Thread: AMD R9 290 Inbound!

I am building a BF4 box for a friend (neighbor). We originally ordered a GTX 770, but based on the performance of the R9 290 (non X version) and the fact it is priced at $399, it is simply the best buy at that price range.

I can't for it to arrive so I can actually fiddle with it a bit. Sure it is loud, and sure, it runs hot... but it should kick some butt at 1080p res.

Hope your neighbor enjoys the sound of a leaf blower. I personally would wait on buying a 290 or 290x until third-party coolers are released from MSI, ASUS and other OEMs.

I think it is the curse of the anything with "29" in it. I had the ATI HD2900XT when it first came out, and it was NOISY. It was a pretty kick ass card for it's time... but it would wake the neighbors.

The AMD 5000 series cards were fairly noisy as well. Their 'stock' cooler is pretty shitty and they've done nothing to improve it over recent years, even with the advances nVidia has made with their stock coolers. Thankfully MSI, ASUS and others have developed good heat pipe cooling systems for graphics cards that run with fans on MUCH lower RPMs.

Leaf blower aside I love the way AMD has come into the room and said HA Nvidia we still got some magic up our sleeves. I will probably be purchasing one for myself soon.

JackFrags review of it.

Originally Posted by SourceSkills

Leaf blower aside I love the way AMD has come into the room and said HA Nvidia we still got some magic up our sleeves. I will probably be purchasing one for myself soon.

And if you think nVidia stands pat... you're fooling yourself. Let the price/performance wars begin.

Originally Posted by WileECyte

And if you think nVidia stands pat... you're fooling yourself. Let the price/performance wars begin.

Bring it on because when they do that, we all win.

Sent from my S3 using Tapatalk

So we haven't plugged it in yet. Hoping to have the system up and running later tonight so we can put BF4 on and see how she runs. First impression is that it feels very "plasticy". The NVIDIA 690, 770, 780, Titan, and 780ti all share mostly the same build elements for the reference design, and they are all top notch (see below)



Perhaps once the 3rd party designs start to come out, they will 1) get some heavier duty coolers, and some better design. The card is pretty heavy for having a big plastic shroud on it. I am tempted to take off the plastic enclosure and take a picture of it as it feels like there is some serious copper inside.

I have a 6970 and I'm wondering about upgrading. Interested in hearing what your findings are.