I thought top end cards got their triple slot DC cooler. This should be good anyway with decent case airflow.
That was the old DCU cooler or the Asus Matrix. The Asus DCUII 780 is a dual slot card:
What's interesting is that on the 780 only
3 of the 5 heatpipes are effectively touching the GPU die. Looks like some of the cooler's potential is simply wasted.
Source
I have a feeling there is a lot of pent up demand for after-market R9 290 series. Once these launch, they are going to be selling out. The days are counting until GTX780 needs a $100 price drop because noise, temperatures and throttle in quiet mode will all be history for R9 290.