Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X OC 8GB | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Fri, 07 Nov 2014 04:04:28 +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 Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X OC 8GB | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 OcUK offers KitGuru readers a discount on Radeon R9 290X 8GB graphics cards https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/ocuk-offers-kitguru-readers-a-discount-on-radeon-r9-290x-8gb-graphics-cards/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/ocuk-offers-kitguru-readers-a-discount-on-radeon-r9-290x-8gb-graphics-cards/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2014 03:54:06 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=220783 On Thursday many partners of Advanced Micro Devices rolled out their graphics cards based on the Radeon R9 290X graphics processors with 8GB of GDDR5 memory. Unfortunately, at present such graphics adapters are significantly more expensive than regular R9 290X models with 4GB of memory, which greatly lowers their value to a lot of customers. …

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On Thursday many partners of Advanced Micro Devices rolled out their graphics cards based on the Radeon R9 290X graphics processors with 8GB of GDDR5 memory. Unfortunately, at present such graphics adapters are significantly more expensive than regular R9 290X models with 4GB of memory, which greatly lowers their value to a lot of customers. Fortunately, there is a way to get one of the 8GB boards with a discount.

The Sapphire Radeon R9 290X VaporX 8GB graphics card is one of the world’s highest-performing single-chip graphics adapters based on the code-named “Hawaii-XT” graphics processing unit (2816 stream processors, 176 texture units, 64 raster operations pipelines, 512-bit memory bus). Sapphire increased clock-rate of the GPU to 1030MHz (up from 1000MHz) and boosted memory frequency to 5.50GHz (up from 5GHz) in a bid to differentiate its product from competing offerings. The graphics card comes with five free games: four games of choice and one digital copy of Civilization: Beyond Earth.

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Overclockers UK offers a deal for KitGuru readers. If you want one (or two) of the Sapphire R9 290X Vapor X 8GB graphics cards, then you can enter a special code to get a £20 reduction from the stock price, bringing the total price down to £359.99 including VAT. All you need to do is to enter the KITGURU8GB code when purchasing the graphics adapter.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Even with the discount the Sapphire R9 290X VaporX 8GB graphics card continues to be rather expensive. Still, if you plan to play in future games and/or in ultra-high-definition 4K (3840*2160) resolution, then 8GB of memory onboard make sense.

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AMD to re-launch Radeon R9 290X graphics cards with 8GB of memory https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-to-re-launch-radeon-r9-290x-graphics-cards-with-8gb-of-memory/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-to-re-launch-radeon-r9-290x-graphics-cards-with-8gb-of-memory/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2014 14:40:54 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=219168 Advanced Micro Devices plans to re-launch AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics cards with 8GB of memory. Earlier this year such graphics boards were available exclusively from Sapphire Technologies, but for the holiday season AMD intends to allow three partners to offer R9 290X graphics boards with 8GB of GDDR5 on-board. In a bid to better …

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Advanced Micro Devices plans to re-launch AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics cards with 8GB of memory. Earlier this year such graphics boards were available exclusively from Sapphire Technologies, but for the holiday season AMD intends to allow three partners to offer R9 290X graphics boards with 8GB of GDDR5 on-board.

In a bid to better compete against Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce GTX 980 as well as GeForce GTX Titan graphics cards, AMD plans to allow Club3D, PowerColor and Sapphire to release exclusive 8GB versions of graphics cards based on the Radeon R9 290X graphics processing units, reports SweClockers.

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The AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics cards with 8GB of GDDR5 memory are projected to feature custom cooling solutions and higher clock-rates compared to regular graphics boards powered by the fully-fledged version of the Hawaii graphics chip with 2816 stream processors, 176 texture units, 64 raster operations pipelines and 512-bit memory bus.

The exclusive Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X OC 8192MB graphics card that was made available in limited quantities earlier this year came with slightly increased clock-rates: the GPU was clocked at 1060MHz (up from 1000MHz), whereas 8GB of memory operated at 5600MHz effective frequency (up from 5000MHz on default graphics cards). It is logical to expect similar slight overclock from the upcoming Radeon R9 290X 8GB graphics cards as well.

While 8GB of GDDR5 memory sounds impressive, not everyone needs a frame-buffer that large at present. For the vast majority of use cases, 4GB GDDR5 should be enough for fine frame-rates. 8GB will provide a significant advantage to those, who play in 4K resolution (3840*2160) and/or with very high-quality antialiasing settings, but in order to get high performance in ultra-high-definition, one will need two graphics cards…

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The new breed of Radeon R9 290X graphics adapters with 8GB of GDDR5 memory on-board will be released on the 6th of November, 2014. AMD wants to ensure that the new graphics boards are affordable enough to compete against GeForce GTX 980, therefore, do not expect the R9 290X 8GB versions to cost significantly more than regular models.

The fact that AMD allowed two of its key partners – Tul Corp. (which controls PowerColor and supplier graphics cards to Club3D) and Sapphire Technology – to make exclusive Radeon R9 290X 8GB graphics cards means that the company has no plans to release any new flagship offerings this calendar year.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While it is nice to see that AMD actually wants to compete against the GeForce GTX 980 using something else than price-cuts or promotions, exclusive graphics cards with no obvious performance advantages are not exactly something that can capture a significant share of the market (due to limited availability). Therefore, while some gamers might prefer Radeon R9 290X 8GB to GeForce GTX 980 4GB, it is unlikely that the majority of gamers will make the same choice.

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Sapphire quietly starts to sell Radeon R9 290X 8GB graphics cards https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/sapphire-quietly-starts-to-sell-radeon-r9-290x-8gb-graphics-cards/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/sapphire-quietly-starts-to-sell-radeon-r9-290x-8gb-graphics-cards/#comments Wed, 07 May 2014 22:57:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=191756 Sapphire Technology has quietly started to sell the most powerful single-chip graphics card based on AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics processing unit, the Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X. The graphics board is exclusively available from Overclockers.co.uk now, but over time it can reach different stores as well. The Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X OC 8192MB …

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Sapphire Technology has quietly started to sell the most powerful single-chip graphics card based on AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics processing unit, the Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X. The graphics board is exclusively available from Overclockers.co.uk now, but over time it can reach different stores as well.

The Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X OC 8192MB graphics card comes with slightly increased clock-rates: the GPU is clocked at 1060MHz (up from 1000MHz), whereas 8GB of memory operate at 5600MHz effective frequency (up from 5000MHz on default graphics cards). The product features one HDMI, one DisplayPort 1.2 and two dual-link DVI connectors to drive ultra-high-definition and high-definition displays.

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Thanks to the vapour chamber-based cooling system with three fans, it can be safely said that the Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X OC 8GB will provide a lot of headroom for further overclocking due to the ultimate efficiency of such cooler.

While 8GB of GDDR5 memory sounds impressive, not everyone needs a frame-buffer that large at present. For the vast majority of use cases, 4GB GDDR5 should be enough for fine frame-rates. 8GB will provide a significant advantage to those, who play in 4K resolution (3840*2160) and/or with very high-quality antialiasing settings.

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Since the Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X OC 8GB graphics card is currently exclusive and is also the only R9 290X-based model with 8GB of GDDR5 memory, it is clearly not affordable. Overclockers.co.uk sells it for £599.99 ($1015, €730) with taxes. By contrast, the same store offers dual-chip Radeon R9 295X2 graphics boards with 8GB of memory for around £1100.

While one Radeon R9 295X2 will clearly outperform Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X OC 8GB, a pair of the pre-overclocked graphics cards with 8GB of memory from Sapphire will beat the Radeon R9 295X2 in high resolutions at basically similar cost. Therefore, if you are on the market for en exclusive single-chip offering, or a multi-GPU combination that beats the world’s highest-performing graphics card, the Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X OC 8GB is a product to consider.

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Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It will be interesting to see whether other companies will follow Sapphire with the Radeon R9 290X-based solutions with 8GB of memory. While such a large frame-buffer will hardly be useful for everyone, many enthusiasts may actually buy such graphics cards before they get an UHD/4K displays… Alternatively, AMD could produce a reference Radeon R9 290X 8GB in order to offer an alternative to Nvidia’s GeForce GTX Titan Black. However, this will hardly happen…

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