Review: AMD Radeon R9 Nano

by Tarinder Sandhu on 10 September 2015, 13:01

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacua2

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Conclusion

Truly mini-ITX in stature, enabling shoebox-sized builds, the Nano is, far and away, the fastest graphics card of its ilk.

AMD most likely understands that it won't have clear consumer GPU performance leadership in this round of launches, with the GeForce GTX Titan X and partner-clocked GTX 980 Tis holding a reasonable advantage at a 4K resolution.

But winning the hearts, minds and wallets of enthusiasts doesn't need to rely on all-out performance. Instead, AMD is focussing efforts on extolling the benefits of HBM memory - in terms of power consumption and size - by promoting the small-form-factor nature of select Fiji-based cards.

Nowhere is this approach more keenly seen than on the Radeon R9 Nano announced today ahead of generally available in two weeks' time. Truly mini-ITX in stature, enabling shoebox-sized builds, the Nano is, far and away, the fastest graphics card of its ilk. In fact we feel as if the the R9 Nano is a harbinger of graphics to come; small on the outside belying the huge potential on the inside.

That potential does arrive with a caveat, however, as the card fails to reach its prescribed 1,000MHz core clock in any game. Rather, it opportunistically frequency and voltage throttles to maintain a circa-175W TDP, with the exact speed dependent on game. This is why it's markedly slower than the full-on Fury X.

But AMD needs to be commended on creating a pocked-sized card capable of 4K gaming yet we wonder if it's come too early. Most small-form-factor chassis manufacturers deliberately construct their cases with 10in cards in mind, allowing for high-end Nvidia hardware too, and the list of 'Nano-only' cases can be counted on one hand.

Then there's the cost, which at $649 is certainly steep for a card that benchmarks significantly slower than the also-small Fury X, meaning you're paying a reasonable premium for a slightly smaller card. AMD Radeon R9 Nano is ultimately a very niche product within the premium graphics space.

We reckon AMD needs to tie up with a number of system integrators and have the Nano released in compact PCs that truly take advantage of its diminutive size. A Scan or PC Specialist housing the card within a tiny chassis would make for an intriguing starting point.

The Good
 
The Bad
Best SFF performance
True innovation
Lots more perf with OC
HBM memory
Looks the business
 
Clear coil whine on sample
No overclocking on memory
No HDMI 2.0



AMD Radeon R9 Nano 4GB

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The AMD Radeon R9 Nano 4GB graphics card will be available to pre-order from Scan Computers.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



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HEXUS Forums :: 28 Comments

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As expected - drop the clocks, lower voltage and you get a card that shades the 390X with very good power characteristics.

Shame about the form factor and price though.
kalniel
As expected - drop the clocks, lower voltage and you get a card that shades the 390X with very good power characteristics.

Shame about the form factor and price though.

I think the price was predictable.

What form factor would you have preferred then? With lower TDP it shouldn't need to be big. I suppose a single slot but longer card would allow more to be crammed into a full sized box.
DanceswithUnix
I think the price was predictable.

What form factor would you have preferred then? With lower TDP it shouldn't need to be big. I suppose a single slot but longer card would allow more to be crammed into a full sized box.

I'd like a normal sized card with two quiet fans and cheaper build materials with a price that matches it's performance rather than paying a premium for compactness.
The thing that worries me about the nano is the lack of aib customisation. if you gave this permission to gigabyte, sapphire, msi or the others i wonder how quiet they could make it with their custom air solutions :O the lockdown on design and features is worrying when it has the potential to be even better!
Looks very good. Just behind a GXT980Ti once overclocked is nothing to be sniffed at.

Looks like Scary Jim was dead on with this prediction.