AMD decided to cash-in on the GeForce GTX 970 memory controversy, with a bold move and a cheap (albeit accurate) shot. The company is making its add-in board (AIB) partners lower pricing of its Radeon R9 290X graphics card, which offers comparable levels of performance to the GTX 970, down to as low as US $299 And then there's a gentle reminder from AMD to graphics card buyers with $300-ish in their pockets. With AMD, "4 GB means 4 GB." AMD also emphasizes that the R9 290 and R9 290X can fill their 4 GB video memory to the last bit, and feature a 512-bit wide memory interface, which churns up 320 GB/s of memory bandwidth at reference clocks, something the GTX 970 can't achieve, even with its fancy texture compression mojo.

181 Comments on AMD Cashes in On GTX 970 Drama, Cuts R9 290X Price

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#1 Cybrnook2002

Nice to throw in a punch every now and then :)



Excited for the 380X already..... Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:42 Reply

#2 Parn

Further lowing the price will only hurt the profit margin for AMD and their partners. Hawaii XT dies and 290X cards are not cheap to manufacture. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:47 Reply

#3 btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator Parn Further lowing the price will only hurt the profit margin for AMD and their partners. Hawaii XT dies and 290X cards are not cheap to manufacture. I guess making some money is better than making no money (nobody buying R9 290X over GTX 970). I guess making some money is better than making no money (nobody buying R9 290X over GTX 970). Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:49 Reply

#4 64K







Is not happy. $280 after rebate. Nice.Is not happy. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:51 Reply

#5 THE_EGG

:( yet here in Australia they still run for roughly $500-$650+ depending on the model. Oh well... Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:53 Reply

#6 Eroticus

btarunr I guess making some money is better than making no money (nobody buying R9 290X over GTX 970). The reasons are - nvidia has much more fan boys / power effective / 970 is newer product ( 1.6 years )/ and the main reason - 380x is coming . no point to buy old gen when amd will win like always in next one .... The reasons are - nvidia has much more fan boys / power effective / 970 is newer product ( 1.6 years )/ and the main reason - 380x is coming . no point to buy old gen when amd will win like always in next one .... Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:54 Reply

#7 DarkOCean

Parn Further lowing the price will only hurt the profit margin for AMD and their partners. Hawaii XT dies and 290X cards are not cheap to manufacture. I dont think is that much more expensive to make than a gm204, the chip it's less than 10% bigger. I dont think is that much more expensive to make than a gm204, the chip it's less than 10% bigger. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:56 Reply

#8 Parn

btarunr I guess making some money is better than making no money (nobody buying R9 290X over GTX 970). According to other news, a lot of the 970 owners in EU are going to return their cards. AMD could have been a bit more patient before cutting the price as those people will be sprint for 290X afterwards. There is no other option that can provide comparable performance at the 970/290X price range. According to other news, a lot of the 970 owners in EU are going to return their cards. AMD could have been a bit more patient before cutting the price as those people will be sprint for 290X afterwards. There is no other option that can provide comparable performance at the 970/290X price range. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:56 Reply

#9 Jorge

For those who don't know, top-of-the-line CPUs and GPUs are cash cows with huge margins compared to mainstream models. Only enthusiasts or Biz buy the very high end, high margin products. Lowering the price slightly is a no brainer and will more than be offset by the increased volume. It's not difficult to do the math when you know the margins and volume. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:58 Reply

#10 Zakin

I think this is more so, AMD knew they had to price drop these half a year ago, and this was just a decent time to do it. Otherwise they've been overpriced for quite some time, enjoy your GPUs that AMD enjoys touting 94 celsius running as a feature. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:59 Reply

#11 Parn

DarkOCean I dont think is that much more expensive to make than a gm204, the chip it's less than 10% bigger. 6.2 billion transistors over 5.2 billion. That's about 20% less yield per wafer (this doesn't even take chip defects into accounts). Coupled with the 512bit bus, the card is quite a bit more expensive than 980. 6.2 billion transistors over 5.2 billion. That's about 20% less yield per wafer (this doesn't even take chip defects into accounts). Coupled with the 512bit bus, the card is quite a bit more expensive than 980. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 16:59 Reply

#12 Sasqui

Zakin enjoy your GPUs that AMD enjoys touting 94 celsius running as a feature. my XFX 290x DC doesn't get over 78c, my 290x reference under H20 doesn't break 40c.



Reference cooler? Yea, that's another story, lol my XFX 290x DC doesn't get over 78c, my 290x reference under H20 doesn't break 40c.Reference cooler? Yea, that's another story, lol Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:02 Reply

#13 Zakin

Sasqui my XFX 290x DC doesn't get over 78c, my 290x reference under H20 doesn't break 40c.



Reference cooler? Yea, that's another story, lol I would sure hope under water it would be that cool...although I'm surprised I don't recall the XFX doing that decently, still a bit on the high side though. I ditched AMD after two straight generations of dealing with 2-3 months post launch games with no fixes/optimizations, let alone the older games they never would fix. I still have to deal with them on my brother's build unfortunately, typically every other month or so, they've definitely gotten better at least. Still not sure the appeal on the super inefficient chips in the R9 200s though, I'm not a big fan of throwing money at an unfinished engineering project. I would sure hope under water it would be that cool...although I'm surprised I don't recall the XFX doing that decently, still a bit on the high side though. I ditched AMD after two straight generations of dealing with 2-3 months post launch games with no fixes/optimizations, let alone the older games they never would fix. I still have to deal with them on my brother's build unfortunately, typically every other month or so, they've definitely gotten better at least. Still not sure the appeal on the super inefficient chips in the R9 200s though, I'm not a big fan of throwing money at an unfinished engineering project. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:08 Reply

#14 TheGuruStud

Zakin I would sure hope under water it would be that cool...although I'm surprised I don't recall the XFX doing that decently, still a bit on the high side though. I ditched AMD after two straight generations of dealing with 2-3 months post launch games with no fixes/optimizations, let alone the older games they never would fix. I still have to deal with them on my brother's build unfortunately, typically every other month or so, they've definitely gotten better at least. Still not sure the appeal on the super inefficient chips in the R9 200s though, I'm not a big fan of throwing money at an unfinished engineering project. You should probably look at nvidia's hand slinging money for game issues (crossfire is a different story but single gpu has been pretty solid). You should probably look at nvidia's hand slinging money for game issues (crossfire is a different story but single gpu has been pretty solid). Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:13 Reply

#15 Menta

rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?57022-asus-970-strix-false-specs Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:15 Reply

#16 NightOfChrist

I agree with AMD. A 4GB card means it has 4GB and should be able to use all the vRAM available when needed. I am glad I went for a Zotac GTX 980 reference card instead of a custom GTX 970, despite the latter being much cheaper than the former. I can say I am very satisfied with my purchase but I hope there will be a better, if not best solution for all GTX 970 owners who decided not to return their cards. Let this be a very important lesson for NVIDIA so they will not repeat the same mistake again. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:17 Reply

#17 Zakin

TheGuruStud You should probably look at nvidia's hand slinging money for game issues. I'd usually be all about this, except I comically remember back in the day the Nvidia titles never really seemed to have too many issues on AMD cards so long as you weren't stupid enough to try and run physx. If anything those games typically came off as better PC ports because of the endorsement. That actually still seems true today. I wouldn't doubt Nvidia slinging game to keep their name better with devs, you know if devs enjoy having likely half of their user base pissed off at them for long periods of time because they won't fork over a little information to AMD. Doesn't seem wise at all to me. I'd usually be all about this, except I comically remember back in the day the Nvidia titles never really seemed to have too many issues on AMD cards so long as you weren't stupid enough to try and run physx. If anything those games typically came off as better PC ports because of the endorsement. That actually still seems true today. I wouldn't doubt Nvidia slinging game to keep their name better with devs, you know if devs enjoy having likely half of their user base pissed off at them for long periods of time because they won't fork over a little information to AMD. Doesn't seem wise at all to me. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:17 Reply

#18 TheGuruStud

Zakin I'd usually be all about this, except I comically remember back in the day the Nvidia titles never really seemed to have too many issues on AMD cards so long as you weren't stupid enough to try and run physx. If anything those games typically came off as better PC ports because of the endorsement. That actually still seems true today. I wouldn't doubt Nvidia slinging game to keep their name better with devs, you know if devs enjoy having likely half of their user base pissed off at them for long periods of time because they won't fork over a little information to AMD. Doesn't seem wise at all to me. Nvidia sends in so many programmers to control game optimization...it's like the stazi. Devs are afraid of them. They will never say a bad thing about Nvidia unless they want fired. Devs haven't had control of their games in years.



Crysis 2 is a standout example. I can't remember if that's the one where the devs refused to even comment or not, though. Nvidia was basically allowed full control and pumped in massive amounts of tesselation for flat surfaces. IIRC, there was even an underground river getting rendered. 17% slowdown on nvidia and 30% on AMD. The gtx 580 could churn through tesselation much better. Nvidia dropped this tactic when the new AMD cards came out with heavy tess firepower. Nvidia sends in so many programmers to control game optimization...it's like the stazi. Devs are afraid of them. They will never say a bad thing about Nvidia unless they want fired. Devs haven't had control of their games in years.Crysis 2 is a standout example. I can't remember if that's the one where the devs refused to even comment or not, though. Nvidia was basically allowed full control and pumped in massive amounts of tesselation for flat surfaces. IIRC, there was even an underground river getting rendered. 17% slowdown on nvidia and 30% on AMD. The gtx 580 could churn through tesselation much better. Nvidia dropped this tactic when the new AMD cards came out with heavy tess firepower. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:20 Reply

#19 btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator Menta rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?57022-asus-970-strix-false-specs I would argue that the store is the last (and only) link in the supply-chain between you and the product. So if you want a return, you should take it up with the store. PT has good consumer laws. I would argue that the store is the last (and only) link in the supply-chain between you and the product. So if you want a return, you should take it up with the store. PT has good consumer laws. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:21 Reply

#20 KarymidoN



U$ 280 After Rebate... R9 290X (non-Reference cooler)... 4GB VRAM - 512bits...

U$ 350 -> GTX 970 (msi or Asus) = 3,5GB VRAM - 256 bits....





You can pay JUST U$ 70 for 4,7 frames (the graph use an reference R9 290X)....

Temperature... Noise... etc... etc...



mine GTX 970 MSI gaming 4GB is coming home, but i'm not happy cause i'm going to use it on 3 FHD displays, and yes, need some extra video memory... So many Nvidia Fanboys...U$ 280 After Rebate... R9 290X (non-Reference cooler)... 4GB VRAM - 512bits...U$ 350 -> GTX 970 (msi or Asus) = 3,5GB VRAM - 256 bits....You can pay JUST U$ 70 for 4,7 frames (the graph use an reference R9 290X)....Temperature... Noise... etc... etc...mine GTX 970 MSI gaming 4GB is coming home, but i'm not happy cause i'm going to use it on 3 FHD displays, and yes, need some extra video memory... Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:22 Reply

#21 Cybrnook2002

I have a belly button.... Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:26 Reply

#22 Shambles1980

I honestly would just keep a 970 if i had bought one.

It seems a bit silly to complain over gddr usage when the performance is there.

If they return them then im not sure what you would buy instead of a 970 possibly a 780ti? Although i still think id prefer a 970.

the 290x is a powerful card but i dont think id chose one over the 970 simply for heat reasons. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:27 Reply

#23 bogami

If they canot drop the price on real 230$ (even this is too much)! it should now look into piles in front of their doors ! greedy bastards .Processors that should be in the trash because of imperfect operation of the entire processor is locked in part (the part that is defective cutting silicone) and instead of partially cover the cost of production want to do with garbage greasy profit .the sad thing is that we will do this with TITAN X.

So it is when you stand constructional problems in software drivers and this then it bites you in the ass nVidia. However, please note that this lesson will not sobered them up. I want to see fall to the bottom and then they will begin again to respected customers . We live in an age of information and misinformation, and it seems that nVidia is more on the misinformation .Many blindly buy and do not know how many tricks are here ..

AMD R9-290x is much better card regardless of the FPS is much more stable operation and 512 paips ,remember ,6 monitors....Tf"ps !!!!!!!!!!!!! A.S.O. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:37 Reply

#24 night.fox

THE_EGG :( yet here in Australia they still run for roughly $500-$650+ depending on the model. Oh well... the price cuts are only in US. I dont know about europe. But same as you, here in korea it cost same as launch price. the price cuts are only in US. I dont know about europe. But same as you, here in korea it cost same as launch price. Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:46 Reply

#25 Menta

btarunr I would argue that the store is the last (and only) link in the supply-chain between you and the product. So if you want a return, you should take it up with the store. PT has good consumer laws. they said no because they have no recall order they said no because they have no recall order Posted on Jan 29th 2015, 17:52 Reply