AMD Radeon R9 Nano Review

[Benthon]

Who spends $650 on a GPU but wouldn't spend $50+ buying a case that houses 10.5inch graphics cards?

Nobody. That's the answer.

Mini-ITX is a good solution for living room PCs. All this funny gaming towers are too big and ugly to use it in a well-designed room. And to be honest: the whole world is a big market with a lot of different trends.

I'm just preparing a mini-ITX DIY/Roundup with shorter cards and different Skylake CPUs to show which card goes well with which CPU. Starting with R7 360, over GTX 950 Mini, 960 Mini, 380 ITX, 970 Mini and up to R9 Nano. I'm not sure about a further translation into English, but we got in Germany so much positive response for all of our different mini-ITX projects, that I'm sure it is worth to build real rigs to find an objective conclusion.

I have a MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning in my hands, but it is definitely nothing for my living room. I'm playing in my lab

I've been using mini-itx for years as my main rig, and even still any case over $50 houses full-sized cards. It doesn't really make any sense in either context.

 

[jimmysmitty]

It is a nice card and I agree, but... It's not USD $650 nice.

This card is a very tough sell for AMD, specially since ITX cases that can house current long cards are not hard to find or weird enough to make short cards a thing.

It's nice to see it's up there with the GTX970 in terms of efficiency, since HTPCs need that to be viable and the card has no apparent shortcomings from what I could read here.

All in all, it needs to drop a bit in price. It's not "650 nice", but making it "~500 nice" sounds way better. Specially when the 970 mini is at 400.

Cheers!

well this card is for the smallest case ... not the easy to find huge long itx case.

I personaly find long itx cases useless ... they are very near to Matx case in size .. and people will pick up MATX ovet ITX any time if the size is the same.

BUT for 170mm long card ? this is a winner.

the only thing killing this product is the lack of HDMI2.0 which is very important for itx .. ITX are the console like PC near the tv.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139033
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352027
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112265

I could find more. Finding a mITX case that supports longer GPUs these days is not hard at all. In fact it has become the norm almost.

Maybe a few years ago when half length GPUs were not as common but today I could built a mITX system with a 980Ti for the same price as the Nano yet get equal to or better than Fury X performance. That is why the $650 feels off.

 

[blazorthon]

I've been using mini-itx for years as my main rig, and even still any case over $50 houses full-sized cards. It doesn't really make any sense in either context.

If you're getting a case large enough to fit long cards, then what's the advantage in getting the Mini-ITX case instead of a Micro-ATX case that can fit much more in a fairly similar size? The MicroATX build might support SLI/Crossfire (with the right motherboard and well thought-out cooling) and could have more drive bays while only being slightly taller, if at all. If someone wants the case to be small (like a console) so it doesn't stand out much, then spending $50 or $200 on it doesn't change the fact that a 10" card isn't going to fit.

 

[Benthon]

I've been using mini-itx for years as my main rig, and even still any case over $50 houses full-sized cards. It doesn't really make any sense in either context.

If you're getting a case large enough to fit long cards, then what's the advantage in getting the Mini-ITX case instead of a Micro-ATX case that can fit much more in a fairly similar size? The MicroATX build might support SLI/Crossfire (with the right motherboard and well thought-out cooling) and could have more drive bays while only being slightly taller, if at all. If someone wants the case to be small (like a console) so it doesn't stand out much, then spending $50 or $200 on it doesn't change the fact that a 10" card isn't going to fit.

What? More mITX cases fit full sized cards than don't. Here's a list of all the mITX cases sold on Newegg. The large majority of these fit full sized cards. Even the slimmer models like the SilverStone RVZ's, FTZ's, and some Sugo models, as well as a slew of Lian Li products have riser cards, making it as small as possible.

The main advantage is the size, or else we'd all just be walking around with full-sized towering behemoths.

The Nano doesn't make sense in a mITX context either.vvvvv

 

[Math Geek]

i think the mention of the apple cooperation explains a lot that some people might be missing.

apple has been pretty awesome at answering questions no one asked the last 15 years or so. and as a result, they have created new markets that did not exist and products that have literally changed certain markets forever!! i am totally speculating but this fury nano could be the first step it yet another market revolution no one asked for yet could change things. for once amd is actually the tip of the spear for high end performance in a small package.

picture a true console killing media/gaming/htpc in a nice small package that sits where the xbox used to sit but takes up little more space. one that can perform like a high end pc but still replace the console in "other" functionality. why is this something people ARE asking for yet can't get?? the high end parts required are too big to fit in these ultra small cases. the fact that the 950/60/70 itx cards exist at all shows that the market is there. the nano is just the next/better/best thing in this emerging segment. over time more of these cards that perform well in high end uses (such as 4k gaming folks REALLY REALLY WANT to get into) will become more and more normal and cheaper and... and... and.....

other than the price, i don't see the reason for the hate. sure it is costly but the top performer with no competition ALWAYS gets to set the price (looking at you intel). once nvidia successfully shrinks the 980 and competes/beats on power and heat, we'll see the price drop since nvidia likes to trump on prices to make a point.

i'm excited not simply for this card but for what the next couple of years brings as this market segment grows and matures. and as the pc makers figure out more uses for the models that will emerge.

 

[jimmysmitty]

i think the mention of the apple cooperation explains a lot that some people might be missing.

apple has been pretty awesome at answering questions no one asked the last 15 years or so. and as a result, they have created new markets that did not exist and products that have literally changed certain markets forever!! i am totally speculating but this fury nano could be the first step it yet another market revolution no one asked for yet could change things. for once amd is actually the tip of the spear for high end performance in a small package.

picture a true console killing media/gaming/htpc in a nice small package that sits where the xbox used to sit but takes up little more space. one that can perform like a high end pc but still replace the console in "other" functionality. why is this something people ARE asking for yet can't get?? the high end parts required are too big to fit in these ultra small cases. the fact that the 950/60/70 itx cards exist at all shows that the market is there. the nano is just the next/better/best thing in this emerging segment. over time more of these cards that perform well in high end uses (such as 4k gaming folks REALLY REALLY WANT to get into) will become more and more normal and cheaper and... and... and.....

other than the price, i don't see the reason for the hate. sure it is costly but the top performer with no competition ALWAYS gets to set the price (looking at you intel). once nvidia successfully shrinks the 980 and competes/beats on power and heat, we'll see the price drop since nvidia likes to trump on prices to make a point.

i'm excited not simply for this card but for what the next couple of years brings as this market segment grows and matures. and as the pc makers figure out more uses for the models that will emerge.

mITX has been around for quite a while and I wouldn't even attribute AMD for that. Even VALVe had the small gaming HTPC in mind with the Steam Machines and before that companies started making mITX cases that fit full sized GPUs and small boards for the same effect. This is not making any new markets that did not exist or were not asked for. People have been trying for smaller PCs ever since the dawn of them.

I wont even go into the Apple part since well Apple never really created a market, they just marketed it to popularity.

 

[FormatC]

The Nano doesn't make sense in a mITX context

Try to use real small cases and not this oversized cubes and pseudo mini-ITX crap. All this is too big to put it in a living room. The target is not the "main PC" but a HTPC with an excellent gaming performance. If you have the money for a 50"++ last gen UHD TV, this Nano is the smallest cost point...

 

[Onus]

When most of us can build an entire PC that can play good games on enjoyable settings for $650, I just don't see the value here. There's the small HTPC/Gamer niche, but the lack of HDMI 2.0 doesn't help there.
It's a nice card at $350, maybe $375; otherwise, for almost any question this card answers, there are much less expensive choices.

 

[Math Geek]

mITX has been around for quite a while and I wouldn't even attribute AMD for that. Even VALVe had the small gaming HTPC in mind with the Steam Machines and before that companies started making mITX cases that fit full sized GPUs and small boards for the same effect. This is not making any new markets that did not exist or were not asked for. People have been trying for smaller PCs ever since the dawn of them.

I wont even go into the Apple part since well Apple never really created a market, they just marketed it to popularity.

my point exactly, people have been trying to make smaller pc's for a long time now. what has slowed it down is the fact that a true gaming beast can't be had in such a small case, hence, the long mitx boxes for longer cards to create a psuedo answer to the market. if true 4k gaming can be had in a console sized case, it would be a game changer. i did not say amd is making this particular market but they are trying to bring 4k gaming to a smaller segment that is asking for it. the first try may not be the winner but it only gets better from here

the option right now is an htpc for all but gaming or a bigger gaming pc that has high end parts to handle gaming. can't have both at the moment. it takes someone to be the first to do it and hopefully nvidia will answer this card with one of their own. competition only makes things better. as i said above, give it another year and a second generation of the new memory amd is using and whatever nvidia answers with and it is pretty exciting to think what may be.

as for the apple comment, clearly they are not the leader in anything gaming related. but they did answer a few questions that were not asked and did literally change the world whether you like them or not the ipod and iphone came out of nowhere and have created more than one market no one asked for yet through some well done marketing had (still has?) everyone else playing catch-up.

 

[Math Geek]

The Nano doesn't make sense in a mITX context

Try to use real small cases and not this oversized cubes and pseudo mini-ITX crap. All this is too big to put it in a living room. The target is not the "main PC" but a HTPC with an excellent gaming performance. If you have the money for a 50"++ last gen UHD TV, this Nano is the smallest cost point...

at least someone gets it well said

 

[Epsilon_0EVP]

I'm disappointed to see that the comparison cards from Nvidia are both overclocked. Even if it's a minor boost in the case of the 980, it gives the Nvidia cards an advantage the AMD cards don't get. I'd like to see either OC results for the Nano included, or reference clocks for both the 970 and 980 with no OC numbers.

 

[Epsilon_0EVP]

While it's great to see a high end AMD card competing with Nvidia on efficiency, I wonder how aggressively they've had to bin the chips to get the Nano down to its TDP. Given the CLC and additional VRMs on the FuryX, these Nano's would have a substantially lower BOM and yet retail at the same price, making them a higher margin product. Reasonable bet they'll be getting the cream of the Fiji crop at the moment.

Is the BOM that much lower? The CLC in the Fury X was notorious for being pretty cheap, although at least mine seems perfectly functional, and vapor chambers are not that cheap from what I know. Add to that the fact that the GPU is the exact same, and they have to binned to at least some degree, and the cost doesn't seem that far off to me

 

[-Fran-]

The Nano doesn't make sense in a mITX context

Try to use real small cases and not this oversized cubes and pseudo mini-ITX crap. All this is too big to put it in a living room. The target is not the "main PC" but a HTPC with an excellent gaming performance. If you have the money for a 50"++ last gen UHD TV, this Nano is the smallest cost point...

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8247566/IMG_20150114_143950_small.jpg

No, not all cases are created equal to host regular sized cards. That CM case, weirdly enough, was stopped being produced around 2013? It's the Elite 361. Maybe they started making it again, who knows XD

In any case, that can even hold an ATX MoBo.

Plus, it's all about how you organize your room

Cheers!

 

[Math Geek]

I'm disappointed to see that the comparison cards from Nvidia are both overclocked. Even if it's a minor boost in the case of the 980, it gives the Nvidia cards an advantage the AMD cards don't get. I'd like to see either OC results for the Nano included, or reference clocks for both the 970 and 980 with no OC numbers.

i'm not sure an oc of the nano would work since it is designed to throttle the power to save het and power usage. it varies the speed as needed. taking this out of the picture would yield fury x like power spikes and MUCH more heat with the single fan and small package. from a "just curious" stand point it would be interesting but from a practicle one it would negate all the card is trying to do to be useful in the small package.

 

[FormatC]

The 970 was benched twice - with and without OC. And this card came with the reference power target of 145 Watts. And to be honest: nobody is using a vanilla 980. I got tons of requests to use common products and not this reference cards. Ok, here is

OC'ing the Nano makes no sense. You must increase the power limit. The follow are higher power consumption, less efficiency and worse frame rate curves.

 

[James Mason]

Or just get a CM Elite 130 and put a gtx 980ti in there without issue.

I'm not a fan of the "square" type itx cases, because of the GPU length limitations., and it also becomes an object a bit too tall to have under a monitor stand, like my longer ITX cases are.

 

[FormatC]

One of my older (funny) builds - this doesn't work with a longer VGA card

 

[cinergy]

Great little card that really packs a punch as expected. Not really fair pitting it unfairly against overclocked third party vendor Geforces again was it but it still manages to outperform that "Gigabyte" (what happened to OC results from nano?). Especially in future DX12 games and 4K nvidia will be in trouble with their old skool architecture.

 

[Benthon]

Try to use real small cases and not this oversized cubes and pseudo mini-ITX crap. All this is too big to put it in a living room. The target is not the "main PC" but a HTPC with an excellent gaming performance. If you have the money for a 50"++ last gen UHD TV, this Nano is the smallest cost point...

It's easy to form an argument when you cherry pick who is included. Most mITX cases are those popular ones found on Newegg. What HTPC case has dual-slot, can fit an SFF PSU, and has adequate cooling for a 175W card that DOESN'T support 10.5 cards? Very, very few. If this card was built for welders/woodworkers who make their own cases, that's a losing strategy.

 

[FormatC]

Very, very few.

If have alone 8 pieces with this properties in my archive. As I wrote - Newegg is really limited and the world is bigger than US

 

[sna]

no HDMI2.0 in itx small system near the 4k TV is unforgivable AMD , what were you thinking?

I guess that they were thinking about DisplayPort?

most 4k TV dont have display port. those who have start from $3000

 

[Benthon]

Very, very few.

If have alone 8 pieces with this properties in my archive. As I wrote - Newegg is really limited and the world is bigger than US

Care to share what these products are? Otherwise you are talking out of your ass.

 

[littleleo]

Now waiting for Nvidia to come out with their version of a mini-ITX Titian card, lol.

 

[loki1944]

Would have liked to have seen the R9 Fury (non) X in the benchmarks, price on the Nano seems too expensive in my opinion, especially if the R9 Fury (non-X) and GTX 980 beat it overall and the 390X nips at its heels. The power consumption of the 970 mini makes it a better fit I think for smaller form factors over the nano.

 

[jkrui01]

im reading this and i get it at first page, Toms is not reviewing the Nano, is reviewing the 970. Just as all toms articles, why bother comparing with amd, just review the nvidia cards. The 970 is half the price,is cooler,needs less power,etc etc, and if there were no 970 toms would say ohhh the 750 is cooler, costs a 5th os price ,and also plays fullhd!