{"video_id":"t8kSyWg7vbc","title":"AMD R9 285 Graphics Card","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2015-05-07T14:53:29Z","duration_s":422,"segments":[{"start_s":0.08,"end_s":6.16,"text":"The AMD R9280 launch was a confusing one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":3.6,"end_s":11.28,"text":"at the time because to the informed eye, it was obvious that what AMD had done","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":8.559,"end_s":16.32,"text":"was create a lot of fanfare with a Hawaii launch event for what was other","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":13.679,"end_s":21.039,"text":"than the R9 290 and 290X, which both featured newly designed silicon,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":18.48,"end_s":27.76,"text":"basically an exercise in taking existing card designs and giving them a shiny new","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":23.92,"end_s":30.32,"text":"name. That means the current 200 series","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":27.76,"end_s":34.239,"text":"is actually a mix of old and new hardware designs. It's fine from a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":32.48,"end_s":39.36,"text":"performance standpoint as long as the pricing makes sense, but it can lead to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":36.96,"end_s":44.16,"text":"confusion. Even at that launch event, AMD talked a lot about true audio, a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":41.84,"end_s":50.32,"text":"feature that up until now has only been supported on the R9260X and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":46.92,"end_s":53.28,"text":"R9290 series. And then again at CES this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":50.32,"end_s":57.44,"text":"year, they showed off Freync, a dynamic refresh rate technology similar to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":55.039,"end_s":62.8,"text":"G-Sync to reduce screen tearing, but since revealed that that also only works","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":60.48,"end_s":67.28,"text":"on part of their current lineup because of this mix of old and new technology.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":64.799,"end_s":73.6,"text":"So with that out of the way, on to the card we're introducing today. The","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":69.96,"end_s":76.0,"text":"R9285 based on new code name Tonga","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":73.6,"end_s":80.159,"text":"silicon might not be earthshattering from a performance standpoint, but what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":77.84,"end_s":86.24,"text":"it does aside from delivering great power efficiency is bring the $250 price","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":83.6,"end_s":90.96,"text":"point in line with high-end enthusiast cards from a feature standpoint with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":88.799,"end_s":95.439,"text":"improved mantle support along with support for true audio, bridgeless","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":93.04,"end_s":100.42,"text":"crossfire, updated power tune, dynamic performance optimization, and finally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.079,"end_s":105.68,"text":"freeync.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":105.68,"end_s":111.6,"text":"With the purchase of a qualifying Intel processor, SSD, or Knuck, you could","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":109.6,"end_s":115.119,"text":"instantly win an Intel gaming jersey and be entered in the draw for the ultimate","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":113.2,"end_s":118.96,"text":"system. Click now to learn more. Now, when I said the card wasn't going to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":116.72,"end_s":122.159,"text":"deliver groundbreaking performance, I probably wasn't telling the very clever","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":120.719,"end_s":126.479,"text":"among you anything you didn't already know. When we look at its specs compared","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":124.159,"end_s":131.28,"text":"to the R9280 whose price point it pretty much replaces. It features the same","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":129.039,"end_s":136.72,"text":"number of cores, texture, and render output units. It has a slightly lower","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":133.84,"end_s":142.72,"text":"clock speed. It has a narrower 256-bit memory bus with 33% less memory overall.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.84,"end_s":145.76,"text":"So that's 2 gigs of DDDR5. Then it has a slightly higher memory clock to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":144.48,"end_s":150.239,"text":"compensate for some of those other deficiencies. And it features a 5% lower","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":148.4,"end_s":155.92,"text":"TDP, meaning that heat output will be reduced. Of course though, with GPUs,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":153.04,"end_s":160.56,"text":"it's never about comparing specs head-to-head directly. And AMD has made","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":158.72,"end_s":164.319,"text":"some tweaks under the hood that will improve tessellation performance,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":162.48,"end_s":169.44,"text":"compute performance, and memory performance that they hope will make up","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":166.239,"end_s":171.28,"text":"for some of these spec deficiencies. On","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":169.44,"end_s":175.68,"text":"top of that, AMD has added a couple of multimedia features, including automatic","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":173.92,"end_s":181.72,"text":"configuration of the speakers in your iinity monitor or TV setup as left, mid,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":178.959,"end_s":188.159,"text":"and right channels, along with hardware H.264 4K encode, and decode support that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":186.56,"end_s":192.239,"text":"will significantly reduce power consumption when playing back 4K","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":189.92,"end_s":199.519,"text":"content. This is a feature that even the new Hawaii R9290 series GPUs don't have.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":196.319,"end_s":201.28,"text":"AMD's engineers have been busy. Now, AMD","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":199.519,"end_s":204.959,"text":"didn't send us a reference card, so let's take a minute to appreciate the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":202.8,"end_s":209.12,"text":"specifics of the Gigabyte Windforce Edition card that we have received. Like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":206.879,"end_s":212.959,"text":"all Gigabyte Windforce graphics cards, it features an open airflow","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":210.519,"end_s":217.519,"text":"non-reference Windforce branded cooler. That enough Windforce for you? This one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":215.12,"end_s":222.159,"text":"features a dual heat pipe and aluminum fin design that did a great job of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":219.68,"end_s":229.36,"text":"keeping the 285 cool in our testing. It's got two DVI ports, HDMI and display","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":225.44,"end_s":231.28,"text":"port. It's got dual 100 mm fans. It's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":229.36,"end_s":236.159,"text":"got reversed PCI Express power connectors, which is actually quite nice","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":233.2,"end_s":241.68,"text":"for cable management. A PCI Express 16x slot on the bottom, and no bridge","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":239.12,"end_s":247.439,"text":"connector at the top is needed thanks to the XDMMA Crossfire support in the Tonga","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":244.84,"end_s":253.04,"text":"GPU. But you don't just want to watch me stare at this GPU thing for seven","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":249.68,"end_s":253.04,"text":"minutes, do you?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":256.32,"end_s":261.28,"text":"No, no. You want to know about the performance? Well, here it is. Take it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":259.919,"end_s":267.52,"text":"away, Luke. All right, guys. Remember how I used to sound like a zombie all the time? Well, I'm back. Uh, first of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":266.0,"end_s":271.04,"text":"all, none of these cards are actually overclocked. A large number of you guys","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":269.6,"end_s":275.44,"text":"have been asking us to run our benchmarks not overclocked for some time","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.199,"end_s":279.44,"text":"now, and we've decided to see how it goes. There's also been a platform","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.52,"end_s":285.52,"text":"change. We have swapped out our old platform for a new ASUS X99 Deluxe","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":282.479,"end_s":288.479,"text":"motherboard, a 5930K running at stock,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":285.52,"end_s":293.36,"text":"and 16 GB of GSkill memory, also running at a stock speed of 2133 MHz. Due to a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.919,"end_s":300.24,"text":"horrible naming scheme, it can be a little bit confusing figuring out where the R9285 lands in AMD's product stack.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":298.56,"end_s":304.639,"text":"To try to show where the card falls in the general graphics card landscape, we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":302.8,"end_s":309.28,"text":"decided to benchmark it against a GTX 760, which should be fairly similar in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":306.8,"end_s":314.96,"text":"both price and performance. Then I threw it against a GTX 750Ti and an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":312.28,"end_s":318.52,"text":"R9290 in order to represent some other fairly common price points as well. AMD","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":317.12,"end_s":323.28,"text":"fans will be happy to hear that the R9285 performed admirably in the games","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":321.36,"end_s":327.84,"text":"that I tested in, beating out the GTX 760 in two out of three tests and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":325.6,"end_s":330.88,"text":"proving its worth in its price bracket. To be honest though, this is pretty much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":329.28,"end_s":335.039,"text":"exactly what was expected of this graphics card as the graphics card game","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":333.199,"end_s":339.36,"text":"has been pretty easy to predict as of late. Well, that's it for Zombie Voice.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":337.52,"end_s":343.68,"text":"Back to you, Linus. So, there you have it, folks. It performs about as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":341.44,"end_s":348.32,"text":"expected, but here's something you might not have expected. AMD is refreshing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":346.24,"end_s":352.88,"text":"their Never Settle game bundle program. Now, it's Space Edition, and this one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":350.96,"end_s":356.96,"text":"qualifies for the gold level, so you can pick up to any three of the 29 games","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":354.96,"end_s":360.24,"text":"available. Check it out. For gamers buying graphics cards, an appealing game","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":359.12,"end_s":365.52,"text":"that they were planning to pick up anyway can be a very compelling value","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":362.32,"end_s":368.479,"text":"ad. So, it's conclusion time. You get a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.52,"end_s":373.36,"text":"DirectX12 GPU that's feature complete compared to the rest of AMD's lineup and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":370.96,"end_s":378.319,"text":"performs about like you'd expect an AMD GPU that costs 250 bucks to perform.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":375.919,"end_s":382.4,"text":"Hard to go wrong. Not the most stunning or exciting conclusion ever, but this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":380.4,"end_s":387.12,"text":"isn't the most stunning or exciting card ever either. Not that being a trusty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":384.639,"end_s":391.16,"text":"workhorse is a bad thing. It's sold a lot of R9280s for AMD, and it'll do the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":389.84,"end_s":394.4,"text":"same with the R9285. Thanks for watching, guys. Like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":393.36,"end_s":397.6,"text":"this video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. Leave a comment letting me know what you thought of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":396.56,"end_s":401.12,"text":"video. If you have suggestions for future videos, check out the video description where you find a link to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":400.0,"end_s":406.24,"text":"support us. You can give us a monthly contribution, buy a cool t-shirt like this one, or change your Amazon bookmark","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":404.56,"end_s":410.4,"text":"to one with our affiliate code so we get a small kickback whenever you buy new","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":408.16,"end_s":423.79,"text":"socks. Thanks for watching again, and as always, don't forget to subscribe.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"The AMD R9280 launch was a confusing one at the time because to the informed eye, it was obvious that what AMD had done was create a lot of fanfare with a Hawaii launch event for what was other than the R9 290 and 290X, which both featured newly designed silicon, basically an exercise in taking existing card designs and giving them a shiny new name. That means the current 200 series is actually a mix of old and new hardware designs. It's fine from a performance standpoint as long as the pricing makes sense, but it can lead to confusion. Even at that launch event, AMD talked a lot about true audio, a feature that up until now has only been supported on the R9260X and R9290 series. And then again at CES this year, they showed off Freync, a dynamic refresh rate technology similar to G-Sync to reduce screen tearing, but since revealed that that also only works on part of their current lineup because of this mix of old and new technology. So with that out of the way, on to the card we're introducing today. The R9285 based on new code name Tonga silicon might not be earthshattering from a performance standpoint, but what it does aside from delivering great power efficiency is bring the $250 price point in line with high-end enthusiast cards from a feature standpoint with improved mantle support along with support for true audio, bridgeless crossfire, updated power tune, dynamic performance optimization, and finally freeync. With the purchase of a qualifying Intel processor, SSD, or Knuck, you could instantly win an Intel gaming jersey and be entered in the draw for the ultimate system. Click now to learn more. Now, when I said the card wasn't going to deliver groundbreaking performance, I probably wasn't telling the very clever among you anything you didn't already know. When we look at its specs compared to the R9280 whose price point it pretty much replaces. It features the same number of cores, texture, and render output units. It has a slightly lower clock speed. It has a narrower 256-bit memory bus with 33% less memory overall. So that's 2 gigs of DDDR5. Then it has a slightly higher memory clock to compensate for some of those other deficiencies. And it features a 5% lower TDP, meaning that heat output will be reduced. Of course though, with GPUs, it's never about comparing specs head-to-head directly. And AMD has made some tweaks under the hood that will improve tessellation performance, compute performance, and memory performance that they hope will make up for some of these spec deficiencies. On top of that, AMD has added a couple of multimedia features, including automatic configuration of the speakers in your iinity monitor or TV setup as left, mid, and right channels, along with hardware H.264 4K encode, and decode support that will significantly reduce power consumption when playing back 4K content. This is a feature that even the new Hawaii R9290 series GPUs don't have. AMD's engineers have been busy. Now, AMD didn't send us a reference card, so let's take a minute to appreciate the specifics of the Gigabyte Windforce Edition card that we have received. Like all Gigabyte Windforce graphics cards, it features an open airflow non-reference Windforce branded cooler. That enough Windforce for you? This one features a dual heat pipe and aluminum fin design that did a great job of keeping the 285 cool in our testing. It's got two DVI ports, HDMI and DisplayPort. It's got dual 100 mm fans. It's got reversed PCI Express power connectors, which is actually quite nice for cable management. A PCI Express 16x slot on the bottom, and no bridge connector at the top is needed thanks to the XDMMA Crossfire support in the Tonga GPU. But you don't just want to watch me stare at this GPU thing for seven minutes, do you? No, no. You want to know about the performance? Well, here it is. Take it away, Luke. All right, guys. Remember how I used to sound like a zombie all the time? Well, I'm back. Uh, first of all, none of these cards are actually overclocked. A large number of you guys have been asking us to run our benchmarks not overclocked for some time now, and we've decided to see how it goes. There's also been a platform change. We have swapped out our old platform for a new ASUS X99 Deluxe motherboard, a 5930K running at stock, and 16 GB of GSkill memory, also running at a stock speed of 2133 MHz. Due to a horrible naming scheme, it can be a little bit confusing figuring out where the R9285 lands in AMD's product stack. To try to show where the card falls in the general graphics card landscape, we decided to benchmark it against a GTX 760, which should be fairly similar in both price and performance. Then I threw it against a GTX 750Ti and an R9290 in order to represent some other fairly common price points as well. AMD fans will be happy to hear that the R9285 performed admirably in the games that I tested in, beating out the GTX 760 in two out of three tests and proving its worth in its price bracket. To be honest though, this is pretty much exactly what was expected of this graphics card as the graphics card game has been pretty easy to predict as of late. Well, that's it for Zombie Voice. Back to you, Linus. So, there you have it, folks. It performs about as expected, but here's something you might not have expected. AMD is refreshing their Never Settle game bundle program. Now, it's Space Edition, and this one qualifies for the gold level, so you can pick up to any three of the 29 games available. Check it out. For gamers buying graphics cards, an appealing game that they were planning to pick up anyway can be a very compelling value ad. So, it's conclusion time. You get a DirectX12 GPU that's feature complete compared to the rest of AMD's lineup and performs about like you'd expect an AMD GPU that costs 250 bucks to perform. Hard to go wrong. Not the most stunning or exciting conclusion ever, but this isn't the most stunning or exciting card ever either. Not that being a trusty workhorse is a bad thing. It's sold a lot of R9280s for AMD, and it'll do the same with the R9285. Thanks for watching, guys. Like this video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. Leave a comment letting me know what you thought of the video. If you have suggestions for future videos, check out the video description where you find a link to support us. You can give us a monthly contribution, buy a cool t-shirt like this one, or change your Amazon bookmark to one with our affiliate code so we get a small kickback whenever you buy new socks. Thanks for watching again, and as always, don't forget to subscribe."}