UnbendingNose

So all these reviewers seem to be having gaming issues. How come Joker didn't? I'm assuming he bought his instead of using a press edition part. Maybe that's it, maybe it's the motherboards. I don't know, but his overclocked 1700 kept up with a 7700k at 5ghz. So something is wrong here.
 
 
 

So all these reviewers seem to be having gaming issues. How come Joker didn't? I'm assuming he bought his instead of using a press edition part. Maybe that's it, maybe it's the motherboards. I don't know, but his overclocked 1700 kept up with a 7700k at 5ghz. So something is wrong here.
 
 
 

So all these reviewers seem to be having gaming issues. How come Joker didn't? I'm assuming he bought his instead of using a press edition part. Maybe that's it, maybe it's the motherboards. I don't know, but his overclocked 1700 kept up with a 7700k at 5ghz. So something is wrong here.
 
 
 

If it can handle mATX, you might as well go with an mATX board. Otherwise your wasting space and features. If your set on an ITX board, get an ITX case. Not one that's designed for mATX.

Sapphire reference R9 290. Skill kicking ass in 2016.
 

Tried it, so this game runs like crap and doesn't look like it should. The graphics look like they're from 2003 and I can barely crank out 60fps on my r9 290 and i5 4670k at 2560x1080. I have msi afterburner up and I'm getting around 99% gpu usage and CPU usage isn't going over 50% on any core. No CPU bottlenecks, just crappy optimization.
 
Oh and the highest quality AA doesn't work. I can see all sort of jaggies. Injected SMAA using reshade to fix that.
 
Turned off the in-game AA. Still can barely get 60fps.

I've had it for about a week now. I used to use an Xbox One controller. In my opinion, the Steam Controller is better at every single thing. You just have to take the time to get used to the button layout, get the mappings you like, set up the track pad properly for the game you are playing and then get used to the track pad. I'm used to the buttons now but but I've definitely still getting used to the track pad but I've improved my aiming. Everyone says the gyro is better for precise aiming, but I'm struggling to get used to it. I always turn my body instead of the controller haha.
 
Games I've played so far that work better on the Steam Controller compared to the Xbox One controller: Dragon Age: Inquistion, BF4, CS:GO, Metro: Last Light, Witcher 2, Half-Life's, COD4. 

Reference Sapphire R9 290 with NZXT Kraken G10.
Temps hover at around 55C.
Paid $199 for this card about a year ago upgrading from at GTX 760. Best bang for the buck I've ever purchased. 
 
1125mhz on the core
1250mhz stock memory clock
 
CPU: i5 4670k at 4.0ghz
 
I know I can get more out of it. Think I can break 65fps avg?

Wait, what?

CPU bottleneck. I had the same issues you are having with my R9 290 when I had an FX-8320. I switched to an i5 4670k and a z87 board and performance shot up. I can now get 63fps avg. in valley benchmark at the extremeHD preset 1080p where I used to get around 51fps with the FX-8320. BF4 was unplayable unless I enabled mantle. Again, showing a CPU bottleneck. My GPU usage is now at 99% like it should be when v-sync is off. Before, with the the fx-8320 it would run at about 70% to 90% usage with v-sync off. Get an i5 and your R9 290 will run like it should. AMD's dx11 drivers have horrible CPU overhead and you need a good intel quad core to overcome this. Just google r9 290 bottlenecks or FX8350 bottle necking r9 290 and you'll see this is a common problem. So I can assure you your fx6300 is bottle necking here.

Got my Sapphire R9 290 for $199. So much power for the money.

This really pisses me off. That holiday build guide was one of if not the worst video I've seen from Linus. Complete negligence on his part to put that video out. He received a ton of criticism for it in the comments section. A massive failure of a build guide.
Your CPU is bottlenecking your GPU. There are probably some settings you can tweak to get better performance,but overall your processor is not a match for that high end of a GPU. @itachipirate should be able to help you. He has similar results in GTAV also with an FX6 and 970.

But you're wrong it is a CPU bottleneck. My fx8320 bottlenecked my R9 290 in just about every game. I got fed up with it and bought an i5 4670k and a z87 board and  the card opened up. For example, my GPU would never go over 80% in BF3 while my fx8320 was ping at close to 99% usage. After I switched the intel the r9 290 runs at 99% usage pretty much all the time the way it should. I tied overclocking the fx8320 and all kinds of fixes, nothing helped. I googled it and saw other people were having the same issue and the only way they got full use out of their r9 290's was to switch to intel i5's or i7's. First hand experience, the AMD bottleneck is real.

Experienced this first hand. Used to have an fx8350 and a gtx760, everything was fine. I upgraded to an r9 290 and kept the same CPU and started to notice bottlenecks. BF4 is a perfect example because of supporting mantle and dx11. My r9 290 would never go over 70% GPU usage and I got constant stutters with CPU usage all over the place. If I turned on mantle things would get better. GPU usage would be in the 90's % but it would still drop all too often down into the 40's. I said to hell with it and bought an i5 4670k and z87 board on sale. All my problems went away. BF4 runs the same on dx11 and mantle now, with 95 to 99 percent GPU usage. All my other games run much much much better after switching to the i5. I can't recommend AMD CPU's anymore if your going with a high end GPU like a gtx970 or r9 290 and up. There will be bottlenecks.

Experienced this first hand. Used to have an fx8350 and a gtx760, everything was fine. I upgraded to an r9 290 and kept the same CPU and started to notice bottlenecks. BF4 is a perfect example because of supporting mantle and dx11. My r9 290 would never go over 70% GPU usage and I got constant stutters with CPU usage all over the place. If I turned on mantle things would get better. GPU usage would be in the 90's % but it would still drop all too often down into the 40's. I said to hell with it and bought an i5 4670k and z87 board on sale. All my problems went away. BF4 runs the same on dx11 and mantle now, with 95 to 99 percent GPU usage. All my other games run much much much better after switching to the i5. I can't recommend AMD CPU's anymore if your going with a high end GPU like a gtx970 or r9 290 and up. There will be bottlenecks.

Experienced this first hand. Used to have an fx8350 and a gtx760, everything was fine. I upgraded to an r9 290 and kept the same CPU and started to notice bottlenecks. BF4 is a perfect example because of supporting mantle and dx11. My r9 290 would never go over 70% GPU usage and I got constant stutters with CPU usage all over the place. If I turned on mantle things would get better. GPU usage would be in the 90's % but it would still drop all too often down into the 40's. I said to hell with it and bought an i5 4670k and z87 board on sale. All my problems went away. BF4 runs the same on dx11 and mantle now, with 95 to 99 percent GPU usage. All my other games run much much much better after switching to the i5. I can't recommend AMD CPU's anymore if your going with a high end GPU like a gtx970 or r9 290 and up. There will be bottlenecks.

Yes lol, I'm probably just going to wait until patches come. 

Going with an fx8320 over an i5 was one of the biggest regrets I have. I just upgraded to the i5 4670k because the fx8320 was bottlenecking my R9 290 in many games.

Idk, CS:GO is pretty CPU bottlenecked, a lot of people have stutter issues with it and no other game. Just google CS:GO stuttering.

Idk, CS:GO is pretty CPU bottlenecked, a lot of people have stutter issues with it and no other game. Just google CS:GO stuttering.

Depends on the game. Mostly yes. I used to have at fx8320 at 4ghz and it bottlenecked my r9 290 pretty badly, especially in bf3, cod ghosts, witcher 2, and planetside 2. I upradred to an i5 4670k and now every game runs so much better. I'm getting 7 fps more on the avg in unigine valley. My friend has a gtx970 evga ssc and an fx8320 and he gets 57fps avg in valley. I get 62fps avg with my i5 and 290. His gtx970 should be better than my 290 but is held back by his amd CPU.

Depends on the game. Mostly yes. I used to have at fx8320 at 4ghz and it bottlenecked my r9 290 pretty badly, especially in bf3, cod ghosts, witcher 2, and planetside 2. I upradred to an i5 4670k and now every game runs so much better. I'm getting 7 fps more on the avg in unigine valley. My friend has a gtx970 evga ssc and an fx8320 and he gets 57fps avg in valley. I get 62fps avg with my i5 and 290. His gtx970 should be better than my 290 but is held back by his amd CPU.

So I'd like to share this little chart with you guys summarizing my experience switching from an AMD FX8320 that was bottle-necking my R9 290 to an i5 4670k. Here are some shoddy benchmarks I've run to show the improvements and just how bad the fx8320 can hold back high end cards. If your curious about settings just ask. Anyone else who had switched from an FX cpu to intel feel free to posts your results as well.
 
 
These are FPS averages. I can make other charts showing the min and max fps if you want. 

Here are the minimums

Ooops, I messed up. The min in valley benchmark is the avg. of the fx8320, but it's the same as the i5 due to scene changes. So don't pay attention to that one.

So I'd like to share this little chart with you guys summarizing my experience switching from an AMD FX8320 that was bottle-necking my R9 290 to an i5 4670k. Here are some shoddy benchmarks I've run to show the improvements and just how bad the fx8320 can hold back high end cards. If your curious about settings just ask. Anyone else who had switched from an FX cpu to intel feel free to posts your results as well.
 
 
These are FPS averages. I can make other charts showing the min and max fps if you want. 

Here are the minimums

Ooops, I messed up. The min in valley benchmark is the avg. of the fx8320, but it's the same as the i5 due to scene changes. So don't pay attention to that one.

DSR is essentially anti-aliasing. Its just very intensive AA because it takes the whole image as a sample. So the answer to your question is a 27" monitor at 1080p will probably look pretty bad and DSR won't really help. Stay under 23" at 1080p. 27" is for the 1440p boys.