Help me pick a r9 290

[kingdorian]

Hello,

 

I cannot decide wich of these three cards I should buy. The asus one is 20-30 euro's cheaper and the club3d and sapphire are about thesame price.

 

Club3d royalace:

Pro's:

• Fits my color scheme(Yes yet another red/black built, I'm sorry boys and girls)
• Has a sexy backplate
• Seems to be a good cooler

Con's

• I cannot find any reviews so I don't know if it really cools as good as it seems

 

Sapphire tri-x

Pro's

• A lot of reviews say its the best cooling and less noisy card (They don't include the club3d card most of the time though)
• Its sapphire....

Con's

• Its yellow aka doesn't fit in my color scheme
• Sadly hasn't got a backplate
• Reference pcb (could also be a good thing though)

 

Asus DCUII

Pro's

• Card fits in my color scheme
• It has a backplate
• Custom pcb
• Its widely available and thus 30 euro's cheaper

Con's

• A lot of reviewers and people say it doesn't keep the card very cool because its the 780(ti) cooler slapped on a r9 290...

 

 

I've considered the powercolor PCS+ but it is not really available here in the Netherlands, I cannot find it at the (web)shops I usally buy my pc stuff. Wich could cause problems in the future because I'm planning crossfireing these babies around the end of the year/begin 2015...

 

So what do you guys think, should I take the risk and go for the club3d card which might have either a really good or a really crappy cooler? Should I go with the tri-x that is really sexy (apart from not having a backplate) but doesn't fit my color scheme. Or should I save 30 euro's and go for the asus and think fuck it....

[Guest]

I would go with ASUS.

[SAV1OUR]

well its not that hard to pick a 290 as long as its not reference its easy id say asus direct cu ii 

[MilitantCro]

i would also say asus but not this time,it really is a 780 cooler on a r9 290 and it makes bad contact, powercolor or tri-x (you can easly take of the plastic shroud on the try x and paint the yellow red if you dont care about warranty)

[kingdorian]

Thanks for your replies!  I really cannot decide I'll wait for some more replies, from people who might have experience with one of these cards I might order it tonight or tomorrow.

 

 

 

i would also say asus but not this time,it really is a 780 cooler on a r9 290 and it makes bad contact, powercolor or tri-x (you can easly take of the plastic shroud on the try x and paint the yellow red if you dont care about warranty)

 

Exactly what I was thinking, I heard about that card... Something with only 3 out of 5 heatpipes having contact with the gpu or something isn't it? Also I would rather not void my warranty on a 350 euro's card but thats a personal thing

 

Also do you want me to do a builtlog?

Specs:

CPU: Devils canyon i7

MOBO: asus maximus VII Hero

RAM: 4x4gigs Hyperx fury 1866Mhz

GPU: r9 290

Case: 450D

Cooling: h100i

PSU: seasonic 850W m12II evo

Storage: 480Gig M500 I think (I've got a nas for my bulk data)

 

I'm going to be modding my 450D, doing a lot of stuff with acrylic, my psu is going to be mounted where usally the 5,25" bays are. I'm going to do sleeved cables and if I get great ideas from you guys I might implement them as well..

[SAV1OUR]

Thanks for your replies!  I really cannot decide I'll wait for some more replies, from people who might have experience with one of these cards I might order it tonight or tomorrow.

 

 

Exactly what I was thinking, I heard about that card... Something with only 3 out of 5 heatpipes having contact with the gpu or something isn't it? Also I would rather not void my warranty on a 350 euro's card but thats a personal thing

 

Also do you want me to do a builtlog?

Specs:

CPU: Devils canyon i7

MOBO: asus maximus VII Hero

RAM: 4x4gigs Hyperx fury 1866Mhz

GPU: r9 290

Case: 450D

Cooling: h100i

PSU: seasonic 850W m12II evo

Storage: 480Gig M500 I think (I've got a nas for my bulk data)

 

I'm going to be modding my 450D, doing a lot of stuff with acrylic, my psu is going to be mounted where usally the 5,25" bays are. I'm going to do sleeved cables and if I get great ideas from you guys I might implement them as well..

power supplies over kill 650w would be fine for a290 also the heros over priced something like a mpower would have all the same features and be the same price 

[Geekazoid]

The EVGA GTX 780. That'd be the best one to go with. (JK).

[lani100]

If you want a 290/290x get the Sapphire since it's the only one with a decent cooler.

The asus one is just a 780 cooler slapped on to it, it's quiet but doesn't cool well, I had one myself but returned it.

You might want to take a look at a 780 if you don't like the Sapphire card.

[Humbug]

the best one is this

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-r9-280x-vapor-x-oc-and-r9-290-vapor-x-oc-review/4/

Custom pcb, vapor chamber, backplate, and VRM cooling.

[harrynowl]

The RoyalAce gets my vote.

 

I see nothing on the card that would raise concerns. It also has a very capable looking cooler and they claim it runs at 68c rather than 94c and is vastly quieter.

 

The R9 290 PCS+ got very positive reviews and it looks pretty similar.

[Bagmup]

IMO, sapphire make some of the best amd gpu's

[kingdorian]

Thanks for all the comments.

I'm a bit in a worry, (My last school exam is in half an hour) but I'll quickly reply to a couple of your comments.

 

As far as the powersupply, I'm planning on crossfireing these cards and then 650Watt is not enough with two of those power hungry cards. A 850Watt should be more then enough + Its sitting on my desk next to me already.

 

The mpower has some vdroop issues acording to TTL + its only 15 euro's cheaper then the asus and I really want to go asus since I've never had any problems with their motherboards and I do (my friends do) with other brands...

 

About the 780. Its around 100 euro's more expensive then the 290 for around thesame performance... If the price difference was less I would definitely have gone with a 780..

 

As the pcs+ goes as in my opening post, it isn't really available here in the Netherlands. Also the vapor x is around the price of a 780 here in the Netherlands, I would rather spend that 80-100 on something else if the tri-x or club3d is sufficient.

I'll reply more extensively in a couple of hours, and thanks again for the replies!

[Guest]

so far from what I have tested the powercolor PCS+ is the best, however, since it isn't available for you, I would say the tri-x for sure then.

have a look on my channel, I did a PCS+ vs Tri-X video so you can see what I said about both

[Joshua Ondangan]

IMO when going with power supply with bigger budget go for the one which has long warranty around 5 years to 7 years.

 

don't take stuff like you only need 500w so go with a seasonic m12ii 520 or cx430 or cx500 (if you're on a budget they are not so bad).

 

with a nice budget like yours you are aiming for warranty and their customer support. doesn't matter if you go 850w or 760w or 660w so long as the warranty is good then it's fine.

 

power supplies are the shit that normally last you besides the chassis so you should not really cheap out on them when you have the budget.

[Sintezza]

you can get the powercolor pcs version in the Netherlands

 

https://afuture.nl/productview.php?productID=1117863

 

Afuture is a good shop, i also bought some stuff here.

[chaozbandit]

I have the ASUS DCII and from my experience, the card is pretty cool for my 24/7 overclock.

[Sintezza]

I have the ASUS DCII and from my experience, the card is pretty cool for my 24/7 overclock.

 

i never heared about any issues with the Asus direct CUII OC version either by the way.

 

But yeah that powercolor is damm sexy

[kingdorian]

First of I want to thank you for this huge amount of replies!

 

IMO when going with power supply with bigger budget go for the one which has long warranty around 5 years to 7 years.

 

don't take stuff like you only need 500w so go with a seasonic m12ii 520 or cx430 or cx500 (if you're on a budget they are not so bad).

 

with a nice budget like yours you are aiming for warranty and their customer support. doesn't matter if you go 850w or 760w or 660w so long as the warranty is good then it's fine.

 

power supplies are the shit that normally last you besides the chassis so you should not really cheap out on them when you have the budget.

 

As I said, I have bought a seasonic M12II Evo 850Watt already since seasonic is a pretty damn good brand in my opinion and a large portion internet seems to think the same about it.

 

 

Posted Today, 01:30 PM

you can get the powercolor pcs version in the Netherlands

 

https://afuture.nl/p...oductID=1117863

 

Afuture is a good shop, i also bought some stuff here. 

Thanks or "dankjewel" for pointing this out to me, I know its a great shop I ordered my case there Tuesday night and it arrived at just a couple of hours ago. However if you look at the pricewatch at www.tweakers.net or hardware.info you'ill see there are only 2/3 shop selling this thing out of almost all the somewhat bigger stores in the Netherlands. This might not be a problem for now, but if I want to crossfire two of these cards in the future there's a big chance these shops don't sell the card anymore. Since I don't like to crossfire two different cards for mainly aesthetic reasons but also some possible compatibility problems between different biosses.

 

As for the guys saying the asus is a nice card. Here is a pic that some of you might not have seen yet.

As you can see only 3 of the 5 heatpipes make direct contact with the gpu itself. How big of a problem this is varies throughout reviews on the internet. Some say the temperatures are much higher then other cards. Including kevmo07.

 

So jeah... I'm sorry but I haven't really decided yet. Its now mainly between the sapphire and club3d cards. I would go with the club3d if I can find any review on it which isn't to bad but up until now I haven't found one...

 

 

edit:  Fuck it I think I'm just going with the tri-x and buy or make a nice red+black backplate for it... You don't see the bottom of the cooler anyway.

[Guest Generallee]

Real men go for reference 290's

 

[kingdorian]

Real men go for reference 290's

 

 

 

I think i've got some earplugs laying around somewhere, if I can find them I might go reference

[Guest]

the card I use in my system whenever I am inbetween gpu reviews is a reference r9 290, it honestly isn't that bad if you are wearing headphones lol, but performance wise the throttle will lose you quite a few frames and overclocking is impossible unless you run a super aggressive fan curve, I just got it cause there really cheap second hand and I needed something to get me by inbetween reviews

[TechFan@ic]

The Sapphire 290 Tri-X is by far the best option, it's the coolest and quietest.
The reference PCB is actually a pro, because it means you can over-volt the card with any program and it means it's compatible with most water blocks.

[kingdorian]

the card I use in my system whenever I am inbetween gpu reviews is a reference r9 290, it honestly isn't that bad if you are wearing headphones lol, but performance wise the throttle will lose you quite a few frames and overclocking is impossible unless you run a super aggressive fan curve, I just got it cause there really cheap second hand and I needed something to get me by inbetween reviews

 

Haha okay, the reference cards are new 30euro's cheaper then the tri-x. But since I'm doing a lot of programming and going to be doing work for university on my pc. Without using headphones I'd rather have a silent card

 

 

 

The Sapphire 290 Tri-X is by far the best option, it's the coolest and quietest.

The reference PCB is actually a pro, because it means you can over-volt the card with any program and it means it's compatible with most water blocks.

 

Alright, but since I'm most likely not gonig to do any watercooling on this rig ever that doesn't really matter (to expensive for a poor student ).  The overvolting is a major pro tho! Another con for the Asus one. 

 

Does anyone know if the club3d card has a reference pcb I cannot really find info on that.

 

Edit the ek-waterblocks site says it their 290(x) block fits on it, so I think it is reference. In that case I think I'll go with the club3d, because of the looks and because the cooling seems okay...

edit edit: I've decided its going to be the club3d royalace, I'm willing to sacrifice a little bit of the silence of the tri-x for the looks of the royalace... The card is going to be overkill for 1080p anyway, I wonder what is going to happen when I crossfire two of them to play on 1080p... I might create a massive black hole of overkillness.

 

Everyone thanks for the awnsers and help!

[nKSharp]

If you don't want to go water I would suggest looking at the Arctic Accelero Xtreme coolers. I have two of their latest versions (iv) and temps don't go past 60c when gaming.

Out of the three you picked Sapphire is probably the best if you don't plan on watercooling since they have it in their to against it.

Not sure how club3d fares with warranty since they are essentially new in Canada.

Asus is probably the best warranty wise but the cooler leaves much to be desired.

[kingdorian]

I would like to go water but its soooo expensive

I read somewhere you don't void your warranty when you remove the cooler on club3d cards! But the accellero extreme is so expensive For the price of the cheapest r9 290 + the accellero I could buy a vapor-x, 780 or something like that. So that isn't really an option...