1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:06,160 The AMD R9280 launch was a confusing one 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:11,280 at the time because to the informed eye, it was obvious that what AMD had done 3 00:00:08,559 --> 00:00:16,320 was create a lot of fanfare with a Hawaii launch event for what was other 4 00:00:13,679 --> 00:00:21,039 than the R9 290 and 290X, which both featured newly designed silicon, 5 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:27,760 basically an exercise in taking existing card designs and giving them a shiny new 6 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:30,320 name. That means the current 200 series 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:34,239 is actually a mix of old and new hardware designs. It's fine from a 8 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:39,360 performance standpoint as long as the pricing makes sense, but it can lead to 9 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:44,160 confusion. Even at that launch event, AMD talked a lot about true audio, a 10 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:50,320 feature that up until now has only been supported on the R9260X and 11 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:53,280 R9290 series. And then again at CES this 12 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:57,440 year, they showed off Freync, a dynamic refresh rate technology similar to 13 00:00:55,039 --> 00:01:02,800 G-Sync to reduce screen tearing, but since revealed that that also only works 14 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:07,280 on part of their current lineup because of this mix of old and new technology. 15 00:01:04,799 --> 00:01:13,600 So with that out of the way, on to the card we're introducing today. The 16 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:16,000 R9285 based on new code name Tonga 17 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:20,159 silicon might not be earthshattering from a performance standpoint, but what 18 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:26,240 it does aside from delivering great power efficiency is bring the $250 price 19 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:30,960 point in line with high-end enthusiast cards from a feature standpoint with 20 00:01:28,799 --> 00:01:35,439 improved mantle support along with support for true audio, bridgeless 21 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:40,420 crossfire, updated power tune, dynamic performance optimization, and finally 22 00:01:38,079 --> 00:01:45,680 freeync. 23 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:51,600 With the purchase of a qualifying Intel processor, SSD, or Knuck, you could 24 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:55,119 instantly win an Intel gaming jersey and be entered in the draw for the ultimate 25 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:58,960 system. Click now to learn more. Now, when I said the card wasn't going to 26 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:02,159 deliver groundbreaking performance, I probably wasn't telling the very clever 27 00:02:00,719 --> 00:02:06,479 among you anything you didn't already know. When we look at its specs compared 28 00:02:04,159 --> 00:02:11,280 to the R9280 whose price point it pretty much replaces. It features the same 29 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:16,720 number of cores, texture, and render output units. It has a slightly lower 30 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:22,720 clock speed. It has a narrower 256-bit memory bus with 33% less memory overall. 31 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:25,760 So that's 2 gigs of DDDR5. Then it has a slightly higher memory clock to 32 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:30,239 compensate for some of those other deficiencies. And it features a 5% lower 33 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:35,920 TDP, meaning that heat output will be reduced. Of course though, with GPUs, 34 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:40,560 it's never about comparing specs head-to-head directly. And AMD has made 35 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:44,319 some tweaks under the hood that will improve tessellation performance, 36 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:49,440 compute performance, and memory performance that they hope will make up 37 00:02:46,239 --> 00:02:51,280 for some of these spec deficiencies. On 38 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:55,680 top of that, AMD has added a couple of multimedia features, including automatic 39 00:02:53,920 --> 00:03:01,720 configuration of the speakers in your iinity monitor or TV setup as left, mid, 40 00:02:58,959 --> 00:03:08,159 and right channels, along with hardware H.264 4K encode, and decode support that 41 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:12,239 will significantly reduce power consumption when playing back 4K 42 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:19,519 content. This is a feature that even the new Hawaii R9290 series GPUs don't have. 43 00:03:16,319 --> 00:03:21,280 AMD's engineers have been busy. Now, AMD 44 00:03:19,519 --> 00:03:24,959 didn't send us a reference card, so let's take a minute to appreciate the 45 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:29,120 specifics of the Gigabyte Windforce Edition card that we have received. Like 46 00:03:26,879 --> 00:03:32,959 all Gigabyte Windforce graphics cards, it features an open airflow 47 00:03:30,519 --> 00:03:37,519 non-reference Windforce branded cooler. That enough Windforce for you? This one 48 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:42,159 features a dual heat pipe and aluminum fin design that did a great job of 49 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:49,360 keeping the 285 cool in our testing. It's got two DVI ports, HDMI and display 50 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:51,280 port. It's got dual 100 mm fans. It's 51 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:56,159 got reversed PCI Express power connectors, which is actually quite nice 52 00:03:53,200 --> 00:04:01,680 for cable management. A PCI Express 16x slot on the bottom, and no bridge 53 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:07,439 connector at the top is needed thanks to the XDMMA Crossfire support in the Tonga 54 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:13,040 GPU. But you don't just want to watch me stare at this GPU thing for seven 55 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:13,040 minutes, do you? 56 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:21,280 No, no. You want to know about the performance? Well, here it is. Take it 57 00:04:19,919 --> 00:04:27,520 away, Luke. All right, guys. Remember how I used to sound like a zombie all the time? Well, I'm back. Uh, first of 58 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:31,040 all, none of these cards are actually overclocked. A large number of you guys 59 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:35,440 have been asking us to run our benchmarks not overclocked for some time 60 00:04:33,199 --> 00:04:39,440 now, and we've decided to see how it goes. There's also been a platform 61 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:45,520 change. We have swapped out our old platform for a new ASUS X99 Deluxe 62 00:04:42,479 --> 00:04:48,479 motherboard, a 5930K running at stock, 63 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:53,360 and 16 GB of GSkill memory, also running at a stock speed of 2133 MHz. Due to a 64 00:04:51,919 --> 00:05:00,240 horrible naming scheme, it can be a little bit confusing figuring out where the R9285 lands in AMD's product stack. 65 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:04,639 To try to show where the card falls in the general graphics card landscape, we 66 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:09,280 decided to benchmark it against a GTX 760, which should be fairly similar in 67 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:14,960 both price and performance. Then I threw it against a GTX 750Ti and an 68 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:18,520 R9290 in order to represent some other fairly common price points as well. AMD 69 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:23,280 fans will be happy to hear that the R9285 performed admirably in the games 70 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:27,840 that I tested in, beating out the GTX 760 in two out of three tests and 71 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:30,880 proving its worth in its price bracket. To be honest though, this is pretty much 72 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:35,039 exactly what was expected of this graphics card as the graphics card game 73 00:05:33,199 --> 00:05:39,360 has been pretty easy to predict as of late. Well, that's it for Zombie Voice. 74 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:43,680 Back to you, Linus. So, there you have it, folks. It performs about as 75 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:48,320 expected, but here's something you might not have expected. AMD is refreshing 76 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:52,880 their Never Settle game bundle program. Now, it's Space Edition, and this one 77 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:56,960 qualifies for the gold level, so you can pick up to any three of the 29 games 78 00:05:54,960 --> 00:06:00,240 available. Check it out. For gamers buying graphics cards, an appealing game 79 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:05,520 that they were planning to pick up anyway can be a very compelling value 80 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:08,479 ad. So, it's conclusion time. You get a 81 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:13,360 DirectX12 GPU that's feature complete compared to the rest of AMD's lineup and 82 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:18,319 performs about like you'd expect an AMD GPU that costs 250 bucks to perform. 83 00:06:15,919 --> 00:06:22,400 Hard to go wrong. Not the most stunning or exciting conclusion ever, but this 84 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:27,120 isn't the most stunning or exciting card ever either. Not that being a trusty 85 00:06:24,639 --> 00:06:31,160 workhorse is a bad thing. It's sold a lot of R9280s for AMD, and it'll do the 86 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:34,400 same with the R9285. Thanks for watching, guys. Like 87 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,600 this video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. Leave a comment letting me know what you thought of the 88 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:41,120 video. If you have suggestions for future videos, check out the video description where you find a link to 89 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:46,240 support us. You can give us a monthly contribution, buy a cool t-shirt like this one, or change your Amazon bookmark 90 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:50,400 to one with our affiliate code so we get a small kickback whenever you buy new 91 00:06:48,160 --> 00:07:03,790 socks. Thanks for watching again, and as always, don't forget to subscribe.