I thought about saving a bit but the price to performance ratio was pretty much dead even on most games and nVidia features really aren't appealing to me. I have no desire to SLI, shadowplay is useless to me and no desire to get a Shield. I have a good enough PSU to probably run 2 290s so that's not an issue either. Also, the last EVGA card I got was an 8800 Ultra that cost me almost 900 bucks, fried after 6 months and they refused to take it back. I have no doubt they make good cards now but I won't buy their product again on principle alone. I do appreciate the input though. On a side note, to anyone interested in buying the XFX 290, I found a review of it at Hardware Canucks. Hoping to get as good as an overlocker as they got! 1277MHz is pretty beast.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/65741-xfx-r9-290-double-dissipation-review-8.html