R9 290x Reference vs R9 290 Tri-X

[askmax]

So I kind of need some help, I have my first build coming up soon and im getting ready to purchase all the parts soon (within a month or so) and I saw a deal on overclockers.co.uk where a XFX R9 290x reference design is being sold at the same price of a R9 290 Sapphire Tri-X (270 pounds). So What I am wondering is if I will get a better deal and temperatures by buying the 290 Tri-X or buying the 290x and putting a kraken g10 on it with a vram heatsink.

Thanks!

[Sexy Vanilla Freshness]

Just use the Tri-X and save your money, it's a great cooler.

[mapegl]

I have the 290 TriX and love it. It is almost as fast as a 290X, a lot cheaper and very quiet for a card with that much heat output. If you get the 290X reference, you will pay much more, only get a little bit more performance and it will be very loud. If you put the g10 kraken on it, it will cost you much, much more, and saving that much money could mean a higher tier CPU or more RAM or an SSD, all of which will serve you better.

[WereCat]

In this case R9 290 Tri-X will be faster than R9 290x reference because that 290x reference will be thermal throttling and underclocking it self due to the bad cooler. Also Tri-X will be a lot more silent.

[Interfectorem]

Get the Tri-X, the reference coolers on the 290 series are junk (Look nice though), they start to throttle.

[askmax]

Thanks everyone, I will get the R9 290 Tri-X.

People on here are very helpful .

[allindaze]

I have an xfx 290 dd and the price/performance ratio is great.

[I/O]

In this case R9 290 Tri-X will be faster than R9 290x reference because that 290x reference will be thermal throttling and underclocking it self due to the bad cooler. Also Tri-X will be a lot more silent.

The reference card performs well close enough to the tri-x albeit with more noise. The tri-x can maintain a bit higher performance overall cause the cooler is better but it's not earth shattering. Personally I think OCing is stupid but I am a silence whore so there's that. I always operate on the premise that if you want more performance buy a better GPU or get two of them.

[Guest]

I did a video on this

[hadesjoy72]

290 Tri-X.....reference coolers are pretty noisy.  Tri-X will offer better cooling and noise reduction.  

[i_build_nanosuits]

the reference design hawaii board trottle like crazy you will have the card running at 800mhz most of the time so yes the 290 with an third party cooler on it is a much better pick.

[holy-sock]

Due to the fact that they basically are the same card go fpr the 290 and do some mild oc.