ASUS Radeon R9-290 DirectCU II OC review - Introduction

The ASUS Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC - Slightly Slower but just as fast ?

We review the ASUS Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC edition. Ever since AMD released their Hawaii based GPUs they have been popular. The reference cards might run hot, but the custom cooled editions from the board partners are becoming very popular. The card tested today comes from ASUS and is armed with the latest revision of the DirectCU II cooler and will get that Hawaii chip chilled down. The DirectCU II card will be equipped with a fully custom PCB design featuring the Digi+ VRM with Super Alloy Power technology and high quality C-Caps and MOSFETs. The card is powered through 8-Pin + 6-Pin power configuration and obviously runs at factory overclocked specifications. The card clocks in at 1000 MHz and is clocked to 5040 MHz (effective) on the GDDR5 memory.

So, this review will cover the Radeon R9 290, please do check out our many 290 and 290X reviews right here. Both products are based on the new Hawaii GPU architecture. The products will get impressive clock frequencies and, much like NVIDIA, boost power, voltage, fan and load limiters. The R9-290 silicon comes with a truckload of features like integrated DSPs offering TrueAudio technology. Or how do 6 Billion transistors on a 438 mm² Die sound, perhaps a 512-bit Memory bus with 4 GB - 5.0 Gbps GDDR5 memory lures you? A card that is Ultra HD ready and has 5.6 TFLOPS of compute performance. Yeah, it has been a blast testing these cards. AMD also partnered with EA's Battlefield 4, meaning that for as long as the coupons are available and with specific board partners, you will receive Battlefield 4 with the card. That would be a deluxe edition with extra DLC and weapons. AMD is also focusing strongly at gaming in Ultra High Definition (UHD), so this will be a focus in our review as well. We will be able to play the hottest games at that whopping 8.2 Mpixels at a 3840x2160 resolution @ 60 Hz.

If you can find them, the AMD Radeon R9 290 cards will cost roughly 399 USD / 360 EUR (incl VAT). These custom editions will obviously be a few tenners more expensive, but rest assured, you want to go for that due to the better custom cooled choices out there.

The R9-290 ASUS DirectCU II OC edition card is tweaked a little for ya, it can Boost towards 1000 MHz and is clocked to 5040 MHz (effective) on the GDDR5 memory. This in-depth review will cover the Volcanic Islands GPU architecture, Hawaii for the 290 series, we'll benchmark these cards with FCAT Frametimes, Ultra High Definition and of course, we'll check out gaming performance with the latest games next to power consumption and heat levels as well.

So I'd have a peek below at the DirectCU II cooled card and then lets head onwards into the review, hi hooo Silver... onwards we go.