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i'm not weighing in on whether or not the QNIX is a good monitor, but tftcentral is an extremely reputable monitor review site.

i have 80 which is more than i expected. i usually only buy games i actually want to play, very little 'oh hell it's only $5 why not' type of purchasing. steam member since July 2005.

absolutely love my HD650's. everything sounds phenomenal on them. "imo, audio is a subjective experience, yadda yadda" disclaimer

i went through this debate last year when i bought my PB278Q. i ultimately chose to pay more for better build quality, better aesthetics (imo), and the option for an easy return if need be. i can't weigh in on the QNIX but the PB278Q looks phenomenal. pixel response time is a bit slow but i did more than fine using it to play a crap ton of BF4.

i didn't get an influx of battlepacks, rank 128. i guess the bug wasn't affecting me and they were being properly awarded to me all along.

here's to hoping it will be a 2142, WW2, or Vietnam variant.

i've had my reference card since release and there's been no issues running at 95C. the downsides to the reference design are hot exhaust temps out the back of the case (supposedly ~150F; feels hot to the hand) and quite a bit of noise. i game with headphones on so noise is not an issue for me. what noise i can hear (open headphones) is white-noise and it doesn't bother me.

i'm considering getting the Gigabyte G1 or the MSI Gaming 970 so i've been keeping an eye on prices. i don't expect them to drop in price over black friday/cyber monday, but i keep checking websites like a hopeful buffoon. as if a $20 mail in rebate will change my wife from "you've been spending a lot of money lately" to "you should buy two of them!".

there's nothing wrong with the 290X, i've been very happy with mine. with that said if i were spending ~$400 today i'd get the 970. performance is on-par with the 290X but it's more efficient (requiring less PSU, if that's an issue for you) and you get access to certain features like DSR, g-sync, etc. edit: lepa G1600...psu is certainly not an issue for you