Getting Newegg credit on my 970's... Which 290/290x in CF?

[Pneumothorax]

I'm about to get a $700 Newegg credit on which AMD 290/290x to get. It's going into rig #1 which has a AX850 PSU, 4790K o/c to 4.6 in a Maximus Hero, and 1 SSD and 3 HDD's.
It's hooked up to a Dell U3014 1600P monitor

I mostly play Civ5, DAI, BF4, Skyrim, SoM currently

I know the 290 aftermarket cooler cards are almost as fast as the 290x stock when o/c. Do the 290x aftermarket cards o/c just as well and will be noticeably faster in my rig at 1600P? Will my PSU handle 2 o/c 290x with a mildly overlocked 4790K?

I have a HAF 932 with 3x200mm fans with a NH-15D on my CPU so I have good case flow

I also have a used 290x reference on it's way that I was planning putting in my son's rig too.

EDIT:
looking at the Tri-X 290x and the Lighting 290x.

Anyways I noticed the coolest and quietest 290x seem to take up 3 slots so it's going to a tight fit if I put them in CF. (I guess I can put my spare HG10/H80 on the used card and use it as my 'top 290x')
What's the quietest, coolest running setup on the 290/290x going right now?

 

[therealnickdanger]

For $700? Get one of these and add a second one later:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131584

Or pay a little extra and get two of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202129

VRAM issues? Nope.

 

[Pneumothorax]

Hmm. didn't think about those...
What about the 295x? Is it just as fast as 2 separate cards? What about resale?

 

[Gloomy]

Get the Lightning.

 

[wand3r3r]

If you want to use the credit solely on GPUs I would go for the 290x lightnings.

Personally at this point I'd go for the hot deals on the 290's as a little bump in the clocks will offer 290x performance, and 380x is coming in the next 3-6 months or so.

My opinion:
Go all out 290x lightnings ($309 ea. atm)
or
Go TRI-X/Vapor-x 290, MSI 290 gaming, XFX 290 DD

As I mentioned in the other thread, I use ~700w with 290x crossfire in BF4.

I would not recommend the reference cards in any case (I have them).

Actually looking at prices:
290x lightning is only $309 (AR)!
295x2 is $660
290 tri-x is $260 (AR)

Those are my top 3 choices.

Resale is going to drop since we know the 380x is coming, however they will probably be $400-600 so it might not be as drastic since the price on the 290/x has dropped a lot in a year.

 

[Pneumothorax]

Will the lightnings be ok next to each other airflow wise?

Also at 1600P is the $100 difference worth it between the trix 290 vs the lightning 290x...? hmmm...

Oh man, the Lightning rebate expires in 3 days, that's $60 dang!

Ouch the lightning uses 3x PCIe connectors?!

 

[garagisti]

Incidentally i was already suggesting these on another thread where opinions were being sought. Ahem, dare i present to you a XFX 295x2? With rebate should cost you closer to 650 than 700.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150710

If you want two cards, well there's 2 of these for your consideration
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127787

 

[wand3r3r]

Will the lightnings be ok next to each other airflow wise?

Also at 1600P is the $100 difference worth it between the trix 290 vs the lightning 290x...? hmmm...

Good question and I would get confirmation from others who have two custom 290/x cards next to each other. I've done it before (other cards not 290x's, as now I have reference 290x's) and it requires good airflow, especially to the upper card.

As for the $100 difference it's hard to say. I personally enjoy lightnings and value them so I would place some premium on them, but it's always the silicon lottery as to whether they can OC or not any better. I don't think you'll necessarily get $100 more performance on the $/performance scale. The resale could be *slightly* higher but again not proportional. Oh yeah, MSI warranty is serial based and is one of the better warranties (resale+). Sapphire isn't and Idk how second hand RMAs go.

The only thing holding me back from the lightnings would be the upcoming cards, so the lifespan is shorter than if you had bought them a year ago. Then again they are half price! I tend to over think my purchases but if you want high end (and value) I think these are 3 of the best options bar none (290 tri-x/290x lightning/295x2).

 

[mw8t]

Not got any advice but good on you for returning the 970's.

Companies should not be allowed to get away with deceiving their customers.

 

[Sunaiac]

I think I'd go 295X2 in your case.
Second choice, lightning, because I think triX is slightly more than 2 slots.
And I hope you have a HAF-X

(But you may consider going full watercooling too)

 

[Mondozei]

I'm about to get a $700 Newegg credit on which AMD 290/290x to get. It's going into rig #1 which has a AX850 PSU, 4790K o/c to 4.6 in a Maximus Hero, and 1 SSD and 3 HDD's.
It's hooked up to a Dell U3014 1600P monitor

I mostly play Civ5, DAI, BF4, Skyrim, SoM currently

I know the 290 aftermarket cooler cards are almost as fast as the 290x stock when o/c. Do the 290x aftermarket cards o/c just as well and will be noticeably faster in my rig at 1600P? Will my PSU handle 2 o/c 290x with a mildly overlocked 4790K?

I have a HAF 932 with 3x200mm fans with a NH-15D on my CPU so I have good case flow

I also have a used 290x reference on it's way that I was planning putting in my son's rig too.

EDIT:
looking at the Tri-X 290x and the Lighting 290x.

Anyways I noticed the coolest and quietest 290x seem to take up 3 slots so it's going to a tight fit if I put them in CF. (I guess I can put my spare HG10/H80 on the used card and use it as my 'top 290x')
What's the quietest, coolest running setup on the 290/290x going right now?

That'd be the Sapphire 290 Tri-X.

Now compare it to your returned 970s.

By the way, remember that the 290 has a higher TDP than the 970 yet it is far quieter.
The reference Nvidia cooler design is typically much closer to aftermarket coolers than reference AMD coolers, who are typically terrible.

Do this should also give pause to those who claim that higher TDP always means higher noise, which isn't true.
The temperature is also great. I use two of them and they're in many cases more quiet than a single 290 because each card gets stressed less. Also, frame-pacing issues is much better on AMD Crossfire than on Nvidia SLI now, which didn't used to be the case but it is now.

 

[Pneumothorax]

Hmm... I might just get 2tri-x 290's... At $260, I don't think they'll depreciate a huge amount by the time 390x comes out. With what Nvidia/AMD is now offering in the $200 price bracket... At most I think the 290's will be going for $200 or so...

 

[garagisti]

That'd be the Sapphire 290 Tri-X.

Now compare it to your returned 970s.

By the way, remember that the 290 has a higher TDP than the 970 yet it is far quieter.
The reference Nvidia cooler design is typically much closer to aftermarket coolers than reference AMD coolers, who are typically terrible.

Do this should also give pause to those who claim that higher TDP always means higher noise, which isn't true.
The temperature is also great. I use two of them and they're in many cases more quiet than a single 290 because each card gets stressed less. Also, frame-pacing issues is much better on AMD Crossfire than on Nvidia SLI now, which didn't used to be the case but it is now.

Good catch about the noise levels on a Tri-X. May be it should be a thread of its own. About the underlined bit, i think that benchmarketeers will peddle what they will peddle.

 

[garagisti]

Hmm... I might just get 2tri-x 290's... At $260, I don't think they'll depreciate a huge amount by the time 390x comes out. With what Nvidia/AMD is now offering in the $200 price bracket... At most I think the 290's will be going for $200 or so...

If depreciation is of a concern, then i'd recommend buying just 1 card for now as reportedly Q2 will bring some action, and if credit doesn't expire you may use it towards something newer/ shinier if you so wish.

 

[Pneumothorax]

If depreciation is of a concern, then i'd recommend buying just 1 card for now as reportedly Q2 will bring some action, and if credit doesn't expire you may use it towards something newer/ shinier if you so wish.

The thought did cross my mind lol. I guess I can just run my spare 25 foot HDMI cable to other side of my man cave and just game@1080 on my 46" Samsung while waiting for the next set of cards. Another sick thought was getting an EVGA 980 with the expectation a 980ti will come out and do a trade up, but I'm kinda sick of Nvidia right now and it's a gamble to expect an update in <90 days.

 

[DownTheSky]

I also think 2x R9 290 tri-x is your best bet. They're good cards and you should get at least $150-200 on them by year's end.

 

[Shmee]

yes 290 Tri-x cards are quite good.

 

[Headfoot]

I'd say keep the credit, run on that stock 290x until the 380/90x or Big Maxwell comes out and then get that

 

[garagisti]

The thought did cross my mind lol. I guess I can just run my spare 25 foot HDMI cable to other side of my man cave and just game@1080 on my 46" Samsung while waiting for the next set of cards. Another sick thought was getting an EVGA 980 with the expectation a 980ti will come out and do a trade up, but I'm kinda sick of Nvidia right now and it's a gamble to expect an update in <90 days.

I don't blame you, me and some friends were caught up in bump gate(several cards, 3-4 systems), and we haven't given Nvidia business till last year, when we were recommending Nvidia cards again. Now this... I am not giving them a pass yet. I'd like to see them advertise this for customers who don't frequent forums much, and help them somehow too. Harsh, yes, but in my humble opinion, fair.

Well any 290cf will most likely perform better than any single gm200 card as long as cf isn't borked, or it's a gameworks title. Then again, my advice is that you should ask yourself if you can tolerate average game play for 2 or 3 months.

 

[lavaheadache]

Get the Lightning. You will not be disappointed.

 

[Silverforce11]

I prefer the cheap R295x2 since that heat = out your case. It's not noisy, you won't need heaps of extra case fans to cope with 2 open air cards dumping 500W into your case.

 

[RussianSensation]

If you want to use the cards as a 1 year stop-gap, Sapphire Tri-Xs 290 sound like good value. If you want to keep them for 3 years, the Lightning 290Xs. Maybe go with a single 290 for now, could be good enough to hold you over to June/July 2015. You won't lose much money on resale on a $250 card. Often newer cards offer worse price/performance at the mid-range. It's usually on the higher end where we get huge improvements. I doubt a $250 R9 300 card will be that spectacular.

 

[garagisti]

News OP can use:

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...tx-970-3-5gb-vram-issue/post/4440406/#4440406

Hey guys,

Just wanting to let you know that AMD is offering a deal to those who return their GTX 970 to get a "REAL 4GB Graphics card."


https://twitter.com/amd_roy/status/560462075193880576


"Anyone returning their GTX 970 and wanting a great deal on a Radeon with a full 4GB please let us know."

Return your GTX 970 and get a AMD R9 290/X 4GB GPU with the deal.

E-mail: roy.taylor@amd.com

Looking forward to it. Spending $330+ on a GPU that has issues with current games that UNACCEPTABLE! Not to mention nvidia totally lied until they got caught and couldn't hide anymore. Imagine what's going to happen couple of years down the road when more and more games are going to take advantage of memory exceeding 3.5GB. That's totally un-acceptable for a high end GPU.

 

[WittyRemark]

Hmm. didn't think about those...
What about the 295x? Is it just as fast as 2 separate cards? What about resale?

It's actually faster than R9 290X CF iirc, it's good choice otherwise go CF R9 290s ,they're stupid cheap.
OT:you're the guy from Reddit right?

 

[raghu78]

the R9 295X2 is a good buy mainly because of reduced heat, noise and lower temps. the Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X CF is the other option. Lightning cooler is not so great and much louder than Tri-X. the problem gets even worse in CF.