Greetings all, how good is this card PowerColor R9 290 4GB GDDR5 OC?

gandalfs

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Oct 18, 2011
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Hi i am thinking about getting this card.
1)How good is it.
2)Is it worth £175?
3)How will noise be compared to the reference?
3)How does it compare to the reference r90, and is it worth saving 10£ and getting this card

Thanks so much!


 
Solution


OP you wanna look at the r9 290 benchmarks (not the 290x ones), 290 gets an average 67.5fps, 280x gets 54.2 average fps at 1920x1080 with 4xAA

Scampi

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If your talking about the card pictured below...

1) PowerColor are a value brand, but the R9 290 is very fast, on par with a GTX 780.

2) £175 is a very good price indeed, new they retail at £280+

3) It appears to be a reference card, so will run very hot & be very loud. However, you should be able to buy a 3rd party cooler like the Arctic Accelero Xtreme III(http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/r9-290-accelero-xtreme-290,review-32828-2.html) and improve it a lot, if your up to that, technically.

4) It will be pretty much identical in performance as the OC isn't that substantial. If you get a reference card like these are, you'd need to replace the cooler with something better or stump up for a non-reference 290.

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
 

CGurrell

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If you're getting it on eBay second hand, then be very careful. You don't want to buy a card that has been used for crypto currency mining as the 24/7 100% usage it will have been used for will have severely shortened its lifespan.

The r9 290 is known to run extremely hot when using its reference cooler. You'd be better off picking up a non-reference model, something like a Gigabyte Windforce r9 290 or Sapphire Tri-X r9 290
 

Scampi

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You could take the side panel of your case off & get a desk fan blowing in there, but it's an awkward setup for long term. Apparently they do throttle when getting really hot, due to the crappy stock cooler, and turning up the fan sounds like a "plane lifting off".

Alternatively you could buy a non-reference R9 280X for £25 more & just live with the slightly lower performance. Unless you stump up the cash for a non-reference R9 290.
 

gandalfs

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How much more weaker are the 280X for a game like bf4?
 

CGurrell

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Always go for 1 great card over 2 good cards. You won't get any CrossfireX issues and probably better performance (It's not a case of simply adding vRAM, you have to take bandwidth and other things into account).

Do you have a link to the card so we can see exactly which powercolor card it is?
 

CGurrell

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OP you wanna look at the r9 290 benchmarks (not the 290x ones), 290 gets an average 67.5fps, 280x gets 54.2 average fps at 1920x1080 with 4xAA
 
Solution