While the HD 7790 was an impressive card, the R7 260X is said to be a HD 7790 being rebadged. Let’s have a look at their performance.
A simple single fan cooler, although the heatsink case looks pretty cool.
The I/O ports.
Full details at the Offical Product Page
The card comes pre-overclocked. Here’s the GPU-Z detail of the card.
More details at the Official Product Page
Test Setup
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4670K |
| RAM | Avexir Core Series 8GB DDR3-1600 |
| Motherboard | ASRock Z87M OC Formula |
| Cooler | Cooler Master Seidon 120M |
| Monitor | 40″ LCD TV |
| Power Supply | Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 1300W |
| Casing | Cooler Master N200 Casing |
| Operating System | Windows 8 Pro 64bit |
| Driver | Catalyst 13.11 |
Benchmark
Here we go! I’ve included the benchmarks for HD 7790 OC on overclock (yes, OCed further) for comparison.
Please bear in mind that the HD 7790 is 1075/1600 and 1200 / 1600 for the overclocked version on HD 7790’s dedicated driver, while the R7 260X is 1150 / 1650 on Catalyst 13.11 Beta.
Metro 2033
| Card | 1080p (avg) | 720p (avg) |
| Sapphire R7 260X | 39.0 | 73.0 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC | 38.0 | 68.5 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC+ | 39.5 | 71.0 |
| Sapphire HD 5870 Toxic | 41.5 | – |
Unigine Heaven 4.0
| Card | 1080p (avg) | 720p (avg) |
| Sapphire R7 260X | 25.8 | 53.4 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC | 25 | 51.1 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC+ | 26 | 53.8 |
Resident Evil 6
| Card | 1080p (score) | 720p (score) |
| Sapphire R7 260X | 6138 | 10304 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC | 5748 | 9441 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC+ | 6125 | 10033 |
Just Cause 2
| Scene | Card | 1080p (avg) | 720p (avg) |
| Dark Tower | Sapphire R7 260X | 56.8 | 100.30 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC | 55.12 | 97.01 | |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC+ | 57.34 | 101.32 | |
| Desert Sunrise | Sapphire R7 260X | 78.33 | 130.20 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC | 75.05 | 123.97 | |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC+ | 78.89 | 131.30 | |
| Concrete Jungle | Sapphire R7 260X | 47.64 | 78.81 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC | 46.53 | 71.22 | |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC+ | 47.84 | 100.69 |
3D Mark
I’ve no HD 7790 3DMark scores as of now but the score for the R7 260X is 3863.
Temperature
| Card | Idle(°C) | Load (°C) |
| Sapphire R7 260X OC | 34 | 78 |
| Sapphire HD 7790 OC | 36 | 61 |
Temperature difference is pretty obvious, much thanks to the HD 7790 having a Dual-X cooler.
Verdict
The card retails at around RM 540 but performs just like a HD 7790 that’s a lot cheaper, some models being about RM 100 cheaper. There’s also the previous generation HD 7850 that gives more performance at RM 100 extra.
As what I mentioned earlier, HD 7790 settings are 1075/1600 and 1200 / 1600 for the overclocked version on HD 7790’s dedicated driver, while the R7 260X is 1150 / 1650 on Catalyst 13.11 Beta.
The R7 260X is in a limbo in price, and its only advantage over the HD 7790 and HD 7850 is the TruAudio support. Seeing that it’s a Bonaire processor like the HD 7790, rumor has it that AMD could unlock the HD 7790’s audio capability.
Until the games that support TruAudio are released, the R7 260X remains as a HD 7790. So among the Sapphire product range itself, you’re better off with a HD 7790 Dual-X at under RM 400 for the same performance but better cooling, or just pay an additional RM 10 – 20 or so (approx RM 550 range) and get a HD 7850 that offers better performance.
I did try having them on the same machine and the Crossfire option was enabled, so I could only think of 2 reasons for someone to buy a R7 260X
1. You really really want TruAudio
2. You already have a HD 7790 and wanted TruAudio, so with this card you can Crossfire it for performance boost and have TruAudio while at it. I can’t guarantee whether AMD whether TruAudio requires both R7 in order to function though.
Hi, The R7 260X also has 2GB of VRAM where as the 7790 only has 1 GB. That could be a reason you would choose over a 7790. Great review by the way 🙂
only reason to purchase r7 260x is either for truaudio or support for mantle…. but givenR7 and R9(except 290x)is actually a rebadged HD7000 series, i wonder if hd7000 will be able to get mantle as well?it suck if it doesnt… but if it does then there totally no reason to purchase R7/R9 at all when HD7000 gonna be cheaper…
Thanks guys.
Well 2GB should be great for textures and higher resolutions but I highly doubt the GPU can keep up with it.
As for the Mantle matter – the HD7000 series will be supported as well. So the only selling point is TruAudio.
Here’s the interesting thing, while the R9 280X seems to be like the HD 7970 Ghz Ed in gaming performance, I tested on Litecoin generation with same script and the R9 280X seems to be churning at faster rate despite similar clocks.
Does any have any insight as to if the 260 would work along side a 280?…not in crossfire, but just for the TrueAudio. I would run my 260 directly to my projector and the 260 to my receiver and select it as the audio playback device through windows.
anyone*
8and I meant to say 280 to the projector..lol, sorry..head is in the clouds
sorry i know this is not a forum, but after reading so many review site, this is the only 1 i came across which is malaysian!!! finally saw d price as RM!!! feel like home 🙂 very good review u have here!
im planning to get a graphic card below rm600, mainly to play GTA 4… if possible gta 5 as well… i dun need to run in high graphic setting, extreme low setting also can… as long can play without lag im sibeh happy liaw… cuz my current graphic bought at year 2008… 256mb with 128bit… LAG!
i had no idea about the bit and ram n ddr thing… so i just search base on my budget, i came across these 2 graphic card which is R7 260X, HD7850 2gb OC, i see both also 2gb n 256bit, but price is different rm100… i cant tell what is the different, so i had no idea which 1 to go, can you pls tell me which is better?
Kevin, i would suggest going for the 7850 due to better performance specs then than the 260x, and as said above, is pretty much similar to a 7790 vs’s a newer video card(in terms of speaking about 7790 & 7850).
HD 7850 is most certainly the better performer. The 260X is the 7790. 😀
Since your machine is old, what you need to consider is the processor and power supply that you are using. a HD 7850 does consume more power than the R7 260X.
It also depends on your budget, if you’re not picky then even the HD 7750 / HD 7770 which are dirt cheap now would suffice, just make sure you get the GDDR5 variants (avoid DDR3)