Radeon 200 series megathread

[Palmz]

If you weren't going to OC anything on your laptop or desktop, which GPU would be better? The 780 or 290x

[Deleted]

Except the most recent version of the bundle only offers old games.

Only? Is that a bad bonus?

[Confined]

Well just got my 780 sold off just in time, can't wait to pick this beast up with BF4 / Watch Dogs / Grid2

Abit too early? Gonna wait a couple of months for aftermarket OCd versions or just getting a reference?

[Rennadrel]

Don't forget that AMD's current generation were out 6+ months before NVIDIA's offerings. I'll admit, if the rumors are to be believed regarding price and benchmarks, then this card is set to be the go-to choice until NVIDIA's next offerings in Q1 2014. Even if they only have 3-4 months of competing with current cards (on performance, but at half the price, it's double the performance per $), that's still one hell of an advantage.

I just don't see Nvidia releasing another generation of cards in the first 3 months of next year, maybe Q2 but they haven't even released a 750 Ti model yet, it doesn't make sense to drop another generation in 6 months time when the current one hasn't even been out for that long. They only got the 700 series out so quickly because they needed to make ground on AMD because they were so far behind in releasing the 600 series compared to when AMD got the 7000 series out. I think another thing they have to consider is that the price of their cards and the frequency at which they release new cards is going to bother a lot of people. Once a year is fine, but a new generation shouldn't even be announced until 11 months into the life cycle of the previous generation.

[DeltrusDisc]

Abit too early? Gonna wait a couple of months for aftermarket OCd versions or just getting a reference?

Not only too early, I mean, what is he going to use until it launches?

Also, what if AMD decided no Never Settle for this series?

If they know it will even beat the Titan, they definitely don't need to offer free games as an incentive...

[yurano]

BF4 would be the only game to hold its price.

Crysis 3 holds its price pretty well but is no longer offered in the bundle.

Only? Is that a bad bonus?

Its not as great as its being made out to be.

[glo]

Crysis 3 holds its price pretty well but is no longer offered in the bundle.



Its not as great as its being made out to be.

People make it out to be great because they're given $150 in free shit for doing nothing but buying something they would already be buying. What exactly is your issue with it aside from hating on it for no reason? If I was to buy another card, I'd pick:

DMC
Saints Row 4
Far Cry 3

That's currently $140 in free games on Steam, with 7970s bottoming out at $280~ right now. That's essentially paying $140 for a card that performs in the same realm as a GTX 770 for $400. It's free games... you know, for free. It's a great deal compared to their competition's Batman game or Free2Play credits.

[Toffie]

Not only too early, I mean, what is he going to use until it launches?

Also, what if AMD decided no Never Settle for this series?

If they know it will even beat the Titan, they definitely don't need to offer free games as an incentive...

There have been reports and leaks showing the games for their new series.
I just sold it off before the new series from amd drops the 780 in price, got 650 $ for it.
I have a 7970 laying around so I can still play games .

[Deleted]

Crysis 3 holds its price pretty well but is no longer offered in the bundle.



Its not as great as its being made out to be.

As Glo points out it actually seems as great as it's "being made out to be", I have a hard time seeing the downside.

[Evil Inside]

I really like the look of these. They had me at the price.

[Deleted]

As Glo points out it actually seems as great as it's "being made out to be", I have a hard time seeing the downside.

well i'd say overpricing the value of those games would be for starters.
i mean deducting the high value of free games from the retail price makes no sense.
everytime those bundles come around there are plenty of people who don't use them and sell them for bargain prices making the actual value of the free games allot less. (tomb raider and bioshock infinite +- $100 being sold for 25 euro's and alike)
i just wished they stopped with those bundles all together, people are looking to buy a gpu , no whatever x,y,z or other random shit comes with it. (games, backplates anything else?)

[glo]

well i'd say overpricing the value of those games would be for starters.
i mean deducting the high value of free games from the retail price makes no sense.
everytime those bundles come around there are plenty of people who don't use them and sell them for bargain prices making the actual value of the free games allot less. (tomb raider and bioshock infinite +- $100 being sold for 25 euro's and alike)
i just wished they stopped with those bundles all together, people are looking to buy a gpu , no whatever x,y,z or other random shit comes with it. (games, backplates anything else?)

So, what you're saying is that free things (in this case 3 games that can total $150 through normal means) are a downside? They're free... How is that bad? Why do you care if the market value goes down? That will just make things cheaper for the people who do not own the 7xxx cards.

Really, I'm having a hard time comprehending why people complain about getting free stuff that's worth a good deal of money. It's baffling.

[Evil Inside]

Free things are always good. Well not always but you get the drift.

LEGENDARY!!

[yurano]

So, what you're saying is that free things (in this case 3 games that can total $150 through normal means) are a downside?

3 free old games (except Saints Row 4).

The mistake you're making is that free things aren't actually free.

As a consumer, I much rather AMD spend their cash developing technology instead of handing out free games.

Polished and implemented eye candy like APEX cloth would be nice, especially in WoW.

[Deleted]

So, what you're saying is that free things (in this case 3 games that can total $150 through normal means) are a downside? They're free... How is that bad? Why do you care if the market value goes down? That will just make things cheaper for the people who do not own the 7xxx cards.

Really, I'm having a hard time comprehending why people complain about getting free stuff that's worth a good deal of money. It's baffling.

so buying a coupon from someone else for a way lower price or getting a key from a legit online reseller must be dark magic then? (and usually saves quite an amount of cash)
also all things that are free should be questionable because some way we or someone is paying for it.
it should also be a concern when the value of a good games goes down the drain, dev's ain't cheap and i rather have those good games in the future aswell instead of a bargain now.

[Deleted]

Shroudster, you are still Dutch right?

I wouldnt worry to much about the devs not getting enough money. AMD will pay quite a lot of money to have their name on your game. And will also help optimize your game for their cards. It is no use having your name on the game and it runs shit compared to the competition (yeah, I know about some exceptions like FC3. Which still runs great on my 7970 tho)

If I had to pick between 2 cards which perform the same but one came with free games I would like to play. It is a no brainer for me.
If I had to pick between 2 cards and one performs less but comes with free games (both cards cost pretty much the same). It would be a bit more tricky for me to decide, but those free games could the reason I pick the lesser card.

And if you dont like those games, you can just sell them. Returning some of the costs you made when buying the card. I really dont see any downside to free games. They have always been there. I got a LoTR:O and Colin Mcrea/dirt key when I bought my 9600GT ages ago.

[Toffie]

Don't forget that AMD's current generation were out 6+ months before NVIDIA's offerings. I'll admit, if the rumors are to be believed regarding price and benchmarks, then this card is set to be the go-to choice until NVIDIA's next offerings in Q1 2014. Even if they only have 3-4 months of competing with current cards (on performance, but at half the price, it's double the performance per $), that's still one hell of an advantage.

I just hope 20nm will be ready for their launch, else I don't see much more improvement room for a 28 nm chip. A GTX 880 offering 30 % improvement over the R9-290X at a 600 $ starting price would make me upgrade. They probaly are gonna put a Titan Ultra offering slight improvement at a crazy enthusiast price, which they have been starting to do and it's pissing me off. AMD have been doing the same with their FX-9590 which was a complete joke to fool their customers.

Anyway, competition is always good for us customers and if only this was the case with Intel & AMD we would see much bigger performance going from 2500-3570-4670. :/

[Deleted]

Shroudster, you are still Dutch right?

I wouldnt worry to much about the devs not getting enough money. AMD will pay quite a lot of money to have their name on your game. And will also help optimize your game for their cards. It is no use having your name on the game and it runs shit compared to the competition (yeah, I know about some exceptions like FC3. Which still runs great on my 7970 tho)

If I had to pick between 2 cards which perform the same but one came with free games I would like to play. It is a no brainer for me.
If I had to pick between 2 cards and one performs less but comes with free games (both cards cost pretty much the same). It would be a bit more tricky for me to decide, but those free games could the reason I pick the lesser card.

And if you dont like those games, you can just sell them. Returning some of the costs you made when buying the card. I really dont see any downside to free games. They have always been there. I got a LoTR:O and Colin Mcrea/dirt key when I bought my 9600GT ages ago.

Hell, I remember my Radeon All-in-Wonder 128MB came with four games! And that was nearly 10 years ago now.

EDIT: Toffie, for the lowest-end one of those chips, the price is around that of a 4770k in most UK retailers (for example, Aria have theirs at £250, with an in-store price of £280.

[DeltrusDisc]

I just hope 20nm will be ready for their launch, else I don't see much more improvement room for a 28 nm chip. A GTX 880 offering 30 % improvement over the R9-290X at a 600 $ starting price would make me upgrade. They probaly are gonna put a Titan Ultra offering slight improvement at a crazy enthusiast price, which they have been starting to do and it's pissing me off. AMD have been doing the same with their FX-9590 which was a complete joke to fool their customers.

Anyway, competition is always good for us customers and if only this was the case with Intel & AMD we would see much bigger performance going from 2500-3570-4670. :/

That is an absurd hope and I hope you realize that.

They don't make performance leaps like that anymore.

Just look at the GTX 580 to 680, that was a totally different architecture. One could make a case for the GTX 780, but the 780 is an entirely different chip from the 680 and costs $650 as opposed to the ~$500 launch prices for the 580 and 680.

30%? Try 15% tops.

[Deleted]

That is an absurd hope and I hope you realize that.

They don't make performance leaps like that anymore.

Just look at the GTX 580 to 680, that was a totally different architecture. One could make a case for the GTX 780, but the 780 is an entirely different chip from the 680 and costs $650 as opposed to the ~$500 launch prices for the 580 and 680.

30%? Try 15% tops.

Im not sure what you mean by that?

Just look at the 7970 compared to the 6970 at launch (the difference is probably even bigger now)

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7970/9.html

And on average it was around 20% better

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7970/28.html

That isnt the 30% increase, but 15-20% should still be doable between generations (depending on what changes of course).