Please rank your favorite R9 290 and R9 290X video cards

[cbn]

I noticed there are a lot of variations in the 290 and 290X cards.

Please vote for your favorites and why you like them.

Also are there any R9 290 and R9 290X that should be avoided (ie, known PCB or cooling problems, etc.)

 

[RussianSensation]

1. MSI Lightning 290X
2. ASUS Matrix 290X
3. Sapphire Vapor-X 290X
4. Sapphire Tri-X 290X/290
5. PowerColor PCS+ 290/290X / Club3D Royal Ace King series
6. XFX R9 290X/290
7. HIS IceQ2 / Diamond R9 290X/290
8. MSI Gaming 290X/290
9. Gigabyte Windforce 3X series
10. ASUS DCUII 290 series
11. PowerColor TurboDuo 290 series

The top 2 - great overclockers. Besides the ASUS Matrix, the other cards in the top 5 have excellent cooling which means you have full control over your preferences for balancing noise vs. temperature settings due to their superior air coolers. XFX is quiet and has lifetime warranty, and some users are reporting that you can bios unlock the XFX 290 into a 290X. I placed Gigabyte below normal due to some issues with their cards while ASUS goes near the bottom for me due to their RMA practices. The ASUS card itself is not that bad but because of their RMA, I would almost take anyone else.

Professional reviews already covered almost all of these cards. If you are looking for cool and quiet out of the box, Sapphire, Ligtning and PCS+ beat everyone else:
http://www.computerbase.de/2014-05/amd-radeon-r9-290-290x-roundup-test/3/

 

[chubbyfatazn]

^^ Not too far off from what I came up with. I wouldn't consider the Powercolor TurboDuo to be dead last, though. I went with one of those for a rig I was helping a friend build, it's not as loud as I expected and cools fairly well.

Note that Gigabyte and Asus recycled coolers originally made for a GTX 780, and as a result, 2 out of the 5 heatpipes make no contact with the die. They're still way better than reference, but something about that irks me.

Someone here unlocked his two XFX 290s to 290Xs, I forget who but I remember he's in Dallas. Lol

 

[el etro]

1. MSI Lightning 290X
2. ASUS Matrix 290X
3. Sapphire Vapor-X 290X
4. Sapphire Tri-X 290X/290
5. PowerColor PCS+ 290/290X / Club3D Royal Ace King series
6. XFX R9 290X/290
7. HIS IceQ2 / Diamond R9 290X/290
8. MSI Gaming 290X/290
9. Gigabyte Windforce 3X series
10. ASUS DCUII 290 series
11. PowerColor TurboDuo 290 series

Agreed here!

 

[raghu78]

1. MSI Lightning 290X
2. ASUS Matrix 290X
3. Sapphire Vapor-X 290X
4. Sapphire Tri-X 290X/290
5. PowerColor PCS+ 290/290X / Club3D Royal Ace King series
6. XFX R9 290X/290
7. HIS IceQ2 / Diamond R9 290X/290
8. MSI Gaming 290X/290
9. Gigabyte Windforce 3X series
10. ASUS DCUII 290 series
11. PowerColor TurboDuo 290 series

The top 2 - great overclockers. Besides the ASUS Matrix, the other cards in the top 5 have excellent cooling which means you have full control over your preferences for balancing noise vs. temperature settings due to their superior air coolers. XFX is quiet and has lifetime warranty, and some users are reporting that you can bios unlock the XFX 290 into a 290X. I placed Gigabyte below normal due to some issues with their cards while ASUS goes near the bottom for me due to their RMA practices. The ASUS card itself is not that bad but because of their RMA, I would almost take anyone else.

Professional reviews already covered almost all of these cards. If you are looking for cool and quiet out of the box, Sapphire, Ligtning and PCS+ beat everyone else:
http://www.computerbase.de/2014-05/amd-radeon-r9-290-290x-roundup-test/3/

I would disagree on ASUS MATRIX being anywhere in the top 5. the cooler flat out sucks.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...290x_trix_oc_video_card_review/9#.VNivbeEwDcw

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...ix_platinum_video_card_review/10#.VNivjOEwDcw

The vapor-x at 1180 mhz and 1.391v was running at 73c with 100% fan speed. the matrix at 1167 mhz and 1.387v was running at 94c with 100% fan speed. that is enough to prove the vapor-x is in a different class. :thumbsup:

My top 5 .

1. Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X
2. Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X
3. MSI R9 290X Lightning
4. PCS+ R9 290X
5. HIS IceQ2 R9 290X

The XFX has good core cooling but poor VRM cooling and the rest are compromised on 1 or more of the following - core temps, VRM temps, noise.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Yeah, I wish VRM cooling was a little better on the XFX.
I'm getting ~84C on VRM-1 once my 290s are unlocked and OCed to ~1100/1500, though of course this is still 40C below what the VRMs are spec-ed for (125C).

Also, looks like I'm not the only one who managed to unlock his recent XFX 290 DD
http://www.overclock.net/t/1443242/the-r9-290-290x-unlock-thread/3630#post_23514012
http://slickdeals.net/f/7636000-xfx...-video-card-219-99-after-30-00-rebate?page=15

Surprised the heck out of me. Figured it would only be early chips that would do so like with the 6970/6950.

They're somewhat hobbled at the moment in the sense that we pretty much had to use the P1T1 VBIOS with a software-controlled fan profile, which I suppose would be necessitated with overclocking anyway.

 

[_UP_]

I would disagree on ASUS MATRIX being anywhere in the top 5. the cooler flat out sucks.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...290x_trix_oc_video_card_review/9#.VNivbeEwDcw

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...ix_platinum_video_card_review/10#.VNivjOEwDcw

The vapor-x at 1180 mhz and 1.391v was running at 73c with 100% fan speed. the matrix at 1167 mhz and 1.387v was running at 94c with 100% fan speed. that is enough to prove the vapor-x is in a different class.

My top 5 .

1. Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X
2. Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X
3. MSI R9 290X Lightning
4. PCS+ R9 290X
5. HIS IceQ2 R9 290X

The XFX has good core cooling but poor VRM cooling and the rest are compromised on 1 or more of the following - core temps, VRM temps, noise.

Don't know how it compares to the Vapor-X, but the Lightning definitely beats the TRI-X. It is cooler and quieter, not to mention has a much better PCB, better OCer and is of much better construction. Both are great cards but they're not in the same league. For some reason I haven't seen any Vapor-X cards in Canada (not used anyway) so didn't get to try one.

 

[dn7309]

1. Sapphie Vapor X 290X 8 GB
2. MSI lighting 290X
3. Sapphire Tri-X 290X
4. Gigabyte Windforce 290X
5. XFX DD 290X

 

[Sunaiac]

1- reference Sapphire 290X with full waterblock + BP (EK)
2- dunno, tested only 1.



OK I lied, I also tested a 290 Tri-X, it's great for those who don't go water.

 

[Leyawiin]

I had an XFX R9 290 DD and it was a nice card. Quality build, quiet, cool running (no issue with VRMS - never topped 78C), decent OC and generally nice aesthetics. I'm not going to pretend I have any direct experience with the others. If you don't you're just talking out of your rear.

 

[Ramses]

The HIS and Asus were the only choices beyond reference designs for me with a rotated north/south motherboard in an FT02, the heatpipe orientation is recommended to be the way those two alone are. The Asus seems to have overly hot VRM's for some reason and my last three HIS cards were solid, so to HIS I went.

 

[Geforce man]

I'm pretty darn happy with my MSI Gaming 290, @ 1000Mhz core undervolted slightly. Stock van profile, never gets above 69 degrees gaming, and its pretty darn quiet to boot! The one thing thats really impressive about this card is how cool the VRM's run. Now sure why that is compared to other ATI/AMD cards i've owned, but VRM1 = 68 VRM2 = 51, thats not bad!

But evidently people rate these far below the XFX cards for some reason

 

[CropDuster]

My XFX will run locked at 1000mhz with -75mv offset in Afterburner. I assume that's decent.

 

[Jhatfie]

I'm pretty darn happy with my MSI Gaming 290, @ 1000Mhz core undervolted slightly. Stock van profile, never gets above 69 degrees gaming, and its pretty darn quiet to boot! The one thing thats really impressive about this card is how cool the VRM's run. Now sure why that is compared to other ATI/AMD cards i've owned, but VRM1 = 68 VRM2 = 51, thats not bad!

But evidently people rate these far below the XFX cards for some reason

Yeah I am not sure why either. It is a better overall card than the Asus DCII I have in my son's rig and runs quieter than the PCS+ I tested with not much of a penalty in temps.

 

[guskline]

I own 3 Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290s. Two are in CF in the rig in my specs. I watercooled them because I have tons of rad capacity and wanted to try them water-cooled. I was so impressed with them that I purchased a third one to replace a GTX 970 that I sent back. The third is running air cooled in my 3770k rig. Outstanding card with fantastic air cooler.

 

[peterjedi]

I own 3 Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290s. Two are in CF in the rig in my specs. I watercooled them because I have tons of rad capacity and wanted to try them water-cooled. I was so impressed with them that I purchased a third one to replace a GTX 970 that I sent back. The third is running air cooled in my 3770k rig. Outstanding card with fantastic air cooler.

Did you try to max OC under water with the Tri-X? If yes what were the results?

Thanks

 

[_UP_]

Did you try to max OC under water with the Tri-X? If yes what were the results?

Thanks

I believe I tried with my 290x's. I believe the 2 best ones I've tested (had about 6-8 that I tested before settling for the 2 I kept for a while, until I replaced them), if I recall ran at ~1140 on the core and 1300 on the memory. That was on air though, but I'm not sure if water would have helped much. They had more thermal headroom as well as more voltage to go (this was with about +.75 or something). Wouldn't run Heaven without artifacting even with fans at 100%. I might be a little off here, but shouldn't be by much. If you really want I can try and find a Heaven run that I saved.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I had an XFX R9 290 DD and it was a nice card. Quality build, quiet, cool running (no issue with VRMS - never topped 78C), decent OC and generally nice aesthetics. I'm not going to pretend I have any direct experience with the others. If you don't you're just talking out of your rear.

Run Hawaiinfo and see whether it'll unlock
http://www.overclock.net/t/1443242/the-r9-290-290x-unlock-thread

 

[peterjedi]

I believe I tried with my 290x's. I believe the 2 best ones I've tested (had about 6-8 that I tested before settling for the 2 I kept for a while, until I replaced them), if I recall ran at ~1140 on the core and 1300 on the memory. That was on air though, but I'm not sure if water would have helped much. They had more thermal headroom as well as more voltage to go (this was with about +.75 or something). Wouldn't run Heaven without artifacting even with fans at 100%. I might be a little off here, but shouldn't be by much. If you really want I can try and find a Heaven run that I saved.

That's fine. I just wanted to get a rough estimate on what an OC can do under water.

Thanks

 

[Sunaiac]

That's fine. I just wanted to get a rough estimate on what an OC can do under water.

Thanks

I've been running mine @ 1150/1400 for some time with +.5 for voltage.
I just pushed the cursors to those numbers, and it worked.
I didn't fine tune it, and it's probably not a max OC.
It was enough to push me from like 8900 to 10k in 3Dmark firestrike, so I stayed there (with an i7 980 @ 4.13)

 

[Eric1987]

My XFX will run locked at 1000mhz with -75mv offset in Afterburner. I assume that's decent.

About average I'd say. I can do that on both my DCU2 and my HIS.

 

[MagickMan]

Always Sapphire for me, they make AMD's OEM cards. I'd get a refurbed Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X and OC the crap out of it.

 

[guskline]

Did you try to max OC under water with the Tri-X? If yes what were the results?

Thanks

I run them at 1100 core/1410 memory. Not cutting edge BUT cool 41C Max!

Same temp for both cards in CF.

This is my 24/7 run settings. I suspect they could go higher but I see no need for it.

On the air cooled one in my 3770k rig, I'm running it stock. I had it to 1060 core and 1370 mem stable.

 

[MagickMan]

Frankly, get whatever 290/290x card you can find for as cheap as possible (transferable waranty), then stick an inexpensive acetate cooler on it with a Kraken G10, and one of these for your VRMs. That's it. My load temps, at 1170/1370/1.28v, max out at 55-57C.