ASUS R9 270X Direct CU II TOP Review

This week AMD launched their new range of R7 and R9 video cards, minus the flagship R9 290X which is due for release sometime in the near future. This particular review focuses on the custom cooled, overclocked Asus R9 270X Direct CU II TOP. The R9 270X is designed to enter into the AMD mid range, hitting a price point between £160 and £180 inc vat. Today we test the hardware against the last generation HD7850 and ever popular HD7870 Tahiti LE. We also add in the GTX760 as a additional performance analysis because as we mentioned earlier in the week AMD partner cards have dropped to around £190-£200 inc vat. The R9 270X will be sold with clock speeds up to 1.05ghz - all of which will have 1,280 Stream Processors. ASUS have ignored these speed guidlines and clocked their version of the card higher .... but more on this on the next page. The reference card will demand power from 2 x 6 pin PCI E connectors and it complies with the PCI E 3.0 standard. There will be 2GB and 4GB configurations with memory speeds set up to 5.6Gbps. The ASUS R9 270X Direct CU II TOP ships in a large box featuring red claw marks top right. Accessories include a power converter cable, Crossfire connector and software disc. The ASUS R9 270x dual slot solution puts the AMD reference version to shame. This card has two black fans and a metal cooler which attaches to the black PCB underneath. The Asus R9 270X is Crossfire capable in a two way configuration. The card takes power from two 6 pin PCI E connectors, the same as the reference design. The I/O plate has a DVI-I and DVI-D connector, alongside a full sized HDMI and DisplayPort. It is widely known that AMD Radeon HD 7xxx parts (and earlier) currently can support a maximum of 2 HDMI/DVI displays, and the rest must be DisplayPort connections (or active DisplayPort adapters). AMD Radeon R9 Series can now support up to three HDMI/DVI displays for use with AMD Eyefinity technology. A set of displays which support identical timings is required to enable this feature. The display clocks and timing for this feature are configured at boot time. As such, display hot‐plugging is not supported for the third HDMI/DVI connection. A reboot is required to enable three HDMI/DVI displays.DisplayPort outputs are supported in addition to the three HDMI/DVI displays (up to 6 in total). The AMD reference R9 270X uses SK Hynix memory, but the ASUS R9 270X is using 2GB of Elpida GDDR5 memory. The R270X is built on the 28nm process. The core on this ASUS board is clocked 70mhz higher than the reference design at 1,120mhz and it has 32 ROPs, 80 TMU's and 1,280 Stream Processors. The 2GB of GDDR5 is connected via a 256 bit memory interface. The memory is clocked at 1,400mhz (5.6Gbps effective). On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later. For our review today we are using the latest Catalyst 13.11 and Forceware 331.40 drivers. These drivers have the latest performance enhancements and bug fixes. We are using one of our brand new test rigs supplied by PCSPECIALIST and built to our specifications. If you want to read more about this, or are interested in buying the same Kitguru Test Rig, check out our article with links on this page. Comparison cards: AMD R9 270X Reference (1050mhz core / 1400mhz memory) VTX3D HD7870 Tahiti LE (975mhz core / 1500mhz memory) VTX3D VChamp HD7850 (1000mhz core / 1225mhz memory) ASUS HD7850 (860mhz core / 1,200mhz memory) eVGA GTX760 SC (1072 mhz core / 1502mhz memory) Software: Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit Unigine Heaven Benchmark Unigine Valley Benchmark 3DMark Vantage 3DMark 11 3DMark Fraps Professional Steam Client FurMark Games: Sleeping Dogs Total War: Rome 2 Dirt Showdown Tomb Raider Metro Last Light GRID 2 Alien V Predator Splinter Cell Blacklist All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page. Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand. Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk. Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable: Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems Multicore CPU support Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles) Powerful C++ API Comprehensive performance profiling system Flexible XML-based data structures We use the settings shown above at 1920×1080. Performance is strong, averaging 54.6 frames per second. Valley Benchmark is a new GPU stress-testing tool from the developers of the very popular and highly acclaimed Heaven Benchmark. The forest-covered valley surrounded by vast mountains amazes with its scale from a bird’s-eye view and is extremely detailed down to every leaf and flower petal. This non-synthetic benchmark powered by the state-of-the art UNIGINE Engine showcases a comprehensive set of cutting-edge graphics technologies with a dynamic environment and fully interactive modes available to the end user. We test with the settings above both at 1920×1080. Performance is very strong in this particular benchmark, averaging over 63 frames per second - a couple of frames per second higher than the reference board. Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings. The system scores 30,949 points which is around 2,000 behind the eVGA GTX760 SC solution. 3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page. The overclocked status helps ensure the ASUS board generates around 300 points more than the reference solution. 3DMark is an essential tool used by millions of gamers, hundreds of hardware review sites and many of the world’s leading manufacturers to measure PC gaming performance. Futuremark say “Use it to test your PC’s limits and measure the impact of overclocking and tweaking your system. Search our massive results database and see how your PC compares or just admire the graphics and wonder why all PC games don’t look this good. To get more out of your PC, put 3DMark in your PC.” The card scores 6,137 points, which is around 300 behind the eVGA GTX760 SC. Aliens V Predator has proved to be a big seller since the release and Sega have taken the franchise into new territory after taking it from Sierra. AVP is a Direct X 11 supported title and delivers not only advanced shadow rendering but high quality tessellation for the cards on test today. To test the cards we used a 1920×1080 resolution with DX11, Texture Quality Very High, MSAA Samples 1, 16 af, ambient occulsion on, shadow complexity high, motion blur on. This Direct X 11 engine is demanding but it proves no problem for the R9 270X DCUII TOP, averaging 79 frames per second. Sleeping Dogs started development as an original title, but was announced in 2009 as True Crime: Hong Kong, the third installment and a reboot of the True Crime series.As a result of the game’s high development budget and delays, it was canceled by Activision Blizzard in 2011. Six months later, it was announced that Square Enix had picked up the publishing rights to the game, but the game was renamed Sleeping Dogs in 2012 since Square Enix did not purchase the True Crime name rights. This game is still a system killer at these maximised settings. We test at 1920×1080. The Asus R9 270X Direct CU II TOP is able to maintain smooth frame rates at these settings, averaging 38 frames per second and dropping to 26 frames per second in the most intensive sections of the environment. Total War ROME 2 is the eighth stand alone game in the Total War series, it is the successor to the successful Rome: Total War title. The Warscape Engine powers the visuals of the game and the new unit cameras will allow players to focus on individual soldiers on the battlefield, which in itself may contain thousands of combatants at a time. Creative Assembly has stated that they wish to bring out the more human side of war this way, with soldiers reacting with horror as their comrades get killed around them and officers inspiring their men with heroic speeches before siege towers hit the walls of the enemy city. This will be realised using facial animations for individual units, adding a feel of horror and realism to the battles. To test the cards today we use the ULTRA profile settings shown above at 1920×1080. The overclock on the Asus R9 280X DCUII TOP means it can outperform the eVGA GTX760 SC when powering this particular game. Dirt Showdown is the latest title in the franchise from Codemasters, based around the famous Colin McRae racing game series, although it no longer uses his name, since he passed away in 2007. Today we test the hardware at 1920×1080 with the Ultra profile and 8 x MSAA. An engine which has always favoured AMD hardware and drivers. The Asus R9 270X DCUII TOP claims top spot in this particular game. After a delayed release from late 2012 to March 2013, the game received much anticipation and hype. Tomb Raider received much acclaim from critics, who praised the graphics, the gameplay and Camilla Luddington’s performance as Lara with many critics agreeing that the game is a solid and much needed reboot of the franchise. Much criticism went to the addition of the multiplayer which many felt was unnecessary. Tomb Raider went on to sell one million copies in forty-eight hours of its release, and has sold 3.4 million copies worldwide so far. We use the ULTIMATE profile shown above and test at 1920×1080. The overclock on the ASUS R9 270X still doesn't allow it to catch the eVGA GTX760 SC in top spot, but it is very close. Metro: Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, proceeding from the ending where Artyom chose to call down the missile strike on the Dark Ones. The Rangers have since occupied the D6 military facility, with Artyom having become an official member of the group. Khan, the nomad mystic, arrives at D6 to inform Artyom and the Rangers that a single Dark One survived the missile strike. 4A Games’ proprietary 4A Engine is capable of rendering breathtaking vistas, such as those showing the ruined remnants of Moscow, as well as immersive indoor areas that play with light and shadow, creating hauntingly beautiful scenes akin to those from modern-day photos of Pripyat’s abandoned factories and schools. We test this game with the built in benchmark with very high quality settings at 1920×1080 – details shown in the image above. The Nvidia GTX760 SC is the leader in this test by a clear margin. Grid 2 is the sequel to the racing video game Race Driver: Grid. It was developed and published by Codemasters. The game includes numerous real world locations such as Paris, numerous United States locations, and many more, and also includes motor vehicles spanning four decades. In addition, it includes a new handling system that developer Codemasters has dubbed ‘TrueFeel’, which aims to hit a sweet spot between realism and accessibility. We test at 1920×1080 with the Ultra image quality preset, as shown above. 8x MSAA was enabled to improve image quality. GRID 2 has no problems running on any of the hardware on test today. The eVGA GTX760 SC takes top spot, followed by the ASUS R9 270X Direct CU II TOP. Splinter Cell Blacklist is the sixth installment in the series. The game begins with Sam Fisher and his old friend Victor Coste who are about to depart from Andersen AFB in Guam when an unknown enemy force destroys the entire base. Assisted by hacker specialist Charlie Cole, Sam and Vic manage to escape, although Vic is injured after protecting Sam from a grenade. Soon after, a terrorist group calling itself “The Engineers” assumes responsibility for the attack and announce that it was the first of a deadly countdown of escalating attacks (called “The Blacklist”) on United States assets, declaring that they will halt the attacks only after the U.S. government accomplish the demand of calling back all American troops deployed abroad. We test with a series of high image quality settings as shown above and with 4x MSAA and 16 x Anisotropic filtering enabled. Smooth frame rates at these settings, averaging 37 and dropping to 30 during more intensive sections of the environment. The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 24c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this. Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes.Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic. I said a few days ago on launch day that AMD really need to improve on their reference coolers. You now can see what I mean because the Direct CU II cooler on the ASUS R9 270x performs 18c better than the reference cooler. It is a huge difference.We have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with almost completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests. We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the closed chassis and 4 foot from the ground to mirror a real world situation. Ambient noise in the room measures close to the limits of our sound meter at 28dBa. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on only the video card. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA – Threshold of Pain 140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum The Direct CU II cooler is fantastic. The dual fans only spin at 1,100rpm when idle and this rises to 1,700 rpm under gaming load and 1,900 rpm under synthetic Furmark load. It is significantly quieter than the single fan reference cooler. To test power consumption today we are using a Keithley Integra unit and we measure power consumption from the VGA card inputs, not the system wide drain. We measure results while gaming in Crysis Warhead and the synthetic stress test Furmark and record both results. The card is actually quite efficient, demanding around 150 watts under gaming load. For our overclocking tests today we used the latest version of MSI Afterburner, which is based around Rivatuner. We managed to increase the core clock speed from 1,120mhz to 1,205mhz - translating into a 7.5% overclock. The memory could be overclocked from 1,400mhz to 1,589mhz translating into a 13.5% overclock. The overclock helps push the graphics score from 8,547 points to 9,274 points - past the eVGA GTX760 SC. As we said a couple of days ago there is no doubt the AMD R9 270X is a very capable solution. The ASUS R9 270X Direct CU II TOP is a noticeable improvement on the reference AMD design which ships with a very basic single fan cooler. We don't often recommend reference cooling solutions and we know the vast majority of our readership don't want them either. As testing indicated this card is significantly quicker than a standard HD7870 and is slightly faster than the HD7870 Tahiti LE which proved immensely popular with the enthusiast gamer in 2013. The preoverclocked speed helps generate an extra couple of frames per second when compared directly to the reference AMD card however it is slightly outperformed by the eVGA GTX760 SC in most of our tests. Even though the Asus solution is supplied in a preoverclocked state there is still some headroom available. We managed to increase the core clock speed of our review sample to just over 1,200mhz which places it close in performance against the eVGA GTX760 SC. AMD initially said the R9 270X would be shipping for $199 in America. Unsurprisingly UK enthusiast users have to pay a little more than this and we have seen prices between £160-£190 at launch. The ASUS R9 270X Direct CU II TOP will sell for £187.99 inc vat according to documentation we received from ASUS this week. At this price it does face some challenges from overclocked HD7870 Tahiti LE solutions and even low cost Nvidia GTX760's which have hit a sub £200 price point in recent weeks. The ASUS card is definitely worth shortlisting, especially due to the low noise levels, excellent cooling performance and overclocked 'out of the box' parameters. Pros: Excellent cooling solution. Preoverclocked. very quiet. 15C+ cooler than the AMD reference design. Cons: Faces stiff competition from some GTX760 solutions priced under £200. Kitguru says: The Asus R9 270X Direct CU II TOP is much improved on the reference card.