In what seems to be becoming a weekly tradition, AMD is once again releasing a new graphics card. This time it’s the R9 270, a product which targets the $179 price point in direct response to NVIDIA’s new cost structure for their GTX 660. According to AMD, this also makes it a prime upgrade candidate for gamers who want a budget-focused GPU that doesn’t necessitate a power supply upgrade as well.

The R9 270’s relative cost proximity to the $199 R9 270X shouldn’t come as any surprise since both use the same Pitcairn XT (now rebranded Curacao) core which was originally incorporated into the HD 7870 GHz Edition. In this iteration Curacao is equipped with 1280 stream processors, 32 ROPs and 80 texture units alongside a 256-bit GDDR5 memory interface which mirrors the R9 270X’s specifications in every way. The only real differences here are core clocks, which have been pushed downwards in order to achieve lower power boundaries and increased yields. In addition, unlike the R9 270X’s fluctuations through PowerTune, the 270 operates at a constant 925MHz.