First Timer Questions

[Sherako]

1. What would be the best aftermarket cooler for the 290?

2. Should I mine with a 290 to get another one and so forth?

3. Does mining actually degrade the gpu, and make you get lower fps in games?

4. How many 290's would be a decent rig?

5. Just say some tips and stuff.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

I think the coolers on the Sapphire ones are pretty great.

Edited July 3, 2014 by Shaqo_Wyn

[JAKEBAB]

Doesnt matter what r9 290 u get there more or less all the same also dont mine u have missed that opportunity u will just drive your power bill up for no reason if u wanna mine u have to buy like a $1000+ asics miner or something similar. A single r9 290 is a pretty decent rig imo.

[Enderman]

1) A liquid cooling waterblock from EKWB

2) Why are you mining? It is no longer profitable unless you have really cheap power, or a ASIC miner

3) Mining is not meant for consumer grade GPUs which are not meant to run at 100% 24/7 and the card will die much sooner than intended. You cannot game while mining

4) Rig for what? mining or gaming? If mining, don't use 290s because they do not have a high enough hash rate to make profit. If gaming, one will be more than enough.

5) Don't use consumer graphics cards for mining.

[SAV1OUR]

1.anything that isn't reference

2.no but that's my opinion

3.yes

4.depends at what resolution you play at 2-3 for 4k though

Tell her you'll go easy on her.

oh you

[ForsakenLive]

1-Sapphire Vapor-X is a great model. Sapphire Trixx will do the job nicely too. XFX does also make really good cards, If you can't find Sapphire cards on your region, there will likely be a XFX one.

2-No

3-Yes, consumer cards are not made to be stressed 24/7 at 100% load. With the time it will degrade (it's going to take some months).

4-Depends on the resolution you are playing, with a single 1080p display one R9 290 is more than  enough. You might want to grab another one later if you plan to step your resolution or to add more displays. If you plan on going crazy 4k in the future, you might pick a R9 290X now as well.

5-Don't use a crappy PSU on your system, get a 550W+ decent PSU. Also, get a decently ventilated case with good airflow, some small cases and some Quiet optimized cases might not have enough cooling to house this hot monster.

[1823alex]

GPU mining is DEAD, I repeat DEAD. If you're mining scrypt then buy actual scrypt miners (Asics) If you're mining bitcoin you will never profit from a 290 you should go back to the idea of Asics as I said earlier. If you're looking to profit, you shouldn't get cheap asics so dont get block erupters maybe a couple of antminers for fun, but dont get block erupters you wont get anything from them.