R9 290X for new GPU

[TechNewb95]

Currently using a Sapphire 7870xt with i5-2500 and 8 Gigs of DDR3 at 1600MHz on a Z77 motherboard .Running on a cooler master GX-550 bronze.In a Phantom 410 with 6 fans (3 blowing in ,3 blowing out).

 

Want to upgrade to a R9 290x either the MSI lightning edition or The Sapphire Tri-x.Which one would perform better and has better cooling and I am not going to overclock with my current PSU.(upgrading later).

Or should i just wait for the R9 380X/390.Both cost about the same.Gaming at 1080p for the foreseeable future.(Planning to jump to 1440p or 4k )

[AlwaysFSX]

I think the Lightning might be faster because you can overclock it well but you really can't go wrong with either. If you feel like keeping the card for a year or two you can buy it now. But if you can wait a couple months for new cards to release I would do that, something similar to the 290x might be lower in price or the same price and faster.

[DimasRMDO]

Waiting for R9 390X is wiser, but if you can't wait then you should get the Sapphire one if you don't overclock (+ cheaper). But if you're overclocking get the MSI Lightning one, it's made for overclocking (Good Cooling bla bla bla).

[nhatduy1611]

The 290x lighting by msi is the best 290x by far imo.But wating for the 300 series is most likely better since the 7870 is still decent

[mayu]

Lightning is good, but what about with that GX-550, especially if both CPU and graphics card overclocked

 

Better of waiting for 3xx release IMO

[TechNewb95]

My CPU is non-k so cant oc even if I want to and I wont gonna oc the r9 290x due to the PSU being not that great(as said going to upgrade after the GPU).However can the r9 290x even perform on a 550W psu.

[Briggsy]

Take note its total system power draw.

Anandtech test setup

And it's furmark which is totally unrealistic. no one with CF 290x will ever see that level of system power draw while gaming, unless they overclock the cores into the 1200+ range And run Valley, or run Crysis 3. some games just drink the power...

[Briggsy]

double post

[Caeradwyn]

I would recommend you hang on for the R9 390 release. If nothing else, it should make the prices of the current cards drop a bit.

If that launch was a year away, then it would have been no point in waiting, but most likely it'll be quite soon.