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Partner Cards: Two Radeon R9 290s And Five 290Xs, Updated

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Video Comparison

The combination of how hot each board gets, how well its heat sink is designed, and how fast its fans spin gives each graphics card a unique acoustic signature. The audio track is taken directly from the measurement microphone, which records as we run a long loop of Metro: Last Light.

Radeon R9 290

Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290

Gigabyte GV-R929OC-4GD R9 290 Windforce OC

Radeon R9 290 Reference + Arctic Accelero Extreme III

Radeon R9 290X

Asus R9290X-DC2OC-4GD5 R9 290X DirectCU II OC

Gigabyte GV-R929XOC-4GD R9 290X Windforce OC

HIS R9 290X IceQ X² Turbo

MSI R9 290X Gaming 4G

Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290X

66 Comments Comment from the forums
  • yannigr 27 January 2014 08:22
    You can write as many articles as you want about 290/290X coolers. You can write as many excuses as you want. You can continue reminding us that there was/is a problem with Hawaii every 15 days for the whole 2014. That "victory dance" that "excitement" that you found(?) AMD cheating(?) back then, all that rage against AMD, can not be unwritten.
    Reply
  • FormatC 27 January 2014 08:29
    all that rage against AMD
    I would like to know this more precisely please... I can't found any rage in my articles, only a chip with a very high temperature density and a lot of unusable coolers because the engineers were not able to build a matching cooler for this cards. This high density will be a global problem for all next-gen chips too. Without a vapor chamber this won't work.
    Reply
  • outlw6669 27 January 2014 08:54
    Good job on the review Tom's German team and great work from AMD's partners!

    Coupled with other recent reviews, Sapphire's Tri-X OC series looks to be great cards, especially when you make a custom fan curve to further reduce idle and load noise.
    I can not wait to see the 20nm updates, especially if AMD gets around to pulling a Titan with their reference coolers!
    Reply
  • rdc85 27 January 2014 09:13
    It's here!! I'm been waiting for this review... going to read (twice) now..
    Reply
  • FormatC 27 January 2014 09:16
    I will add in the next days more cards like Gigabyte's R9 290 (without X), the MSI R9 290X and something other (secret) :)
    Reply
  • rdc85 27 January 2014 09:40
    I think this card is made/means to be WC -ed..... 290 in Kraken looks promising.. (trying imagine how good if in full water block, good radiator)
    Reply
  • roymustang 27 January 2014 10:34
    The main problem with the 290 and 290X isn't the cooling, it's the fact that bitcoin and litecoin miners have driven the price of these cards up by $100-150; to the point where they are no longer a good deal at all.I was waiting for the custom cooled 290s to come out to upgrade my GTX 670 but now I may just wait for the next cards and maybe stick with nVidia.
    Reply
  • Phillip Wager 27 January 2014 12:43
    i want so badly the 290 to go back to 400 bucks cuz that is like my hard limit on a video card ive been waiting but i don't think i can wait much longer and i guess i'll just get a 770. i'm even willing to put up with the reference coolers bah.
    Reply
  • hytecgowthaman 27 January 2014 12:43
    Sapphire wins in this competition now !!!
    Reply
  • patrick47018 27 January 2014 13:13
    "You can see this in the image below, where two of the heat pipes don't **tough** Hawaii at all, and two others make partial contact. " Spelling mistake, on topic I like the Sapphire Toxic's design and performance.
    Reply