AMD Radeon R9 290 Benchmarks On Ubuntu Linux

Written by Michael Larabel in Radeon on 13 November 2013 at 12:09 PM EST. 9 Comments
RADEON
Last week AMD released the Radeon R9 290 "Hawaii" graphics card. The R9 290 is a cut-down R9 290X and sells for just $399 USD. Here are the first Linux benchmarks of the AMD R9 290 using Ubuntu 13.10!

There wasn't any launch-day Linux review of the AMD Radeon R9 290 or even any performance preview for those interested in OpenGL and Linux over Windows and Direct3D (or now Mantle too). Once again, AMD wasn't cooperative with Phoronix for providing any Linux samples. While there's many Windows reviews out there on all the GPUs, their PR team appears uninterested in any Linux results even as Linux gaming is on the rise with SteamOS, etc. Yet years ago they sent out tons of hardware for Linux reviews... You can see more of my complaints on this page.

Like the AMD Radeon R9 270X, I ended up buying a Radeon R9 290 retail without having any review sample available. For $423.98 USD, I got the XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB graphics card and it arrived yesterday.


I bought this graphics card as I remain committed to Linux hardware coverage and performance testing and the Phoronix motto of enriching the Linux hardware experience. If you've been interested in the R9 290 or the AMD Hawaii GPUs in general and would like to see the rest results, please subscribe to Phoronix Premium (the new and improved) or disable AdBlock and consider making a PayPal tip; it becomes tiresome and strenuous writing so many articles and at times not having the cooperation of the vendor. You can also use our Amazon link when shopping this holiday season.


While AMD is ignoring Linux during the rise of SteamOS, NVIDIA is now playing ball. I've just received from NVIDIA a number of new graphics cards for Linux benchmarking. Stay tuned for their Linux hardware reviews of the Radeon R9 290, GeForce GTX 780, GeForce GTX 760, GeForce GTX 760 Ti, and GeForce GTX TITAN!

Anyhow, my short blurb about the Radeon R9 290 on Linux prior to the full Linux review and performance coverage... The Radeon R9 290 graphics card does work with the Catalyst 13.11 Beta 6 binary blob. However, upon initial testing there might be some clocking problems (or AMD has just reconfigured amdconfig again).

The only benchmarks I have so far were some preliminary Linux tests just ran for reference purposes on an AMD FX-8350 system. The GPUs will be tested on a high-end Core i7 Haswell (or Ivy Bridge Extreme) system for the reviews, but for initial testing yesterday I used Vishera. Those wanting a first look at the Ubuntu Linux performance for the Radeon R9 290 with Catalyst, see this result page and this result page.

Stay tuned for the complete coverage in the coming days. Again, thanks to those that support Phoronix via premium subscriptions, resist using AdBlock, or provide PayPal tips for covering the Radeon R9 290 purchase and other hardware expenditures along with all the time I devote to this Linux hardware testing crusade and driving Phoronix ahead as the sole major resource for Linux performance/benchmarking information on the Internet.
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About The Author
Michael Larabel

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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