R9 290 *Complete* review list

[VulgarDisplay]

I think the shortage of chips at this point is because the vendors aren't wasting them on reference cards. They are putting together their aftermarket cooled solutions right now and will be unleashing them soon.

 

[Kenmitch]

I think the shortage of chips at this point is because the vendors aren't wasting them on reference cards. They are putting together their aftermarket cooled solutions right now and will be unleashing them soon.

My guess also. Ref PCB with aftermarket cooler is the one to purchase as you get the best of both worlds....As far as having a full water block option support goes anyways.

 

[Z15CAM]

I'm close to pulling the trigger:

HIS Ref: R9 290 for $419.99 and an Accelero Xtreme III for $77.99 on NewEgg.ca.

Totals: 497.98 + 13% HST = $562.72 + Shipping = $579.51 - That's not too shabby for us Canucks.

Still cheaper then a 290X or GTX 780.

 

[Z15CAM]

Well I kinda went against my advise and bought from NewEgg.CA

Gigabyte R9 290X 1000Mhz for $549.99 and an Artic Accelero Xtreme III for 77.99.

Grand Total 13% HST plus Shipping is a whopping $726.41.

For a $147 more I elected this Vs the HIS R9 290 Combo for $579.51 as I feel the 290X will run cooler at the same frequencies, run faster at them frequencies and consequently run quieter on air plus it has a Dual Mode Bios.

Perhaps I should have waited for the AIB Cooling Solutions but that Gigabyte Ref R9 290X will never be lower priced in Canada and I haven't ruled out a Water Block in the future but I think that QUIET Accelero Xtreme III will do me just fine for a long time coming.

My Next FIX is for Mantle, BF4, in-list as a Star Citizen and start 120Hz/1440p gaming ;o)

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i7 2700k/ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Gen3/Corsair H110 AIO (running @ .996v/1600Mhz to 1.376v/4600Mhz 24/7 between 36 to 67C), 4 x's 4GB sticks of Samsung MV-3V4G3D-US DDR3 running at 1.34v/1866Mhz 9-9-9-24 1T with 4GB's assigned to a RAMDisk drive to handle Win7 64 Bit Sluff and negate writes to the SSD, Samsung 840 Pro 256 SSD, 2 x's WD5001AALS HDD's in Raid-0, 1 x's WD1002FAEX 1TB, ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVDRW, Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1250 PCIe, XFX 850W Pro Black Black Edition modular PSU, eVGA e-GeForce GTX 280, Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 case, QX2510 Samsung PLS 2560x1440 res display at 120Hz.

 

[Will Robinson]

Congrats on that killer new GPU setup...that is going to devour BF4 and sets you up nicely for the Mantle goodness to come.
Welcome to the Red Side.

 

[Abwx]

From a GTX280 to a R9 290X , i could almost hear the protestations
of the former...

 

[Will Robinson]

LOL...yup....a zillion times faster and still $50 or so cheaper.

 

[Abwx]

Too bad the old card has intrinsicaly low re sell value if any at all,
this could had reduced the cost of ownership by a handfull $....

 

[Z15CAM]

Too bad the old card has intrinsicaly low re sell value if any at all,
this could had reduced the cost of ownership by a handfull $....

Suppose I could keep the old 512Bit/1GDDR3 Green Gal around for a Daughter Physic's-X Card if required or use it's Cuda which I never do and I'm primarily a Video Encoder.

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i7 2700k/ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Gen3/Corsair H110 AIO (running @ .996v/1600Mhz to 1.376v/4600Mhz 24/7 between 36 to 67C), 4 x's 4GB sticks of Samsung MV-3V4G3D-US DDR3 running at 1.34v/1866Mhz 9-9-9-24 1T with 4GB's assigned to a RAMDisk drive to handle Win7 64 Bit Sluff and negate writes to the SSD, Samsung 840 Pro 256 SSD, 2 x's WD5001AALS HDD's in Raid-0, 1 x's WD1002FAEX 1TB, ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVDRW, Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1250 PCIe, 2nd Intel NIC for Dual Networking, XFX 850W Pro Black Black Edition modular PSU, AMD Ref Gigabyte 1000Mhz R9 290X/Accelero Xtreme III, eVGA GTX 280 in reserve for Physic's-X support, Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 case, QX2510 Samsung PLS 2560x1440 res display at 120Hz.

TOTAL Investment on this Platform including 13% HST Tax Plus Shipping is approx $2,534.00 CDN spent over a period of a year.

Aside from Mfgr's automatic 10 to 15% price increase selling to Canadians the killer is the 13% HST Tax and cost of shipping in Canada.

 

[Kallogan]

Sapphire R9 290 with ref cooler 339,90 euros. That's indeed well priced. I can have it at 320 with coupon

 

[dust]

^Looks like the most solid buy this gen:thumbsup:

I'll probably wait for some crossfire user comments before getting two of these

 

[DooKey]

^Looks like the most solid buy this gen:thumbsup:

I'll probably wait for some crossfire user comments before getting two of these

What do you want to know about crossfire? Scaling is nice and my 290s OC'd are about as fast as my Titans OC'd were. No stutter that I can tell and very solid performance. If you can deal with the heat and noise they are a solid buy.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Wonder where this card will be in 5 months from now as far as models and pricing?Or where the 780 pricing will be as this card should be $400 as well now.

Will be buying something in April and selling off my 770.April is a bit away but every year i save casually per month this way each year on my birthday i could get myself a little toy.

 

[dust]

What do you want to know about crossfire? Scaling is nice and my 290s OC'd are about as fast as my Titans OC'd were. No stutter that I can tell and very solid performance. If you can deal with the heat and noise they are a solid buy.

Which games have you played with cf on? Are there any large differences in the scaling from one to another? Is it the same experience during prolonged sessions of gameplay?

 

[Nintendesert]

What do you want to know about crossfire? Scaling is nice and my 290s OC'd are about as fast as my Titans OC'd were. No stutter that I can tell and very solid performance. If you can deal with the heat and noise they are a solid buy.

Do you think you would ever add some custom coolers like Tomshardware did to their 290?

 

[railven]

Do you think you would ever add some custom coolers like Tomshardware did to their 290?

Some forum poster said in two weeks. So I'd assume sometime by then or close to then.

 

[blastingcap]

Daaaaaaaaaamnit while I was installing other hardware I cleaned out the fan to my 7970 and upon reboot it does not show up anymore. I guess I must have shorted it out somehow. I am now making do with a backup 7850. I guess I'm in the market for a R9 290 way earlier than I expected. If anyone has more information as to when aftermarket 290s come out please let us know! Thanks!

 

[DooKey]

Do you think you would ever add some custom coolers like Tomshardware did to their 290?

No. I game with headphones on and with a custom fan profile I can run 1125 core at around 80C, 60% fan speed. Even without headphones it's not too obnoxious for me, but I'm sure others wouldn't like it too much.

 

[DooKey]

Which games have you played with cf on? Are there any large differences in the scaling from one to another? Is it the same experience during prolonged sessions of gameplay?

As far as scaling goes I'm going by reviews. From a gaming perspective I find that all of my games that I play seem to play as well as my Titan SLI experience. Prolonged gaming isn't an issue because I run a custom fan profile and I never have throttle issues.

I play:

WoW
Planetside 2
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Borderlands 2
Kerbal space program

Have lots of others, but haven't gamed with the new cards yet on those.

 

[Gloomy]

Can the 290 be unlocked, or is it hobbled?

 

[3DVagabond]

Can the 290 be unlocked, or is it hobbled?

There are reports of people successfully flashing the 290X bios, but not unlocking.

 

[Saylick]

Daaaaaaaaaamnit while I was installing other hardware I cleaned out the fan to my 7970 and upon reboot it does not show up anymore. I guess I must have shorted it out somehow. I am now making due with a backup 7850. I guess I'm in the market for a R9 290 way earlier than I expected. If anyone has more information as to when aftermarket 290s come out please let us know! Thanks!

Sorry to hear that. I recall reading a forum post recently about 290 aftermarket cards coming out within 2 weeks, but I have no idea if it's true or not.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Daaaaaaaaaamnit while I was installing other hardware I cleaned out the fan to my 7970 and upon reboot it does not show up anymore. I guess I must have shorted it out somehow. I am now making due with a backup 7850. I guess I'm in the market for a R9 290 way earlier than I expected. If anyone has more information as to when aftermarket 290s come out please let us know! Thanks!

I usually love have a strange love hate relationship with forced upgrades. I like them when it's GPU/CPU related. First time ever I had my monitor actually crap out on me, and this forced upgrade I HATE.

I had a really good 120hz 1080p monitor and I was just forced to buy another with 4k coming down in price. Such a horrible time to buy another 1080p monitor...

 

[Shmee]

Any tips or guides out there for OCing a 290 yet?

 

[Zanovar]

Daaaaaaaaaamnit while I was installing other hardware I cleaned out the fan to my 7970 and upon reboot it does not show up anymore. I guess I must have shorted it out somehow. I am now making do with a backup 7850. I guess I'm in the market for a R9 290 way earlier than I expected. If anyone has more information as to when aftermarket 290s come out please let us know! Thanks!

Ouch thats some bad luck man,ive killed a 5770 moving it to another rig, perfectly healthy one minuted dead as a dodo the next.as for aftermarket 290s end of this month?i hope anyways.