Radeon R7 250X Review: Reprising Radeon HD 7770 At $100

[cleeve]

AMD's name might be new, but we're already intimately familiar with its Radeon R7 250X (formerly known as the Radeon HD 7770). Can AMD take an old piece of hardware and turn it into something you want to spend money on in 2014? Let's have a quick look...

Radeon R7 250X Review: Reprising Radeon HD 7770 At $100 : Read more

 

[RedJaron]

Hmm, so they still don't have an attractive alternative to the 7750? Bad move, AMD. Baaaad move . . .

 

[rolli59]

Renaming is a trend nowadays so no surprises!

 

[icraft]

Eh. I used the HD 7770, and while it is a good budget card, it had its issues. They should have put much faster memory on there, especially for 2GB cards, and bumped core to 1100 or better. My card saw better performance with a 200Mhz memory bump than with a 100Mhz core bump, so memory bandwidth is an issue here.

 

[Immaculate]

Why do the reviewers keep using a 2500K?

 

[SteelCity1981]

why would you get this card? why not get the 7770 that's now in the same price range and has 256 more shaders instead. I mean the r250 is the same as the 7700 in every way except the 7700 has 640 more shaders compared to the r250's 384. so it wouldn't make sense to buy an r250 esp now since the 7700 is in the same price range.

 

[cleeve]

Why do the reviewers keep using a 2500K?

Why wouldn't we? What's wrong with an overclocked 2500K?

 

[cleeve]

why would you get this card? why not get the 7770 that's now in the same price range and has 256 more shaders instead. I mean the r250 is the same as the 7700 in every way except the 7700 has 640 more shaders compared to the r250's 384. so it wouldn't make sense to buy an r250 esp now since the 7700 is in the same price range.

If you read this review you would see that the R7 250X is *exactly* the same as the 7770.

It does not have 384 shaders, it has 640. You're thinking of the R7 250, not the new R7 250X.

 

[The_Trutherizer]

Some might say it's unfair to NVidia and Intel, but R7s HAVE to be paired with a Kevari in reviews for people to really get a sense of the options provided by AMD these days. It's just soo relevant. And with games supporting Mantle as well. ASAP. Battlefield already does... Isn't the time more than ripe for people to get a feel for what the future may hold? Personally I've ran the swarm stress test Mantle demo and I know there is a massive difference between D3D and Mantle in both performance and quality. Fair enough... I have a 280x and an Intel 4670 cpu - I'm pretty much agnostic about brands. But I'd sincerely love to see what AMD has actually been cooking up on the entry level.

 

[SteelCity1981]

cleeve I did read it, maybe you should actually read what I wrote I was talking about the r250 not r250x. like I said it doesn't make sense to buy a r250 when you can find 7770's as cheap or even an r250x rebrand for the same price an an r250.

 

[InvalidError]

Why do the reviewers keep using a 2500K?

Because:
1) it works
2) for most games and low/mid-range GPUs, it is also just about as fast as the fastest current CPUs so there is no actual urge to use the highest-powered, newest and latest CPUs available.

 

[Immaculate]

@Cleeve , Nothing is really wrong with it. Just saying I know you guys got 4670Ks to use.
You can't even buy a 2500K new. Use something newer that a new build with this card might actually have in it or be able to buy new.

 

[Brian Redelings]

Meh. I literally JUST bought a Saphire Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition for $99 on newegg.

 

[Damon Palovaara]

I think they made a good moveIt should have Mantle support since it's part of the new r7 lineup which will benefit those who have quad-core processors. Also there is a price drop so it's pretty attractive

 

[cleeve]

cleeve I did read it, maybe you should actually read what I wrote I was talking about the r250 not r250x. like I said it doesn't make sense to buy a r250 when you can find 7770's as cheap or even an r250x rebrand for the same price an an r250.

You're kidding, right?

You responded to a thread titled:

"Radeon R7 250X Review: Reprising Radeon HD 7770 At $100"

with the words:

"why would you get this card? why not get the 7770 that's now in the same price range and has 256 more shaders instead."

...I mean, come on. That doesn't make a lot of sense in context.

 

[cleeve]

@Cleeve , Nothing is really wrong with it. Just saying I know you guys got 4670Ks to use.
You can't even buy a 2500K new. Use something newer that a new build with this card might actually have in it or be able to buy new.

An overclocked 2500K is worlds faster than a stock 4650K. Stock they're incredibly close when it comes to gaming.

Really, Intel hasn't improved IPC much since Sandy Bridge. Ivy and Haswell have been all about graphics improvements.

 

[InvalidError]

@Cleeve , Nothing is really wrong with it. Just saying I know you guys got 4670Ks to use.

They may have some i5-4670k rigs but that does not mean all reviewers have access to it: individual reviewers have their own permanent rigs based on their long-term testing requirements (act as a reference CPU so all future benchmarks for the foreseeable future remain valid comparisons against the original rig) and other parts may get shuffled around between reviewers located in different cities, states or even countries. Using "one of their 4670k" is easier said than done if the reviewer lives 500km from the nearest other THG reviewer who happens to have one to spare.

 

[Achoo22]

I really dislike the way that the performance numbers for these low-end cards are only shown compared to other low-end cards. To see the big picture, we really need to see a much wider array of boards. Also, what's with the exaggerated Newegg hints? Yeah, we get it.... they sponsor you. But tailoring your articles to drop their name? Geez.

 

[cleeve]

I really dislike the way that the performance numbers for these low-end cards are only shown compared to other low-end cards. To see the big picture, we really need to see a much wider array of boards.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. We use detail settings that make sense for the boards we test.

Seeing a 290X get 200 FPS at low settings doesn't provide much insight, nor does it make sense to use high resolutions and details playable on the 290X that deliver 8 FPS on low-end cards.

Also, what's with the exaggerated Newegg hints? Yeah, we get it.... they sponsor you. But tailoring your articles to drop their name? Geez.

That's not how it works, Achoo. I mention Newegg because I use them as a price indicator, not because we have any directive to do so.

The content management system will automatically target any keywords that pay and highlight them as links. Welcome to the future...

 

[InvalidError]

To see the big picture, we really need to see a much wider array of boards.

Most people shopping for a new graphics card already know either the price range or performance level they are interested in and ignore anything that is more than about a rung up/down from that since this is all they usually need to confirm that prices seem to line up with expectations.

Having more models for a full-blown roundup/chart, sure. But for a review more intended to pin down for whom this model may make sense, comparing it to its nearest equivalents and next models up/down the food chain is fair enough IMO.

 

[NinjaNerd56]

I'm running NVIDIA 650TI GPUs in my game towers; paid $109 for the last one I bought.I was a huge AMD fan, CPU & GPU, but I haven't used their parts in a build for 6-7 years. I'm watching their latest moves with interest to see if I can be happy with a Radeon again.Note that I still use FirePro cards for work...they kill for multi-monitor setups....and they've been super reliable. Little flakey moving drivers from XP to 7, but decent now.

 

[jin_mtvt]

Nice simple review. I would also like to see how entry cards do with mantle on BF4with and without Kaveri ( crossfire or not ) .a Kaveri + a ~100$ GPU on a sub 100$ mobo makes for a nice entry level machinethat i would recommend for casual gamers.

 

[SteelCity1981]

cleeve apparently you can't read the r250 is on the list on the first page I was commenting on the r250 specs price point compared to the 7700/250xwhat doesn't make sense is how you twist this into thinking I was talking about the r250x when I never mentioned it in my first post and I clrealy stated in my 2nd post that the 7700/ r250x when comparing the r250.

 

[AnEwG]

What about gaming at 1280x1024? How would that card perform at this resolution?

 

[cleeve]

cleeve apparently you can't read the r250 is on the list on the first page I was commenting on the r250 specs price point compared to the 7700/250xwhat doesn't make sense is how you twist this into thinking I was talking about the r250x when I never mentioned it in my first post and I clrealy stated in my 2nd post that the 7700/ r250x when comparing the r250.

Yeah, poor context probably doesn't reflect too badly on my reading skills.

You can't expect clarity when you go to an R250X review and begin with the statement "why would you get this card?" out of the gate without qualifying it.

That's like commenting on a 2014 Ford Mustang review starting with "This car sucks" and being offended that people didn't automatically understand you were talking about the 1998 Ford Mustang. It's more reasonable to assume you're confused, actually.

Not the best communication technique, there.