The AMD Radeon R9 Fury Review, Feat. Sapphire & ASUS
by Ryan Smith on July 10, 2015 9:00 AM ESTBattlefield 4
Kicking off our benchmark suite is Battlefield 4, DICE’s 2013 multiplayer military shooter. After a rocky start, Battlefield 4 has since become a challenging game in its own right and a showcase title for low-level graphics APIs. As these benchmarks are from single player mode, based on our experiences our rule of thumb here is that multiplayer framerates will dip to half our single player framerates, which means a card needs to be able to average at least 60fps if it’s to be able to hold up in multiplayer.
When the R9 Fury X launched, one of the games it struggled with was Battlefield 4, where the GTX 980 Ti took a clear lead. However for the launch of the R9 Fury, things are much more in AMD’s favor. The two R9 Fury cards have a lead just shy of 10% over the GTX 980, roughly in-line with their price tag difference. As a result of that difference AMD needs to win in more or less every game by 10% to justify the R9 Fury’s higher price, and we’re starting things off exactly where AMD needs to be for price/performance parity.
Looking at the absolute numbers, we’re going to see AMD promote the R9 Fury as a 4K card, but even with Battlefield 4 I feel this is a good example of why it’s better suited for high quality 1440p gaming. The only way the R9 Fury can maintain an average framerate over 50fps (and thereby reasonable minimums) with a 4K resolution is to drop to a lower quality setting. Otherwise at just over 60fps, it’s in great shape for a 1440p card.
As for the R9 Fury X comparison, it’s interesting how close the R9 Fury gets. The cut-down card is never more than 7% behind the R9 Fury X. Make no mistake, the R9 Fury X is meaningfully faster, but scenarios such as these question whether it’s worth the extra $100.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
288 Comments
View All Comments
refin3d - Friday, July 10, 2015 - link
I think they really have. Ryan mentioned it in the review, I think on the test setup page and the one after. I just installed the 15.7 drivers for my 290x and haven't had a chance to properly test but this looks very promising.FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
I see, over 2 years after release, there's " a very promising amd driver performance upgrade !"I guess undie stripes went out with poopless bowel movements too, check the reviews.
rocky12345 - Friday, October 16, 2015 - link
why are you being such a dick bubbly? even when everyone can clearly see that the last couple of driver releases for amd have perked up the 290/290x as well as the 390/390x cards you throw out cheap shots at anyone that mentions that or anything else about amd.Yes there is some fanboyism coming from both sides that is to be expected but you sir are just here to be a jerk to anyone that happens to like AMD, I'm not a fanboy for either side Ihave Nvidia and AMD cards in my gaming rigs which are AMD Sapphire R9 390X tri-X 8GB & a Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 4GB in the other system and both on Intel i7's both cards work very close to each other but I find the 390x seems to be smoother in a lot of games at 1440p max sttings than the 980gtx not sure why maybe the extra memory.
Anyways just chill people will be people they get excited says stupid sh*t in the heat of the moment. This is not a personal attack on anyone just tired of the bickering. both companies rock when it comes to graphics cards.
mdriftmeyer - Friday, July 10, 2015 - link
Not impressed benching Gameworks optimized titles.Oxford Guy - Saturday, July 11, 2015 - link
Is that hair nonsense turned on?FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
I agree awesome realism in games sucks. I like blurry and like low level cartoonish only.Why have things look true to life ?
This is amd gaming.
Shadowmaster625 - Friday, July 10, 2015 - link
60 less watts when your system is pulling over 300 watts doesnt really mean anything. What matters is how quiet that sapphire card runs. That's exactly what I would buy, hands down.FlushedBubblyJock - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
YEP I TOTALLY AGREE - that's why I ALWAYS spend THAT EXTRA $60 BUCKS OVER $300 ON THE NVIDIA CARD !CAUSE who cares about 60 when yer over 300 ....
EXCELLENT ! Thank you amd fanboy !
mikato - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
Give it a rest will you?mr_tawan - Friday, July 10, 2015 - link
If we put on the water cooler on the Fury, is it possible the the card will perform as well as the Fury X? I wonder.