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AMD Radeon R9 Fury X Launched, Independent Benchmarks, HBM Put To the Test

Posted by samzenpus on from the running-the-numbers dept.

MojoKid writes: AMD officially launched the Radeon R9 Fury X based on their next generation Fiji GPU and HBM 3D stacked DRAM memory. Fiji is manufactured using TSMC's 28nm process. At its reference clocks of 1050MHz (GPU) and 500MHz (HBM), Fiji and the Radeon R9 Fury X offer peak compute performance of 8.6 TFLOPs, up to 268.8 GT/s of texture fill-rate, 67.2 GP/s of pixel fill-rate, and a whopping 512GB/s of memory bandwidth, thanks to HBM. Its compute performance, memory bandwidth, and textured fill-rate are huge upgrades over the previous generation AMD Hawaii GPU and even outpace NVIDIA's GM200, which powers the GeForce Titan X and 980 Ti. To keep the entire assembly cool, AMD strapped a close-loop liquid cooler onto the Fury X. There's a reason AMD went that route on this card, and it's not because they had to. There will be air-cooled Fury and Fury Nano cards coming in a few weeks that feature fully-functional Fiji GPUs. What the high-powered liquid-cooler on the Fury X does is allow the use of an ultra-quiet fan, with the side benefit of keeping the GPU very cool under both idle and load conditions(around 60C max under load and 30C at idle), which helps reduce overall power consumption by limiting leakage current. The AMD Radeon R9 Fury X performed very well in the benchmarks, and remained competitive with a similarly priced, reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, but it wasn't a clear win. Generally speaking, the Fury X was the faster of the two cards at 2560x1440. With the resolution cranked up to 3840x2160, however, the Fury X and 980 Ti trade victories.

103 comments

  1. This is why I gave up PC gaming by NotDrWho · · Score: 0, Troll

    Would spend crazy money on a card like this, and 2 years later it would be sitting in my junk pile. Got tired of chasing the beast. Went console and saved my bank account.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    1. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I buy my video games for a couple of bucks when Steam has a Black Friday sale. Most games are five years old, but my current gen video card that I got for $60 runs them just fine.

    2. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      The only people who should be buying the high-end versions of videocards (or anything, for that matter) are people who can actually afford it.

      For the rest of us, the low-end and mid-range cards work just fine. I'm curious about the Fury nano, for example.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    3. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Ditto. My card was all the way up to $110, which is about my limit for a single PC component because I'm cheap. I do count MB, CPU, and RAM separately, so there's a little wiggle room there. If I crank up the detail much in Skyrim, though, I do get less than 30 FPS with vsync on. I'm allergic to tearing. I miss ye olde page flipping days, in some ways of course.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by jandrese · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You don't need to buy this card if you're happy gaming at console resolutions. Even 6 year old midrange cards can push modern games just fine if you're willing to accept 720p at 30hz. You can even hook up the controller to your PC if you hate the easy precision of a mouse.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    5. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My 750 Ti was $135 (but I've only been playing some older games and recording video with it). My upper limit for GPU would be $200. I'd get decent performance out of it in modern games.

    6. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      -1, Troll (Or retarded)

      Your solution is to ditch your 2015 your 2013 gaming system (Current year minus two) for a console that, if you crunch the nubmers, is as about as powerful as a low-mid grade gaming PC from 2010. You can say this objectively because current game consoles now use (customized) PC hardware.

      The two year upgrade cycle hasn't been true since the early 2000s at best. You can game quite comfortably on 5.

      With consoles you also get to enjoy:
      Closed walled gardens

      Inflated prices

      Fewer available games

      Lack of KB/Mouse input

      Screaming 10 year olds

      Paying for the privilege to play online games

    7. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 1

      Yes. Something like this card could last you years and years if you're not concerned with getting ridiculous framerates on ultra-max settings on the latest bleeding edge games. I'd even go so far as to say there's not much use for this card unless you're intent on gaming at "4k" resolution.

      Since this is Slashdot, here's the requisite car analogy. Why spend tons of money on a sports car with tons of horsepower, when an economy class import will get me to and from work for a fraction of the price? Because if you're the sort of person who wants a car for the things that one does, then yes, that's the one for you. The sports car is for someone entirely different, who wants to go take it to the track on weekends, etc.

    8. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

      A few years ago I had a Radeon 3870 video card on my system. For shake and giggles, I ran Quake in 640 x 480 and turned on the frame rate speed. I got ~500 fps. The last time I played Quake was on a dual Voodoo 2 SLI set up at 30fps (IIRC) in the late 1990's.

    9. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you forgot to say "get off my lawn"

    10. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I used to play video games on the Atari 2600 in early 1980's. Heck, I even played Pong when it first came out in the mid-1970's. But we're not talking about the 1970's and 1980's, and the 1990's weren't that long ago. If we were, you can off my lawn. Like 40 years ago.

    11. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Yunzil · · Score: 2

      So you gave up PC gaming because you can't stop spending money that you didn't need to spend?

    12. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well good. You're where the stupid people belong.
      On consoles.

      Everyone else just buys the card for under 100 bucks that was the lastest greatest a year ago and games along just fine on a pc.
      Because thats what the game makers target. The cards that most people have.

    13. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by ArcherB · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think he just likes the fact that he can go to the store, buy any game with his console's name on it, and it is guaranteed to work. He doesn't need to worry about having the right OS, the right amount of RAM, the right processor, the right video card, the drivers, and so on. Of course, even if his system is set up perfectly today, the specs will change as his machine ages. In other words, a video card that will play any game today, will not play any game in three years. A PlayStation Three still plays every single game made for a PS3, from the games that came with the system on launch day to the games that are still being released today.

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    14. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I can go on Steam (Or anywhere else to buy games), buy any game, and it is guaranteed to work.

      "Having the right OS"

      As long as you're running Windows 7 or 8, you're fine. If you're running Linux, and you want to game, well, I suppose you chose poorly. Don't get me wrong, I love Linux and feel it is definitely superior to Windows, but if you want to be a gamer, you have to run Windows.

      Also, I can easily twist that argument back to you as "Having the right console". You can't play the latest Call of Duty or Halo if you have a Wii.

      "The right amount of RAM"

      You're phrasing it as if it's possible to have too much. 8 gig is plenty for ANY game. Anything more just means you can leave more crap running in the background.

      "The right processor"

      As long as its better than an i3 and made within the last 5 years, you're fine. You make it sound like there are "incompatible" processors.

      "the right video card"

      Don't buy budget cards. Always buy mid-grade unless you have the money to blow on a high-end card. Problem solved. It doesn't matter if it is nVidia or AMD. The days of having to buy a specific brand in order to support a specific graphics API went away 15 years ago with the death of 3fx and their Glide API. There's not even a such thing as an "OpenGL" card versus a "Direct3D" card like there used to be.

      "the drivers"

      These are easily kept updated. You don't even need to reboot to install them these days. Consoles have firmware updates as well, so this is a moot point.

      Honestly, it just sounds like you've been out of the PC gaming world for a long time and still hanging on to old mantras. As has been mentioned in another comment, the days of needing to upgrade your computer every year are long gone. You can play GTA5 on 5-year-old hardware. You won't be playing at maximum graphics quality, but you can still get at least 30 fps in your monitor's native resolution, which puts you on par with the console gamers.

    15. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Movi · · Score: 0

      >Most games release 5 years after consoles
      FTFY

    16. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you wait 6 months to a year you can halve your investment at one of the big sale times... or you could just whine about your shitty console framerates and unavailable games...

    17. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      1. If you're constantly upgrading you're doing it wrong. You should only buy a new GPU that moves you up at least 3 tiers.

      2. I guess you don't play any MMOs such as WoW, any RTSs such as Starcraft, or use any mods for Skyrim, Minecraft, etc. Consoles aren't always even viable in some cases. If all you care about is dumb button mashers such as Diablo 3, or Destiny then sure, knock yourself out. Meanwhile some of us will be checking out the free Path of Exile and other PC only games.

      3. I've been building my custom gaming rigs since 1990. These days you can save a bundle by getting parts from NewEgg or MicroCenter. Order an i7, with a Hyper 212 EVO cooler, 16 GB RAM, a 256 GB SSD, and that $500 you spent on a GPU will give you a gaming rig that will last **years**.

      4. I guess you don't care about framerate or resolution. Consoles can barely do 1080p @ 60 fps. Meanwhile over in PC land we're gaming at 120+ Hz with G-Sync / FreeSync Desktops resolutions are running at 2560x1440, the incorrectly labeled "2K" @ 3840x2160, or even higher such as Vanishing of Ethan Carter @ 8K.

      Consoles are basically a 4 year old PC. Apples and Oranges. Different strokes for different folks.

    18. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because those 6 year old cards are still sold as re-branded high-end cards at AMD.

    19. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by hairyfeet · · Score: 0

      15 yard penalty, FUD on the field! There is NO REASON to upgrade to the "latest and greatest" unless your PC is your ePeen and you are trying to reach the top of some benchmark board...that's it, because nearly every game will play (and look better than the console version) on even modest or ancient kit.

      Take myself for example, from 2010 to 2014 I gamed on an HD4850 which I picked up for $100. I played all the big names, the Bioshock series, the L4Ds, the Just Causes and Crysis games...all played fine and looked great. From the same period up until 2 weeks ago the CPU they were running on was a Phenom II X6, which again cost me $100 at the time, I think with the board and 8GB of DDR 2 it was $170 something before MIRs and $145 after. Last year I upgraded to an HD7750 as I had a customer who was selling his for cheap and for nearly a year it played all the games I wanted just fine, I would still be using it if I hadn't come into a little money and my boys said "You spend so much on us, treat yourself for once in your life".

      I ended up with an FX8320E with 16GB of RAM, a new 750w PSU, an R9 280 with 3GB of RAM, new Asus board, and to top it off a nice 27 inch Asus screen to replace my aging 20 inch....must have cost a fortune, right? Nope around $750 before MIRs, around $650 after (moral of the story kids, always take the MIRs) and more importantly those parts I pulled from mine? All still playing games for other family members, the oldest got the board and CPU, the youngest took the PSU, and the wife took the HD7750 so she can plug her tower into her TV as an HTPC.

      So yeah PC gaming is REALLY not expensive, I could have not upgraded a thing and kept right on playing and I have ZERO doubt that this current setup will be playing the latest and greatest games in 2020 with little effort, and again looking better and costing less than the consoles.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    20. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      if your game settings arent significantly better than console versions, or youre not pirating, why bother?

      $650 is almost 2 brand new xbox ones for gods sake. you paid $650 to play console games, at near console settings, for the length of a single console generation. great job. and on top of that, you get the extra fun of maintaining a PC OS.

      was this supposed to be impressive?

      "I could have not upgraded a thing and kept right on playing"

      on a 7750? an AMD 7750? the one with 1GB of vram? the one that gets 26fps at 1280x1024 in battlefield 3 at max settings?!

    21. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by theArtificial · · Score: 1

      I can go on Steam (Or anywhere else to buy games), buy any game, and it is guaranteed to work.

      As much as I want to agree with you this just isn't the case. I'll raise you Arkham Knight which was pulled from Steam. Receiving lots of negative reviews due to being a shoddy port. Oops.

      --
      Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
    22. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by smallfries · · Score: 1

      What you have claimed is not true at all. Arkham Knight was not pulled from Steam - anybody who was unhappy with the crap they released could get their money back. No questions asked. So the guarantee that the OP claimed does exist on Steam. Either it works (to your personal satisfaction) or you get a full refund.

      Remind me, which consoles let you do that?

      --
      Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
    23. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by theArtificial · · Score: 1

      What you have claimed is not true at all. Arkham Knight was not pulled from Steam - anybody who was unhappy with the crap they released could get their money back. No questions asked.

      Show me where you can buy it on Steam? I linked to the store page, if you look at that page you'll notice you can't buy it until Fall 2015. What's that called when something is released and then unable to be purchased?

      --
      Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
    24. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by sexconker · · Score: 1

      All future sales of the PC version of AK have been suspended by Warner Brothers until further notice.
      Regardless, one shitty game doesn't mean anything.

    25. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by theArtificial · · Score: 1
      Evidently I didn't link to the store page, here it is: http://store.steampowered.com/...

      "Batman: Arkham Knight will be available on SteamOS, Linux and Mac in Fall 2015."
      Sales of Batman: Arkham Knight have been temporarily suspended while Warner Brothers works to address performance issues.

      Guaranteed to work my ass.

      Remind me, which consoles let you do that?

      Fuck consoles.

      --
      Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
    26. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if your game settings arent significantly better than console versions, or youre not pirating, why bother?

      $650 is almost 2 brand new xbox ones for gods sake. you paid $650 to play console games, at near console settings, for the length of a single console generation. great job. and on top of that, you get the extra fun of maintaining a PC OS.

      Unlike a console, a PC is actually useful for things other than gaming, and many people would have one anyway even if they did not game. For them, the cost of a "gaming" PC is only the difference compared to a non-gaming one, which, for the purpose of matching the current consoles, can be as low as that of a GTX 750 Ti (= $150).

      Also, consoles have fewer games available, and some games are exclusive to one of the consoles, but still have a PC port. Additionally, there is limited if any backward compatibility with the previous generations. Therefore, a console gamer may need to have multiple consoles (keeping the older machines as well) to be able to maximize the number of playable games.

      Finally, game prices are generally higher on consoles (especially in regions where PC games are sold at a major discount), and for someone who buys many games, the difference does add up. For owners of multiple consoles, the luxury of buying a copy for each obviously further increases costs, and because of the lack of backward compatibility, the game may need to be bought again on the next generation as a remastered version.

    27. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as its better than an i3 and made within the last 5 years, you're fine. You make it sound like there are "incompatible" processors.

      Even an i3 is as good or better than the current consoles, which as far as I know have 8-core AMD Jaguar CPUs running at something like 1.7 GHz. In terms of theoretical raw performance (100% load on all cores), that would put them in the ballpark of an Ivy Bridge (3xxx) i3, but in real world applications that benefit more from fewer faster cores, even a Sandy Bridge (i3-2xxx) is competent with the console CPUs. New PC games like GTA V and The Witcher 3 have been shown to perform at least as well as the consoles on i3+750 Ti configurations.

      Now of course more performance is always better, but it is not true that an i3 is "useless" for new games, like many seem to claim.

    28. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can go on Steam (Or anywhere else to buy games), buy any game, and it is guaranteed to work.

      As much as I want to agree with you this just isn't the case. I'll raise you Arkham Knight which was pulled from Steam. Receiving lots of negative reviews due to being a shoddy port. Oops.

      There are always some crappy ports (which can also happen on consoles), especially by certain publishers, but Arkham Knight is more of an exception than the rule. In any case, even that game does "work", it is just not well optimized.

    29. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A PlayStation Three still plays every single game made for a PS3, from the games that came with the system on launch day to the games that are still being released today.

      Except something like Skyrim (late 2011) or BioShock Infinite (2013) is not quite the same experience on the PS3 as it would be even on a - by today's standards - low end PC. Now of course if you do not mind the game running at 1280x720 (which might even be upscaled from something lower) resolution at the absolute lowest settings and at or under 30 or even 20 fps, minute long loading screens, and other issues, then the console is perfectly fine, but the exact same performance would most likely be considered "not being able to run it" on PC. The most important aspect of "console optimization" is probably simply making people accept lower standards (which is easier when there is no way to upgrade), rather than gaining at best 10-20% higher frame rate from some proprietary console API.

    30. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by smallfries · · Score: 1

      Ok fair point, I updated my blog feed and saw that they have pulled it completely (from steam and all physical retail channels as well).

      You seem to have a different definition of guaranteed. Normally when somebody offers a guarantee it means that they are confident enough that it works that they will cover your cost if it fails. That is exactly what has happened for buyers on steam. Are you using some other definition of "guarantee"?

      --
      Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
    31. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How can you save your bank account by buying consoles?
       
      You seem like my wife who safes a lot of money by buying her shoes in the sales period. She buys many pairs of shoes and claims to safe a lot of money (-20%, -50-%, -75%!).

    32. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Scragglykat · · Score: 1

      And you used to get to play games with much more realism, but I guess you can't have everything if you don't want to pay for it.

    33. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One should note that WBGames has also published Mortal Kombat X which was a similar (arguably even worse) fiasco on the PC at launch just a couple of months ago (but wasn't pulled, I guess not too many PC magazines picked the story up and not as many users bought it as it's a bit more niche than anything with Batman tacked on it).

    34. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by theArtificial · · Score: 1

      Yes, after googling I'm confirmed to be using a completely imaginary definition. :(* in my tired stupor I was equating guarantee with "it does work". I cede the point!

      --
      Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
    35. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Pshaw! I had the Intellivision AND the Odyssey from Motorola. Somewhere, in my basement, I still have both. I also have a non-working Pac-Man and Super Street Fighter II standup that I want to turn into MAME boxes but I have yet to get around to doing either. I have kept or repurchased a lot of the stuff that I had when I was younger. I can not find my old PET box and have yet to find one for sale locally.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    36. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by KGIII · · Score: 1

      The whole refund concept is not pertinent. The conversation's topic is about something else entirely - in this case being guaranteed to work. The use of the word guarantee may have been the cause for the confusion. In this case it means certain to work - not that you will be refunded. If a video game on a console fails to work then you will certainly get a refund for that as well. I suppose, there could be an outlier which would mean you would have to demonstrate why it did not work. The only reason that I can think of for it to not work would be due to console modifications, if that is the case then you most likely will have a difficult time getting a refund. Then again, I am no longer a gamer, so I may be missing something.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    37. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Ah, crap. I should have scrolled down. ;-) I did not notice your reply and responded saying basically the same thing up to, and including, the whole point being that you had probably mistaken the usage of the word guarantee to mean that it has a guarantee that provided for a refund in the case of a defect and not guaranteed in the sense that it was certain to work. Also, a trivial point, I mentioned that it would be quite likely that one would get a refund for a non-working console game as well. If it did not work then it is highly unlikely that it would have been released.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    38. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by KGIII · · Score: 1

      To be fair it does mean something when the assertion includes the words "all" and "guaranteed." That is why I try to avoid stating such certainties as much as possible. Very few things are certain, guaranteed, or (in the case of discussions typically found here) are able to accurately include the word "all" as a quantifier.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    39. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by theArtificial · · Score: 1
      This was my understanding, sorta like a promise, but then I looked up the definition:

      a formal promise or assurance (typically in writing) that certain conditions will be fulfilled, especially that a product will be repaired or replaced if not of a specified quality and durability.

      --
      Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
    40. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by theArtificial · · Score: 1

      No worries, we're on the same page :) I've done the same thing myself, cheers!

      --
      Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
    41. Re:This is why I gave up PC gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because I can use my high-end-everything system to play games with great graphics at high FPS, or run multiple VMs while I'm experimenting with database clusters and network applications, or run 20k PPD in Folding@Home. That's why I buy high-end stuff.

  2. Funny .... by arbiter1 · · Score: 1

    All the hype around this card "its a titan killer" and it was gonna wreck nvidia and in the end it just matches.

    1. Re:Funny .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And doesn't even always match.

    2. Re:Funny .... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1, Funny

      These new cards do a better job at wrecking your wallet.

    3. Re:Funny .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reminds me of Bulldozer and everyone kept using that pic of a bulldozer bulldozing the Intel logo as an avatar on third rate forums across the net.

      At least this time AMD caught up.

      Until Pascal makes them obsolete again lol.

    4. Re:Funny .... by Kjella · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's in the nature of fanboys. But I was positively surprised by this card, I was expecting them to come in much more power hungry and hotter due to the liquid cooling. That this was like their 220W CPU stunt with the FX-9590, a 3-400W card just to match performance at the cost of everything else. Instead it's nearly a match on power (275W vs 250W), the cooling is quiet and while it adds a radiator it's shorter making cabling easier. For all the people who want to give AMD a fighting chance, this is a competitive offer that you don't have to excuse to buy.

      That said, I wonder how much it'll add to AMDs bottom line as that $650 price tag is probably quite a lot less than they hoped for, availability at least for reviews is also reportedly slim. But still, this is probably the best launch AMD has had since 2013 and I hope they can push out the rest of the lineup and leave the 300 series behind as soon as possible. Particularly the R9 nano could hit a more mainstream market, the Fury/Fury X only support a small - but profitable - segment. They need high volume cards too though, according to the Steam survey the GTX 970 has been selling 3.5x the volume as the GTX 980.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    5. Re:Funny .... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If those cheesy little plastic connectors they're using inside of the package to route coolant to the radiator fail, they might wreck more than that. I'm not completely against liquid cooling if it actually provides better performance...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:Funny .... by Redbehrend · · Score: 1

      I'm sure you tested out the connectors and know the specs on them right?
      The failure rate of low pressure liquid cooling is actually quite low for the lifespan of the cards. (It's really low if you take out the "user connected" and "unknown branded" liquid cooling.

    7. Re:Funny .... by Redbehrend · · Score: 1

      I'm not a fanboy but paying to be the primary video vend forcing users to buy cards to run certain games well.... Having major driver issues, forcing closed source "features" into the market that only work on their cards and saying their tech / chips out process brands like intel just shows how nvidia is ANYTHING but gamer friendly.

    8. Re:Funny .... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The failure rate of low pressure liquid cooling is actually quite low for the lifespan of the cards.

      That's true. But it's non-zero, and since there is no performance benefit to this over the nvidia card, why would you buy this?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:Funny .... by Redbehrend · · Score: 1

      I'm not pushing liquid cooling, just saying the closed loop works great on the CPU, I can see why they would push it for video. If it keeps things cooler then you get more life, efficiency and can put it into a smaller space :P

    10. Re:Funny .... by Guppy · · Score: 3, Informative

      If those cheesy little plastic connectors they're using inside of the package to route coolant to the radiator fail, they might wreck more than that.

      Apparently AMD contracted that part out to Cooler Master, which has a fair bit of experience with liquid cooling design. Should be ok.

    11. Re:Funny .... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I'm not pushing liquid cooling, just saying the closed loop works great on the CPU, I can see why they would push it for video.

      If it were a soldered heat pipe cooler, I could get behind it... but then it wouldn't be flexible. However, I did just watch a video where a kid did a pretty internally sloppy casemod (with decent external results) where he used shears to cut a steel bracket and bolted a big fat quad-double-ended heat pipe cooler to his video card in place of the factory cooler. This let him knock the fan off of it entirely and use a combination of convection (he aimed the motherboard's ports towards the sky) and one 120mm quiet fan IIRC to move air through the system — the CPU cooler was similar, and one of the really big coolers that normally takes two fans side-by-side.

      I'm about to knock the fan off my CPU cooler and build a sheet Aluminum duct to use the case-mounted vantrec fdb shark fan to carry the heat out of the case, just as soon as I get a moment in between some other pressing projects. This will eliminate a 2200 RPM 80mm fan entirely, and let a 1200 RPM 120mm fan do the job. Proper ducting is a much better plan than liquid cooling if you're not doing extreme overclocking.

      Hmm, I just had the idea to mill out the insides of one of the aluminum blocks recovered from a peltier refrigerator, and turn it into a water block. Peltier cooling is kind of lame because if the junction fails, it's bad mmkay? But if you were just using it to get more oomph out of water cooling, and only ramped it up when temperatures rose, it might be a nifty addition.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    12. Re:Funny .... by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Unless you are pushing for serious OCing? Its really not needed as long as you have a decent case so it doesn't end up a hot box. You'd be surprised how many times folks spend all this money on CPUs and GPUs and slap 'em in some shitty old Dell box and then are shocked! that the thing is overheating and shutting down constantly.

      And the bitch is PC cases that are good really aren't expensive and will last for many years so its just a dumb move to cheap out in this area. I built my PC using a Rosewill Thor as the case and with a Sapphire R9 280 along with an FX8320 using a ZALMAN CNPS11X Performa which is about as cheap as one can get when it comes to CPU coolers and the highest I have been able to get either the CPU or GPU is 118F, and that was after 6 hours of War Thunder booming and zooming. Within 4 minutes of stopping the game? Back down to below 85F.

      So as long as you use a PC case with good airflow? Temps really aren't a problem at stock speeds. Sure if you want to crank up the OC liquid cooling will help but that is a pretty niche group and most of my gamer customers whom ask me about going liquid? After talking to them it turns out they stuffed all their parts into some uber cheapo shitty case.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    13. Re:Funny .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yep. im pretty disappointed in its tdp and perormance otoh crapalyst is still utter shit, so no big loss.

  3. Please AMD give us NEW midrange not rebadges by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wish upon wish that AMD would give us some mid range cards which aren't rebadges of previous cards. The mid range 300 series are rebadged 200 series which themselves are rebadged 7000 series.
    That's THREE generations of cards which are exactly the same. If i buy a new graphics card i'm not going to buy one that was originally released three years ago just because they've stuck a sticker with a higher number on it.

    I want to support AMD, i really do. The last thing we need is for AMD to either go bust or leave the enthusiast market leaving intel to charge whatever they want. We need AMD to make sure intel doesn't simply decide to completely screw us all but if the only new cards they are going to produce cost 800+ bucks then i simply cannot help them.

    1. Re:Please AMD give us NEW midrange not rebadges by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if you want mid range graphics. and amd.

      just buy an APU already. no graphics card at all.
      they will run anything short of modern aaa games just fine.

    2. Re:Please AMD give us NEW midrange not rebadges by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's the problem with their last-gen top-of-the-line cards being tweaked to become this generation's mid-tier hardware? Surely AMD doesn't have to make a whole new card for every tier, and since they will have had time to shakedown the older cards, you'll presumably get a cheaper card that's also more stable. So I fail to see why they should have to waste their resources if the last-gen cards were perfectly serviceable.... what theoretical win could they have fighting in the mid-tier when they've just improve the mid-tier vastly simply by rebranding their older cards with tweaks as mid-range cards? The logic escapes me.

    3. Re: Please AMD give us NEW midrange not rebadges by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a current nvidia employee that worked on those now-rebadged parts several years ago, I can only snarkily say I'm glad my efforts for AMD are still paying off... Congrats to the engineers that made HBM production worthy. Bummer the rest of the chip isn't really taking full advantage of it. Also, Pascal is coming, so better rethink the corporate strategy. AMD is approaching peak-irrelevance, and Su isn't the one to steer the ship out of harms way.

    4. Re:Please AMD give us NEW midrange not rebadges by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's the problem with their last-gen top-of-the-line cards being tweaked to become this generation's mid-tier hardware?

      It might not be the most profitable to sell previously $500 hardware that is still manufactured using the same technology for $200, and users of mid or low tier PCs may not like "top of the line" (>200 W) power consumption and noise levels.

    5. Re:Please AMD give us NEW midrange not rebadges by anethema · · Score: 1

      A modern mid range card is a GTX 970. APU is going to get spanked hard by that.

      --


      It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
  4. Similar Performance to Nvidia by dave562 · · Score: 2, Funny

    But you get the joys of AMD's great drivers!

    You'll have to excuse me if I am not chomping at the bit to go buy this card.

    1. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 1

      AMD Driver issues are the number 1 reason why my next build will be using NVidia cards. Two current systems, I've had tons of trouble with the AMD drivers on the one - zero issues on the other which has NVidia. Anecdotal as hell, but it's hard to ignore present personal experience like that.

    2. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I picked up ID's Software "Rage" a few years ago for $2.50 from a Steam Black Friday Sale. I had a Radeon 7960 video card at the time, which far exceeded the hardware spec for the game. Got into the game and it chugged at 2fps. Nothing could fix it. I replaced that video card this year with a Nvidia 720 budget card. The game works fine, albeit with lower graphic settings and some visual tearing. Go figure.

    3. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by dave562 · · Score: 1

      My experience was the same. The first computer I built myself was a 486DX2/66 and over the years I have tried out AMD cards on numerous occasions. Every time I do, there are driver issues that make me regret it. The last time I bought an AMD card it was a Radeon series right around the time PlanetSide came out. As soon as I saw that Optimized for Nvidia splash screen, I once again knew that I had made a mistake.

      Anyone who reads game sites has seen the problems that AMD cards have been having with major releases like Witcher 3 and the latest Batman. Now part of that is not necessarily AMDs fault because the publishers and Nvidia are working closely together to implement Nvidia specific technologies. Having said that, it says something that Nvidia has the resources to dedicate developers to work alongside major studios to optimize their games to run on Nvidia hardware.

      While I am as big of a fan of a level playing field as the next guy, I have a hard time caring when it comes to video cards. If Nvidia wants to invest the money to hire more people to work alongside major game companies, and by doing so the games from those companies run better on Nvidia cards, then that is just smart business. I will continue buying Nvidia cards and be happy knowing that Nvidia is investing my money in putting themselves further and further ahead of the rest of the market with each subsequent generation of hardware that they put out.

    4. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AMD Driver issues are the number 1 reason why my next build will be using NVidia cards. Two current systems, I've had tons of trouble with the AMD drivers on the one - zero issues on the other which has NVidia. Anecdotal as hell, but it's hard to ignore present personal experience like that.

      I swore off AMD (ATI at the time) after my experience with the Radeon R500 chip, so we are talking 2005ish just because of their horrible Windows drivers. (Let's not even bring up how terrible the fglrx drivers are)

    5. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by dave562 · · Score: 1

      That is not a surprise. AMD is the red headed step child of the PC community. People who buy AMD CPUs or video cards do it because they cannot afford Intel or Nvidia, or because they have something to prove. I get the mentality. I used to drive a highly modified Datsun 510 and the most joy I got out of that car was out driving people in Porsche's and other nicer, more expensive cars in my "piece of junk Datsun".

      It seems like AMD buyers have a similar mentality. They will go on for days about how AMD chips and cards get similar benchmarks as Nvidia and Intel hardware. But at the end of the day, you'll get a game like Rage that just does not run for shit and then what? Who cares about benchmarks when you are losing FPS?

    6. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anecdotal as hell it is, but it matches my also anecdotal experience. I have had no problems at all with NVidia cards under Linux, with the NVidia drivers, but all sort of problems with AMD cards under Linux, with AMD drivers.

    7. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Redbehrend · · Score: 1

      Being smart with money isn't being cheap lol You can spend double the amount on your system and in a couple years I'll upgrade again and maybe match the price of your first system. Nvidia forcing users to have a new card for new games is a big scam lol They look almost the same as games a year ago but require double the power why? For those couple "nvidia" features?

    8. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Redbehrend · · Score: 1

      I had the opposite experience with deb, ubu, fer, BSD, etc...

    9. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, you could buy an older card that's hit its peak already and is just barely keeping up with the new one, or you can buy the new one and wait for the drivers to improve, or you can wait a month or two and buy a non-reference one that's bound to be even faster without better drivers. Frankly I don't see what the point is in worrying about this unless you want the best card possible. If you don't, buy the older Radeons they've mid-ranged which blow nVidia's mid-range offerings out of the water.

    10. Re: Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First, let me preface by saying I don't play video games. Though I do develop software for a living.

      I buy AMD because its cheaper. Period. I don't need the latest and greatest, nor do I need the most performance to boost my ego so I can get into arguments about how my computer is better than yours. That's as juvenial as the old "my dad can beat up your dad".

      My primary workstation is an AMD Bulldozer 8320, 8GB of the cheapest RAM I could find and onboard video.

    11. Re: Similar Performance to Nvidia by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I don't need the latest and greatest, nor do I need the most performance to boost my ego so I can get into arguments about how my computer is better than yours.

      It's not about that. It's about intel really is better. It's not always as much better as it costs more, but it really is better. There was a moment when AMD CPUs were better than intel CPUs, but that moment has fled. I would like to see it come again, but I'm not holding my breath. I probably will buy an AMD CPU again, but mostly because I don't want to spend umpty-hojillion dollars to get the best.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    12. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Uhhh...except its bullshit? I know because I HAVE the same game, got it on the Steam sale same as he did, and on the HD7750 which is more than 3 tiers below his card? Yeah....never dropped below 35 FPS with most of the game set to medium or better.

      If he bought it at release? Sorry but he is a beta tester, he should have known that the game devs are sticking to the "get it out now, fix it later" mentality, just look at Arkham Knight which runs like ass on pretty much every system no matter how powerful. I watched a YouTube vid the other day and the guy reviewing had SLIed Titans and the thing STILL dropped below 15 FPS! A smart player waits for 90 days at the earliest before buying a game, by then all the shitfits from players have born fruit as patches and the game should be playable.

      But if my HD7750 could run it over 30FPS for the entire game? Yeah....he's doin it wrong..

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    13. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is not a surprise. AMD is the red headed step child of the PC community. People who buy AMD CPUs or video cards do it because they cannot afford Intel or Nvidia, or because they have something to prove. I get the mentality. I used to drive a highly modified Datsun 510 and the most joy I got out of that car was out driving people in Porsche's and other nicer, more expensive cars in my "piece of junk Datsun".

      It seems like AMD buyers have a similar mentality. They will go on for days about how AMD chips and cards get similar benchmarks as Nvidia and Intel hardware. But at the end of the day, you'll get a game like Rage that just does not run for shit and then what? Who cares about benchmarks when you are losing FPS?

      I don't care about benchmarks at all, but hell are people dumb and clueless when it comes to performance bottlenecks. Your Datsun with an overpowered engine it most likely hasn't enough grip to make use of it. Same for 2fps in Rage, what do you want to bet that he turned up the graphics and his CPU couldn't deliver until he got the less nice graphics that the new CPU/GPU could handle?

      I got more fps from my system than my cousin in the same game. I got the far better (Intel) CPU and midrange AMD card and she took the advise from a gaming classmate and went cheap on CPU (still Intel) and dumped the money all on the NVIDIA card. The card needs to get input to render from somewhere.

      The it's AMDs fault is so burned in into the community it is easier to blame and replace the system than search the cause.
      All stability problems I had so far with AMD systems traced down to stuff not related to AMD. The latest screen freeze was solved by dumping the TV card and go with a USB stick for TV. Or with the previous system that locked up from time to time in ever smaller intervals which was solved by reinstalling windows 7 from scratch (wasn't solved by changing the graphics card).

    14. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by sexconker · · Score: 1

      It's "champing", dipshit.

    15. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No such thing as radeon 7960.

    16. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't care about benchmarks at all, but hell are people dumb and clueless when it comes to performance bottlenecks. Your Datsun with an overpowered engine it most likely hasn't enough grip to make use of it. Same for 2fps in Rage, what do you want to bet that he turned up the graphics and his CPU couldn't deliver until he got the less nice graphics that the new CPU/GPU could handle?

      2 fps in any game is unlikely to be caused by the CPU alone. Assuming that the performance is purely CPU limited and that it could be 60 fps only on the fastest current i7 CPU using all of its cores (from this chart: http://cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html) - both rather unlikely in reality - it would take some old single core Athlon64 from a decade ago to make it 30 times slower.

      Since RAGE is an OpenGL game, an AMD driver issue is indeed the more probable explanation. Such problems with the Catalyst driver have been shown a number of times in Phoronix benchmarks. Even in Direct3D, AMD drivers have been benchmarked (in recent test comparing D3D11 to 12) to have about 3 times higher CPU overhead than Nvidia, and they are single threaded as well. OpenGL games on the PC are a very small niche market, so it is not surprising if that API is optimized even much less by AMD.

    17. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To add to the above post, the current console CPUs would have a score of not much more than 4000 on the linked chart (extrapolated from other AMD Jaguar CPUs), and that is from 8 very slow cores. Most "AAA" games target primarily the consoles, since that is where they sell the majority of copies, and with a PC port of reasonable quality (such as GTA V or The Witcher 3), a not very old desktop i3 CPU is enough to match them. This has been confirmed by a number of benchmarks as well.

    18. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't, buy the older Radeons they've mid-ranged which blow nVidia's mid-range offerings out of the water.

      That is, after you upgrade the PSU and the cooling/fans to be able to deal with almost twice as high TDP (of rebranded high end Radeons from years ago vs. a current Maxwell), and then upgrade the CPU to compensate for the inefficiency of the Catalyst driver. For people wanting to turn a non-gaming PC into a basic gaming one, these factors can outweigh the advantage of something like 10% better performance to price ratio, and they might not appreciate the increased level of fan noise either. No wonder cards like the GTX 750 Ti and 960 are popular.

    19. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can spend double the amount on your system and in a couple years I'll upgrade again and maybe match the price of your first system.
      Nvidia forcing users to have a new card for new games is a big scam lol
      They look almost the same as games a year ago but require double the power why? For those couple "nvidia" features?

      Those features are optional. Also, new games not performing as well on Kepler GPUs is not necessarily a scam from Nvidia, it could just as well be AMD's console monopoly paying off. About 80% (the exact amount varies by game) of "AAA" sales are on consoles, where AMD hardware has exactly 100% market share. Therefore, if Kepler has any hardware limitations (or niche advantages, for that matter) compared to GCN, developers are unlikely to take those into account when optimizing their games. The fact that the Xbox One is AMD based even affects Microsoft's updates to Direct3D. Maxwell is the first Nvidia architecture that is newer than the XB1 and PS4, allowing its design to take the demands of new games into account.

    20. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      My bad. It's the Radeon 7970. Can't keep all these model numbers straight.

    21. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      But if my HD7750 could run it over 30FPS for the entire game? Yeah....he's doin it wrong..

      My suck ass configuration was an AMD Quad CPU and a Radeon 7970. (Intel CPU users didn't have any problems with the card.) New drivers, old drivers, special drivers. None of it work. Replaced the video card with a Nvidia 720 and it worked like a charm with no changes to the game. Gee, I wonder why.

      BTW, I bought the game three years after it came out for $2.50 at a Steam Black Friday sale. You would think ID Software would get their AMD support straighten out by now.

    22. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Same for 2fps in Rage, what do you want to bet that he turned up the graphics and his CPU couldn't deliver until he got the less nice graphics that the new CPU/GPU could handle?

      I used the video systems that the game recommended. When that didn't work, I lowered all the settings and it still didn't work. I even used a special command to get Rage to run all four processors in my AMD quad CPU, which helped but didn't fix the underlying graphic issue. The Nvidia 720 came after the Radeon 7970, but it has CUDA cores and the other card didn't.

    23. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      It wasn't the drivers dude, if I were to hazard a guess it was your OS, specifically the registry and Windows love of reinstalling drivers on reboot. The reason it didn't affect your Nvidia card? Because that would have written new entries in the registry.

      Next time you have an issue like that? Uninstall the drivers and then use a good registry cleaner to blow out the registry along with removing the old driver from the driver store BEFORE you install another driver. All your driver switching simply added good code on top of bad code and just made the mess that much bigger. I've seen it countless times in the shop, this is one place where MSFT fucks it up BIG time.

      Remember if you haven't removed the driver from the Windows Driver Store Windows will reinstall it the second you boot back up,so the only way to truly install clean on Windows 7 and above is remove the particular drivers from the driver store.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    24. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I had this problem with Rage and the 7970 video card using Windows 7 (multiple driver install) AND a clean install of Windows 8.1 (one driver install) on the same computer. I even tried Windows Vista compatibility mode on the Rage executable for shakes and giggles.

    25. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Did you contact Steam support? Because it sounds like you were having an issue, the question is WHY were you having the issue? Did you test the memory of the GPU with a stress test? You may have had defective cells in that particular card. I've seen that happen at the shop too and most never think to check that.

      But I can tell you that I have the exact same game (got the Deluxe Edition) from the same place (Steam sale) and on a stock HD7750 I was getting consistent 30FPS+ with most settings medium or above. So if I was able to get those numbers and you weren't, despite having 2 generations more powerful hardware? Yeah I have to wonder if there was something wrong with your particular card, as you should have been getting 3 times what I was easily.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    26. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      The problem was specific to Rage and the 7970 video card, which steam had a long hoary thread on. Yes, I'm well aware that everyone with a 7950 or older video card was able to run Rage just fine.

    27. Re:Similar Performance to Nvidia by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Well I looked on the forums and apparently RAGE used some VERY Nvidia specific OpenGL "tweaks" that gave a couple of cards a problem (namely 7970,7990) unless you did a little editing on the .ini files to bypass the bullshit.

      Does it suck that in this day and age we still have to occasionally edit .INI files like its Win95? Yep but as long as you have one side playing dirty (Look on the forums about Nvidia Gameworks, looks like they have been trying to "pull an Intel" and code certain features to purposely gimp the framerate on Intel and AMD GPUs) or refusing to use standard APIs? Shit like that WILL happen. Maybe I'm just lucky in that I never get the top tier, preferring to stay at least 1 rung below, in that these kinds of problems almost never happen.

      But I can say I went from the Athlon X2 7550 to the Phenom II X4 965 to X6 1035T to my current FX8320E, and from the HD4650 to HD4850 to HD7750 to R9 280 and my gaming experience? Nothing but candy and cookies. And the money I saved allowed me to get 6TB of HDD, an SSD for boot, and 16GB of RAM which makes all my games just as smooth as butter. The only "problem" I'm having is getting used to using a flight stick again after all these years (what can I say, got addicted to War Thunder) and getting used to (finally) giving up my trusty 20 inch 1600x900 monitor for a 27in 1080P, now everything is soo big.

      But I'm glad Nvidia is working out for you, but after Bumpgate I wouldn't take one of their cards if it was hand delivered by Playboy Bunnies. Say what you will about AMD but that 4650? STILL RUNNING in a PC I sold awhile back, the twin Nvidia cards I had before that? Yeah they are in a landfill. Fool me once...

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  5. So, like on CPUs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AMD still trying to ketchup. Fries with that, mister?

  6. sneaking upon beta by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stop it!
    The category icon and comment link icon sometimes cover part of the title. Sometimes an important part.
    This is sloppy work even for you script kiddies.

  7. Cooling "solution" by stoned_ritual · · Score: 1

    AMD's cooling solution on this card reminds me of a skit from portlandia: Put a bird on it!

    But in this case it would be "Put a CLC on it!"

  8. But the question is... by ZeroSerenity · · Score: 1

    Can it run Arkham Knight?

    --
    For those who seek perfection there can be no rest on this side of the grave.
    1. Re:But the question is... by smallfries · · Score: 1

      And the answer is: is it a PS4?

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      Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
  9. Good to seem AMD back. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems like ages since AMD had anything to compete with Nvidia.

  10. Capped Crusader by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    I've got $50 that says even one of these Radeon R9 Fury X beasts won't be able to make Batman Arkham Knight run without wildly fluctuating framerates, texture pops, tearing and The Bat Man doing The Jerk while gliding.

    Fucking Warner Brothers. I'll pre-order another Warner Brothers game when the head of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Inc. comes and nuzzles her nose in the crack of my ass. They should be ashamed of themselves.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re: Capped Crusader by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or y'know. Don't pre-order, wait for reviews and buy it when the game is playable.

    2. Re: Capped Crusader by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      Don't pre-order, wait for reviews and buy it when the game is playable.

      No, a promise is a promise. If the head of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Inc. comes and nuzzles her nose in the crack of my ass, I will pre-order the next Batman title.

      But short of that, I won't be pre-ordering anything from Warner any time soon.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:Capped Crusader by Redbehrend · · Score: 1

      65% of people can't play Batman AK fine on any card, look at steam they are giving refunds away in the 100's if not 1000's... LOL It's even dropping down on the top list 1 slot every couple of hours.

  11. So, some odd choices for games by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Games like Bioshock Infinite (several years old, Xbox 360 / PS3 console port) aren't going to push that memory bandwidth very much. Why not something recent and heavy like GTA V or Witcher 3?

    1. Re:So, some odd choices for games by PPalmgren · · Score: 1

      I can't speak for their specific choices, but sometimes games are chosen for the variety of their demands not the specific demand of a title itself, or its ubiquity in previous comparisons as a point of reference. Also, some games tax the shaders more and some games tax the memory more, and some games are poorly optimized resulting in untrustworthy results. They build a "benchmark suite" based on these factors and use it for a good half year or a year. Bioshock Infinite is a demanding and beautiful game at high settings, and was used as a performance target when it was released, so you can compare it to older cards previously benchmarked as a point of reference.

      Also, for the high end cards, most of the benchmarks for these are being done at QHD/4K. Because of these newer resolutions, there's a big demand for powerful cards that can run at those resolutions all the way up to 120FPS. Graphics cards makers have a lot of headroom to work with, 50% performance increases would be well received right now and not be considered excessive.

  12. mining by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Very nice, but how good is it at mining bitcoins?