WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.160 The AMD R9280 launch was a confusing one 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:11.280 at the time because to the informed eye, it was obvious that what AMD had done 00:00:08.559 --> 00:00:16.320 was create a lot of fanfare with a Hawaii launch event for what was other 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:21.039 than the R9 290 and 290X, which both featured newly designed silicon, 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:27.760 basically an exercise in taking existing card designs and giving them a shiny new 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:30.320 name. That means the current 200 series 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:34.239 is actually a mix of old and new hardware designs. It's fine from a 00:00:32.480 --> 00:00:39.360 performance standpoint as long as the pricing makes sense, but it can lead to 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:44.160 confusion. Even at that launch event, AMD talked a lot about true audio, a 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:50.320 feature that up until now has only been supported on the R9260X and 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:53.280 R9290 series. And then again at CES this 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:57.440 year, they showed off Freync, a dynamic refresh rate technology similar to 00:00:55.039 --> 00:01:02.800 G-Sync to reduce screen tearing, but since revealed that that also only works 00:01:00.480 --> 00:01:07.280 on part of their current lineup because of this mix of old and new technology. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:13.600 So with that out of the way, on to the card we're introducing today. The 00:01:09.960 --> 00:01:16.000 R9285 based on new code name Tonga 00:01:13.600 --> 00:01:20.159 silicon might not be earthshattering from a performance standpoint, but what 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:26.240 it does aside from delivering great power efficiency is bring the $250 price 00:01:23.600 --> 00:01:30.960 point in line with high-end enthusiast cards from a feature standpoint with 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:35.439 improved mantle support along with support for true audio, bridgeless 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:40.420 crossfire, updated power tune, dynamic performance optimization, and finally 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:45.680 freeync. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:51.600 With the purchase of a qualifying Intel processor, SSD, or Knuck, you could 00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:55.119 instantly win an Intel gaming jersey and be entered in the draw for the ultimate 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:58.960 system. Click now to learn more. Now, when I said the card wasn't going to 00:01:56.720 --> 00:02:02.159 deliver groundbreaking performance, I probably wasn't telling the very clever 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:06.479 among you anything you didn't already know. When we look at its specs compared 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:11.280 to the R9280 whose price point it pretty much replaces. It features the same 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:16.720 number of cores, texture, and render output units. It has a slightly lower 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:22.720 clock speed. It has a narrower 256-bit memory bus with 33% less memory overall. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:25.760 So that's 2 gigs of DDDR5. Then it has a slightly higher memory clock to 00:02:24.480 --> 00:02:30.239 compensate for some of those other deficiencies. And it features a 5% lower 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:35.920 TDP, meaning that heat output will be reduced. Of course though, with GPUs, 00:02:33.040 --> 00:02:40.560 it's never about comparing specs head-to-head directly. And AMD has made 00:02:38.720 --> 00:02:44.319 some tweaks under the hood that will improve tessellation performance, 00:02:42.480 --> 00:02:49.440 compute performance, and memory performance that they hope will make up 00:02:46.239 --> 00:02:51.280 for some of these spec deficiencies. On 00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:55.680 top of that, AMD has added a couple of multimedia features, including automatic 00:02:53.920 --> 00:03:01.720 configuration of the speakers in your iinity monitor or TV setup as left, mid, 00:02:58.959 --> 00:03:08.159 and right channels, along with hardware H.264 4K encode, and decode support that 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:12.239 will significantly reduce power consumption when playing back 4K 00:03:09.920 --> 00:03:19.519 content. This is a feature that even the new Hawaii R9290 series GPUs don't have. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:21.280 AMD's engineers have been busy. Now, AMD 00:03:19.519 --> 00:03:24.959 didn't send us a reference card, so let's take a minute to appreciate the 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:29.120 specifics of the Gigabyte Windforce Edition card that we have received. Like 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:32.959 all Gigabyte Windforce graphics cards, it features an open airflow 00:03:30.519 --> 00:03:37.519 non-reference Windforce branded cooler. That enough Windforce for you? This one 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:42.159 features a dual heat pipe and aluminum fin design that did a great job of 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:49.360 keeping the 285 cool in our testing. It's got two DVI ports, HDMI and display 00:03:45.440 --> 00:03:51.280 port. It's got dual 100 mm fans. It's 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:56.159 got reversed PCI Express power connectors, which is actually quite nice 00:03:53.200 --> 00:04:01.680 for cable management. A PCI Express 16x slot on the bottom, and no bridge 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:07.439 connector at the top is needed thanks to the XDMMA Crossfire support in the Tonga 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 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:13.040 minutes, do you? 00:04:16.320 --> 00:04:21.280 No, no. You want to know about the performance? Well, here it is. Take it 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 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:31.040 all, none of these cards are actually overclocked. A large number of you guys 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:35.440 have been asking us to run our benchmarks not overclocked for some time 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:39.440 now, and we've decided to see how it goes. There's also been a platform 00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:45.520 change. We have swapped out our old platform for a new ASUS X99 Deluxe 00:04:42.479 --> 00:04:48.479 motherboard, a 5930K running at stock, 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 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. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:04.639 To try to show where the card falls in the general graphics card landscape, we 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:09.280 decided to benchmark it against a GTX 760, which should be fairly similar in 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:14.960 both price and performance. Then I threw it against a GTX 750Ti and an 00:05:12.280 --> 00:05:18.520 R9290 in order to represent some other fairly common price points as well. AMD 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:23.280 fans will be happy to hear that the R9285 performed admirably in the games 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:27.840 that I tested in, beating out the GTX 760 in two out of three tests and 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:30.880 proving its worth in its price bracket. To be honest though, this is pretty much 00:05:29.280 --> 00:05:35.039 exactly what was expected of this graphics card as the graphics card game 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:39.360 has been pretty easy to predict as of late. Well, that's it for Zombie Voice. 00:05:37.520 --> 00:05:43.680 Back to you, Linus. So, there you have it, folks. It performs about as 00:05:41.440 --> 00:05:48.320 expected, but here's something you might not have expected. AMD is refreshing 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:52.880 their Never Settle game bundle program. Now, it's Space Edition, and this one 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 00:05:54.960 --> 00:06:00.240 available. Check it out. For gamers buying graphics cards, an appealing game 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:05.520 that they were planning to pick up anyway can be a very compelling value 00:06:02.320 --> 00:06:08.479 ad. So, it's conclusion time. You get a 00:06:05.520 --> 00:06:13.360 DirectX12 GPU that's feature complete compared to the rest of AMD's lineup and 00:06:10.960 --> 00:06:18.319 performs about like you'd expect an AMD GPU that costs 250 bucks to perform. 00:06:15.919 --> 00:06:22.400 Hard to go wrong. Not the most stunning or exciting conclusion ever, but this 00:06:20.400 --> 00:06:27.120 isn't the most stunning or exciting card ever either. Not that being a trusty 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 00:06:29.840 --> 00:06:34.400 same with the R9285. Thanks for watching, guys. Like 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:37.600 this video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. 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