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
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/
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.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.
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
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
Run Hawaiinfo and see whether it'll unlockI 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.
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
My XFX will run locked at 1000mhz with -75mv offset in Afterburner. I assume that's decent.
Did you try to max OC under water with the Tri-X? If yes what were the results?
Thanks