This may seem like a stupid question. Would a Radeon HD card work with R9 drivers? Take say a HD 7870 could you use the R9 270X driver set to take advantage of the new overclocking system? From what I've heard they are technically the same card but would this be possible?
they both use the exact same drivers
Thanks didn't know they were all the same driver. I assumed that there was different drivers for different cards as last time I download drivers the other month I had to input my card series. So is the target temperature based overclock system restricted to R9 cards or will the HD cards get it with the latest beta drivers?
You are probably thinking about the on-card BIOS. If that is the case, I haven't heard anything about this being portable to the older cards. Since it is almost an entirely equivalent reboot of the mid-tier cards, it may be possible. However, unless your card happens to conveniently feature a dual BIOS with a switch, I wouldn't tempt fate.
That system is partly the new cards' BIOS and partly new card hardware. A 7870 can't do that at all.
I do wonder if you can flash an older cards bios with the new R series bios.
Since the 260x has true audio and is in fact an older card(7...something) that has that function enabled vs disbaled in it's 7xxx twin.
As stated, if you happen to have a spare one lying about, or you have found one with a BIOS switch, then I would love to see someone try it.
Apart from the 290(x and nonx), the new R9 cards are renamed 7000 series cards. So, the drivers are the same.