Review: asus r9 290 directcu ii oc

Technical characteristics

TESTS ASUS RADEON R9 290 DIRECT CU II OC 4GB
Chipset	AMD Radeon R9 290X.
PCB format	ATX.
Core frequency	947 MHz Graphics,
Digital and analog resolution	4096 × 3112.
Memory Clock	1250 MHz,
Process technology	DirectX 11.2
Memory size	4, 096 MB GDDR5.
BUS memory	256 bits
BUS card	PCI-E 3.0 x16.
DirectX and OpenGL	Yes.
I / O	DVI / HDMI. / Display Port.
Dimensions	28.7 x 14.73 x 4.06 cm
Warranty	2 years.

Asus R9 290X DirectCU II in front of the camera

Like the Asus GTX 780 Direct CU II it maintains the same design and box format. We see that its first specifications are its Direct CU II heatsink OC version, 4GB of memory, and its GPU Tweak technology.

In the back we have all its most important specifications and features. I can't resist any more… Let the unboxing begin!

When removing the first cover, we see that we have another box that stores the graphics card and all its accessories. Very well packed and protected everything. Out of 10 for Asus!

The bundle is made up of:

Asus ASUS Radeon R9 290 Direct CU II OC 4GB graphics card. Instruction manual and driver on CD. Molex thief to Pci Express.

The card is a copy of the NVIDIA version: Asus GTX 780 Direct CU II. It has dimensions of: 28.7 x 14.73 x 4.06 cm, so measure well if it fits inside the box. Asus has used the black and red colors from the ROG range. Very sporty and aggressive. The card looks great.

Everyone knows that the R9 290 and 290X series are the two hottest graphics cards on the market. Therefore, it is mandatory to mount excellent heatsink that liquid cooling system to have "reasonable" temperatures.

The Direct CU II system is one of the few air systems that is capable of having the 290X in good temperatures: 75 to 80ºC in maximum performance. This is due to its new technology in its fans: CoolTech FAN that allows greater air flow to its gigantic heatsink. The graphic has four 10mm nickel plated copper heatpipes.

The fans are 92mm and PWM. These are adjustable from the graph itself or we can create our own curve via software: Asus Tweak, MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision.

The card is powered by two 8-pin and 6-pin PCI Express connectors. AMD recommends a 600w or higher power supply for smooth operation.

And finally highlight its excellent backplate. Which gives a "brutal" design to the card and dissipates both the memories and the PCB. This is a plus, that we will notice a drop between 1 and 2ºC globally.

Asus R9 290X DirectCU II inside

The heatsink is removed by unscrewing the four rear screws. We have a large aluminum grill and a copper base.

As we can see in the following image, it is a custom PCB with several improvements: 8 phases (6 + 2) of Digi + power in the VRMs. They give enough energy to overclock.

We also have a small switch to activate the BIOS that suits us best. We have two modes: normal with overclocking or silent mode.

The card includes 4GB of RAM, the chips that Asus has decided to mount are the Elpida W2032BBBG-6A-F with a nominal voltage of 1.5v. As they have happened in previous Direct CU II models, these are not cooled by the heatsink, which I have been asking for a long time.

VRMs are dissipated by a black heatsink. We can also see the Chokes.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i7 4770k
Base plate:	Asus Z87 Impact.
Memory:	G.Skills Trident X 2400 mhz.
Heatsink	Custom Liquid Cooling.
HDD	Samsung 120 GB EVO
Graphic card	Asus R9 290X DirectCU II OC
Power supply	Antec HCP-850W
Box	Dimastech Benchtable

To evaluate the performance of the graphics card we have used the following applications:

3DMark11.3DMark Fire Strike.Crysis 3.Metro 2033Battlefield 3

All our tests have been carried out with a resolution of 1920px x 1080px.

What are we looking for in the tests?

First the best possible image quality. The most important value for us is the average FPS (Frames per second), the higher the number of FPS, the more fluid the game will be. To slightly differentiate the quality, we leave you a table to assess the quality in FPS:

FRAMES BY SECONDS
Frames for Seconds. (FPS)	Gameplay
Less than 30 FPS	Limited
30 - 40 FPS	Playable
40 - 60 FPS	Good
Greater than 60 FPS	Fairly Good or Excellent

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Let's not fool ourselves; there are games that can have an average of 100 FPS. It may be because the game is quite old and does not require excessive graphic resources or that the graphics is the most powerful on the market, or we have GPU systems for thousands of euros. But the reality is different, and games like Crysis 3 and Metro 2033 are very demanding and do not usually give high scores.

ASUS GTX780 DIRECT CU II TESTS
3Dmark Vantage	40530 PTS.
3DMark Fire Strike (Performance)	9238 PTS.
Crysis 3	65 FPS
tomb Raider	76 FPS.
Heaven 4.0.	2240 PTS.
Battlefield 4	69 FPS

Final words and conclusion

Every time I touch an Asus product, be it a motherboard, a graphics card or a laptop, it has something special. It is always in the elite and does not disappoint. This time I have had the best R9 290 on the market by far. Its gigantic size (28.7 x 14.73 x 4.06 cm) treasures quality components (DIGI +), an efficient heatsink and durability for many years.

I have to highlight its excellent heatsink "Direct CU II" with CoolTech FAN technology. This new revision improves the dissipation of previous heatsinks by 30%. And it is capable of making the graphics card work at 1250 mhz of CORE without exceeding 80ºC and at a very quiet level. If we create a somewhat more powerful curve, we go down to 72ºC. I also don't have to forget about the rear backplate that Asus is using in all its Custom graphics.

Regarding the performance in synthetic tests and gaming experience, it is very good. Outperforming the GTX 780 and with much parity with the GTX Titan. We have tested games like Battlefield 4 (69 FPS), Crysis 3 (65 FPS) or Tomb Raider with 76 FPS. The experience is very good.

In short, if you are looking for a TOP GAMER graphics card, silent, with good temperatures and with an overclock margin. The Asus R9 290 Direct CU II must be among your chosen. Its market price ranges from € 380 to € 400 in the online store. A little less than its direct rival (GTX 780) but with much higher performance.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ POWER AT RAUDALES.
+ 6 +2 PHASES AND DIGI + TECHNOLOGY.
+ CUSTOM PCB.
+ OVERCLOCK SERIES.
+ VERY GOOD REFRIGERATION AND QUIET.
+ THE BEST ON THE MARKET.