Thread: R290 unlock to 290x

The R9 290 -> 290X Unlock Thread

Has anyone else been following this thread?

Seems some XFX and Powercolor cards were essentially released with the 290x hardware but 290 bios. With a simple bios flash some people have been able to unlock the extra shaders and convert their cards to 290x. That's a savings of about $150 and anywhere between 5-12% performance increase depending who you ask.

Locally I've been finding that all the unlockables are getting heavily bought up and it's a hit and miss now if you're trying to pick up one of the capable cards. Might be worth looking into if you have already bought one of the right cards, or can get your hands on the right ones.

If anyone does have one/multiple i'd be interested in buying one.

I have an XFX 290. I may give this a shot.

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If I had a 290 or other AMD based card, I'd be looking to sell it for profit. The newer AMD cards are selling for double (or more) retail price. A new virtual currency (Lightcoin) is driving up the price for these cards.