In Game Benchmarks
As always, synthetic benchmarks are great, but it’s the in game performance numbers that really matter. I put the XFX R9 290 DD Edition through our standard in game benchmark suite of 11 different games. I expected the XFX card to perform just under the Sapphire card with its slightly higher overclock, but in a few of our benchmarks it surprised me by pulling ahead. As a whole the difference between the two cards was minimal but in a few of the games it was the difference between being ahead of behind the performance of the GTX 780. Of the 11 games, Tomb Raider was the only game that I didn’t seen an average FPS of at least 60. That means you can throw just about anything at the XFX R9 290 DD Edition and expect to be able to play it in at least 1080p with its settings turned all the way up, all the while getting ideal frame rates. I mean that, this is a powerful card; in our Hitman benchmarks for example it topped the charts.