nov 2014 01:28:57 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=223327 Advanced Micro Devices said that architectural peculiarities of the graphics core next (GCN) architecture make it very efficient for rendering virtual reality games. Apparently, asynchronous compute engines (ACEs) of AMD Radeon graphics processing units provide unique capabilities for low-latency VR rendering. “It has been something of a well-kept secret that the GCN Architecture is a …

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Advanced Micro Devices said that architectural peculiarities of the graphics core next (GCN) architecture make it very efficient for rendering virtual reality games. Apparently, asynchronous compute engines (ACEs) of AMD Radeon graphics processing units provide unique capabilities for low-latency VR rendering.

“It has been something of a well-kept secret that the GCN Architecture is a low-latency powerhouse, which is ideal for VR,” said Robert Hallock, global technical marketing lead at AMD, in an interview with Wccftech. “Contemporary AMD Radeon hardware already supports low-latency VR rendering through ‘asynchronous timewarp.’ Asynchronous timewarp is a technique that can be exposed in AMD Radeon hardware via the Asynchronous Compute Engines (ACE), which can schedule and execute compute and display operations independently of the graphics queue.”

Modern AMD Radeon graphics processors – Hawaii (Radeon R9 290) and Tonga (Radeon R9 285) – feature eight ACE units, whereas AMD’s previous-generation Tahiti GPU (Radeon R9 280) sports only two ACE units, which means that those planning to use graphics cards for VR gaming eventually should prefer the latest Radeon graphics products.

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“The ACE is a fundamental architectural building block of AMD Radeon GPUs utilizing the graphics core next architecture,” said Mr. Hallock. “We have also been demonstrating Alien: Isolation, an AMD Gaming Evolved title, on the Oculus Rift DK2 at select shows and events. It runs like a dream, and people have loved it!”

Theoretically AMD Radeon may have a serious benefit over competing GeForce graphics cards. Still, it remains to be seen whether architectural peculiarities of AMD Radeon graphics processors translate into actual performance benefits in real games when compared to Nvidia GeForce hardware.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It will be extremely interesting to see real life advantages of AMD’s hardware versus the competition. While AMD’s latest hardware may be great, game developers utilize far not all architectural peculiarities of GPUs, unfortunately…

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AMD may speed up Radeon R9 290X ‘Hawaii’ graphics card https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-may-speed-up-radeon-r9-290x-hawaii-graphics-card/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-may-speed-up-radeon-r9-290x-hawaii-graphics-card/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2014 19:14:42 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=222144 Advanced Micro Devices plans to release yet another graphics card based on the code-named “Hawaii” graphics processing unit, a media report claims. The new adapter is projected to be faster than the Radeon R9 290X, which will allow AMD to better compete against Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce GTX 970. Fudzilla reports that the updated Radeon R9 …

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Advanced Micro Devices plans to release yet another graphics card based on the code-named “Hawaii” graphics processing unit, a media report claims. The new adapter is projected to be faster than the Radeon R9 290X, which will allow AMD to better compete against Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce GTX 970.

Fudzilla reports that the updated Radeon R9 290X will be released early in 2015. The web-site does not reveal whether the new “Hawaii”-based graphics card will feature considerably higher clock-rates, or will activate previously deactivated execution units, such as stream processors and texture units.

While the name and price of the new graphics card are unknown, it is likely that the new graphics adapter will be sold at around $329/€320, the price-point of GeForce GTX 970. With higher performance, the new graphics solution will better compete against the rival.

amd_radeon_r9_290_2

While it is logical for AMD to offer a better graphics card to compete against the GeForce GTX 970, it should be noted that the novelty has to be released now in a bid to better position AMD for the holiday season.

It is expected that the faster Radeon R9 290X will co-exist on the market with AMD’s next-gen flagship Radeon R9 390X graphics card code-named Fiji XT.

AMD did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It is completely unclear why AMD decided not to boost clock-cates of the Radeon R9 290X 8GB graphics card. This would increase attractiveness of the 8GB graphics cards and would justify their higher price.

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Another round of Radeon R9 290 price-drops may be incoming https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/another-round-of-radeon-r9-290-price-drops-may-be-incoming/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/another-round-of-radeon-r9-290-price-drops-may-be-incoming/#comments Thu, 13 Nov 2014 23:59:32 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=221836 At least two online stores in North America recently started to sell AMD Radeon R9 290 and AMD Radeon R 290X graphics cards at or below $300, a price-point that is unprecedented for high-end graphics adapters. While the deals seem to be limited by time, it is possible that AMD and its partners may be …

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At least two online stores in North America recently started to sell AMD Radeon R9 290 and AMD Radeon R 290X graphics cards at or below $300, a price-point that is unprecedented for high-end graphics adapters. While the deals seem to be limited by time, it is possible that AMD and its partners may be preparing another round of price-cuts in a bid to better rival Nvidia Corp.

Although both AMD and Nvidia fight for the market share globally, the most intense battle happens in the U.S. market. All the planned price-cuts are first made in the U.S. and only then become available for customers in other markets. As a result, it is tremendously important what AMD, Nvidia and their add-in-card as well as retail partners offer in the U.S. since this may indicate upcoming actions in the U.K. and Europe.

U.S.-based Newegg currently offers PowerColor AXR9 290X 4G graphics card for $299 after $30 mail-in rebate. The same store also sells MSI Radeon R9 290X Gaming 4GB for $319 after $30 mail-in rebate as well as Gigabyte GV-R929XOC-4GD for $329.

Another U.S. store, TigerDirect, offers PowerColor TurboDuo Radeon R9 290 4GB for $259.99 after rebate, which looks to be a very good offering. The most affordable Radeon R9 290-based graphics cards available at Newegg are XFX Double Dissipation R9-290A-EDFD 4GB as well as HIS iPower IceQ X² OC that cost $269. In fact, there are loads of Radeon R9 290 graphics cards that cost below $300 now.

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AMD’s Radeon R9 290X 4GB is AMD’s flagship single-chip graphics card that is based on the fully-fledged Hawaii XT graphics processing unit with 2816 stream processors, 176 texture units 64 raster operating pipelines as well as 512-bit memory bus. The Radeon R9 290 4GB graphics board is powered by Tahiti Pro GPU with 2560 SPs, 160 TUs, 64 ROPs and 512-bit memory interface. At present AMD and its partners are rolling-out Radeon R9 290-series graphics adapters with 8GB of GDDR5 memory onboard.

AMD and its partners started to adjust prices of the Radeon R9 graphics cards in late September, after Nvidia Corp. revealed its massively successful GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce GTX 980 graphics adapters. AMD itself denies that it is behind Radeon R9 price-cuts and claims that its partners are running promo campaigns.

While potential price-cuts yet have to reach the U.K. market “officially”, Overclockers UK already has a number of good offerings for those, who want to buy a Radeon R9 290/290X graphics card.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While gamers from the U.K. and Europe can expect further price drops of Radeon R9 290-series graphics cards, people in the U.S. may expect very interesting offerings from stores on Black Friday later this month.

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AMD: We have not cut prices of GPUs, partners run promotions https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-we-have-not-cut-prices-of-graphics-cards-partners-are-conducting-promotions/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-we-have-not-cut-prices-of-graphics-cards-partners-are-conducting-promotions/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2014 20:49:28 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=217325 We looked here and asked there to bring you everything you need to know about AMD Radeon R9 price reductions and promotions. Last week it was reported that Advanced Micro Devices and its partners among suppliers of graphics cards reduced prices of AMD Radeon R9-series graphics adapters in a bid to be more competitive against Nvidia …

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We looked here and asked there to bring you everything you need to know about AMD Radeon R9 price reductions and promotions.

Last week it was reported that Advanced Micro Devices and its partners among suppliers of graphics cards reduced prices of AMD Radeon R9-series graphics adapters in a bid to be more competitive against Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce GTX 970/980 graphics solutions. Then, the report was somehow denied. Unfortunately, since AMD was in its quiet period before the announcement of Q3 financial results this Thursday, the company could not provide us a lot of answers, but today we managed to get loads of important details right from AMD.

It’s getting hotter on the graphics cards market…

During the earnings call AMD admitted that Nvidia has released very competitive products in the form of the GeForce GTX 970/980 and that it had to adjust to “some competitive dynamics” or even reposition certain products.

“We have certainly adjusted to some of the competitive dynamics, and we have made some positioning changes as well as some new marketing activities that you will see from us in the fourth quarter,” said Lisa Su, chief executive officer of AMD.

It is important to understand that while AMD executive admitted that Nvidia’s competitive positions became much stronger with the release of the new GeForce GTX graphics cards, it neither confirmed nor denied any price-cuts during the conference call.

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Richard Huddy: We are very, very competitive

In a bid to understand how AMD sees its positions on the market of high-end graphics cards and how it plans to compete against new offerings from its arch-rival, we decided to ask Richard Huddy, AMD’s chief gaming scientist, a few questions.

KitGuru: Hi Richard, nice to chat with you again! How do you consider competitive positions of AMD Radeon R9 product line these days? Are the Radeon R9 290-series graphics cards still the best high-end single-GPU graphics solutions for their money?

Richard Huddy: AMD continues to offer strong performance and great pricing on Radeon R9 series graphics cards right now thanks to channel promotions. You can purchase an AMD Radeon R9 290X starting at $369 (€320 in Europe, £275 in the U.K. and there are this week only promotions at OcUK that start at £233) – considerably better value than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980, which is its equivalent. AMD provides excellent value for performance that is on par in most scenarios, especially at higher resolutions such as 4K, which matters greatly to gamers today. Looking at our AMD Radeon R9 290, you should start seeing prices starting at $299 (€250 – €260 in Europe, £215 – £240 in the U.K.). If you look historically, I don’t think we’ve ever seen that much performance for under $300. It’s insane. It’s very, very competitive.

KitGuru: You are talking about lower prices. There were reports that AMD decided to cut-down prices on the majority of the Radeon R9 graphics cards to better position them against Nvidia’s GeForce GTX. Is that true?

Richard Huddy: We have not issued any price cuts, nor price protection and we have not announced any for the future. We are conducting some promotions with our AIB partners that enables them to reach such competitive pricing on the Radeon R9 290 and 290X.

KitGuru: For how long these promotions might run?

Richard Huddy: The best news is that we have very healthy stock levels for both the Radeon R9 290 and 290X in the channel and the time to buy is now, with channel promotions bringing such great deals. We’ve got phenomenal products in the market and there’s plenty of it around.

KitGuru: Given your background with game development and some other things, I know you would like to add something… 🙂

Richard Huddy: If you look at competitive offerings, there are no free games, but with our 290X you can choose three of the latest games from the back catalogue. There are around 30 titles right now that you can choose from – and these include some of the latest triple-A games. There is Alien Isolation, for example, which came out last week and that’s already in the bundle. So you can choose from a selection of games that have been out over the last few months.

Talking of performance for a moment, if you look at some of the latest games coming out for example, Sniper Elite 3 it is one of the latest titles that is enabled with Mantle as an API. For example, the Radeon R9 290X is about anywhere between ten or 12 per cent faster than the GeForce GTX 980 when running on Mantle. So if you compare that, you’re getting more performance in the latest games for less money.

KitGuru: Thank you so much, Richard!

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Final words

AMD claims that it has not cut prices of graphics cards and also does not offer price protection on its Radeon products, yet, they are available at discount prices. It is completely unclear how AMD has managed to do this, but at the moment it is possible to get the AMD Radeon R9 290-series graphics cards with rather significant discounts. If one can get a Radeon R9 290X at the price of a GeForce GTX 970 at a local retailer, the deal seems to be a great one!

The Radeon R9 graphics cards also come with free games and support AMD’s Mantle API that can provide performance boosts in select cases. On the other hand, as Nvidia continues to polish off its drivers and optimize them for the Maxwell architecture, performance of the GeForce GTX 900-series graphics cards will get somewhat higher over time as well.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While we could not get a confirmation from AMD about the price-cuts, we now know that there is a plenty of Radeon R9 290/290X graphics cards in the channel, which need to be sold. Why? Maybe to maintain AMD’s market share going forward (when the stocks deplete to certain levels, resellers start to buy from AMD, which is when market observers register sales), or maybe to prepare for something newer and bigger.

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AMD Radeon R9 295 X2: final specs out, card may not fit into all PCs https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-radeon-r9-295-x2-final-specs-revealed-card-may-not-fit-all-pc-cases/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-radeon-r9-295-x2-final-specs-revealed-card-may-not-fit-all-pc-cases/#comments Fri, 04 Apr 2014 22:56:05 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=186071 The final specifications of the upcoming AMD Radeon R9 295X graphics card got revealed on Friday, when a press deck containing all the information regarding the new dual-chip flagship solution got leaked. Apparently, the code-named Vesuvius graphics board will offer performance close to that of two Radeon R9 290X graphics adapters. However, unlike two aforementioned …

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The final specifications of the upcoming AMD Radeon R9 295X graphics card got revealed on Friday, when a press deck containing all the information regarding the new dual-chip flagship solution got leaked. Apparently, the code-named Vesuvius graphics board will offer performance close to that of two Radeon R9 290X graphics adapters. However, unlike two aforementioned graphics cards, the R9 295 X2 may not fit into all computer cases.

As reported, the Radeon R9 295 X2 will be powered by two AMD Hawaii graphics processors in full configuration with 2816 stream processors (176 texture units, 64 raster operating units, 512-bit memory bus) as well as 8GB of GDDR5 memory (2*4GB). Thanks to the presentation of the new high-end graphics solution, which was first published by VideoCardz.com web-site, the chips will operate at up to 1018MHz clock-rate, whereas the memory will function at 5GHz effective rate. The graphics board sports two 8-pin PCIe power connectors and therefore can consume up to 375W of power.

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The early images of the Radeon R9 295X2 (first published by ChipHell.com) clearly demonstrated that the new graphics card is very long (probably due to two 512-bit memory buses) and will require enthusiast-class PC cases. However, according to the presentation, the Radeon R9 295 X2 might be the longest consumer graphics card ever made: it is 307mm in length. Even the GeForce GTX 690 was 279.4mm-long, whereas the GeForce GTX Titan Black is 265mm-long.

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Since AMD Radeon R9 295 X2 will use a hybrid air/liquid cooling system, it will require an enthusiast-class PC case and may be quite noisy (since it has two fans, which cannot be absolutely silent). However, not all enthusiast-class PC cases will be able to house a graphics card that is nearly 31cm long.

Pricing of the AMD Radeon R9 295×2 remains to be seen. At present there are rumours about the recommended price of $1499 (£900, €1085), but as we get closer to launch, it may be altered.

AMD did not comment on the news-story.

KitGuru Says: It looks like ultimate graphics performance requires not only a lot of power and money, but a lot of space inside the rig as well.

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