AMD’s next generation graphics card based on the Volcanic Islands Family, the AMD R9-290X “Hawaii” graphics card has been leaked just days before its official announcement. And just recently, AMD R9-290X benchmarks has been circulating various tech sites. Although this is not its official benchmark, the results showed remarkable performance compared to its predecessors and NVIDIA GeForce counterpart.
The AMD R9-290X “Hawaii” Graphics card is said to be the fastest single GPU graphics card on the planet, taking the crown from GeForce GTX Titan. It features a large 4GB of RAM on a 512-bit interface. According to those who leaked the information, the sample unit could run 1020 MHz core clock speed and 1250 MHz memory clock speed. Effective memory clock can reach up to 5GHz on a 320MHz bandwidth.
The AMD R9-290X has a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 300W and draws its power from a 8-pin+6-pin connector. It also features a 5+1 VRM phase design, and will also have a dual-BIOS feature. Check out the rest of the leaked specs below.
AMD R9-290X Hawaii Specifications
| Specifications | AMD R9-290X | AMD Radeon HD 7970 | GeForce GTX 780 | GeForce GTX Titan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU Codename | Hawaii | Tahiti | GK110 | GK110 |
| GPU Process | 28nm | 28nm | 28nm | 28nm |
| Stream Processors | 2816-2560 | 2048 | 2304 | 2668 |
| TMUs | 176 | 128 | 192 | 224 |
| ROPs | 44 | 32 | 48 | 48 |
| Base Clock | 800 MHz | 925 MHz | 863 MHz | 837 MHz |
| Turbo Clock | 1000 MHz + | N/A | 902 MHz | 876 MHz |
| Video Memory | 4GB GDDR5 | 3GB GDDR5 | 3GB GDDR5 | 3GB GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 512-Bit | 384-Bit | 384-Bit | 384 Bit |
| Memory Clock | 1125-1250 MHz | 5.5GHz (effective) | 6GHz (effective) | 6GHz (effective) |
| Power Connector | 8+6 Pin | 8+6 Pin | 8+6 Pin | 8+6 Pin |
| PCB VRM | 5+1+1 | 5+1 | 6+2 | 6+2 |
| Die Size | 424mm2 | 365mm2 | 551mm2 | 551mm2 |
| Launch Price | starting $599 | $549 | $649 | $999 |
AMD R9-290X Benchmarks
The said upcoming AMD R9-290X Hawaii graphics card was tested on several games including Alien vs Predator 3, Battlefield 3, Crysis 3, Company or Heroes 2, and more, as well as benchmarking tools.
As you can see from the initial AMD R9-290X benchmark results above, the AMD R9-290X is generally faster than the GeForce GTX Titan. I’m pretty sure AMD fans would be very happy about this. Not only that the AMD R9-290X is faster, it’s also cheaper compared to the GTX Titan. Of course, we have to put a bit of grain of salt on these information until we see other tests. But based on these data alone, the AMD R9-290X could be a GeForce GTX Titan Killer.
The AMD R9-290X Hawaii, is expected to be officially unveiled in Hawaii this coming September 25, 2013. Stay tune for more news regarding the AMD R9 and R7 graphics cards.
