Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Vapor-X OC Review

How We Tested

Our GPU test rig is equipped with the multi-GPU powerhouse that is the Asus Maximus V Extreme, allowing us to run up to 4-card SLI and CrossFire with 8x PCI-E 3.0 lanes per card. The CPU is an Intel Core i5 3570K running at 4.2GHz to raise the CPU headroom, and it's paired with 8GB of 2,400MHz Corsair Dominator DDR3. Our chassis of choice is NZXT's Switch 810, a case big enough to house even a pair of Asus' Ares 2 graphics cards. The Lepa G1600 1600W PSU offers more wattage and 8-pin PCI-E power connectors than we'd ever need.

Our benchmarks are a mix of custom in-game time demos and manually-played sections, using FRAPS to record the average and minimum frame rates. We strive to not only record real-world performance you will actually see, but also present the results in a manner that is easy to digest. We test at 1,920 x 1,080 (1080p) and 2,560 x 1,440, as well as at 5,760 x 1,080 (AMD Eyefinity/Nvidia Surround) and 3,840 x 2,160 (4K) with higher end cards.

Test System

• Intel Core i5 3570K (operating at 4.2GHz – 42 x 100MHz)
  
• Asus Maximus V Extreme motherboard
  
• 2 x 4GB Corsair 2,400MHz DDR3 memory
  
• Lepa G1600 1600W PSU
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
  
• Samsung SSD 830 256GB SSD

AMD graphics cards

• AMD Radeon R9 295X2 8GB (1,018MHz GPU, 5GHz memory) (Launch driver - Catalyst 14.4 beta)
  
• AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB (1,000MHz GPU, 5GHz memory) (Catalyst 13.12)
  
• Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Vapor-X OC 4GB (1,030MHz GPU, 5.6GHz memory) (Catalyst 14.4)
  
• ASUS Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4GB (1,000MHz GPU, 5.04GHz memory) (Catalyst 13.12)
  
• AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB (947MHz GPU, 5GHz memory) (Catalyst 13.12)
  
• AMD Radeon R9 280X 3GB (1,000MHz GPU, 6GHz memory) (Catalyst 13.12)
  
• AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB (933MHz GPU, 5GHz memory) (Catalyst 14.4)
  
• AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB (1,050MHz GPU, 5.6GHz memory) (Catalyst 13.12)
  
• AMD Radeon R9 270 2GB (925MHz GPU, 5.6GHz memory) (Catalyst 13.12)
  
• AMD Radeon R7 265 2GB (925MHz GPU, 5.6GHz memory) (Catalyst 14.4)
  
• AMD Radeon R7 260X 2GB (1,100MHz GPU, 6.5GHz memory) (Catalyst 13.12)

Nvidia graphics cards

• Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Black 6GB (889MHz GPU, boosting to 980MHz, 7GHz memory) (GeForce 334.89 WHQL)
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB (876MHz GPU, boosting to 928MHz, 7GHz memory) (GeForce 334.89 WHQL)
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB (863Mhz GPU, boosting to 900MHz, 6GHz memory) (GeForce 334.89 WHQL)
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB (1,046Mhz GPU, boosting to 1,085MHz, 7GHz memory) (GeForce 334.89 WHQL)
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2GB (980Mhz GPU, boosting to 1,033MHz, 6GHz memory) (GeForce 334.89 WHQL)
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB (980MHz GPU boosting to 1,033MHz, 6GHz memory) (GeForce 334.89 WHQL)
  
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB (1,020MHz GPU boosting to 1,085MHz, 5.4GHz memory) (GeForce 335.23 WHQL)