The Radeon R7 260X is the successor to the much loved AMD Radeon HD 7790, and it uses the same Bonaire graphics processor as the HD 7790. However, the R7 260X comes with 2GB of memory rather than the 1GB of the HD 7790, and the reference model has slightly higher GPU and memory clock speeds: 1,100MHz and 1,625MHz rather than 1,075MHz and 1,600MHz. There are some editions of the R7 260X that are clocked even higher than the reference card.
It requires just a single 6-pin PCI Express power connector, so you should be able to fit it in many PCs without having to upgrade the power supply. The R7 260X also has two DVI outputs, a HDMI output and a DisplayPort output. You may need a VGA-DVI adapter if you want to use it with an older monitor, but many versions of this card will probably come with one in the box.
The R7 260X compares well with the Radeon HD 7790 in testing, but doesn’t really provide much of a performance boost. For instance, the R7 260X produced an average frame rate of 32.6fps in Crysis 2 at a resolution of 1,920×1,080 with Ultra graphics quality compared to the HD 7790’s 32.4fps. The R7 260X produced an average frame rate of 53.7fps at a resolution of 1,920×1,080 with Ultra graphics quality and 4x antialiasing, compared to the HD 7790’s slightly higher average frame rate of 54.4fps. We increased Dirt Showdown’s resolution to 2,560×1,440, kept all other settings the same and re-ran the benchmark. This time the both cards scored an identical 38.4fps.
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Sadly, the R7 260X failed Crysis 3 benchmark at a resolution of 1,920,1080 with all the graphics options set to the highest possible value. However, the R7 260X did produce an average frame rate of 26.6fps with graphics quality options set to Medium. The R7 260X produced much the same average frame rates as the HD 7790 in real-world testing, but that isn’t a bad thing.
The HD 7790 is a cracking card that’ll let you play many of the latest games at the highest settings in Full HD, and so will the R7 260X. The R7 260X is the same price as the outgoing HD 7790, but it doesn’t provide a significant performance boost. For this reason we’re reluctant to give it an award, but have done well because it’s still the best sub-£120 card available.
